Commentaries on Joel

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Hosea  ⇐ ⇒  Amos

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For more great commentaries on Joel, be sure to check:
Commentaries on the Minor ProphetsCommentaries on All the Prophets,
Commentaries on the Whole Old Testament
& Whole Bible Commentaries

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Order of Contents

Best  2
Commentaries  5+
Early Church  1
Chapters  2


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The Best Commentaries on Joel

Beginner, Contemporary

Robertson, O. Palmer – Prophet of the Coming Day of the Lord: the Message of Joel  Buy  (1966)  112 pp.

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Intermediate, Puritan

Topsell, Edward – Times Lamentation: or An Exposition on the Prophet Joel, in Sundry Sermons or Meditations  (1599)

*** – “Among the old English commentaries Topsell is the writer on Joel.  He has the usual force, homeliness, piety, and fullness of the Puritan period.” – Spurgeon


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More Commentaries on Joel

1600’s

Pococke, Edward – A Commentary on the Prophecy of Joel  (d. 1691)

Pococke (1604-1691) was a reformed Anglican and Arabic scholar.  The level of the work is intermediate to advanced.

** – “Full of antique learning.  Holds a high place among the older comments, but will never again be popular.” – Spurgeon

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1700’s

Chandler, Samuel – A Paraphrase & Critical Commentary on Joel  Buy  Ref  (1735)

** – “Chandler makes very few remarks of a spiritual kind, but explains the letter of the word with considerable skill.  In writing upon Joel he does not appear to the same advantage as in his ‘Life of David.’  He does not effect much in clearing up the ‘things hard to be understood’ in the prophet, and he is of the old broad school.” – Spurgeon

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Intermediate

Hengstenberg, E.W. – ‘Messianic Predictions in Joel’  (1868)  59 pp.  in The Christology of the Old Testament, vol. 1, pp. 291-350  Hengstenberg treats most of Joel.

Rowley, Adam – Joel, a Translation in Metrical Parallelisms according to the Hebrew Method of Punctuation, with Notes and References  (1867)  34 pp.

** – “The translation has been carefully executed.  The notes are illustrative and literary only; they do not profess to open up the moral and spiritual teaching of the prophet.  Could Adam Clarke rise from the dead, he would rejoice to find his grandson following in his footsteps.” – Spurgeon

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Advanced

Hughes, Joseph – The Prophecy of Joel, the Hebrew Text Metrically Arranged, with a New Translation & Critical Notes  Ref  (S. Bagster, 1869)  34 pp.

*  “A purely literary treatise, useful to Hebraists only.” – Spurgeon

Kapelrud, Arvid Schou – Joel Studies  Buy  (Uppsala, 1948)  220 pp.  ToC

‘A scholarly study.’ – Cyril J. Barber


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The Early Church on Joel

Ferreiro, Alberto – Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture: The Twelve Prophets  Buy


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On Chapters in Joel

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Joel 1

Udall, John – The True Remedy Against Famine & Wars, Five Sermons upon the First Chapter of the Prophesy of Joel  (1586)

** – “We gave so high a price for this small black letter volume that we should like to make it profitable to our brethren, and therefore we commend to the more starchy of them the following extract, which will also serve to show how the old preachers lashed with vigor the fashions of the times.  Udall says:

‘For the feeding of our monstrous humor of vanity, how many thousands of quarters of the finest wheat, which God ordained for the food of man, are yearly converted into that most devilish device of starch.  A sin so abominable that it doth cry so loudly in the Lord’s ears for vengeance, as his justice must needs proceed against us for it, without speedy repentance.'” – Spurgeon

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Joel 2

Cooper, Thomas – The Exposition upon the 2nd Chapter of Joel  in A Brief Exposition of such Chapters of the Old Testament as Usually are Read in the Church at Common Prayer on the Sundays  (d. 1594)  English reformer

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Related Pages

Whole Bible Commentaries

Old Testament Commentaries

New Testament Commentaries