Joel, Chapter 2

A short review for the breakfast study group

At a glance

If chapter 1 is the lament, chapter 2 is where the book turns. It opens with an alarm and ends with a promise. In between, God calls his people back and then answers, restoring the land and promising to pour out his Spirit. It is the longest chapter in Joel and the one most often read in church. (In the Hebrew Bible, verses 28–32 are numbered as a separate chapter 3, so you may see different numbering in some study Bibles.)

Walking through it

Verses 1–11: The alarm. A trumpet sounds in Zion. The locust swarm is now described like an army, advancing in ranks, darkening the sky, and leaving a garden behind it as a wasteland. Joel says the LORD himself is at the head of this force. The Day of the LORD is great and terrible, and he asks who can endure it.

Verses 12–14: The turn. Then comes the pivot: “Yet even now,” says the LORD, return to me with all your heart, with fasting, weeping, and mourning. Tear your hearts and not your clothing. The reason is God’s own character, since he is gracious, merciful, slow to anger, and rich in steadfast love, and he relents from punishing. Joel adds a humble “who knows,” suggesting that God may leave a blessing behind.

Verses 15–17: A solemn assembly. Another trumpet, but this one gathers the people. Everyone comes, from the elders and children to infants, and even the bridegroom and bride leave their wedding room. The priests weep between the porch and the altar and pray, “Spare your people, O LORD.”

Verses 18–27: God answers. The LORD is moved with zeal and pity for his land. He sends grain, wine, and oil, drives the enemy away, and tells the soil, the animals, and the people not to fear but to rejoice. The rains return, the threshing floors fill, and God promises to repay the years the locust has eaten. The people will eat and be satisfied and praise his name, and they will know that he is in their midst.

Verses 28–32: The Spirit and the call. “Afterward” God will pour out his Spirit on all flesh. Sons and daughters will prophesy, old men will dream dreams, and young men will see visions, and even servants will receive the Spirit. Signs in the heavens will come before the great day, but everyone who calls on the name of the LORD will be saved.

A Lutheran reading

• “Yet even now.” God does not wait for the people to clean themselves up. The call to return comes while the land is still bare and the fear is still real. This fits our conviction that grace comes first and repentance is a response to it.
• Repentance and Baptism. The Small Catechism teaches that Baptism means the old self is drowned daily by contrition and repentance, and a new person rises to live before God. Joel’s call to return “with all your heart” is a call we hear every day, not only in Lent.
• Heart, not show. Tearing clothing was a visible sign of grief. Joel does not condemn signs but insists they are empty without the heart. We might hear the same word in our own habits of confession, fasting, and church attendance.
• The “who knows” of verse 14. Joel did not have the cross to point to. We do, and in Christ we are not left wondering whether God will relent. We can speak the absolution with confidence.
• Gathered people, means of grace. The whole community is called to the assembly, and the priests intercede. God’s answer is given through his people at worship, which we recognize in Word and Sacrament.
• Pentecost. Peter says plainly in Acts 2:16–21 that what the crowd sees is what Joel spoke of. The Spirit is poured out on every kind of person, and the promise to those who call on the name of the LORD is Christ’s.

A caution

The promise of restored harvests can be heard as a promise that obedience brings prosperity. Joel does not say that. He points to God’s mercy, not our performance, and the restoration is a gift. We should also be careful with the “signs” in verses 30–31, which are often used to predict the end times. The New Testament uses them to say that the last days have begun in Christ, and it does not give a timetable.

Questions for discussion

1. The chapter turns on the words “yet even now.” When have you felt God calling you back at a time when you thought it might be too late?
2. What is the difference between tearing clothing and tearing the heart? Where do you see that difference in church life today?
3. Joel lists God’s character in verse 13. Which of those words do you most need to hear right now?
4. God promises to restore “the years the locust has eaten.” What does restoration look like when some losses cannot be fully repaid?
5. The Spirit is promised to old and young, women and men, and servants. What does this say about who belongs in the life of the church?
6. How does verse 32 sound after Peter’s sermon at Pentecost and Paul’s use of it in Romans 10?

Suggested reading for the morning

Read Joel 2:12–19 aloud, then verses 28–32. If time allows, read Acts 2:14–21 right afterward so the group hears how the apostles heard Joel.