Introduction
The “darkening” of the sun, moon and stars is a convenient shorthand for describing Joel 2:10,
The earth has quaked before him; the heavens have trembled: the sun and the moon have been darkened, and the stars have gathered their shining… Joel 2:10 (KJV revised)
The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the Lord come. Joel 2:31 (KJV)
The sun and the moon have been darkened, and the stars have gathered their shining. Joel 3:15 (KJV revised)
The question arises as to what this celestial language means. J. L. Crenshaw[1] canvases the various suggestions that have been made: the darkening of the sky is due to the great number of locusts, a literal earthquake, a cosmic shaking of the heavenly realm, or a solar eclipse; and he accounts for the moon being turned to blood with such ideas as the raging fires of burning cities, dust rising to the sky, or sandstorms. J. Barton takes a similar approach, adding the idea of a lunar eclipse to the mix.[2] The main explanatory proposals for the darkening here are: i) dense locust swarms; ii) storm clouds; iii) wind-driven sandstorms; and iv) lunar and solar eclipses. How stars withdraw their shining is a neglected question in commentaries.
Locusts
Commentators who believe that Joel 1 and 2 is about a natural locust plague interpret the “cosmic” happenings in phenomenological terms. L. C. Allen, following his locusts reading, affirms that “the earthquake is probably based on the visual effect of the locusts covering the ground” and the “idea of preternatural light is suggested by their flight”;[3] Allen does not discuss the text further. The suggestion is that great swarms of locusts will look like the earth moving when on the ground and as swarm-clouds they will block out the light and make the heavens shimmer.
However, there are objections to this interpretation. Barton usefully observes that the text states that the earth quakes before him or it, raising the question of why a singular form is used if it is locusts that cause the earth to quake,[4] although he also tends towards the “locust-cloud” reading.[5] Crenshaw also notes this indeterminate pronoun in the text and doubts whether the natural effects of a locust swarm would give rise to the kind of cosmic language we have in v. 10.[6] These are decisive objections to the locust interpretation.
Storm-Clouds
Barton suggests that the v. 10 denotes “meteorological changes that attend YHWH’s visitation of the earth”.[7] Crenshaw takes a similar line, seeing v. 10 as a theophanic description.[8] He compares Joel to Isaiah,
Therefore I will shake the heavens, and the earth shall remove out of her place, in the wrath of the Lord of hosts, and in the day of his fierce anger. Isa 13:13 (KJV)
The theophanic argument is that the Day of the Lord is all about Yahweh’s visitation to the earth (cf. Nah 1:5). However, while theophanic manifestation is naturally associated with “clouds and thick darkness” (Joel 2:2; cf. Exod 20:21; 2 Sam 22:10; Zeph 1:15), this proposal does not explain why Joel does not have the “clouds and thick darkness” motif in v. 10, and instead has a “sun, moon and stars” element. The proposal assumes a causal link between clouds and thick darkness and the darkness of the sun, moon and stars, but “cause and effect” is not the explanatory requirement of the text: v. 10 needs to have its verbs “to grow dark” and “withdraw/gather shining” explained. The theophanic argument is masquerading as an explanation; climatic conditions are not the reference in Joel’s language.
Wind-Driven Sandstorms
A. Sweeny promotes the wind-driven sandstorm reading. He avers, “a strong dry desert wind…that blows in from the desert at times of seasonal transition in Israel…These winds can be very destructive as they reach high velocities, and they frequently blow a great deal of dust and debris that blocks out the sun, thus darkening the land and causing the moon to appear as a deep red”.[9] This meteorological proposal suffers from the same weaknesses as the storm-cloud explanation.
Solar and Lunar Eclipses
Solar and lunar eclipses are also commonly proposed for the darkening of the sun and the moon. F. R. Stephenson documents the characteristics of solar and lunar eclipses and argues that Joel denotes total eclipses and is thus writing in the fourth century B.C.E.[10] As Stephenson notes,[11] a total eclipse of the sun is appropriately described as “the sun shall be turned to darkness”, although it is also not unreasonable to take this as a description of a partial eclipse of the sun.[12] A total eclipse of the moon is appropriately described as the moon being “turned to blood” (Joel 2:31), because when the moon enters the earth’s shadow, light is refracted through the earth’s atmosphere and this illuminates the moon giving it a reddish colour. This explanation of the description of the sun and moon is promising, but it offers nothing for the description of the stars.
Divination
In sum, there are difficulties with the first three of the above proposals, and the fourth requires supplementing with an account of the practise of celestial divination. The difficulties are,
- Dense locust swarms turn the sky dark and obscure the light; when a person is in the thick of a day-time swarm, it is not possible to see the sun. Such swarms at night would obscure the moon and the stars. However, swarms are fast moving and the sun, moon or stars would appear once more as the swarm moved.
