Welcome to BibleBum where we are exploring the entire Bible in one year to better learn how to follow God’s instructions and discover the purpose for our lives.  The BibleBum blog uses The One Year Chronological Bible, the New Living Translation version.  At the end of each day’s reading, Rob, a cultural history aficionado and seminary graduate, answers questions from Leigh An, the blogger host, about the daily scripture.  To start from the beginning, click on “Index” and select Day 1.

Malachi 2:10-4:6

Joel 1-3

Questions & Observations

Q. (Malachi 2:15-16): God definitely speaks out against divorce because of the hurt it causes.  I am curious if this changes in the NT.

A. You are asking if God will change His mind about divorce? I wouldn’t count on it.

Q. (Malachi 4:5): Elijah is returning from heaven?

A. Yes, since most Bibles have Malachi as the last book of the OT, the “parting thought” of this story is the return of Elijah, who represents the prophets.  The traditional thinking of the NT is that John the Baptist is the fulfillment of this prophecy, as he is a prophetic voice (i.e. a prototype of Elijah, not the person reborn) calling the nation to prepare the way for God’s chosen one, Jesus.  John denies being Elijah (John 1:21), but if you read Matthew 17, Jesus Himself explicitly tells His followers that this refers to John the Baptist.

O. (Joel 1:1): Wikipedia just says that Joel was one of the 12 minor prophets.  “Minor” refers to the amount of text that is attributed to them in the Bible.

Q. (Joel 1:2-Joel 2:11): Just to clarify.  Joel speaks of a locust invasion only, right?  This isn’t a metaphor for an invading army of soldiers?  V. 2:20 speaks of armies from the north.  Who is Joel referring to?  I’m just confused if Joel is referring to an army of soldiers as locusts or vice versa.

A. The “army” that Joel refers to is a plague of locusts.  The reference in 2:20 is to a human army, and takes place after this prophetic plague has “passed” if you follow me.  Since there is very little in the way of dating for Joel, there are many ideas about what this can mean (was there an actual plague, or it is a metaphor for Jerusalem’s destruction), but no one is really certain.