Joel (2) (continued) – Johannes

Joel (2) (continued)

There is, first of all, uncertainty as to the origin of the phrase "bring back the captivity." Some connect the word "captivity" (shebhuth, shebhith) with the verb "to take captive" (shabhah), while others make it the cognate noun of the verb "to return" (shubh), with which it stands connected in the phrase "bring back the captivity of Judah and Jerus" (Joel 3:1). In the former case the reference would be to the return of captives taken in war, or the return of exiles from captivity; and that view has led to the translation in our version. On the latter view, the expression would mean the restoration of prosperity, of which use we have an undoubted example in the words: "Yahweh turned the captivity of Job" (Job 42:10). We can conceive either of the views to have been the original, and either to be quite early. A main feature of early warfare was the carrying away of prisoners, and the return of such captives was equivalent to a restoration of prosperity. Or again, the relief from any illness or trouble might be expressed by saying that there was a restoration, as e.g. in Scotland a sick person is said to have "got the turn." As to the significance of the phrase in Joel, it is pointed out by the advocates of the early date that, in Nehemiah's time, the exile was at an end, and the captivity "brought back" (Psalms 126:1–6). On the other side it is said that, though the new order was set up at Jerusalem, there still remained many Israelites in foreign lands, and Joel, not satisfied with the meager community in Palestine, looked forward to a fuller restoration; or otherwise, that the words are used in the wider and more general sense of restored prosperity. That the phrase was in early use, and in the sense of bringing back captives, is seen in Amos 9:14 and Hosea 6:11. And it may be observed that the phraseology used by Am to denote going into captivity (Amos 1:5,Amos 1:15; Amos 5:5,Amos 5:27; Amos 7:17) is employed by the Jews to denote the Babylonian captivity, and is even used by modern Jews to express the present dispersion. And yet Amos speaks of an "entire captivity" of people in his day (Amos 1:6,Amos 1:9 margin).

(b) "Parted My Land":

Then again, the expression "parted my land" (Joel 3:2) does not seem very applicable to the breaking up of the state, for the land was not parted but absorbed in the great eastern empires; nor does Joe single out Assyrians, Babylonians, and Persians, by whom, if by any, a post-exilian parting of the land was effected. The expression would more fitly apply to such movements as the revolt of Edom and Libnah (2 Kings 8:22), and the successive losses of territory by which the great dominion of David and Solomon was reduced. This process, described as "cutting Israel short" (literally, "cutting off the ends," 2 Kings 10:32 the King James Version) is recorded as having begun in the time of Jehu, before the reign of Joash, when outlying parts of territory were smitten by Hazael of Damascus; and Joel, speaking in God's name, may have used the expression "my land" as referring to the whole country.

(c) "Scattered among the Nations":

Whether the expression "scattered among the nations" (Joel 3:2) would be applicable to the Israelite inhabitants of such conquered territories or to those sold into slavery (Joel 3:6) may be disputed. The expression certainly suggests rather the dispersion following the downfall of the state. And yet it is noteworthy that, if so, Joe is the only prophet who uses in that sense the verb here employed, a very strange thing if he followed and borrowed from them all; for, both in Jer and Ezk, as well as in Deuteronomy, other verbs are used. Jeremiah indeed uses the verb in comparing Israel to a scattered (or isolated) sheep which the lions have driven away (50:17); but the only other passage in which the word is plainly used of Israel being dispersed among the peoples in all the provinces of Persia is Esther 3:8.

(d) "Reproach of the Nations":

Then there is the passage: "Give not thy heritage to reproach, that the nations should rule over them" (or "use a byword against them"): "wherefore should they say among the peoples, Where is their God?" (Joel 2:17,Joel 2:19; compare margin). Here it is to be noted that the idea involved is certainly much older than the time of the exile. In the time of Hezekiah, the ambassadors of Sennacherib delivered their taunting message, which is described as reproaching the living God (2 Kings 19:4). It was the method of ancient warfare, as is seen in the boasting of Goliath; for it is the same word that is used in that narrative, though rendered in our version "defy" (1 Samuel 17:10,1 Samuel 17:25,1 Samuel 17:36). And, if we read between the lines of the historical books, we shall see how common was this habit of "defying" or "reproaching," and how sensitive the people were to it (e.g. 1 Kings 20:2 f,5 f,13,18). All this is anterior to the earliest possible date of Joel, and proves that, at an early time, there was a consciousness in Israel that the fortunes of the people were bound up with the honor of the national God. It is not to be overlooked that it is in the early part of the book, when he is concerned with the drought and locust, that Joe uses this expression.

