Joel 2:21-27 part 2 for Oct 11, 2009

Reading: NRSV

Do not fear, O soil;
be glad and rejoice,
for the LORD has done great things!
Do not fear, you animals of the field,
for the pastures of the wilderness are green;
the tree bears its fruit,
the fig tree and vine give their full yield.

O children of Zion, be glad
and rejoice in the LORD your God;
for he has given the early rain for your vindication,
he has poured down for you abundant rain,
the early and the later rain, as before.
The threshing-floors shall be full of grain,
the vats shall overflow with wine and oil.

I will repay you for the years
that the swarming locust has eaten,
the hopper, the destroyer, and the cutter,
my great army, which I sent against you.

You shall eat in plenty and be satisfied,
and praise the name of the LORD your God,
who has dealt wondrously with you. And my people shall never again be put to shame.
You shall know that I am in the midst of Israel,
and that I, the LORD, am your God and there is no other.
And my people shall never again
be put to shame.

There is some controversy in putting a date to the prophecy of Joel. Some find themes of literature from after the Babylonian exile, which would place Joel just prior to the time when the temple was being rebuilt in the 4th century BCE. Other biblical scholars note his references to earlier events and place him as early as the 8th century BCE.

What really characterizes Joel, however, is a much more timeless experience of hardship. The people of God have suffered poverty and famine because of successive plagues of locusts, which Joel interprets as God’s punishment for their lack of faith and compassion. He calls them to repent and change their ways, so that God will remove their calamity and renew the earth.

In a unique way, Joel describes God’s renewal as coming first to the earth and its creatures, before redeeming the human element. If God punishes with locusts, then God redeems with rain on the pastures and fruit trees, so that the animals no longer need to fear starvation.

Question for Reflection:

Joel seems to have a sense that all life is inter-connected and that God is a part of the chain. In what ways do we disrupt that natural balance of creation and contribute to our own destruction?

How do we understand God to be at work in the environmental crisis of our time, as punisher or redeemer? How can we offer our repentence?