Joel 1 Study Notes: Locusts and Drought Strike Judah
Joel son of Pethuel describes a locust plague and drought that have stripped Judah's fields, vines, and orchards and halted the temple offerings. He calls elders, priests, and people to mourn, fast, and cry to the LORD, warning that the LORD's day of judgment is near, and he prays for the parched land.
General
What does Joel call the priests to do in 1:14?
Answer: Proclaim a fast and bring everyone to God's house to plead
Joel tells the priests to set apart a fast, call a sacred gathering, and bring together the elders and the whole population at the temple to cry to the LORD (1:14). A fast was a time of going without food to humble oneself before God in prayer. The response Joel calls for is to turn toward God, not away from Him, in the crisis. Scripture shows that when God's people humble themselves in prayer, He hears, even when He has sent locusts on the land (2 Chronicles 7:13-14), and the people of Nineveh, warned of judgment, believed God and humbled themselves with a fast (Jonah 3:5).
- Joel 1:14 (BSB)“Consecrate a fast; proclaim a solemn assembly! Gather the elders and all the residents of the land to the house of the LORD your God, and cry out to the LORD.”The priests are to call a fast and an assembly and gather everyone to the temple to cry to the LORD.
- 2 Chronicles 7:13-14 (BSB)“If I close the sky so there is no rain, or if I command the locust to devour the land, or if I send a plague among My people, and if My people who are called by My name humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, forgive their sin, and heal their land.”God promises to hear, forgive, and heal the land when His people humble themselves after He sends locusts or drought.
- Jonah 3:5 (BSB)“And the Ninevites believed God. They proclaimed a fast and dressed in sackcloth, from the greatest of them to the least.”Nineveh's people trusted God's warning and humbled themselves with fasting and sackcloth, from great to small.
Theological
What response to the crisis do the priests receive instructions to lead in 1:14?
Answer: Proclaim a fast and bring everyone to God's house to plead
The priests are to consecrate a fast, convene a solemn assembly, and gather elders and all inhabitants to God's house to cry out to Him (1:14). The prescribed response to covenant judgment is corporate humiliation and prayer directed to the very God who sent it. Solomon's dedication prayer received the promise that the LORD would hear and heal the land when His people humbled themselves after locust and drought (2 Chronicles 7:13-14), and Nineveh's fast is another instance of humbling before God in the face of threatened judgment (Jonah 3:5).
- Joel 1:14 (BSB)“Consecrate a fast; proclaim a solemn assembly! Gather the elders and all the residents of the land to the house of the LORD your God, and cry out to the LORD.”The priests are to call a fast and an assembly and gather everyone to the temple to cry to the LORD.
- 2 Chronicles 7:13-14 (BSB)“If I close the sky so there is no rain, or if I command the locust to devour the land, or if I send a plague among My people, and if My people who are called by My name humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, forgive their sin, and heal their land.”God promises to hear, forgive, and heal the land when His people humble themselves after He sends locusts or drought.
- Jonah 3:5 (BSB)“And the Ninevites believed God. They proclaimed a fast and dressed in sackcloth, from the greatest of them to the least.”Nineveh's people trusted God's warning and humbled themselves with fasting and sackcloth, from great to small.
General
What does Joel announce in 1:15 about the meaning behind the present disaster?
Answer: That the LORD's day of judgment was close at hand
The Day of the LORD means a time when God steps in to judge in a decisive way. Joel cries alas, because that day is near and will bring ruin from the Almighty (1:15). The locust plague is a warning and foretaste of it. Isaiah uses the same words for the LORD's judgment on Babylon (Isaiah 13:6), and Zephaniah describes the day as near and coming fast, a time of wrath and distress (Zephaniah 1:14-15). Joel returns to this day again and again in his book (2:1, 11, 31; 3:14).
- Joel 1:15 (BSB)“Alas for the day! For the Day of the LORD is near, and it will come as destruction from the Almighty.”Joel laments that the LORD's day is near and will arrive as ruin from the Almighty.
- Isaiah 13:6 (BSB)“Wail, for the Day of the LORD is near; it will come as destruction from the Almighty.”Isaiah uses the same announcement of the LORD's near day when foretelling Babylon's fall.
