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Welcome to another installment of “Well That’s Interesting” (you can find the first post with a detailed explanation of the series here, or bookmark this page to keep track of the whole series).

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I realized today, that although I’ve purposely tried to be diverse in the picking of scriptures for these posts, I have gone three months now without once diving into Old Testament prophecy. This wasn’t an intentional choice per se; I wasn’t actively avoiding prophecy. I just admittedly tend to find it easier to study and write on other genres and sections of the Bible. But today we’re going to break that pattern and spend some time in the book of Joel. If you’re like me, it may have been a while since you’ve read this little book, nestled in it’s place between Hosea and Amos. So allow me to explain some context.

Background

The book of Joel houses themes that are very common among the Minor Prophets. We see notes of judgement, discipline, destruction, and the day of the Lord. On the flip side, we also read calls for repentance, return to the Lord, and the mercy and forgiveness that follows. The first chapter and a half associates a deadly and destructive (and remarkably detailed) locust plague with God’s judgement on his people. Interestingly, unlike many of the words of judgement in the other books of prophecy, this section does not specifically identify the people’s sin. But given that the section we are going to look at today says “Return to me”, it is safe to posit that God’s people had once again turned away from him, most likely in favour of idols, false gods, and the belief systems of neighbouring nations.

At about the halfway point in the book, there is a dramatic shift in theme as Joel switches from describing their downfall to demanding their repentance. It’s here that we will start our study today, focussed on the three verses that start the “repentance” section, and noticing a few different points that classify these verses as interesting.

Return to Me

“Yet even now,” declares the Lord,

“Return to Me with all your heart,

And with fasting, weeping, and mourning;

Joel 2:12 NASB

As we start into this section, it brings with it an important reminder as we study prophecy for the first time in this blog series: the prophet speaks on behalf of God. When he talks about returning to God with “all your heart”, my mind immediately goes to that classic Deuteronomic commandment cited by Jesus as being of greatest importance:

You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.

Deuteronomy 6:5 NASB

Right off the bat, this starts off an important theme in this section, and really with regards to repentance as a whole. It’s found in that little tiny word with huge implications. All. God doesn’t want his people somewhat returning to him. He doesn’t just want them to come halfway, or make a few small changes in their otherwise normal lifestyle. He wants a complete and total turn around. Picture that moment when you come to a near-screeching halt, catching yourself halfway down the steps because you suddenly remembered you left something you needed upstairs and you don’t want to have to make the extra trip up. That’s what God wants. An about-face. A 180. He’s calling his people to acknowledgement that what they are doing is wrong, and they ought to stop immediately, turn around, and come sprinting back in his direction.

He calls for “fasting, weeping, and mourning”, the typical response to an acknowledgement of sin. Recently, at our church’s Good Friday service I asked those in attendance to consider how our relationship with sin might change if we had to witness Christ’s crucifixion. What would it look like if the vivid memory of his horrific murder played across our mind every time we engaged in the very acts of disobedience for which he gave his life? Sometimes I wonder something similar about the Israelite practices of fasting, weeping, and mourning. What would it look like if we gave up food, dressed in sackcloth and ashes, and went about our days publicly weeping as part of our repentance for sin? What would it look like if our sin actually grieved us? An interesting thought-experiment perhaps. Well on the note of sackcloth, Joel continues.

Tear Your Heart

And tear your heart and not [merely] your garments.”

Now return to the Lord your God,

For He is gracious and compassionate,

Slow to anger, abounding in mercy

And relenting of catastrophe.

