Monergism MP3

Joel
Raymond B. Dillard and Tremper Longman III
AN INTRODUCTION to the OLD TESTAMENT

The book of Joel is attributed in its superscription (Joel 1:1) to an otherwise unknown Joel son of Pethuel. Although another dozen persons mentioned in the Old Testament are named Joel, the prophet cannot with confidence be associated with any of these other individuals. The fact that no other information is included in the superscription may imply that Joel was well known to his contemporaries and that further identification was unnecessary. The prophet presumably lived in the environs of Jerusalem which provide the setting for the book. Because of his familiarity with the temple and concern with worship there, some have identified him as a cultic or temple prophet (Kapelrud, Ahlstro1m ).