(e) "Strangers Passing Through":

Toward the close of the book it is predicted that, in the time of final glory, strangers shall no longer pass through Jerusalem (Joel 3:17). This again would certainly be applicable to a late time, after the land had suffered many hostile invasions. Yet it can well be understood how a prophet at a very early period, thinking of the glorification of Zion, should imagine a state in which no "stranger" or foreigner should have a footing on the sacred soil, and Israel should dwell in solitary and preeminent exclusiveness. If so, the idea again is of a more primitive kind than the late date would suggest, especially if we postulate a prophet who had deeply studied earlier prophets, to whom Jerusalem of the future was the religious metropolis of the world, and Zion the place to which all nations would flow (Isaiah 2:3; Isaiah 56:7).

(f) "Day of Yahweh":

A word must be said, in conclusion, in regard to the "day of Yahweh" which figures so prominently in the Book of Joel. In whatever sense it may originally have been employed, whether betokening weal or woe, the expression was an ancient one; for Amos refers to it as current in his day (5:18); and almost all the prophets refer to it in one way or another (Amos 5:18–20; Isaiah 2:12; Isaiah 13:6,Isaiah 13:9; Isaiah 34:8; Jeremiah 46:10; Lamentations 2:22; Ezekiel 30:3; Obadiah 1:15; Zechariah 1:8,Zechariah 1:18; Zechariah 2:2,Zechariah 2:3; Zechariah 14:1; Malachi 4:5). So far as it bears upon the date of Joe the question is: How does his usage compare with those of the other prophets? We find that he uses the expression twice in connection with the visitation of the locust (1:15; 2:1), once after speaking of the outpouring of the Spirit (2:31), and once again near the close of the book (3:14). Now, in regard to the earliest occurrences, it will be perceived that Joe is on a lower plane than succeeding prophets. He associates the approach of the day of the Lord with a heavy visitation upon material nature, precisely as the simple Oriental of the present day, on the occurrence of an eclipse, or at a visitation of locust or pestilence, begins to talk of the end of the world. And, though the point of view is shifted, and the horizon wider, at the close, it is to be remarked that the highest point attained is the conception of the day of the Lord as the deliverance and glorification of Israel: there is not a hint of that day being a time of testing and sifting of Israel itself, as in Amos and elsewhere (Amos 5:18–20; Isaiah 2:12). In fact, so far is he from going beyond the other prophets in his conception, that we may say Joe leaves the matter at the point where Amos takes it up.

5. View of Professor Merx:

In view of all these perplexing questions, Professor Ad. Merx had some reason for describing the Book of Joe as the "sorrow's child" (Schmerzenskind) of Old Testament exegesis; and he published in 1879 a work, Die Prophetic des Joe und ihre Ausleger von den aeltesten Zeiten bis zu den Reformatoren, in which, besides giving a history of the interpretation, he combated the method hitherto employed, and put forth a novel view of his own. Concluding, on the grounds usually maintained by the advocates of the late date, that Joe is post-exilian, he makes a comparison of the book with preceding prophetical literature, in order to show that Joe derived his ideas from a study of it, and especially that he followed step by step the prophecies of Ezekiel. Now in Ezekiel's outlook, the overflowing of Judea by the northern people, Gog, plays an important part (Ezekiel 38:2,Ezekiel 38:3,Ezekiel 38:16,Ezekiel 38:18; Ezekiel 39:11), and this explains Joel's reference in 2:20.

As to the precise date: not only is the second temple standing but the city is surrounded by a wall (Joel 2:9); and this brings us down to the government of Nehemiah, after 445 BC; and the book of Nehemiah shows that other prophets besides Malachi lived and found acceptance in those days (Nehemiah 6:7,Nehemiah 6:14). The circumstances were these. Not only the exile, but the restoration, is a thing of the past. We are to think of Jerusalem and Judah in the narrowest sense: the elders and all the inhabitants of the land are addressed, a sort of senatus populusque Romanus, and with them are the priests presiding over an orderly ritual service at the temple. Judah is unaffected by political movements; the conflict with the Samaritans has died down; Judah is leading a quiet life, of which nothing is recorded because there is nothing to record; and the people of the ten tribes have practically disappeared, being swallowed up among the heathen: This undisturbed period is employed in literary labor, as may be inferred from the well-known notice regarding Nehemiah's collection of books (2 Macc 2:13 f), and from the production of such works as Esther, Jonah, Qoheleth, Malachi, Chronicles, Ezra-Nehemiah, etc. The making of books (Ecclesiastes 12:12) had not come to an end.

