Joel

Etymology

From 'Yo' (Yahweh) and 'El' (God) — a declaration that Yahweh is the true God. The reverse order of Elijah ('my God is Yahweh'), making the same claim from a different angle.

Who they were

Joel's prophecy begins with a locust plague — a devastating swarm that stripped the land bare — and uses it as a lens through which to see the Day of the Lord. His writing is vivid and urgent: 'What the locust swarm has left the great locusts have eaten; what the great locusts have left the young locusts have eaten; what the young locusts have left the other locusts have eaten.' The call is to repentance: 'Rend your heart and not your garments.' But Joel's most enduring words are the promise that follows repentance: 'I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions.' When the Holy Spirit came at Pentecost in Acts 2, Peter stood up and said, 'This is what was spoken by the prophet Joel.' Joel's three chapters move from devastation to repentance to restoration to the outpouring of the Spirit — a complete arc that became the template for Pentecost itself.

Family

Father

Pethuel

Character qualities

• Vivid prophetic imagination
• Urgency in calling to repentance
• Vision of universal spiritual outpouring

Key verse

Joel 2:28

Where they appear

Themes

Variants & related forms

Joël · Yoel

Related names