“The Day of the Lord is near”: how the prophet Joel saw the end of the world and why it is important to knowtranslated

A darkened sun, a bloody moon, earthquakes, devastating wars, a sickle raised over a ripe harvest. These images are firmly associated in our minds with the Apocalypse and the end of the world. Meanwhile, they appeared long before the Revelation of John the Theologian. Their origins are in the books of the Old Testament prophets, and above all in the prophet Joel, whose memory we celebrate today, November 1.

Who is the prophet Joel and what did he prophesy about?

Joel himself reveals only one thing about himself: he is the son of a certain Bethuel. The book does not name the king under whom he lived, and there are no other historical indications that would allow us to confidently determine the time of his service. Therefore, the dating of the book remains controversial. Previously, it was traditionally attributed to the time before the Babylonian captivity, but modern researchers, on the contrary, more often associate its final formation with the era after the captivity.

Prophet Joel. Aleijadinho, 1800–1805. Atrium of the Sanctuary of Bon Jesus de Matosinhos, Congonhas, Brazil. Photo by xiquinhosilva / Wikipedia / CC BY 2.0

What is she talking about? The prophet describes the terrible disaster that befell Judah. The locusts destroyed the entire harvest, the fields were empty, the vines died, and sacrifices in the church stopped. People in...