Joel 2:1

This chapter begins with the announcement that "the day of Jehovah cometh," and the summons of all of the people to a solemn convocation in the presence of God (Joel 2:1-3). There is a strong eschatological overtone in Joel 2:1, a note which is echoed again and again in the chapter. "The eschatological warning already sounded in Joel 1:15 is several times repeated (Joel 2:1,2,10,11)."[1] "A more terrific judgment than that of the locusts is foretold, under imagery drawn from that of the calamity then engrossing the afflicted nation."[2] Next comes a description of the threatened judgment, "in metaphors more distinctly military in nature,"[3] (Joel 2:4-11). A solemn appeal for genuine heart-felt repentance is then made, based upon the premise that, "Who knoweth whether he (God) will repent, and leave a blessing behind him?" (Joel 2:12-14). The call for a solemn assembly is repeated (Joel 2:15-17); a reaffirmation of God's care for his people and a promise of his blessing are given (Joel 2:15-20); a continued affirmation of the favored status of Israel as God's chosen people appears (Joel 2:21-27); and, finally, the chapter has, "a promise of the Holy Spirit in the last days under the Messiah, and the deliverance of all believers in Him,"[4] (Joel 2:28-32). This last paragraph is written as a separate chapter in the Hebrew Bible, giving four chapters instead of three in that version of Joel.

Joel 2:1

"Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in my holy mountain; let all the inhabitants of the land tremble: for the day of Jehovah cometh, for it is nigh at hand.

"Blow ye the trumpet in Zion ..." This verse interprets the awful calamity that had come upon the people, "as a warning of `the day of Jehovah' which was to come, the dawn of which was already breaking."[5] The blowing of the trumpet was used in the early history of Israel to call the people to the door of the tent of meeting (the tabernacle) during the wilderness wanderings, as a signal to start their journey from one station to another, or as means of calling the people together for a great assembly. This "horn blowing" therefore became a symbol connected with such occasions in all the subsequent history of Israel, and at times long after there was any possibility that "all the inhabitants of the land" would actually be able literally to hear the sound of a trumpet blown in Jerusalem. The N.T. writers extended the imagery of this "blowing of the trumpet" in a number of references to the final judgment, a usage that goes back to Christ himself who said, "And he shall send forth his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other" (Matthew 24:31). (See 1 Corinthians 15:52; 1 Thessalonians 4:16; and Hebrews 12:19). In the light of this, how unreasonable are the interpretations which insist that because of Joel's using this figure, the entire nation of the Jews was only a small community when he wrote, and actually living within earshot of Jerusalem! This is one of those "interpretations" relied upon heavily as evidence of a late post-exilic date.

"Sound an alarm in my holy mountain ..." The holy mountain here is the same as Zion, both being poetic references to the high hill (2,539 feet above sea level)[6] in Jerusalem upon which the temple was built. It was also called Mount Moriah and is the same as the mountain where Abraham offered up Isaac, and where David returned the ark of the covenant from Obed-Edom, and where the cross of the Son of God was lifted up. As Deane said, "This mountain was the visible symbol of the divine presence";[7] and therefore the spiritual impact of this blowing of the trumpet (or ram's horn) had the effect of a summons for the people to stand in the presence of the Lord.

"Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble ..." Perhaps those whose place of residence made it possible for them would also have actually assembled in the city of Jerusalem.

"For the day of Jehovah cometh, for it is nigh at hand ..." (For discussion of "the day of Jehovah," see under Joel 1:15.) To the prophets of the O.T., and even the N.T. for that matter, "the day of the Lord" is always "at hand," the same being profoundly true, if the expression be understood as signaling the impending judgment of God upon the grossly wicked, or if it is taken as a reference to that great and final day, when Almighty God shall rise in righteous wrath and throw evil out of his universe. The first is always an earnest of the second. No greater misunderstanding of the Sacred Scriptures is current in the world today than the notion that Christ himself, and all of his apostles, thought that "the end of the world" was just around the corner. Christ indeed mentioned "the end of the world" in Matthew 28:10, but he certainly did not indicate that that event was impending or immediate. The "day of the Lord" and the "day of judgment," in its last and final manifestation will indeed evidently occur at the end of the world; but the widespread assumption that every N.T. reference to such things as "the day of the Lord," "the day of judgment, or the coming of Christ (in judgment) is a certain reference to the end of time is absolutely incorrect. Many cities, nations and peoples have already experienced "the day of the Lord," as did Tyre, Sidon, Sodom, Gomorrah, Nineveh, Babylon, Jerusalem and Rome; and doubtless many others will also yet pass through similar "judgments" before the actual "end of time" is reached.