“The Teacher of Righteousness” in Joel 2:23

Introduction

The KJV margin offers “teacher of righteousness” as an alternative for the Hebrew of Joel 2:23, but this proposal is rarely followed by commentators and a rare choice in other versions. Is this marginal alternative correct and does it matter? This article argues that it is the right choice and that it is a building block for the NT doctrine of the holy Spirit.

Joel

Joel 2:21-27 is regarded as an oracle unit to do with the blessings of restoration after the northerner is removed (Joel 2:20). One aspect of that restoration is described in v. 23, and the KJV margin suggests that the reason for the gladness of the people at that time is that the Lord has given them a “teacher of righteousness” (KJV mg.).

Be glad then, ye children of Zion,[1] and rejoice in the Lord your God: for he hath given you a teacher of righteousness (hqdcl hrwmh), and he has caused to come down for you the rain, the former rain (hrwm), and the latter rain in the first month. Joel 2:23 (KJV revised)

The Hebrew, which we have translated “teacher of righteousness”, is translated as “the former rain for your vindication” in the RSV and NASB, and rendered as “the former rain moderately” in the KJV. The issue between the translations centres on the Hebrew hrwm (moreh) which can mean “former rain” or “teacher”. The arguments in favour of “teacher of righteousness” for the phrase hqdcl hrwmh (ha-moreh lisedakah) are as follows:

1) In addition to the second occurrence in Joel 2:23, the Hebrew hrwm is translated once elsewhere as “early rain” (Ps 84:6) and as “teacher(s)” three times (Job 36:22; Prov 5:13; Isa 30:20). The only other prophetic usage is Isaiah,

And though the Lord give you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, yet your Teachers will not hide themselves any more, but your eyes shall see your Teachers. Isa 30:20 (RSV revised)

Isaiah uttered this during the crisis of 701, but “the Teacher” is not identified; the reference could be to a single individual or to a group of individuals who were teachers. The KJV has “teachers” as the Hebrew noun is plural in form; however, the associated verb “hide” is a unique singular, and hence the RSV (and NASB) opt for “Teacher”. We give precedence to the plural form of the noun as the verb is unique and we cannot be sure whether the singular form for this verb did not also function as a plural. The significance of this Isaiah text for Joel is the common stress upon teaching from another eighth century prophet.

2)  The Hebrew hqdcl hrwmh has the definite object marker (ta), which would suggest a determinate substantive[2] for the reference (as in “the corn”, “the northerner”, “the years”, “the name”, etc. Joel 2:19, 20, 25, 26); hrwm in Ps 84:6 and in the second occurrence in Joel 2:23 lacks the definite object marker.

3) A comparable phrase, “teacher of lies” (rqv hrwm) occurs in Isa 9:15, although there is no definite article or definite object marker. Its significance for Joel is again the timing of the oracle—Isaiah inveighs against such a “teacher of lies” during the Syro-Ephraimite and Assyrian crises of Ahaz’ reign (730s).

4) Joel can be read in contrast to Isaiah—the people had been given a “teacher of righteousness” or rather a “teacher for righteousness”. The sign accompanying the advent of the teacher was the bringing down of the former and the latter rain in the first month;[3] normally, only the “latter” spring rain would fall in March.

5) One connection between rain and a teacher of righteousness is supplied in the blessing of Deuteronomy:

And it shall come to pass, if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe and to do all his commandments which I command thee this day…The Lord shall open unto thee his good treasure, the heaven to give the rain unto thy land in his season… Deut 28:1, 11 (KJV) cf. Deut 11:13-14

A teacher of righteousness who leads the people back to the Lord would be the instrumental cause of the Lord blessing the people with rain (Deut 11:14), and so the giving of the former and latter rain in the first month of spring would be a sign that such a teacher had been given to the people.

