The Chosen Key Word in this Book is “Return / turn” it comes from the Hebrew Word “shub” which means “a genuine change of direction.”
One book, three chapters, and a locust plague that becomes a window into something much bigger. Joel uses a devastating, literal locust invasion stripping the land bare as a picture of a much larger reality, the coming “day of the LORD,” while also offering one of the clearest promises in the Old Testament of God’s Spirit being poured out on all people. Welcome to Bible Life Basics Book Reviews. I am Chris and this is Joel.
Joel opens by describing a locust plague of almost unimaginable scale, stripping vineyards bare, destroying crops, and leaving the land looking like it had been scorched by fire. He describes wave after wave of the swarm, “that which the palmerworm hath left hath the locust eaten,” until nothing edible remains standing anywhere. Entire seasons of harvest vanish overnight, wine and oil dry up, and even the animals groan for lack of pasture. He calls the elders, priests, and the entire nation to national mourning and fasting, treating this disaster as far more than simple bad luck, but as a wake-up call demanding the nation’s full attention.
Joel is careful to note that priests should also blow the trumpet in Zion and sanctify a fast, gathering everyone together, from the elders down to nursing infants, and even a bridegroom and bride are called out from their wedding celebration to join the assembly, showing just how urgent and universal this call to repentance truly is.
Chapter two intensifies the imagery, describing an approaching army so vast and destructive it darkens the sky like the locusts before it, “a day of darkness and of gloominess,” a force so overwhelming that “the earth shall quake before them” and even “the sun and the moon shall be dark.” Yet right in the middle of this devastation, Joel delivers an urgent call to genuine repentance: “rend your heart, and not your garments,” turning back to God, “for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness.” The Hebrew word used repeatedly here for “turn” or “return” is “shub,” describing a genuine change of direction, not just outward performance.
God responds to this call with a remarkable promise. Rather than simply forgiving and moving on, He promises active restoration: “I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten,” reversing not just the guilt of the past but its lingering damage as well, so that the threshing floors will once again be full of wheat and the vats overflow with wine and oil.
Chapter two also contains one of the most significant promises in the entire Old Testament: “I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions.” Unlike the limited, occasional anointing given to specific prophets, priests, and kings throughout the Old Testament, this promise reaches every generation and every social class alike. Centuries later, the apostle Peter would quote this exact passage on the day of Pentecost, declaring it fulfilled as God’s Spirit was poured out on the early church.
The book closes in chapter three with a vision of God’s ultimate judgment against the nations gathered in the valley of Jehoshaphat, held accountable for how they treated God’s people, alongside a picture of lasting blessing for God’s own people, describing mountains dripping with new wine and a fountain flowing out from the very house of the LORD, a complete reversal of the barrenness that opened the book.
Joel takes something as ordinary and devastating as a locust plague and uses it to point toward something much larger, both the seriousness of coming judgment and the depth of God’s mercy for anyone willing to genuinely turn back to Him. Joel reminds us that God does not just forgive; He restores what was lost, and He is even willing to pour out His own Spirit generously on anyone who calls on His name.
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