Sunday Lectionary: Harvest & The Book of Joel
Welcome to this edition of lectionary notes! On Thursday (07/10) I will be giving a talk over zoom about my research into the widows of the Old Testament, so if that’s something you’d be interested in you can find tickets here! It would be wonderful to have you.
The book of the prophet Joel is an excellent choice for celebrating the harvest, as some of us will be doing in our churches this weekend.
The text is full of references to the natural world and imagery related to the fruitfulness of harvest. It makes for colourful reading and there are an array of things to preach on.
Joel, the prophet, watercolor circa 1896–1902 by James Tissot
Genre and Context
The book of Joel is notoriously difficult to date. Unlike others of the minor prophets, it does not refer to any historical events which indicate when it might have been written. Scholars have suggested that it should be dated to all kinds of points between the ninth and the fourth centuries BCE. It does, however, bear similarities to material from Isaiah, Ezekiel and Amos indicating that it was written some time in the fourth or fifth centuries.1
It fits well within the genre of prophetic texts, but some scholars have also suggested that it is ‘proto-apocalyptic’.2 This means that it is an early form of ‘apocoalyptic’ literature, a category of texts to which things like Daniel, Isaiah 24-27 and Ezekiel 38-38 belong.
The term ‘apocalyptic’ comes from the Greek word ἀποκάλυψις (apokalupsis) meaning ‘unveiling’ or ‘uncovering’. Apocalyptic texts are universal in scope – often describing the glory of the heavens being unveiled to the earth and revealing the grand scheme of creation. Natural events and human-made events collide, and the effects are dramatic. Think of, for example, the dual strands of political events and universe shaking visions and prophesy in the book of Daniel.
In the case of Joel, we can see the apocalyptic aspects of the text first in the declaration in 1:15 that ‘the day of the Lord is near!’. The ‘day of the Lord’ appears in other texts in the Hebrew Bible, and usually refers to a great unveiling (or, apocalypse!) of God’s power.3
Chapter 2 describes the day of the Lord as bringing thunder, fire, and the coming of a great and powerful people. This text is a great example of the dramatic nature of apocalyptic literature.
Joel 2:21-27
What could all of this possibly have to do with the harvest?
The book of Joel uses imagery from the natural world, particularly the harvest, to reflect on what we might call eschatological ideas of fulfilment. ‘Eschatology’ comes from the Greek word eschaton, meaning ‘end’. Eschatological fulfilment is a way of framing the way in which at the end of all things, there will be a profound ‘rightness’. As the book of Revelation says, this is a time in which we can look forward to every tear being be wiped away (21:4).
Joel 2:23-24 refers to things like ‘abundant rain’, threshing floors which are ‘full of grain’ and vats which ‘over flow’ with wine and oil. Here, the harvest has been plentiful. The earth, which belongs to the Lord but which humanity is invited to tend and keep, has brought forth increase and there is plenty for everyone. This is a picture of fulfilment.
Often, famine imagery is used in texts which were written during particularly different times. A good example of this is Habbakuk 3:17-18 which says;
‘Though the fig tree does not blossom,
and no fruit is on the vines;
though the produce of the olive fails
and the fields yield no food;
though the flock is cut off from the fold
and there is no herd in the stalls,
18 yet I will rejoice in the LORD;
I will exult in the God of my salvation’
The imagery used at the end of Joel 2 is the opposite of this. The prophet has been given a vision of a time of fulness and plenty in which the people will rejoice over all that the Lord has done for them.
v26 says ‘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.’
The book of Joel offers wonderful images of plenty and fulfilment, reminding us both of the goodness of the earth and God’s promise that at the end of all things there will no longer be want or scarcity on the earth. As Julian of Norwich says, in the end ‘all things shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well’.
For further thinking:
1) How do the themes of plenty in the book of Joel, and the theme of harvest help us to think about justice in a world where not everyone has enough?
2) In the New Testament reading for this Sunday, Jesus says ‘do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink…’ (Mt 6:25). How might the themes explored in the Joel passage encourage us to trust in God’s provision?
3) How can the idea of eschatological fulfilment and the plenty encourage us in our day to day lives?
Eg. 1:5 bears a similarity to Isa 13:6 and Ezek 20:2-3. Chapter 3 has parallels with prophetic material such as Micah 4:1-4, 2 Chron 20:20-26, Amos 1:2 and 9:13
Cook, Stephen L., ‘Apocalyptic Writings’, in The Cambridge Companion to the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament, ed. by Stephen B. Chapman and Marvin A. Sweeney, 1st edn (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2016), pp. 331–48, p 332
The ‘Day of the Lord’ appears in places such as Isaiah 2:12, Amos 5:18-20 and Malachi 4:2