The Prophecy of Joel, Part 1 - Christogenea Live 04-13-2012
This program, because of technical difficulties at Talkshoe, was held on the Christogenea Chat Page and Christogenea Live! Streaming Radio, which was a necessary first at Christogenea.
The following is from the Thomas Nelson Publisher's King James Study Bible, copyright 1983 by Thomas Nelson Inc. While I would usually not read anything like this from mainstream commentaries, they do get some things right, and I read this here for it's testimony of the nature of Joel's prophecy, which is actually pretty fair and decent considering it was originally a product of Liberty University.
“Joel is a highly emotional prophecy, rich in imagery and vivid descriptions. In it two unique events, not to be forgotten, are compared. These two events are to be committed to the descendants of the people. [Oddly, they deny this of the New Covenant today!]
“Historical Setting. Joel was one of the earliest prophets of Judah. The specific place from which Joel wrote is not known. Since he was a resident of Judah and Jerusalem, he likely wrote his prophecy from there. His frequent calls to blow a trumpet in Zion, to consecrate a fast, to proclaim a solemn assembly, and to gather the people together to come before the Lord lend credence to the view that the prophecy was issued [verbally] from the temple court.
“Two events are compared in the course of Joel's prophecy: (1) the locust plague upon Judah in the days of the prophet, and (2) the far greater coming day of the Lord. The latter is set forth in the figure of the former. Joel is the special prophet of the day of the Lord; he mentions it five times (1:15; 2:1; 2:11; 2:31; 3:14). Joel has also been called the “Prophet of Pentecost” because of his most famous and well-known passage (2:28-32), quoted by Peter in Acts 2. More than half of the book is built around a description of the locust plague. Joel's prophecy is the grandest description in all literature of such a plague. Joel is also a great prophecy of repentance, on both a personal and national scale (1:14; 2:13, 15). The purpose of Joel's prophecy is to turn the nation back to God in preparation for the great day of the Lord, the theme of his prophecy. [Today is that day!]