Joel 1:1-3 Locusts and yet more locusts

1:1

The first verse gives us the name of his father, Pethuel, but as there is no other mention of Pethuel in the Bible that doesn’t really help us much. Many of the prophets mention which kings reigned during their time of ministry, but not Joel. However, He does tell us that this is the word of Lord. In common with most prophets, there is no information on how the word of the Lord came to him

1:2

Joel calls on the elders and the people of the land to pay attention. In our day the nation and its leaders are in at least equal need of listening to the word of the Lord. The rhetorical devices of calling on people to pay attention, and “has anything like this happened in your days” were used by other nations in the area, they were not peculiar to Israel. As we will soon see, the event referred to is a recent plague of locusts on the land. Joel is going to interpret the meaning of the event. So it is not impossible for God to send an interpretation of natural events to one of His prophets. Now, we must be careful and not go to the other extreme of interpreting absolutely everything in terms of God’s direct judgement, but neither must we discount the possibility.

1:3

If something significant happens that affects our lives profoundly we tell others about it. If it is something that affects the nation profoundly then it becomes part of the national heritage, something that is passed down from generation to the next. This is done for two main reasons. One is to enable future generations to appreciate why we are the way we are, to explain the nation. The other can be as a lesson, even a warning, to future generations. Each nations has their own stories that greatly influence them, not always for good, but stories that need to be appreciated in order to understand the nation. In Britain there is the role we had in World War II, and the effect that appeasement is believed to have had. Germany has national memories of hyper-inflation, and, of course, of Nazisim. Ireland has its own history. Joel is telling the people that they needed to understand the significance of the events of the locust invasion, and future generations also needed to understand.