Joel 2:13 NASB, brackets mine

Here is one of the verses I consider most interesting in this section. Whenever the NASB includes an italicized word in its text (in this case, I bracketed it, since the “quotation” format on our posts auto-italicizes the whole thing), that means the word is not in the original language, but is supplied in English to help get across the intent of the words. So in this case, the word “merely” is not in the Hebrew, and so many translations (including the 1995 NASB) say something more like “Tear your heart and not your garments.” Of course, on a surface-level reading, this could be confusing—tearing one’s clothing was a part of the mourning/grieving/repentance process. Is God suggesting he doesn’t want the people following through on the proper systems set in place? Well of course not. By including that italicized “merely” we can see the intent: God wants to get to the heart of the issue. He wants them to be obedient in their mourning not just for obedience’s sake, but because they are genuinely grieved and repentant for their sin. The same is true of fasting, the sacrificial system, and really, the entire Law—it’s about a lot more than just following a list of rules (cf. Hos. 6:6).

Repeating the Lord’s words, Joel calls for the people to return to God; the God of grace and compassion, “slow to anger, abounding in mercy, and relenting of catastrophe.” This is an important contrast with the beginning of the book which, as I said before, focusses on God’s power as demonstrated in the midst of his judgement and discipline. However, where some of the prophets make it very clear: if you repent, He will relent (cf. Hos. 6:1); Joel chooses a different tactic.

Who Knows?

Who knows, He might turn and relent,

And leave a blessing behind Him,

Resulting in a grain offering and a drink offering

For the Lord your God.

Joel 2:14 NASB

The rhetorical tone of the first line of this verse is fascinating to me. “Who knows?” Maybe God will turn and relent, but maybe he won’t. By phrasing it like this, Joel gets across a few different essential points. First, God doesn’t owe them anything. They are the ones who have broken the covenant time and time again, including by doing whatever it is they are currently doing! How do they treat God’s law with such callousness, and yet continuously come crawling back, expecting to be forgiven and restored? They ought not to keep on sinning, expecting forgiveness and restoration, taking grace for granted, and using God as their own “get out of jail free” card. In contrast, I think of the young man in the parable of the prodigal son in Luke 15, who comes home to his father with his proverbial tail between his legs, humble and repentant, yet not assuming grace.

Secondly, by framing his statement with a rhetorical question, Joel draws attention to just how important repentance and obedience are, regardless of the outcome. That is to say, maybe God will relent, maybe he won’t; but they ought to turn back to him anyways. God is deserving of their whole-hearted obedience whether he, in his perfect wisdom and justice, chooses to restore them or not. We are to serve God, not the other way around; his decisions are not made by us. Now, this isn’t the only time a biblical author uses a hypothetical or rhetorical question to emphasize that God’s will is his own (Jonah 3:9 and 2 Sam. 12:22 for a couple others). But Joel definitely uses it to great effect in this verse, and he continues by emphasizing that if God does choose to back off on his judgement, it is by his doing, and not theirs. If the locusts relent and the crops return, the grain and the grapes should be offered back to God in worship, not only because he restored them, but because he is worthy of their worship (see 1:13)

Why Does it Matter?

Now obviously things are somewhat different for us as New Testament believers. To cite a verse I have referred to many times on this blog:

If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous, so that He will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness

1 John 1:9 NASB

We are promised that because of the death of Jesus Christ, our sins will be forgiven when we ask. But allow me a moment to ask another a few more of my own rhetorical questions: What would it look like if our forgiveness wasn’t guaranteed? I can’t help but wonder if we would take our sin more seriously. To look on it with grief and true repentance. To get really passionate about killing the sin in our life, through the strength of the Holy Spirit that indwells us. How many times do we take grace for granted? How often are we guilty of not treating our sin the way it deserves to be treated because we know we will be forgiven? How often do we take God’s forgiveness, and lavish praise upon ourselves with a pat on the back for our own repentance, rather than tearing our heart and turning to him with worship and submission simply because of who he is?

The original audience of Joel’s prophecy lived in a very different time than us. And as 21st century westerners the idea of a devouring locust plague can seem hard to appreciate. But as Joel encouraged some deep reflection in his readers through his use of question, we too can look at a text like this and ask ourselves: So what am I going to do about it?