JOEL, one of the twelve minor Hebrew prophets. In the first verse of the first chapter of his prophecy we are told that he was the eon of Pethuel. Bernd this we have no certain information respecting him. Tho pseudo-Lpiphanius states that ho was born at Beth-horon, on the confines of Judah and Benjamin. He prophesied in the kiogdom of Jndah, but In what reign Is uncertain. The most probable opinion is that which places his prophecy in the reign of Uzziah, contemporary with Amos and Hosea, between me, 800 and 780. He appears to refer to the same events as Amos (compare Joel, eh. i. with Amos iv. 6-9, and Joel ii. 4-6 with Amos 1. 9, 10); end he does not mention the Aeayrians or the Babylonians among the enemies of Judah, but only Egypt and Edom (ch. iii.19), Other opinions have referred him to the reign of Joram (D.C. 895-883), and to that of Manasseh (n.c. 697 —642).
The prophecy of Joel may bo divided into two parts. In the first he describes a famine caused by the ravages of insects, and exhorts the people to repentance ; denouncing still greater judgmenta if they continue impenitent, and promising the return of prosperity and plenty if they attend to his warning. The second part, beginning at ch.
28, alludes to events much more remote. The prophetic passage in ch. ii. 28-32, is quoted by the apostle Peter as accomplished by the miraculous gift of tongues on the day of Pentecost (Acta ii. 17-21). The remainder of the prophecy is supposed to be at present unfulfilled.
The canonical authority of this book has never been disputed. It is established by other quotations In addition to the remarkable one just mentioned.
Bishop Lowth (`Przelect,,' xxi.) remarks on the style of Joel :—" He is elegant, perspicuous, copious, and fluent : he is also sublime, ani mated, and energetic. In the first and second chapters he displays the full force of the prophetic poetry, and shows how naturally it inclines to the use of metaphors, allegories, and comparisons. But while we allow this just commendation to his perspicuity both in language and arrangement, we must not deny that there is sometimes great obscurity observable in his subject, and particularly in the latter part of the prophecy."