JOEL, BOOK OF

The facts bearing upon it may be briefly stated as f ollowa : (1) The people addressed are the inhabitants of Judah (3 [Heb. 4] !• '■ 8- IS"), and Jerusalem (23' [Heb. 3'] 3 [Heb. 4] "■ !"■ 20). Zion is mentioned in 2i- «■ ^- " (Heb. 3'] 3 [Heb. 4] is- "■ a. There is no trace of the kingdom of Samaria. The name 'Israel' is indeed used '',2" 3 [Heb. 4] '■ "), but, as the first and last of these passages clearly show, it is not the kingdom of Israel that 15 meant, but the people of God, dwelling mainly about Jerusalem. (2) There is no mention of royalty or aris-tocracy. (3) The Temple is repeatedly referred to (l'- '"■ " 2" 3 [Heb. 4) '). and by implication in the phrase 'my holy mountain' (2' 3 [Heb. 4] "): its ritual is re-garded as of high importance (!'• " 2'?), and its ministers stand between the people and meir God, giving expression to their penitence and prayer (!'• " 2"). (4) The people are called on to repent of sin (.2"<), but in general terms. ^ No mention is made of idolatry or formalism, or sensuality, or oppression — the sins so sternly denounced by Amos and Isaiah. (5) The foreign nations denounced as hostile to Israel are the Fhcenicians (3 [Heb. 4] *), the Philistines (ib.), Egypt and Edom (3 [Heb. 4] i'). Refer-ence is also made to the Grecians {'sons of the lonians,' 3 [Heb. 4] «). and the Sabaeans or S. Arabians (3 [Heb. 41 «) as slave-dealera. Assyria, Babylonia, and Aram are neither named. nor alluded to. (6) The history of Judah and Jeru-salem includes a national catastrophe when the people of Jahweh were scattered among the nations and the land of Jahweh was divided amongst new settlers ^3 [Heb. 4] *). (7) This book of 73 veraes contains 27 expressions or clauses to which parallels, more or less close, can be adduced from other OT writings, mainly prophetic. In 12 passages there is verbal or almost verbal correspondence: cf. li*^ and Ezk 302'-; liS'i and Is 13«; 2? and Zeph l"; 2= and Nah 2i» [Heb."]; 2" and Ex 34«; 2'« and 2S 1222; 227b and Ezk 36" etc.; 22" and Is 45"- 18; 28"' [Heb. 3<], and Mai 4^ [Heb. 328]: 232 peb. 33] and Ob "; 3 [Heb. 4] '« and Am 12; 3 [Heb. 4] 1 and Jer 33'^ etc. In two other places there is con-trast as well as parallelism. 22* [Heb. 3<] answera to Ezk 392», but the latter has 'on the house of Israel,* the former 'on all flesh,' and 3 [Heb. 4] "> is the reverse of Is 2fi and Mic 48. The last clause of 2i8 is found also in Jon 42 in the same connexion and nowhere else. (8) The Heb. exhibits some features which are more common in late than in the earlier literature. There are a few Aiamaisms: ^dlah 'lament' (18): soph 'hinder part' (2^) iorqets; the Hiphil of ndchath 3 nieb. 4] "), and rotnach {3 [Heb. 4] '")— a word of Aramaic affinities; and several expressions often met with in late writers. Still, it is not advisable to lay much stress on this point.

With these facts before them critics have concluded that the book must be either very early or late. Many, led by Credner, found evidence of pre-exilic date, and most of these, after him, selected the minority of Joash of Judah (c. B.C. 737). KOnig prefers the latter part of the reign of Josiah (b.c. 640-609). Recent critics with a few exceptions (Orelll, Kirkpatrick, Volck, ai;d to some extent Baudissin) regard the book as post-exilic: c. B.C. 500 (Driver, but not without hesitation); after the reforms of Ezra and Nehemiah (E. Kautzsch, W. R. Smith, G. A. Smith on the whole, Marti, the school of Kueneu, Nowack, Cornill, and Horton). Positive decision between these widely divergent views is at present impossible. Much can be said, as Baudissin has recently shown, in favour of a pre-exilic date, which, it proved, would modify our conception of the growth of Israelitish religion; but several points seem to strongly favour post-exilic origin: the religious atmosphere, the political situation in so far as it can be discerned, reference to the Greeks, and the literary parallelisms, most of which are more intelligible on the assumption of borrowing by Joel than vice versa.