But now, if the older prophets were seriously studied (compare Daniel 9:2), what impression would they make on the mind of a man like Joel? Was the daily life that followed the time of Nehemiah in any degree a fulfillment of the hopes of a Deutero-Isaiah, a Jeremiah, an Ezekiel, a Zechariah? Could a member of the restored community contemplate without painful feelings the lamentable condition of existence under the Persian government, the limitation of the people to a narrow territory, the separation from those still in the Dispersion, the irritation of the worship of the half-heathen Samaritans, the mixed marriages and general low condition, as contrasted with the glowing pictures of the prophets who had spoken of the last days? Such a contradiction between prophecy and event must have disturbed the minds of the more thoughtful; and so, while some said, "It is vain to serve God" (Malachi 3:14), "They that feared Yahweh spake one with another" (Malachi 3:16), waiting in hope, believing that the present restoration could not be the true and final bringing back of the captivity.

To relieve his mind, Joe will write a book, the result of his study; and it must depict the full and final consummation. Living as he did, however, in quiet times, he had not, like earlier prophets, a historical situation to start from. Here, according to Merx, the genius of Joe comes into play. Seeking for a type of the end of the world, which was to be the antitype, he found one in the deliverance of Israel from Egypt in the distant past. Just as at that great crisis the people were rescued from bondage and brought into a wide and fertile land, so in the end Yahweh would subdue all Israel's enemies and place them in a noble land, uncontaminated by strangers, while He Himself would be enthroned in majesty on Zion. But just as that deliverance was ushered in by plagues, so also will be the "great day of Yahweh"; and as a signal type of the wholesale destruction of Israel's enemies, he seizes upon the plague of locusts and models his introduction upon Exodus 10:4 ff. Joe had, no doubt, seen many a visitation of locusts; but what we have before us in Joel 1:1–20 and 2 is not actual description but idealized picture, the groundwork of his eschatology.

Accordingly, in the view of Merx, the whole Book of Joe is one piece. There is no historical transition at 2:10; in fact, there is no historical element in it at all. The end of the book being apocalyptical, the beginning, which forms with it a unity, must also relate to no event in Joel's days, but moves likewise in the period at the close of time. The people addressed are not the men of Joel's day, but those who shall be alive when "that day" is imminent: in a word, the reader is at 1:2 lifted into the air and placed at the beginning of the final judgment, at the moment when the apocalyptic locusts appear as heralds of the day.

Merx's view may be taken as an extreme and somewhat fanciful statement of the case for a late post-exilian date; and it does not seem to have found acceptance by the critics who start from a historical basis. Merx himself is fully aware that it is a revival of the allegorical and typical interpretation which had its vogue in earlier stages of exposition. But he defends himself on the ground that it was not the ancients who imposed the allegorical interpretation upon Scripture, but the original writers who were the first typologists and allegorists, as is notably seen in later books like Ezekiel and Daniel. Whatever opinion may be held on that subject, we must at least recognize the strongly marked eschatology of the book. But this does not of necessity imply a late date. It is no doubt true that the fully developed eschatology, as we see it in the apocalyptic literature of the extra-canonical books, came in after the cessation of prophecy proper. Yet prophecy, in its earliest phases, contemplated the distant future, and had its support in such an outlook. Professor A.B. Davidson has said: "Isaiah is the creator of the eschatology of the Old Testament and of Christianity, and it comes from his hand in a form so perfect that his successors can hardly add a single touch to it" (Expository Times, V, 297). The ancient oracle, found both in Isa and Mic (Isaiah 2:2–4; Micah 4:1–5), testifies to the triumphant and far-reaching hope of the older seers; and, before Isaiah's time, both Amos (9:11-15) and Hosea (14:4-8) have their outlook to the final future. The remarkable thing about Joel, which makes the determination of his date so difficult, is that he seems now to go beyond and now to fall short of other prophets. If he is later than Ezekiel and Jeremiah, he has nothing to say of the inclusion of Gentiles in the inheritance of Israel, but contemplates the final destruction of all Israel's enemies. If he is a contemporary of Malachi or later, he is less legalistic than that prophet; and whereas in Malachi we see the beginning of the fading away of prophecy, Joe looks for the time when the Spirit shall be poured out on all flesh, and the sons and daughters shall prophesy (2:28).

6. Connection with the New Testament:

It is this last element in the prophecy of Joe that links his book particularly with the New Testament, for Peter quoted Joel's words in this passage as fulfilled on the day of Pentecost, when the Spirit was poured forth on the assembled multitude (Acts 2:16). Yet, even as the Old Testament prophets one after another caught up the idea, unfolding and expanding it, so the New Testament writers see the approach of the day of the Lord in their own time (1 Thessalonians 5:2; 2 Peter 3:10); for that day is always coming, always near, though still in the future. Paul saw the whole creation groaning and travailing in pain, as Joe did, and the pouring out of the Spirit at Pentecost was part of, and also more than, the effusion seen by Joe What Joe said he said truly, though he could not say all. For "that day" has grown in significance as the ages have rolled on; men have seen its approach in the various commotions and upheavals of the world, depicting its features in the colors of the changing times, now praying for it, now dreading its approach; and how far from precision are our thoughts in regard to it still! Yet, early or late, unerring is the sure word of prophecy in its essential burden. The concrete historical situations crumble away and leave the eternal truth as fresh as ever: "Yahweh reigneth; let the earth rejoice" (Psalms 97:1); it is the hopeful burden of Old Testament prophecy, for "righteousness and justice are the foundation of thy throne" (Psalms 89:14).

