Cornelius a Lapide
Argumentum
Joel, says Epiphanius in his book On the Life and Death of the Prophets, was born in the territory of Bethor, of the tribe of Reuben; so too Dorotheus in his Life of Joel, except that he calls the territory Bethomeron in Reuben. Rabbi Solomon thinks Joel was the son of Samuel the prophet, who anointed David as king, because his son is called Joel by Josephus, Antiquities VI.3. But that Joel is different from ours; for ours was far later in time, as will soon be evident. Some think that Joel, like Hosea, prophesied both against the ten tribes and against the two tribes, that is, both against Samaria and against Judah. So St. Jerome, following the opinion of the Hebrews, in Epistle 103 to Paulinus: 'Joel,' he says, 'the son of Phatuel describes the land of the twelve tribes (though Albertus reads 'two') devastated by the cankerworm, locust, caterpillar, and blight, and after the overthrow of the former people, the Holy Spirit to be poured out upon the servants and handmaids of God, that is upon the hundred and twenty believers by name, and to be poured out in the upper room of Zion.' So also Theodoret, Remigius, Rabbi Solomon, Lyranus, Vatablus, and other more recent Hebrews, who think Joel lived and prophesied with Elisha under King Joram, and therefore in chapter 1 prophesied the famine that at that time afflicted both Samaria and Judah, as is clear from IV Kings 6:25.
But the same St. Jerome more correctly, in his Preface to Joel, holds that Joel prophesied to the two tribes alone, namely Judah and Benjamin: 'Just as,' he says, 'in the prophet Hosea, the prophecy is directed under the name of Ephraim to the ten tribes, which are often called Samaria or Israel; so in Joel, everything that is said must be believed to pertain to the tribe of Judah and to Jerusalem, and no mention at all is made of Israel, that is, of the ten tribes.' So also Epiphanius in his book On the Life of the Prophets, on Joel, Hugo, Albertus, Haymo, Ribera, Dionysius a Castro, Sanchez, and others; and this is clear from the words of Joel, chapter 1:13: 'Lament, O priests, wail, O ministers of the altar;' and chapter 2:15 and 17: 'Blow the trumpet in Zion. Between the vestibule and the altar the priests shall weep,' etc. For the altar was in Jerusalem, not elsewhere.
Moreover, Joel prophesied at nearly the same time as Hosea, under Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, say St. Jerome, Cyril, Theodoret, Rufinus, and St. Augustine (City of God XVIII, ch. 27), although the Hebrews in the Seder Olam, and following them Rabbi David, Genebrardus in his Chronology, Arias, and a Castro here think he prophesied under Manasseh, and consequently after the destruction of Samaria and the ten tribes — for this happened in the sixth year of Hezekiah, who was the father of Manasseh. And this seems probable from the fact that Joel prophesies to only two tribes, not the remaining ten, because those had already been cut off and carried away. Again, from the fact that Scripture says God sent prophets who threatened Judah with calamities in God's name because of the sins of Manasseh, IV Kings 21:10 and chapter 23:26. Joel therefore seems to have been among these; for he threatens these very calamities upon Judea, just as Jeremiah in chapter 51:4, who also expressly declares that they would be inflicted because of Manasseh's sins.
This opinion is very probable; whence in the Roman edition of the Septuagint, Joel is placed after Micah. Hence also he depicts the day of Jerusalem's destruction so vividly and terrifyingly that he seems to see it as if imminent and almost present before his eyes. From what has been said it follows that Joel threatens not the Assyrian captivity, by which Samaria was destroyed, but the Babylonian one, by which Jerusalem and Judea were destroyed by the Chaldeans.
The subject of Joel, therefore, is to predict God's vengeance and the Babylonian captivity, and thence its antitype, the Last Judgment, in which the wicked will be condemned to hell and the good assigned to heaven. First, then, in chapter 1, he threatens the Jews with destruction by the Chaldeans, and to escape this, he exhorts all to lamentation and repentance. Second, in chapter 2, he continues to describe the horror of this day and destruction, and thereby stirs all to mourning and public supplications. Then he promises the penitent a return from captivity and Babylon. Moreover, he promises the coming of Christ, who will pour out the Holy Spirit upon His faithful. Then he passes to Christ's second coming and describes its preceding signs. Third, in chapter 3, he teaches that Christ will judge all nations as judge in the valley of Josaphat, and will condemn the wicked to hell; but He will translate the righteous into the heavenly Jerusalem, whose delights, glory, and happiness he describes.
Tropologically, Joel in Hebrew means the same as 'willing,' 'beginning,' or 'the descent of the Lord;' while Phatuel his father means in Hebrew 'breadth,' or 'door,' or 'persuasion of God,' or 'God opening'; so that it is morally signified that whoever has the door, persuasion, and knowledge of God, rightly begins to prophesy, so that with Paul he can say: 'Our mouth is open to you, O Corinthians, our heart is enlarged;' for he heard from the Lord: 'Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it.' For the very opening of the mouth is not in man's power but in God's, as the same Paul says: 'A great and evident door is opened to me,' II Corinthians 2:12. So St. Jerome, who on chapter 1 of Hosea says: Joel is the same as 'the Lord God'; so that Joel by contraction is the same as Jehovah El, or Ja El, which are all names of God. Finally, Joel has been numbered among the Saints, and is recorded as inscribed in the Roman Martyrology on July 13.