- Zephaniah 1:14-15 (BSB)“The great Day of the LORD is near—near and coming quickly. Listen, the Day of the LORD! Then the cry of the mighty will be bitter. That day will be a day of wrath, a day of trouble and distress, a day of destruction and desolation, a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and blackness,”Zephaniah describes the LORD's coming day as close and full of wrath and darkness.
Theological
What larger reality does Joel connect the plague with in 1:15?
Answer: That the LORD's day of judgment was close at hand
Joel interprets the plague as a harbinger of the LORD's day of reckoning, the decisive intervention of God in judgment, which he announces as near and as ruin sent by the Almighty (1:15). The same formula appears in Isaiah's oracle against Babylon (Isaiah 13:6), and Zephaniah likewise depicts the day as imminent, a time of wrath and distress (Zephaniah 1:14-15). The theme governs the whole book (2:1, 11, 31; 3:14), with present calamity pointing beyond itself to a greater reckoning.
- Joel 1:15 (BSB)“Alas for the day! For the Day of the LORD is near, and it will come as destruction from the Almighty.”Joel laments that the LORD's day is near and will arrive as ruin from the Almighty.
- Isaiah 13:6 (BSB)“Wail, for the Day of the LORD is near; it will come as destruction from the Almighty.”Isaiah uses the same announcement of the LORD's near day when foretelling Babylon's fall.
- Zephaniah 1:14-15 (BSB)“The great Day of the LORD is near—near and coming quickly. Listen, the Day of the LORD! Then the cry of the mighty will be bitter. That day will be a day of wrath, a day of trouble and distress, a day of destruction and desolation, a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and blackness,”Zephaniah describes the LORD's coming day as close and full of wrath and darkness.
General
True or False: According to 1:10-12, the disaster struck the vineyards but spared the grain fields and fruit trees.
Answer: False
This is false. The ruin is complete: the fields are ruined, the grain destroyed, and the wine and olive oil gone (1:10). Farmers and vinedressers are told to grieve because their wheat and barley crop has perished, and every orchard tree, from the vine and fig to the pomegranate, date palm, and apple, has withered (1:11-12). Joel sums it up by saying that human joy itself has dried up (1:12). God had promised to give rain and harvest to His obedient people (Deuteronomy 11:14; Leviticus 26:4), so the failure of every crop was a call to seek Him.
- Joel 1:10-12 (BSB)“The field is ruined; the land mourns. For the grain is destroyed, the new wine is dried up, and the oil fails. Be dismayed, O farmers, wail, O vinedressers, over the wheat and barley, because the harvest of the field has perished. The grapevine is dried up, and the fig tree is withered; the pomegranate, palm, and apple—all the trees of the orchard—are withered. Surely the joy of mankind has dried up.”Grain, wine, oil, and every kind of fruit tree have failed, and gladness has vanished from the people.
- Deuteronomy 11:14 (BSB)“then I will provide rain for your land in season, the autumn and spring rains, that you may gather your grain, new wine, and oil.”God promised seasonal rains and a harvest of grain, wine, and oil to a faithful Israel.
- Leviticus 26:4 (BSB)“I will give you rains in their season, and the land will yield its produce, and the trees of the field will bear their fruit.”Rain in season and fruitful trees are listed among the blessings of obedience.
Theological
True or False: According to 1:10-12, the devastation was limited to the vineyards while the grain crops and orchards survived.
Answer: False
This is false. The devastation reaches every sector of the agricultural economy: field, grain, wine, and oil fail together (1:10); the crop of wheat and barley has perished; and the whole range of fruit trees, vine, fig, pomegranate, date palm, and apple, has withered, so that human gladness itself has dried up (1:11-12). Under the covenant, rain and harvest were the LORD's blessings on an obedient people (Deuteronomy 11:14; Leviticus 26:4), so their total withdrawal was a summons to return to Him.
- Joel 1:10-12 (BSB)“The field is ruined; the land mourns. For the grain is destroyed, the new wine is dried up, and the oil fails. Be dismayed, O farmers, wail, O vinedressers, over the wheat and barley, because the harvest of the field has perished. The grapevine is dried up, and the fig tree is withered; the pomegranate, palm, and apple—all the trees of the orchard—are withered. Surely the joy of mankind has dried up.”Grain, wine, oil, and every kind of fruit tree have failed, and gladness has vanished from the people.