- The meteorological conditions implied by Joel 2:2 would certainly obscure the sun, moon and stars, but this is not the point of Joel 2:10: if storm-clouds or sandstorms obscure, they do not turn the sun and the moon dark, and nor do stars withdraw or gather their shining.
In view of the above difficulties, (1)-(2), our conclusion is that Joel refers to eclipses of the sun and moon. The eclipses would not have happened at the same time, but they could each have occurred in the months before the Day of the Lord. While a solar and lunar eclipse would turn the sun and the moon dark to some extent, such eclipses do not address the question of what happens to the stars. Here our proposal is that the withdrawal of shining by the stars is the language of appearance for those atmospheric conditions in which stars and constellations are not seen in the night sky, or for the obscuring of stars that lie in the elliptical path of the moon. All these aspects were part of the celestial divination of Joel’s day.
Joel does not offer a statement of divination in v. 10 like those preserved in Mesopotamian texts, but he does express a prediction that would have been the basis of divination in the Mesopotamian science of the day. The diviners and seers that made their prognostications on the basis of celestial happenings are criticized by the eighth century prophets:
Then the moon shall be confounded (rpx), and the sun ashamed (vwb), when the Lord of hosts shall reign in mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, and before his ancients gloriously. Isa 24:23 (KJV)
Then shall the seers be ashamed (vwb), and the diviners confounded (rpx): yea, they shall all cover their lips; for there is no answer of God. Mic 3:7 (KJV)
Here the sun and moon are pictured as opposing the word of prophecy from Yahweh, but then ashamed and confounded as Yahweh manifests his reign in Zion. Micah translates the figure in terms of the seers and diviners associated with temples devoted to the sun and the moon.
Micah’s criticism is ironic. Diviners and seers observed the darkness of the sun and the moon, its time of occurrence, extent and duration, and based their prognostications upon its darkness in a positive manner. Micah turns this around—night and day would be dark and devoid of knowledge:
Thus saith the Lord concerning the prophets that make my people err…Therefore night shall be unto you, that ye shall not have a vision; and it shall be dark ($vx) unto you, that ye shall not divine; and the sun shall go down over the prophets, and the day shall be dark (rdq) over them. Mic 3:5-6 (KJV)
Joel and Micah use rdq (“darken”) for what happens in respect of the sun and the false prophets, but whereas Micah uses the term in an ironic metaphorical way, Joel is also about the fact of lunar and solar eclipses. Another example of an eighth century prophet criticizing divination is found in Amos’ warnings to Northern Israel prior to the end of Samaria:
Seek him that maketh the seven stars (hmyk) and Orion (lsyk),[13] and turneth the shadow of death into the morning, and maketh the day dark with night: that calleth for the waters of the sea, and poureth them out upon the face of the earth: The Lord is his name… Amos 5:8 (KJV)
The rhetorical emphasis here is to seek the one who made the stars, rather than those who claim to “divine” the future by the stars. F. Rochberg affirms that,
The conception of a divinely created order underlies the various forms of Mesopotamian divination, which functioned as a system of divine communication with human beings by means of perceptible patterns of phenomena.[14]
These beliefs justified the appeal to the gods to direct events and mitigate bad portents. Celestial divination discerned weather phenomena, especially cloud formations, as well as lunar, stellar, solar and planetary phenomena.
The kinds of details that are noted in texts are tabulated below:[15]
| Date and duration of lunar visibility | The appearance of the horns of the lunar crescent. |
| Halos around the moon | Lunar Eclipses, time of night, duration. |
| Position of stars within the horns of the crescent moon | Darkness of moon relative to constellations |
| Conjunctions with planets and certain stars | Moon’s position in the sky with respect to the sun |
| Solar eclipses | Solar coronas |
| Position of planets | Time of first/last appearance in sky |
| Planetary colour and appearance | Position and visibility of stars |
| Rainbows | Lightening, thunder and winds |
| Earthquakes | Cloud formations |
These details are given significance in terms of such things as the prosperity of the king, the fate of the army, the security of the country, floods, crop failure, and pestilence.[16] For example,[17]
The moon rose darkly and cleared: Omen of the destruction of Elam and Gutium.[18]
If the sun is red like a torch when it becomes visible on the first of Nisannu, and a white cloud moves about in front of it…[19]
If Libra is dark: for three years locusts will attack and devour the harvest of the land. [Variant: locusts will devour the land; the land will have to eat a reduced harvest]; three years…[20]
If the moon is dark in the region of the stars to the west of Cancer, the decision (is for) the Tigris: The Tigris will diminish its flood waters.[21]
[If] the moon rid[es] a chariot in the month Sililti: the dominion of the king of Akkad will prosper, and he w[ill capture] his enemies…If the moon is surrounded by a halo and the Old Man Star stands in it: a reign of long duration.[22]
The Libra example is interesting because it hypothesizes about the constellation of Libra being dark, and this illustrates “the stars withdraw their shining” of Joel 2:10/3:15. Another explanation of this phrase could be the obscuring effect of the moon upon the stars in its path in times of eclipse.[23]
Rochberg notes[24] that anthropomorphic metaphors were used in Mesopotamian literature to describe eclipses of the moon, for instance, “the moon god mourns/cries” is used for eclipses of the moon. This characteristic arises because of the association between the moon and a god. Thus the moon can be referred to as “in distress” when referring to an eclipse. In Mesopotamian astrological texts, adāru primarily means “to be worried or distressed” but can also mean “to be darkened”.[25] Such a detail has been carried over into Joel insofar as the verb for “darken” (qdr, rdq) in “the sun and the moon shall be dark” has within its semantic field the sense of mourning (e.g. Jer 4:28; 8:21; 14:2; Ezek 31:15).
