Exposition on Joel -28- Verses 19-20

     And finally in the last two verses of the first oracle of Joel, likely because the people themselves would not heed the call, Joel himself began to pray. Here he modeled the character of a prayer of repentance. First he called on the name of the Lord. It was only the might of the Almighty that could have delivered the people from their sorrows. Then he acknowledged several effect God’s judgment had made. Joel modeled sensitivity to God’s work before the people—he acknowledged that God had done this and only God could undo it. In verses 19 and 20 Joel also introduced another means for the destruction inflicted on the land and the people. He spoke of fire and burning. One could conclude that Joel referenced the destruction of an army of men here. Another conclusion is that the description of fire is a way of emphasizing the “Supernatural” component of this calamity. Perhaps God sent down fire to consume what little bit of the fields was left after being ravaged by an army of locust or men or both. More likely it was the type of devastation caused by wildfires. They are particularly difficult to manage in drought conditions and they are almost expected. That sort of destruction was still attributable exclusively to natural means. Of course, we can’t ignore the next mention of these fires in 2:3a. Whether it’s a metaphor or an actual fire set by the pillaging foreign army, Joel used the image to insight fear in the hearts of his audience. Remember that a big part of Joel’s intention over the last 20 verses was to hammer into the heads of the Judeans that this is God’s calamity, it was God’s judgment that they were facing. If the people could convince themselves that this was just another devastating year of droughts, wildfires and locust swarms then their consciences might escape the purpose of this catastrophe. So I believe that the emphasis on the shriveling seed and dried grain in v. 17 and on the consuming fire here in verses 19 and 20 is a way Joel used to point out the reason behind the reasons for their suffering. He once again called the people’s attention to the uniqueness of this event, even going so far as to relate it to the tragedy of that final Day, the DotL back in v. 15. But we get to look forward to the restoration. In just 18 more verses we will see God turning the sword into plowshare and the fire in water as it were. So we rejoice not in the calamity but through it because of the promises of God, though we sometimes misinterpret them, are being fulfilled in Christ.