- Deuteronomy 11:14 (BSB)“then I will provide rain for your land in season, the autumn and spring rains, that you may gather your grain, new wine, and oil.”God promised seasonal rains and a harvest of grain, wine, and oil to a faithful Israel.
- Leviticus 26:4 (BSB)“I will give you rains in their season, and the land will yield its produce, and the trees of the field will bear their fruit.”Rain in season and fruitful trees are listed among the blessings of obedience.
General
What picture of the locust plague does 1:4 give?
Answer: Wave after wave of locusts eating what earlier swarms spared
Verse 1:4 describes the plague in layers: four kinds of locusts arrive one after another, and each devours what the one before it left, until nothing remains. The point is total loss, not a list of insects. The law of Moses had warned that unfaithfulness to the covenant (the binding agreement God made with Israel) would bring locusts that consume the crops and trees (Deuteronomy 28:38, 42), and Amos tells of the LORD sending locusts on orchards of fig and olive to call His people back to Him (Amos 4:9). Later the LORD names these same swarms as His great army, sent by Him (2:25), so the plague is under His hand.
- Joel 1:4 (BSB)“What the devouring locust has left, the swarming locust has eaten; what the swarming locust has left, the young locust has eaten; and what the young locust has left, the destroying locust has eaten.”Four successive kinds of locusts strip the land, each finishing what the previous swarm left.
- Deuteronomy 28:38 (BSB)“You will sow much seed in the field but harvest little, because the locusts will consume it.”Among the covenant curses, Moses warns that locusts would eat up the harvest of a well-sown field.
- Deuteronomy 28:42 (BSB)“Swarms of locusts will consume all your trees and the produce of your land.”The same curses threaten swarms that consume every tree and crop in the land.
- Amos 4:9 (BSB)““I struck you with blight and mildew in your growing gardens and vineyards; the locust devoured your fig and olive trees, yet you did not return to Me,” declares the LORD.”Amos records the LORD sending locusts on the orchards as discipline meant to bring Israel back.
Theological
What does the fourfold sequence of locusts in 1:4 portray?
Answer: Wave after wave of locusts eating what earlier swarms spared
The four successive swarms of 1:4 portray cumulative, total devastation: each wave consumes the remnant left by the last. The image recalls the covenant curses of the Mosaic law, which threatened locusts devouring field and tree (Deuteronomy 28:38, 42), and parallels Amos, where locusts on orchards of fig and olive serve as a summons to return (Amos 4:9). Joel later identifies the swarms as the LORD's own great army, sent by Him (2:25), so the plague is His providential judgment, not chance.
- Joel 1:4 (BSB)“What the devouring locust has left, the swarming locust has eaten; what the swarming locust has left, the young locust has eaten; and what the young locust has left, the destroying locust has eaten.”Four successive kinds of locusts strip the land, each finishing what the previous swarm left.
- Deuteronomy 28:38 (BSB)“You will sow much seed in the field but harvest little, because the locusts will consume it.”Among the covenant curses, Moses warns that locusts would eat up the harvest of a well-sown field.
- Deuteronomy 28:42 (BSB)“Swarms of locusts will consume all your trees and the produce of your land.”The same curses threaten swarms that consume every tree and crop in the land.
- Amos 4:9 (BSB)““I struck you with blight and mildew in your growing gardens and vineyards; the locust devoured your fig and olive trees, yet you did not return to Me,” declares the LORD.”Amos records the LORD sending locusts on the orchards as discipline meant to bring Israel back.
General
True or False: In 1:6-7 the LORD speaks of the invaded land, vine, and fig tree as His own.
Answer: True
This is true. The LORD says that a nation, powerful and beyond counting, has invaded His land, and that it has ruined His grapevine and stripped His fig tree bare (1:6-7). The locust swarm is pictured as an invading nation with teeth like a lion's. The land belonged to the LORD, who let Israel live in it as His tenants (Leviticus 25:23), and sitting under one's own vine and fig tree was a picture of the peace and plenty He gave (1 Kings 4:25; Micah 4:4). Their ruin is therefore a loss in God's own land.
