The book of Joel is an interesting study because it defies much of what we would expect from a prophet sent from almighty God. There is very little known about the man, Joel. Other than his name and his father’s name, we know nothing else about him. Because of it’s lack of historical information, the book is hard to date. Very little is mentioned about the cultural circumstances of the day. But most shocking is that Joel provides very little remedy for rebellious Israel. It is clear in the book that God is angry with His people, but Joel never comes out and directly answers the question as to why. He cries consistently for repentance, but repentance from what? Why would God preserve such a book and what would the Lord have us to learn?

Joel’s silence screams with a theological principle that we should grasp early in our Christian life. The Bible is more about God than it is about man. The reason why scholars struggle to identify a purpose for the book is because by nature we as modern man strive to identify with ancient man. But those human details have been stripped out of the book leaving us with a clear understanding of the character of God. Here’s what we know of Him through Joel:

God knows the human heart and our stewardship over His grace (1:6). Not only does God know, but He deserves the right to manage and reclaim His creation, as is evidenced in the plague of chapter 1 and the invading army of chapter 2. We also learn that nothing will satisfy God but genuine repentance, regardless of the sin, and that this repentance is genuine and from the heart (2:12-19). We rejoice that we discover that God is One of second chances and promises restoration to those who are responsive (2:20-27), often with more spiritual outpouring than was available before our conflict with sin (2:28-31). Even more, in the end, God stands as supreme protector and avenger on behalf of His children (chapter 3).

Our individual identity becomes insignificant if we desire to exalt Him. Our focus of the Word of God is the God of the Word, a view difficult to obtain in our humanistic world. And God is serious about His reign and rule over the affairs of His people—over you and over me. We could say that Joel has set the tone for how we see God in His Word. May God see fit for me to be a mystery man with a masterful message.