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Lord, Jehovah, is able to protect them--Joel then returns to his time. He focuses his
people's mind on their present predicament with the call:
"Even now, declares the Lord,
return to Me with all your heart,
with fasting and weeping and mourning" (N.I.V.).
Don't wait for such a disaster before you turn to God--do it now! EVEN NOW!
With such words, with a jolt, Joel brings the people back to their present time and he
wants a 100% commitment from them. "With all your heart" is but an echo of the
Mosaic law (Deut. 6: 5 and 11: 13). The thought which is always behind this phrase is
the totality of the response. When the Bible uses heart it means man's thinking power,
his mind. It does not mean his emotions. Thus Joel is demanding a complete change of
mind and an active decision to be totally committed.
Joel 2: 13. The next verse emphasizes this further with "rend your hearts and not
your garments". This repentance must be inward and not merely outward. Such external
shows mean nothing. Mere outward display, not accompanied by an inward change, was
the condition of this people when Isaiah began to prophecy, and what the Lord thought of
that situation is adequately described in Isa. 1: 2-32.
Joel further encourages repentance by reminding the people of God's character:
". . . . . for He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and
repenteth Him of the evil" (A.V.).
". . . . . for He is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love, and
He relents from sending calamity" (N.I.V.).
Descriptions of God as gracious and merciful come from His own words to Moses in
Exod. 34: 5, 6. The A.V. "great kindness" is perhaps too meek an expression.
"Abounding in love" (N.I.V.), "Rich in love" (Moffatt) are better but the R.S.V. is the
strongest, "Abounding in steadfast love". This was the love He had for His people. It
was this love which gave and maintained the covenants which culminated in the New
Covenant (Jer. 31: 31-34). It was this type of love He looked for in the people of Israel
but too often He found nothing more than empty ritualistic worship (see again Isa. 1: 2-32
and Hosea 6: 6).
The expression "repenteth Him of evil" is perhaps perplexing. How can God do evil
in the first place, let alone repent of it? Well the expression is but a figure of speech and
when used of God simply means that He will not carry out a threatened judgment either
because of intercessory prayer (see Amos 7: 5) or because of a change of heart in the
people involved--as possible here. The N.I.V., "relents from sending a calamity", makes
this clear.
Joel 2: 14. So the people are called to fast and turn to the Lord because of His grace
and mercy and steadfast love. In verse 14 Joel seems to pose a rhetorical question about
the possible consequences if such an action was taken. Again the idea of God `repenting'
comes up and here we may learn much from Amos 7: 1-6. Amos received a vision of