- Joel 1:6-7 (BSB)“For a nation has invaded My land, powerful and without number; its teeth are the teeth of a lion, and its fangs are the fangs of a lioness. It has laid waste My grapevine and splintered My fig tree. It has stripped off the bark and thrown it away; the branches have turned white.”The locust host is described as a mighty nation that has stripped the LORD's vine and fig tree.
- Leviticus 25:23 (BSB)“The land must not be sold permanently, because it is Mine, and you are but foreigners and residents with Me.”God declares that the land is His and that Israel lives on it only as foreigners and residents with Him.
- 1 Kings 4:25 (BSB)“Throughout the days of Solomon, Judah and Israel dwelt securely from Dan to Beersheba, each man under his own vine and his own fig tree.”In Solomon's peaceful reign each household enjoyed its own vine and fig tree.
- Micah 4:4 (BSB)“And each man will sit under his own vine and under his own fig tree, with no one to frighten him. For the mouth of the LORD of Hosts has spoken.”Micah uses the same picture of vine and fig tree for the secure peace the LORD will give.
Theological
True or False: In 1:6-7 the LORD refers to the ravaged land, vine, and fig tree with first-person possessives, calling them His.
Answer: True
This is true. The LORD speaks of the invasion as an assault on His land, His vine, and His fig tree (1:6-7), with the locust host portrayed as a numberless nation armed with a lion's teeth. Israel held the land only as resident tenants of its divine Owner (Leviticus 25:23), and the vine and fig tree were emblems of covenant peace and blessing (1 Kings 4:25; Micah 4:4). Their destruction marks the withdrawal of that blessing from the LORD's own property.
- Joel 1:6-7 (BSB)“For a nation has invaded My land, powerful and without number; its teeth are the teeth of a lion, and its fangs are the fangs of a lioness. It has laid waste My grapevine and splintered My fig tree. It has stripped off the bark and thrown it away; the branches have turned white.”The locust host is described as a mighty nation that has stripped the LORD's vine and fig tree.
- Leviticus 25:23 (BSB)“The land must not be sold permanently, because it is Mine, and you are but foreigners and residents with Me.”God declares that the land is His and that Israel lives on it only as foreigners and residents with Him.
- 1 Kings 4:25 (BSB)“Throughout the days of Solomon, Judah and Israel dwelt securely from Dan to Beersheba, each man under his own vine and his own fig tree.”In Solomon's peaceful reign each household enjoyed its own vine and fig tree.
- Micah 4:4 (BSB)“And each man will sit under his own vine and under his own fig tree, with no one to frighten him. For the mouth of the LORD of Hosts has spoken.”Micah uses the same picture of vine and fig tree for the secure peace the LORD will give.
General
Why are the priests told to wear sackcloth and mourn in 1:13?
Answer: No grain or wine was left to offer at the house of God
Sackcloth was a rough cloth worn as a sign of grief. Joel calls the priests, who served at the altar, to wear it through the night and lament, because the locusts and drought had left nothing for the regular offerings of grain and wine at the temple (1:9, 13). Those offerings went with the lamb sacrificed every morning and evening as God commanded (Exodus 29:41; Numbers 28:7-8). When the land failed, worship itself was cut short, so the disaster touched the people's life with God, not only their food. Joel later hopes the LORD may yet leave a blessing so the offerings can be brought again (2:14).
- Joel 1:9 (BSB)“Grain and drink offerings have been cut off from the house of the LORD; the priests are in mourning, those who minister before the LORD.”With the harvest gone, the temple offerings have stopped and the priests grieve.
- Joel 1:13 (BSB)“Put on sackcloth and lament, O priests; wail, O ministers of the altar. Come, spend the night in sackcloth, O ministers of my God, because the grain and drink offerings are withheld from the house of your God.”Joel tells the priests to lament in mourning clothes overnight because offerings can no longer be brought.
- Exodus 29:41 (BSB)“And offer the second lamb at twilight with the same grain offering and drink offering as in the morning, as a pleasing aroma, a food offering to the LORD.”The law joined grain and drink offerings to the lamb offered at twilight and in the morning.
