Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 13.djvu/740

J O H J H But the structure of the book, the symbolism, and the con nexion of the prophet s thoughts have given rise to much controversy. It seems safest to start from the fact that the prophecy is divided into two well-marked sections by chap. ii. 18, 19a. According to the Massoretic vocaliza tion, which is in harmony with the most ancient exegetical tradition as contained in the LXX., these words are his torical : " Then the Lord was jealous, . . . and answered and said unto his people, Behold," &c. Such is the natural meaning of the words as pointed, and the proposal of Merx to change the pointing so as to transform the perfects into futures, and make the priests pray that Jehovah will answer and deliver the gracious promises that fill the rest of the book, is an exegetical monstrosity not likely to find adherents. Thus tho book falls into two parts. In the first the prophet speaks in his own name, addressing himself to the people in a lively description of a present calamity caused by a terrible plague of locusts which threatens the entire destruction of the country, and appears to be the vehicle of a final consuming judgment (the day of Jehovah). There is no hope save in repentance and prayer ; and in chap. ii. 12 the prophet, speaking now for the first time in Jehovah s name, calls the people to a solemn fast at the sanctuary, and invites the intercession of the priests. The calamity is described in the strongest colours of Hebrew hyperbole, and it seems arbitrary to seek too literal an interpretation of details, e.g., to lay weight on the four names of locusts, or to take chap. i. 20 of a conflagration produced by drought, when it appears from ii. 3 that the ravages of the locusts themselves are compared to those of fire. But when due allowance is made for Eastern rhetoric, there is no occasion to seek in this section anything else than literal locusts, Nay, the allegorical interpretation, which takes the locusts to be hostile invaders, breaks through the laws of all reason able writing ; for the poetical hyperbole which compares the invading swarms to an army (ii. 4 sq.) would be in conceivably lame if a literal army was already concealed under the figure of the locusts. Nor could the prophet so far forget himself in his allegory as to speak of a victorious host as entering the conquered city like a thief (ii. 9). The second part of the book is Jehovah s answer to the people s prayer. The answer begins with a promise of deliverance from famine, and of fruitful seasons compensat ing for the ravages of the locusts. In the new prosperity of the land the union of Jehovah and His people shall be sealed anew, and so the Lord will proceed to pour down further and higher blessings. The aspiration of Moses (Num. xi. 29) and the hope of earlier prophets (Isa, xxxii. 15, Hx. 21 ; comp. Jer. xxxi. 33) shall be fully realized in the outpouring of the Spirit on all the Jews and even upon their servants (compare Isa. Ixi. 5 with Ivi. 6, 7) ; and then the great day of judgment, which had seemed to overshadow Jerusalem in the now averted plague, shall draw near with awful tokens of blood and fire and darkness. But the terrors of that day are not for the Jews but for their enemies. The worshippers of Jehovah on Zion shall be delivered (comp. Obad. ver. 17, whose words Joel expressly quotes in chap. ii. 32), and it is their heathen enemies, assembled before Jerusalem to war against Jehovah, who shall be mowed down in the valley of Jehoshaphat (Jehovah jwJgeth) by no human arm but by heavenly warriors. Thus definitively freed from the profane foot of the stranger (comp. Isa. lii. 1), Jerusalem shall abide a holy city for ever. The fertility of the land shall be such as was long ago predicted in Amos ix. 13, and streams issuing from the temple, as Ezekiel had described in his picture of the restored Jerusalem (Ezek. xlvii.), shall fertilize the bar ren Wady of Acacias. Egypt and Edom, on the other hand, shall be desolate, because they have shed the blood of Jehovah s innocents. Compare the similar predictions against Edom, Isa. xxxiv, 9 sq. (Mai. i. 3), and against Egypt, Isa. xix. 5 tq., Ezek. xxix. Joel s eschatological picture appears indeed to be largely a combination of elements from older unfulfilled prophecies. Its central feature, the assembling of the nations to judgment, is already found in Zeph. iii. 8, and in Ezekiel s prophecy concerning Gog and Magog, where the wonders of fire and blood named in Joel ii. 30 are also mentioned (Ez. xxxviii. 22). The other physical features of the great day, the darkening of the lights of heaven, are a standing figure of the prophets from Amos v. 6, viii. 9, downwards. It is characteristic of the prophetic eschatology that images suggested by one prophet are adopted by his successors, and gradually become part of the permanent scenery of the last times ; and it is a proof of the late date of Joel that almost his whole picture is made up of such features. In this respect there is a close parallelism, extending to minor details, between Joel and the last chapters of Zechariah. That Joel s delineation of the final deliverance and glory attaches itself directly to the deliverance of the nation from a present calamity is quite in the manner of the so-called prophetic perspective. But the fact that the calamity which bulks so largely is natural and not political is charac teristic of the post-exile period. Other prophets of the same age speak much of dearth and failure of crops, which in Palestine then as now were aggravated by bad govern ment, and were far more serious to a small and isolated community than they could ever have been to the old kingdom. It was indeed by no means impossible that Jerusalem might have been altogether undone by the famine caused by the locusts ; and so the conception of these visitants as the destroying army, executing Jehovah s final judgment, is really much more natural than appears to us at first sight, and does not need to be explained away by allegory. The chief argument relied upon by those who still find allegory at least in chap. ii. is the expression ODVn, "the Northener," in ii. 20. In view of the other points of affinity between Joel and Ezekiel, this word inevitably suggests Gog and Magog, and it is difficult to see how a swarm of locusts could receive such a name, or if they came from the north could perish, as the verse puts it, in the desert between the Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. The verse remains a crux interpretum, and no exegesis hitherto given can be deemed thoroughly satis factory ; but the interpretation of the whole book must not be made to hinge on a single word in a verse which might be altogether removed without affecting the general course of the prophet s argument. The whole verse is perhaps the addition of an allegorizing glossator. The prediction in ver. 19, that the seasons shall hence forth be fruitful, is given after Jehovah has shown His zeal and pity for Israel, not of course by mere words, but by acts, as appears in verses 20, 21, where the verbs are properly perfects recording that Jehovah hath already done great things, and that vegetation has already revived. In other words, the mercy already experienced in the removal of the plague is taken as a pledge of future grace not to stop short till all God s old promises are fulfilled. In this con text ver. 20 is out of place. Observe also that in ver. 25 the locusts are spoken of in the plain language of chap. i. For tho literature on Joel in common with the other minor prophets, see HOSKA. There are separate commentaries by Credner (Halle, 3831), Wiinsclie (Leips., 1872), Merx (Halle, 1879). The last-named gives an elaborate history of interpretation from the SeptuHgint down to Calvin, and appends the Ethiopia text edited by Dillmann. Of older commentaries the most valuable is Pococke s (Oxford, 1G91). Bochart s Hierozoicon may also be consulted. (W. II. S.) JOHN, the Apostle (jan v, "Jehovah hath been gracious"), was the son of Zebedee, a Galihoan fisherman, and Salome. It is probable that he was born at Bethsaida, where along with his brother James he followed his father s occupation. The family appear to have been in easy cir cumstances ; at least we find that Zebedee employed hired servants, and that Salome was among the number of those