6) Another connection is the use of “rain” as a simile for teaching in such statements as “My doctrine shall drop as the rain” (Deut 32:2). In the same vein Isaiah declares,

Drop down, ye heavens, from above, and let the skies pour down righteousness: let the earth open, and let them bring forth salvation, and let righteousness spring up together; I the Lord have created it. Isa 45:8 (KJV)

And the verb “drop” (@jn) is used of prophetic speech:

Now therefore hear thou the word of the Lord: Thou sayest, Prophesy not against Israel, and drop not thy word against the house of Isaac. Amos 7:16 (KJV)

Son of man, set thy face toward the south, and drop thy word toward the south, and prophesy against the forest of the south field… Ezek 20:46 (KJV) cf. Ezek 21:2

The language of Joel is double-edged: not only had there been a recent gift of the early and latter rains in the same month, but there was a promise of righteousness raining upon the people. Hosea expresses a similar simile when he states,

Let us know, let us press on to know the Lord; his going forth is sure as the dawn; he will come to us as the showers, as the spring rains that water the earth. Hos 6:3 (RSV) cf. Prov 16:15

The people would experience the presence of the Lord as spring rain.

7) The expression hqdcl is literally “for righteousness” and it is used of Phineas’ act which was counted to him for righteousness (Ps 106:31); it is used of the Lord looking for righteousness in his vineyard (Isa 5:7); and it is used in Hosea in apposition to the rain:

Sow to yourselves for righteousness, reap in mercy; break up your fallow ground: for it is time to seek the Lord, till he come and rain righteousness upon you. Hos 10:12 (KJV revised) cf. Psa 72:6

Here Hosea again anticipates a coming of the Lord to the people and a rain of righteousness. While the RSV and NASB have “for…vindication” in Joel 2:23 as the translation of hqdcl, the database of usage for hqdc illustrates a spectrum that moves from the acts to a state—the acts of righteousness lead to a state of righteousness.[4] The notion of “vindication” seems foreign to Joel and an idiosyncratic suggestion for inclusion in the database of hqdc.

8) Early Jewish interpretation supports the rendering “teacher of righteousness”. C. Roth notes that the text may be the source of the Qumran doctrine that their leader was the “Teacher of Righteousness”.[5] Unfortunately, the Minor Prophets scrolls from Qumran lack a rendering of the relevant verse in Joel. Nevertheless, Qumran expectation was that the people would walk in an age of wickedness “until he comes who shall teach righteousness at the end of days”,[6] which looks like a conscious allusion to Hosea. The Jewish Targum has “For he has given you back your teacher in righteousness” or possible “your teacher of righteousness” and this was followed by the Vulgate.

Conclusion

On the basis of the above observations, (1)-(8), we conclude that Joel refers to the giving of the “teacher of righteousness”; this could be an individual,[7] a priest or a prophet, but it is just as possible that there is here a personification of the bestowal of the Spirit.  Such a personification is indicated by the personification of the Spirit in John:

But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. John 14:26 (RSV)

Joel presents a story in which the land is devastated, the people repent and turn to the Lord, and the land is restored. This isn’t a story of vindication as if the people were to be vindicated before their enemies, but one of deliverance. Subsequent to their repentance there was to be a bestowal of the Spirit, the teacher of righteousness. This was also prophesied by Hosea as a “coming of the Lord” in showers of rain.

Joel has two predictions about the bestowal of the Spirit—Joel 2:28-29 which is quoted by Peter at Pentecost, and Joel 2:23 which personifies the Spirit as a “teacher of righteousness”, a facet taken up by John. What John says about the Spirit is part of the same bestowal that Luke records in Acts. Given the occurrence of the Johannine “Pentecost” in John 20, this conclusion significantly affects the church doctrine that Pentecost represents the beginning of the church.

[1] The expression only occurs elsewhere in Ps 149:2 in a psalm of vengeance.

[2] R. J. Williams, Hebrew Syntax: An Outline (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1967), 475.

[3] The RSV and NASB have “as before” whereas the KJV has “in the first month” with the italics signalling the absence of the word “month” in the Hebrew. The KJV is correct here as the pattern elsewhere is for “month” to be elided (Gen 8:13; Num 9:5; Ezek 29:17; 30:20; 45:18, 21).

[4] The KJV has the bizarre “moderately” turning the word into an adverb.

[5] C. Roth, “The Teacher of Righteousness and the Prophecy of Joel” VT 13 (1963): 91-95.

[6] CD VI, 11.

[7] Hezekiah could be identified as such an individual on the basis of Job 29:23.