- Numbers 28:7-8 (BSB)“The drink offering accompanying each lamb shall be a quarter hin. Pour out the offering of fermented drink to the LORD in the sanctuary area. And offer the second lamb at twilight, with the same grain offering and drink offering as in the morning. It is a food offering, a pleasing aroma to the LORD.”The daily burnt offering was to be presented with its grain and drink offerings, so their loss halted it.
Theological
What reason does 1:13 give for the priests' lament in sackcloth?
Answer: No grain or wine was left to offer at the house of God
The priests, servants of the altar, are to lament all night in sackcloth because the supplies of grain and wine that accompanied the daily offerings can no longer be supplied (1:9, 13). Those offerings belonged to the continual morning and evening sacrifice prescribed in the law (Exodus 29:41; Numbers 28:7-8). The agricultural collapse has therefore interrupted the appointed worship of the covenant community, which is why Joel later hopes the LORD will restore what is needed for the offerings (2:14).
- Joel 1:9 (BSB)“Grain and drink offerings have been cut off from the house of the LORD; the priests are in mourning, those who minister before the LORD.”With the harvest gone, the temple offerings have stopped and the priests grieve.
- Joel 1:13 (BSB)“Put on sackcloth and lament, O priests; wail, O ministers of the altar. Come, spend the night in sackcloth, O ministers of my God, because the grain and drink offerings are withheld from the house of your God.”Joel tells the priests to lament in mourning clothes overnight because offerings can no longer be brought.
- Exodus 29:41 (BSB)“And offer the second lamb at twilight with the same grain offering and drink offering as in the morning, as a pleasing aroma, a food offering to the LORD.”The law joined grain and drink offerings to the lamb offered at twilight and in the morning.
- Numbers 28:7-8 (BSB)“The drink offering accompanying each lamb shall be a quarter hin. Pour out the offering of fermented drink to the LORD in the sanctuary area. And offer the second lamb at twilight, with the same grain offering and drink offering as in the morning. It is a food offering, a pleasing aroma to the LORD.”The daily burnt offering was to be presented with its grain and drink offerings, so their loss halted it.
General
True or False: In 1:19-20 Joel urges others to pray but never prays to the LORD himself.
Answer: False
This is false. Joel does not only tell others to pray; he prays himself, crying to the LORD because fire has burned up the pastures and the trees (1:19). He adds that even the wild animals pant toward God because the streams have run dry (1:20). Just before this he describes shriveled seed, ruined storehouses, and groaning herds with no pasture (1:16-18). The whole creation is pictured as depending on the LORD for food and water, as the psalms also say (Psalm 104:27-28; Psalm 145:15-16). Turning to the LORD, the only one who can send rain and pasture again, is the right response to the disaster.
- Joel 1:19-20 (BSB)“To You, O LORD, I call, for fire has consumed the open pastures and flames have scorched all the trees of the field. Even the beasts of the field pant for You, for the streams of water have dried up, and fire has consumed the open pastures.”Joel prays to the LORD over the scorched land, and even the beasts are pictured as longing for Him.
- Psalm 104:27-28 (BSB)“All creatures look to You to give them their food in due season. When You give it to them, they gather it up; when You open Your hand, they are satisfied with good things.”All living creatures look to God for their food, and He satisfies them when He opens His hand.
- Psalm 145:15-16 (BSB)“The eyes of all look to You, and You give them their food in season. You open Your hand and satisfy the desire of every living thing.”Every living thing waits on the LORD, who supplies what each one needs.
Theological
True or False: In 1:19-20 the prophet summons others to lament but offers no prayer of his own to the LORD.
Answer: False
This is false. Having summoned priests and people to lament, and having described withered seed, ruined granaries, and herds without pasture (1:16-18), the prophet himself cries to the LORD over pastures and trees consumed by fire (1:19), and portrays even the wild beasts as panting toward God because the watercourses have failed (1:20). Creation's dependence on its Creator for provision is a recurring theme of the psalms (Psalm 104:27-28; Psalm 145:15-16), and Joel's prayer models the right response: appeal to the only One who can restore what He has withheld.
