JOEL (Jehovah is God) was the son of Pethuel, and of the tribe of Reuben, and lived not later than the time of Uzziah, for he does not mention Assyria by name amongst the foes of Judah. The Jews say that he lived in the time of the drought (2 Kings viii. 1) of Elisha; but it is more probably that mentioned by Amos (iv. 7). The book begins with a warning of an impending visitation of locusts and drought, regarded as a figurative picture of threatened invasions, the "northern army" being that of Assyria, at that time unknown to them. The prophet exhorts the people of Judah to repentance, fasting, and prayer, to avert these calamities: promising a blessing instead, and the outpouring of the Spirit on all flesh, with a warning of the destruction of Jerusalem as typical of the final judgment in the Valley of Jehoshaphat; the foundation of a new city, and the inauguration of Messiah's kingdom in peace and prosperity. This book is quoted by Peter (Acts ii. 16-21), and Paul (Rom. x. 13).

Date. Both the style and subject-matter confirm the Hebrew tradition that he was the earliest of the prophets of Judah, since he foretells, in general language onty, the future evils which were to come upon them from the Northern invasion, which evidently was still distant, since the prophecy is vague and there is an absence of particularity. Some modern critics have conjectured that he prophesied in the reign of Hezekiah, others of Manasseh, others of Josiah. The LXX. arranges the book after that of Amos and Micah.