The Day of the LORD: Havoc from Shaddai

Above:  Joel

Image in the Public Domain

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READING JOEL, PART II

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Joel 1:2-2:17

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Alas for the day!

For the day of the LORD is near;

It shall come like havoc from Shaddai.

–Joel 1:15, TANAKH:  The Holy Scriptures (1985)

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Locusts have been afflictions in northern Africa and the Near East since antiquity.  They have consumed food and grapes, and devastated lives and livelihoods.

Despite some exegetical interpretations of the locusts in Joel 1:2-2:17 as metaphors for invading armies, one may reasonably read “locusts” as referring to locusts.  The four names for locusts have a rhetorical effect and refer to the life cycle and/or manner of eating of locusts.  The infestation of locusts in Joel 1:2-2:17 is especially devastating.  It is so severe that the text likens the swarm to an invading army on the feared Day of the LORD.

The text calls on priests to lament before God, whom the text portrays as following divine orders.  The text explains the swarm of locusts as divine punishment for human sins, hence the calls for lamentation and repentance (2:12-14).

I object strongly.  I recall certain right-wing, homophobic televangelists explaining the devastation of Hurricane Katrina (2005) as divine wrath for alleged moral laxity.  Locusts go where they will.  God does not direct the paths of hurricanes.  I doubt that any deity who would six hurricanes or swarms of locusts on populations is capable of being merciful.

Joel’s concept of God is not my concept of God.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

JULY 16, 2021 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF THE RIGHTEOUS GENTILES

THE FEAST OF CATHERINE LOUISA MARTHENS, FIRST LUTHERAN DEACONESS CONSECRATED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, 1850

THE FEAST OF GEORGE ALFRED TAYLOR RYGH, U.S. LUTHERAN MINISTER AND HYMN WRITER

THE FEAST OF HENRY WILLIAMS, ANGLICAN MISSIONARY IN NEW ZEALAND; HIS WIFE, MARIANNE WILLIAMS, ANGLICAN MISSIONARY AND EDUCATOR IN NEW ZEALAND; HER SISTER-IN-LAW, JANE WILLIAMS, ANGLICAN MISSIONARY AND EDUCATOR IN NEW ZEALAND; AND HER HUSBAND AND HENRY’S BROTHER, WILLIAM WILLAMS, ANGLICAN BISHOP OF WAIAPU

THE FEAST OF SAINT MARY MAGDALEN POSTEL, FOUNDER OF THE POOR DAUGHTERS OF MERCY

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