- Joel 1:19-20 (BSB)“To You, O LORD, I call, for fire has consumed the open pastures and flames have scorched all the trees of the field. Even the beasts of the field pant for You, for the streams of water have dried up, and fire has consumed the open pastures.”Joel prays to the LORD over the scorched land, and even the beasts are pictured as longing for Him.
- Psalm 104:27-28 (BSB)“All creatures look to You to give them their food in due season. When You give it to them, they gather it up; when You open Your hand, they are satisfied with good things.”All living creatures look to God for their food, and He satisfies them when He opens His hand.
- Psalm 145:15-16 (BSB)“The eyes of all look to You, and You give them their food in season. You open Your hand and satisfy the desire of every living thing.”Every living thing waits on the LORD, who supplies what each one needs.
General
What does Joel tell the elders and people to do with the account of this disaster (1:2-3)?
Answer: Retell it to the young so that later generations would hear
Joel opens by summoning the elders and everyone living in the land to listen, and he asks whether anything like this had happened in their lifetime or in their ancestors' time (1:2). The disaster is so great that it must be retold to the young, and by them to their own offspring, on down the generations (1:3). Israel had been commanded to pass on to its children what the LORD had done, so that those not yet born would know His works (Psalm 78:4-6; Deuteronomy 4:9). Here the story to be handed down begins with the LORD's judgment, and the book goes on to tell of His mercy as well (2:26-27).
- Joel 1:2-3 (BSB)“Hear this, O elders; and give ear, all who dwell in the land. Has anything like this ever happened in your days or in the days of your fathers? Tell it to your children; let your children tell it to their children, and their children to the next generation.”Joel calls the elders and the land's people to consider the disaster and hand its story down to their descendants.
- Psalm 78:4 (BSB)“We will not hide them from their children but will declare to the next generation the praises of the LORD and His might and the wonders He has performed.”The psalmist resolves to tell the coming generation of the LORD's mighty deeds instead of keeping them from the children.
- Psalm 78:5-6 (BSB)“For He established a testimony in Jacob and appointed a law in Israel, which He commanded our fathers to teach to their children, that the coming generation would know them—even children yet to be born—to arise and tell their own children”God commanded the fathers to teach His law to their children so that generations yet unborn would know it and pass it on.
- Deuteronomy 4:9 (BSB)“Only be on your guard and diligently watch yourselves, so that you do not forget the things your eyes have seen, and so that they do not slip from your heart as long as you live. Teach them to your children and grandchildren.”Moses warns Israel not to forget what they had witnessed and to teach it to children and grandchildren.
Theological
What does Joel instruct the elders and the land's inhabitants to do with the report of this calamity (1:2-3)?
Answer: Retell it to the young so that later generations would hear
The opening summons to the elders and every inhabitant of the land frames the plague as unprecedented, beyond anything in living memory or in the fathers' days (1:2). It is to be rehearsed from parents to children and on through successive generations (1:3). This echoes Israel's covenant duty to transmit the LORD's deeds to children yet unborn (Psalm 78:4-6; Deuteronomy 4:9), though here what is handed down is first a record of judgment, to which the book will add the record of restoring grace (2:26-27).
- Joel 1:2-3 (BSB)“Hear this, O elders; and give ear, all who dwell in the land. Has anything like this ever happened in your days or in the days of your fathers? Tell it to your children; let your children tell it to their children, and their children to the next generation.”Joel calls the elders and the land's people to consider the disaster and hand its story down to their descendants.
- Psalm 78:4 (BSB)“We will not hide them from their children but will declare to the next generation the praises of the LORD and His might and the wonders He has performed.”The psalmist resolves to tell the coming generation of the LORD's mighty deeds instead of keeping them from the children.
- Psalm 78:5-6 (BSB)“For He established a testimony in Jacob and appointed a law in Israel, which He commanded our fathers to teach to their children, that the coming generation would know them—even children yet to be born—to arise and tell their own children”God commanded the fathers to teach His law to their children so that generations yet unborn would know it and pass it on.
- Deuteronomy 4:9 (BSB)“Only be on your guard and diligently watch yourselves, so that you do not forget the things your eyes have seen, and so that they do not slip from your heart as long as you live. Teach them to your children and grandchildren.”Moses warns Israel not to forget what they had witnessed and to teach it to children and grandchildren.