LITERATURE

(Besides that cited above).--Credner, Der Proph. Joe ubersetzt u. erklart (1831); Wuensche, Die Weissagungen des Proph. Joe ubersetzt u. erklart (1872); the commentary on the Minor Prophets by Pusey, Orelli, Keil, Wellhausen, G.A. Smith; Meyrick in Speaker's Commentary; Nowack, in Handkommentar zum Altes Testament; Marti, in Kurzer Hand-Commentar zum Altes Testament.

James Robertson

Joelah

jo-e'-la (yo`e'lah, perhaps = yo`elah, "may he avail!"): One of David's recruits at Ziklag (1 Chronicles 12:7 (Hebrews 8:1–13)); a Benjamite or perhaps a Judean (see Curtis, Chronicles, 195 f).

Joezer

jo-e'-zer (yo`ezer, "Yahweh is help"): One of David's Benjamite recruits at Ziklag, though perhaps a Judean (1 Chronicles 12:6 (Hebrews 7:1–28)).

Jogbehah

jog'-be-ha (yoghbechah): A city in Gilead assigned to Gad and fortified by that tribe (Numbers 32:35). It lay on the line along which Gideon chased the Midianites (Judges 8:11), and the indication there leaves no doubt that it is represented today by Ajbeihat. The name attaches to 3 groups of ruins which date from Roman times. The position is about 7 miles Northwest of `Amman, and about midway between that city and the town of es-SalT. It stands 3,468 ft. above the level of the Mediterranean.

LITERATURE.

Oliphant, Land of Gilead, 232; Baedeker-Socin, Palestine.

Jogli

jog'-li (yoghli, perhaps = "led into exile"): Father of Bukki, a Danite chief (Numbers 34:22).

Joha

jo'-ha (yocha, meaning unknown, but perhaps = yo'ach "Joah"; see HPN, 283, note 4):

(1) A Benjamite (1 Chronicles 8:16).

(2) One of David's mighty men (1 Chronicles 11:45).

Johanan

jo-ha'-nan (yochanan, "Yahweh has been gracious"; Ioanan; compare JEHOHANAN):

(1) Son of Kareah, and one of "the captains of the forces who were in the fields" (i.e. probably guerrilla bands), who allied with Gedaliah, governor of Judah, after the fall of Jerusalem, 586 BC (2 Kings 25:23; Jeremiah 40:7–43:7). He warned Gedaliah of the plot of Ishmael ben Nethaniah, who was instigated by the Ammonite king Baalis, to murder the governor; but the latter refused to believe him nor would he grant Johanan permission to slay Ishmael (Jeremiah 40:8–16). After Ishmael had murdered Gedaliah and also 70 northern pilgrims, Johanan went in pursuit. He was joined by the unwilling followers of Ishmael, but the murderer escaped. Thereupon Johanan settled at Geruth-Chimham near Bethlehem (Jeremiah 41:1–18). As Ishmael's plan was to take the remnant to the land of Ammon, so that of Johanan and his fellow-chiefs was to go to Egypt. They consulted the Divine oracle through Jeremiah, and received the answer that they should remain in Judah (Jeremiah 42:1–22). But the prophet was accused of giving false counsel and of being influenced by Baruch. The chiefs then resolved to go to Egypt, and forced Jeremiah and Baruch to accompany them (Jeremiah 43:1–13).

(2) The eldest son of King Josiah (1 Chronicles 3:15), apparently = "Jehoahaz" (2 Kings 23:30–33).

(3) Son of Elioenai, and a Davidic post-exilic prince (1 Chronicles 3:24).

(4) Father of the Azariah who was priest in Solomon's time (1 Chronicles 6:9,1 Chronicles 6:10; (Hebrew 5:35,36)).

(5) A Benjamite recruit of David at Ziklag, but perhaps a Judean (1 Chronicles 12:4 (Hebrews 5:1–14)).

(6) A Gadite recruit of David at Ziklag (1 Chronicles 12:12 (Hebrews 13:1–25)).

(7) Hebrew has "Jehohanan," an Ephraimite chief (2 Chronicles 28:12).

(8) A returned exile (Ezra 8:12) = "Joannes" (1 Esdras 8:38, the King James Version "Johannes").

(9) Nehemiah 12:22,Nehemiah 12:23 = JEHOHANAN, (3).

David Francis Roberts

Johannes

jo-han'-es, jo-han'-ez.

See JOANNES.