YHWH's Appeal To The People To Repent And Turn To Him (Joel 2:12-14).
This is probably to be seen as all in the words of YHWH in spite of the change to the third person half way through and the question ‘who knows?' at the end. Such a change in person is a regular feature of YHWH's appeals to His people, while the ‘who knows? ‘ is in order to get the people thinking and to test out their faith. On the other hand some see Joel 2:12-13 a as in the words of YHWH, and Joel 2:13-14 as in the words of Hosea.
Analysis of Joel 2:12-14).
a “Yet even now,” says YHWH, “turn you to Me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning” (Joel 2:12).
b And rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn to YHWH your God (Joel 2:13 a).
c For he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abundant in covenant love (Joel 2:13 b)
b And repents him of the evil (Joel 2:13 c).
a Who knows whether he will not turn and repent, and leave a blessing behind him, even a meal-offering and a drink-offering, to YHWH your God? (Joel 2:14).
Note that in ‘a' YHWH calls on them to turn to Him with fasting, weeping and mourning, and in the parallel the hope is that He will turn to them and repent, and provide them with a blessing. In ‘b' they are called on to repent in their hearts, and in the parallel YHWH is declared to have repented Himself of the evil things that He has brought on them. Central in ‘c' is the declaration of God's character and being.
‘ “Yet even now,” says YHWH,
“Turn you to me with all your heart,
And with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning,
And rend your heart, and not your garments,
And turn to YHWH your God,
For he is gracious and merciful,
Slow to anger, and abundant in covenant love,
And repents him of the evil.” '
We now come to the purpose of YHWH's severe judgment. It was in order to call priests and people to repentance. As in all such cases His covenant with them lies at the heart of the problem. It was because they had failed to observe YHWH's covenant requirements that they were being called to account, and facing one of the curses attached to that covenant. But now they were to turn to YHWH with all their hearts ‘even now'. And they were to do so with fasting, and weeping and mourning because their own sinfulness and obduracy were the root cause of what had happened. In words spoken by Hosea they were to ‘break up their fallow ground'. This is an indication that what has been described previously was something that had occurred in Joel's day.
And they could do this in the hope that YHWH would hear and would intervene as they ‘rent their hearts' rather than their clothing. In other words their repentance was to be genuine and not ritualistic. The ‘rending of the heart' required true contrition of heart (compare Psalms 51:17; Ezekiel 36:26; Deuteronomy 10:16; Jeremiah 4:4), and it was among such people that God on High promised to dwell (Isaiah 57:15). And with their hearts (their whole inner being) rent they were to turn to ‘YHWH your God'. He was still their God and waiting for them to repent.
And they could thus turn to God because of what He is. ‘He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abundant in covenant love, and repents Him of the evil.' The terms are all covenant terms used previously for example in Exodus 20:6; Exodus 34:6, reminding them of His readiness to receive them once they truly turn to Him. Exodus 34:6 may well have been the source of his thoughts.
‘And repents Him of the evil.' This does not mean that God is to be seen as having sinned and in need of repentance. Rather it indicates His unhappiness at what He has had to do in bringing ‘evil things' (like locusts) on them and promises that He will have a ‘change of heart' once they truly respond to Him. But the idea is not that He is righting something that He has done wrong, but that once they have repented it will make it possible for Him to do what He has always wanted to do, bless them under the covenant. It is their sin that prevents Him ‘repenting', not His own. Compare 2 Samuel 24:16 where the case was very similar.
‘Who knows whether he will not turn and repent,
And leave a blessing behind him,
Even a meal-offering and a drink-offering,
To YHWH your God?'
The hope is then posited that if they do repent and turn to God, YHWH will repent of His judgment on them and turn to them. And the consequence of this would be that He ‘left a blessing behind Him' when He returned to Heaven having called off His judgment. And that blessing would be in the form of a part of the land having been spared from the hordes of locusts, so that meal-offerings and drink-offerings would again be offered to ‘YHWH your God', to Whom they have turned (Joel 2:13). They would once more have acknowledged His overlordship in the covenant.