Joel 1.0: The Bigger Picture

The Book of Joel in light of the greater redemptive narrative.
The Minor prophets give us twelve unique variations on the general theme of Israel’s failure to love their God more than anything else: they were unfaithful lovers with hearts quick to turn from their true Love. They whored after other gods and lived immorally. They were disinterested in the things of God becoming dull in their love relationship with the Father. Their repeated wayward rebellion resulted in judgment: not only because of their actions but ultimately their failure to trust and believe in the provision and promises of God. When studying a minor prophet like Joel we tend to dial in on Israel’s failings, their idolatry, and inability to live up to their covenant responsibility.  The study of Joel can quickly become about how bad behavior and disobedience resulted in bad consequences. In this way, It’s easy to narrow the scope of a book like Joel to the immediate historical context of the nation of Israel and lose sight of the bigger story and purpose for God’s chosen people. As a consequence, we tend to reduce the story of Joel to something like this: “God’s people did something to provoke God’s cursing and Joel’s telling them to change their ways or something worse will happen!” This isn’t  an inaccurate statement its limiting. Yes, Israel has sinned against God. Their outward idolatry and law breaking behavior expressed the contents of their sinful untrusting hearts. Israel's sin created a vertical consequence between them and their God and a horizontal one between them and the nations. This horizontal sin is the missional failure of Israel. This failure of Israel is an important aspect of the greater redemptive narrative amplifying the effects and consequences of sin for Joel’s generation,  historical Israel, and the Nations of the world.