Joel 2:23-32; And the Rains Return

"O children of Zion, be glad and rejoice in the Lord your God; for he has given the early rain for your vindication, he has poured down for you abundant rain, the early and the later rain, as before. 24 The threshing floors shall be full of grain, the vats shall overflow with wine and oil. 25 I will repay you for the years that the swarming locust has eaten, the hopper, the destroyer, and the cutter, my great army, which I sent against you. 26 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. 27 You shall know that I am in the midst of Israel, and that I, the Lord, am your God and there is no other. And my people shall never again be put to shame.

28 Then afterward I will pour out my spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions. 29 Even on the male and female slaves, in those days, I will pour out my spirit. 30 I will show portents in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and columns of smoke. 31 The sun shall be turned to darkness, and the moon to blood, before the great and terrible day of the Lord comes. 32 Then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved; for in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be those who escape, as the Lord has said, and among the survivors shall be those whom the Lord calls."

I. Introduction

The last five verses of this passage are familiar to Christians because they are quoted in two places in the NT. Peter quotes almost the whole of 2:28-32 to explain the the outpouring of the Spirit on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2: 17-21) while Paul quotes from the first part of v. 32 in making his argument about the nature of salvation in Rom. 10:13. Thus, whenever Christians hear this passage from Joel we ignore the first five verses (23-27) and quickly rush to "Christianize" the rest. In so doing, in my judgment, we lose the literary and theological intensity of Joel 2:23-27. Today I hope to restore a balance in our reading of this portion of Joel by expositing only Joel 2:23-27. I will do so under three heads: (1) The Rains Return; (2) The Restoration of the Years; (3) The Removal of Shame. By mastering your "3 R's" from this passage, you will be in a better position to understand the "Spirit" of 2:28-32.

II. The Rains Return (2:23-24)

Joel prophesied during a time of significant drought and locust infestation. He saw the devastating results around him, and he used the physical reality created by the locus infestation to inform his understanding of what was wrong spiritually with Israel. The fields languished, as did the people of Israel. Lamentation fills the people (1:6); even religious rituals are abandoned because the basic elements to offer in the ritual, grain and drink, are in such short supply (1:6-7). The devouring attack of the locusts is emblematic of an inner cancer eating away at the people of Israel.

Hence, they are told to "sanctify a fast" and "call a solemn assembly" (2:15). In words that are familiar to some Christians because the words have been incorporated into the Ash Wednesday liturgy, Joel urges the people to weep and ask God to spare the people. Restoration is possible, and indeed, God promises to send grain, wine and oil so that the people will be satisfied (2:19). Here is where our passage opens.

Our passage is one of promise. The people are to rejoice proleptically (i.e., ahead of the actual receipt of blessing) because God has already decided to bring back the rains. The clouds may be no larger than a man's hand, as the Elijah narrative says, but they will be thick with rain and with blessings. In words that are difficult to translate, the author literally says, "Because he has given you the early rain for righteousness" (v. 23). With some commentators I think this points to the righteousness/justice of God and not, as the NRSV translates, "for your vindication." The rains return and they mirror or illustrate the justice of God. The Hebrew text is pretty vivid here. We have early rains and latter rains and "gushers" (the Hebrew word geshem for "torrent" reminds me of it!); the people will be restored as formerly. Crops which dried up will be restored; wine and oil will overflow. Indeed, the word for "overflow" in v. 24 is different from but similar-sounding to the word for "pour out" the Spirit in v. 28 (shuk vs. shapak). Perhaps the rich overflow of good things is symbolic of the Spirit that now flows richly.

Whenever you live in a culture highly dependent on rain, its absence is like the hiding of God's face. We are dismayed (cf. Ps. 104:29) and return to our dust. But notice the connection, in Ps. 104, between the ground and the spirit:

"When you send forth your spirit, they are created; and you renew the face of the ground...," 104:30.

God's wonderful restoring rain will bring the people completely back to life. It is something most wished for.

III. The Restoration of Years (2:25)

The phrase just given, "the restoration of years" is suggestive of deep psychological realities. The Hebrew word for "restore" in v. 25 is provocative--it is the verb form of shalom, which means "peace." The restoration of years is a form of establishing peace, just like the cleaning of the house or even doing something as mundane as tidying our office can give us a tremendous sense of serenity. But the passage goes on to describe four things that have taken away the sense of peace from the people. These four things are four kinds of locusts, and the words are so rare in Hebrew that no one really knows precisely which kinds of locus they refer to. They are simply denominated the "great army" of God in v. 25. The fourfold pest ate away the people's confidence and hopes, but now the people will be repaid for that loss.

Reflection on this leads to the question, "what have your losses been?" or "what are the locusts that have gnawed away at your security, sense of peace, sense of fulness in life?" Note that the text lists four kinds of the locusts; it encourages us to think quite precisely about the way that specific torments have made life miserable for us. But we don't live in our torments or abide in our distresses. That isn't the last word of the passage; the last word is God's "repayment" for the lost years. But another question surfaces. How can we be repaid when the results of the past are in the "record book," as indelibly written on the pages of history as an ink that cannot be removed? Is it possible to "make peace" with our past, with the ravages that the cutting, hpping and destroying locusts have effected? That is what the text suggests--that God has a way of making peace with or restoring or repaying us for the past devastation. What a challenging and hopeful thought!

IV. Removal of Shame (2:26-27)

Once we are restored, once our past is "repaid," we eat in a celebrative way and praise the name of the Lord (v. 26). But the phrase repeated twice in this passage (26, 27) is that shame will be removed forever. Literally the text says, "and they shall not be ashamed with me forever." The meaning of the phrase is that once the restoration comes, the repaying of the years, that shame will also be removed. But I am glad that the text emphasized this point, since shame is often a concomitant of loss. When we lose, we feel as if life has lost its vitality for us. We can blame others for the loss, but often we internalize the pain and secretly (or not so secretly) blame ourselves. We feel ashamed at our loss, at the poverty in our lives. Restoration may remove the external signs of loss, by allowing us, as the text says, to "eat in plenty and be satisfied," but lingering feelings of shame might still accompany us. That is why I am glad the text says, twice, that the people of God will never again be put to shame. The shame or embarrassment or feelings of inadequacy or deep disgrace will also be removed.

Conclusion

With all these promises, we scarcely need the assurances of 2:28-32. But we have them, too. An embarrassment of riches fills our souls as we realize the power of restoration in our lives. We certainly can do a lot of things to "prepare" ourselves for it, but only God can bring the rains; only God can chase away the locusts. May that be true for you and your people.

2976