When I was in middle school, I had a teacher with a fun sense of humor who would kindly remind us when we were misbehaving that Old Testament God would come to punish us if we didn’t straighten up. It always made me laugh! Perhaps we’ve heard this before: The God of the Old Testament is a God who gets angry and punishes. The God of the New Testament is merciful and kind.
It seems that many of the prophets of the Old Testament foretell terrible events if Israel does not turn away from sin. And this is also the case for our prophet this month: Joel. “Blow the trumpet in Zion; sound the alarm on my holy mountain! Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble, for the day of the Lord is coming, it is near, a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and thick darkness!” (Joel 2,1-2). No wonder the Israelites so often turned against their prophets!
As we open the book of Joel, a short book containing 3-4 chapters (depending on the translation), we immediately realize that Israel has again turned away from the Lord, and is therefore suffering from a great plague: locusts. In the book of Deuteronomy, Moses prophesied that God would send locusts to punish His people if they turned away from Him. “You shall carry much seed into the field, and shall gather little in; for the locust shall consume it… All your trees and the fruit of your ground the locust shall possess” (Deut 28:38,42). The prophet Joel describes how this plague has covered the land and brought devastation to the whole people. The devastation is so great that Joel uses the metaphor of a great army to describe the destruction of the locusts. “Like blackness there is spread upon the mountains a great and powerful people; their like has never been from of old, nor will be again after them through the years of all generations. Fire devours before them, and behind them a flame burns…Like warriors they charge, like soldiers they scale the wall…The earth quakes before them, the heavens tremble” (Joel 2:2-3,7,10). Things are not looking good for the people of Israel. Not only the people, but the whole of creation cries out! “Even the wild beasts cry to you because the water brooks are dried up, and fire has devoured the pastures of the wilderness. (Joel 1:20).
Alright, so God is mad. And He has sent a punishment so great that the earth itself cries out! How can we understand this dichotomy between “Old Testament God” and “New Testament God”? Isn’t He supposed to be the same God? I can’t help but think about some passages from the Gospels in which Jesus manifests some of the characteristics of “Old Testament God”. The angry and violent turning of tables in the Temple area while constructing a whip to drive the people out (cf. Jn 2:13-16). And what about Jesus’ forceful upbraiding of cities that did not repent? “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida!…And you, Capernaum, will you be exalted to heaven? You shall be brought down to Hades!” (Mt 11:21,23). Perhaps “Old Testament God” and “New Testament God” really are the same God! Although sometimes the events recounted in the Old Testament seem more severe, our Lord God is using the same pedagogy. The recounting of God’s punishment isn’t so much a contradiction to His mercy, but rather a manifestation of His mercy. This is why it is so important how we interpret God’s Word. If we get too hung up on what we perceive as violent actions from God, we will miss the whole meaning behind the lesson. What needs to emerge is our ability to recognize our sinfulness and desire to return to God. The point isn’t so much the punishment, but our Lord’s tremendous desire for us to be in a loving relationship with Him! His Heart truly hurts when we turn away from Him, and He greatly desires to show us His mercy and compassion when we repent and seek Him again. This is evident in the Gospels, which recount countless episodes of Jesus forgiving sinners, sharing meals with them, giving His life for our redemption. But this infinite mercy and compassion is also clearly evident in the Old Testament through the prophets. And the book of Joel is no exception.
After a detailed description of the destruction of the locusts, we reach a turning point. “‘Yet even now,’ says the Lord, ‘return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; and tear your hearts and not your garments.’ Return to the Lord, your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in mercy, and repents of evil. Who knows whether he will not turn and repent, and leave a blessing behind him?” (Joel 2:12-14). God’s love toward His people and toward us is tender, patient and unrelenting! He waits for us to return to Him, He urges us to return to Him, so that He can shower us with His blessings! As the book of Joel continues, the Lord expresses his promises to His people. “Behold, I am sending to you grain, wine, and oil, and you will be satisfied…Fear not, O land: be glad and rejoice, for the Lord has done great things! … I will restore to you the years which the swarming locust has eaten, my great army, which I sent among you. You shall eat in plenty and be satisfied, and praise the name of the Lord your God, who has dealt wondrously with you” (Joel 2:19,21,25-26). The Lord promises grain, wine and oil. These three fruits of the earth are frequently mentioned together in the Bible as symbols of God’s provision and blessing. An abundance of grain represents an abundance of food, that which we need for our bodily sustenance. Wine is considered a symbol of joy and celebration. And oil was used for cooking, lighting lamps, creating perfumes and ointments, and thus also used in religious contexts for anointing priests, kings and sacred objects. Therefore, the return of grain, wine and oil in the land signifies the Lord’s blessing not only in providing for man’s most basic needs, but also in granting an abundance of life, joy and worship!
But the Lord does not stop there in His generosity. Another gift is promised, perhaps the greatest gift. “And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions. Even upon the menservants and maidservants in those days, I will pour out my spirit” (Joel 2:29 / other translations Joel 3:1-2). The Lord promises an outpouring of the Holy Spirit on all people, without distinction. This prophecy points us to the climax of Christ’s mission on earth. Not only did He die and rise for us, but He promised to send us the Holy Spirit, our Consoler and Guide, the one who would ignite our hearts with a fire that transforms and radiates!
And yet, while this great gift is promised to all people, the prophet Joel also reminds us that the Day of the Lord will be a great and terrible day. It is the day of judgment on all the nations. This day will surely come, so the prophet urges us to conversion so that we might prepare ourselves to stand before Him. May the proclamation of the prophet Joel be a reminder to us that the Lord loves us and desires to pour out His gifts on us. May it be a reminder that when we sin and turn away from the Lord, we will experience a deep emptiness within our hearts, like locusts that eat away at all that gives us a rich interior life. And may it urge us to return to the Lord when we have strayed, so that we may experience His generosity beyond measure, in which He grants us His very life and Spirit.
Come Holy Spirit! Come and renew the face of the earth!
Concrete Resolutions:
- Reflecting on my life, when were the times that I felt like I was living in a desolate land? What were the locusts in my life? Was there a turning point for me in rediscovering the Lord’s presence in my life? When were the times that I experienced the Lord’s abundant generosity? How is the Lord moving in my life right now?
- When I wake up in the morning, I can begin my day by invoking the Holy Spirit upon myself and asking Him to guide me throughout the day. Throughout the day, I can remind myself of His presence within me and seek to be attentive to His whisperings in my heart.
This month’s meditation is by Sr. Alexa Van Lerberg, AVI.