Solar and lunar eclipses do not occur together (sic); accordingly, Joel should be seen as referencing different calendar dates before the Day of the Lord for the two types of eclipse. Do the eclipses of the times support this reading? This question depends on when Joel delivered his oracles. However, this investigation lies outside our scope. The NASA website contains the necessary eclipse calculator.[26]
Conclusion
A modern interpreter might view lunar and solar eclipses as purely astronomical events and find them impressive. An ancient would find such events to be religious and portentous. The eclipses of the sun and the moon and their position in the sky, as well as their approach to one another were all matters that affected the political decisions of the day amongst the Mesopotamian powers.[27] Any one type of eclipse would, in the divination of the times, be taken as indicative of forthcoming events on earth. Joel is likely using the language and thinking of his day to warn about the forthcoming Day of the Lord.[28]
[1] J. L. Crenshaw, Joel (AB 24C; New York: Doubleday, 1995), 15-16, 168.
[2] J. Barton, Joel and Obadiah (OTL; WJK Press, 2001), 97-98.
[3] L. C. Allen, The Books of Joel, Obadiah, Jonah and Micah (NICOT; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1976), 74.
[4] Barton, Joel and Obadiah, 74.
[5] Barton, Joel and Obadiah, 46.
[6] Crenshaw, Joel, 126.
[7] Barton, Joel and Obadiah, 74.
[8] Crenshaw, Joel, 126-127.
[9] M. A. Sweeny, “The Place and Function of Joel in the Book of the Twelve”, in Thematic Threads in the Book of the Twelve (eds. P. L. Redditt and A. Schart; BZAW 325; Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, 2003), 133-154 (145).
[10] F. R. Stephenson, “The Date of the Book of Joel”, VT 19 (1969): 226-229.
[11] Stephenson, “The Date of the Book of Joel”, 226.
[12] Only two total eclipses were visible in Israel and Judah from Jerusalem between 1130-310 B.C.E. (357, and 336). The lack of total eclipses of the sun in Judah casts doubt on Stephenson’s interpretation.
[13] Zodiac constellations, Astrolabe stars such as Pegasus, Pleiades and Orion, as well as elliptical stars feature in Mesopotamian celestial divination, F. Rochberg, The Heavenly Writing (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004), 108.
[14] Rochberg, Heavenly Writing, 45.
[15] Rochberg, Heavenly Writing, 67-68.
[16] Rochberg, Heavenly Writing, 67.
[17] Texts cited are Old Babylonian or Neo-Assyrian.
[18] BM 22696 obv. 1-12 cited in Rochberg, Heavenly Writing, 69.
[19] Cited in Rochberg, Heavenly Writing, 72.
[20] H. Hunger, Astrological Reports to Assyrian Kings (State Archives of Assyria 8; Helsinki: Helsinki University Press, 1992) no. 502:15-16.
[21] Cited in Rochberg, Heavenly Writing, 109.
[22] Cited in Rochberg, Heavenly Writing, 169.
[23] Rochberg, Heavenly Writing, 108 n. 43, states that the standard Assyrian Celestial Omen List identified 18 stars in the path of the moon.
[24] Rochberg, Heavenly Writing, 72, 167, 172-173.
[25] Rochberg, Heavenly Writing, 167; other metaphors noted for the moon in various states include the moon setting “with unwashed feet”, “wear a crown” at first visibility, or “ride a chariot”.
[26] Dates are supplied by http://eclipses.gsfc.nasa.gov [Cited 6.10.2008]. Rochberg, Heavenly Writing, 77, argues that prediction of lunar eclipses was not achieved until the 7c. B.C.E.
[27] For example, see J. Bottéro, Mesopotamia: Writing, Reasoning and the Gods, (Chicago: Chicago University Press, 1995), ch. 9.
[28] It is not possible to know the exact meteorological or celestial conditions that caused the stars to withdraw their shining.
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One