Joel 1:1-14 | November 14, 2023

Context

The book of Joel is a bit of a conundrum. There's no tangible dating device within the text that allows us to know when it was written. Scholars are a little all over the place with the dating. Some place it as late as the early ninth century B.C.E while others place it as early as the third century B.C.E. This varied dating makes interpreting the events of the book more difficult and equally varied. Are the locust described in our passage - and throughout the book - literal or figurative? Is the book describing an invading army of humans or describing a plague of locus like an invading army. It's not entirely clear and how you answer those questions will dictate how you understand the book.

All Is Lost

The book starts with this description of total destruction by wave after wave of locusts. Invasions of locusts as described in this passage are not unheard of, there are several well documented descriptions of invasions in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Overwhelming invasions have largely stopped, but the stories of these invasions persist. The important thing to keep in mind with the invasion is that everything that grows is consumed. An agrarian society without agriculture is in a difficult position. There is no food for human or animal. The humans suffer from starvation as do the livestock and wild animals. There is no economy because the agriculture used to produce income has been destroyed. What do you do when everything has been lost?

Surely there's a time of mourning that comes along with losing everything. Mourning is a constant state for most of us, we don't realize it, but we are constantly mourning the loss of people and things. We notice it most when a major figure in our life - a family member, close friend, or pet - departs this world, but everyday is has some minor bit of mourning to it. So, when the people of Israel lose everything from a natural disaster it only makes sense that they would spend some time in mourning. This is a major event and a significant harm to their lives.

Thoughts and Prayers

In the midst of this sort of loss our thoughts move to two primary places: guilt and relief. Whose fault is this thing and who can make it better. In the case of Israel in this passage it depends on how you understand the book. The fault is perhaps Israel's rejection of God or perhaps their lack of care for the people they have been called to care for or it is a freak act of nature - in which case it's not really anybodies fault. I tend to think this was a natural disaster and not, as some might call it, an act of God. Finding a guilty party doesn't really help the situation.

The other impulse is to look for relief, how do we make this better. For as long as people have existed we've been looking to the heavens when disaster strikes. When guilt is unavailable we look to the unseen powers of the supernatural to relieve our frustration and pain. Powerlessness breeds spirituality and spirituality reminds us of our powerlessness. So when we find ourselves in a situation that is unthinkable and in many cases too big to be fully understood that we have no power over we are drawn to the supernatural. That's what the people of Israel are called to do - mourn, fast, call out to God.

Reflection

There are a couple things about this passage that come to mind for me. First is climate change and the ongoing disaster across the world. While the sort of locust invasions described in this passage don't happen anymore, we are seeing similar destruction all over the world due to the ways the climate is changing. Places are becoming uninhabitable due to rising seas and increased heat. I saw yesterday that Australia and Tuvalu have reached an agreement that provides a special kind of visa for people leaving Tuvalu because the ocean is overwhelming their country. Climate change is not stopping and people's lives are being destroyed because of it. While there are things that we can do about it, it does seem a bit bigger than us. In this area, crying out to God for relief seems entirely plausible. It is a crisis of global proportions and will require a response equally (if not greater than) as large.

Secondly, I think about the current way the idea of 'thoughts and prayers' has been deployed for crises. While it is entirely logical to call out to God when a tragedy hits, God also calls us to action. So often now the phrase is used to indicate an unwillingness to find a solution to the issue - to throw up our hands in despair. Whether it's gun violence or climate change we are called to more than just thoughts and prayer. We are called to use what we have - be that talents or money or time or anything else useful - to help alleviate the crisis. Prayer is a useful tool, but so is faithful action. They need to be paired together for their greatest strength to be achieved.

Questions

• Where am I mourning today?
• What aspects of life are bringing me existential pain?
• What is that pain telling me?
• How can I be of help in the crises around me?
• What tragedies need my prayers today?