The little book of Joel has a big part to play in the overall story of the Hebrew Scripture. Its purpose is to warn of God's impending judgment against the people of Judah because of their sins, and to urge them to turn back to God. The book is written by Joel, the son of Pethuel, and it is directed toward the southern kingdom, and God's people everywhere.

The book itself is one of the literary gems of the Hebrew Scriptures. It is written and built up with care and dramatic effect. There are surely other prophets who write with greater passion and greater power; but there is hardly a writer in the Hebrew Scripture who shows proof of such careful and detailed and exquisite pains to give his work literary polish as does Joel.

We know very little about Joel. We know, as mentioned, that he w…