4. Interpretation. — The ancient Jews, as represented by the Targum, and the Fathers, who have been followed by Pusey, Hengstenberg, and others, to some extent even by Merx, regarded the locusts of the Book of Joel as not literal but symbolic. That view, however, is now generally abandoned. The seemingly extrava-gant descriptions of the locust-swarms, and the havoc wrought by them, have been confirmed In almost every point by modern observers. What Is said about their number (18), the darkness they cause (2'°), their resemblance to horses (2'), the noise they make

JOHN

in flight and when feeding (2'), their irresistible advance (2"'-), their amazing destructiveness (!'• ""'■ 2*), and the burnt appearance of a region which they have ravaged (28"'') — can hardly be pronounced exaggerated in view of the evidence collected by Pusey, Driver, G. A. Smith, and other commentators. The colouring of the picture is no doubt Oriental and poetic, but when allowance is made for that, it is seen to be wonderfully true to life. The description of the locusts as 'the northern army ' (22») is Indeed stiU unexplained, but is insufficient of itself to overthrow the literal interpreta-tion. On the apocalyptic character of the latter portion of the book there is general agreement.

6. Doctrine. — As compared with some of the other prophetic writings, say with Deutero-Isalah and Jonah, the Book of Joel as a whole is particularistic. The writer's hopes of a glorious future seem limited to Judah and Jerusalem, and perhaps the Dispersion (282 [Heb. 3»]). On the other hand, it is remarkable that the outpouring of the Spirit is promised to 'all flesh,' not merely to ' the house of Israel ' — a general way of stating the promise which made the NT application possible (Ac 218B-). So the book may be said to contain a germ of universaUsm. Its other most striking char-acteristic, from the doctrinal standpoint, is the im-portance attached to ritual and the priesthood, and the comparatively slight stress laid on conduct. Still, it is here that we find the caustic words: ' Rend your heart and not your garments' (2'8).

6. Style. — In style the Book of Joel takes a very high place In Hebrew literature. It is throughout clearly, elegantly, and forcefully written. Skilful use is made of parallelism — note the five short clauses in l'»; of Oriental hyperbole (2s»'- [Heb. 38']); and of word-play, e.g. shuddadh sadheh 'the field is wasted' (1"), yabhtshu . . . hdbhlsh 'are withered ... is ashamed' (1'2), shdd mish-shaddai ' destruction from the Almighty ' (1'8), and the play on the verb sMphat and the name Jeho-shapJmt in 3 [Heb. 4] 2. «). w. Tatloh Smith.

JOELAH. — A warrior who joined David at Ziklag (1 Ch 12').

JOEZER.— One of David's followers at Ziklag (1 Ch 128).

J06BEHAH.— A town of Gad in Gilead (Nu 328s), named also in connexion with Gideon's pursuit of the Midianltes (Jg 8"). It Is the present ruin el-JubeihOt (or Ajbelhat), N.W. from Rabbath-ammon, and about midway between that place and es-Sault.

JOGLI. — The Danite chief who took part in the division of the land (Nu 3422).

JOHA.— 1. A Benjamite (1 Ch 8i«). 2. One of David's heroes (1 Ch H«).

JOHANAN,— 1. 2 K 2528, Jer 40*-438, the son of Kareah, chief of 'the captains of the forces,' who after the fall of Jerusalem joined Gedaliah at Mizpah. After the murder of GedaUah he pursued Ishmael and the other conspirators, recovered the captives, and, in spite of the protest of Jeremiah, carried them to Egypt. 2. A son of Josiah (1 Ch 3")- 3. 1 Ch 324 a post-exiUc prince of the Une of David. 4. 1 Ch 69- 1« a high priest. 5. 6. 1 Ch 12'- '2 two warriors who came to David to Ziklag, a Benjamite and a Gadite respectively. 7. Ezr 8'2 (Joannes, 1 Es 888) one of those who returned with Ezra. 8. 2 Ch 2812 an Ephraimite. 9. See Jonathan, No. 7, and Jehohanan, No. 3.

JOHN. — 1. The father of Mattathias, and grand-father of the five Maccabaean brothers (1 Mac 2'). 2. The eldest son of Mattathias (1 Mac 22). In b.c. 161 he was slain by the 'sons of Jambri' (1 Mac 9^-"). In 2 Mac 822, and perhaps again 10", he is by mistake called Joseph. 3. The father of Eupolemus (1 Mac 8", 2 Mac 4"), who was sent by Judas Maccabseus as an ambassador to Rome. 4. An envoy sent by the Jews to treat with Lysias (2 Mac 11"). 6. One of the sons of

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