Abstract
Nothing is known about the prophet Joel or his father Pethuel, and little is known about the historical context of the book that bears his name. On this all scholars agree; on other interpretive issues regarding the book of Joel, there is little unanimity. The date of the book has been assigned to a range from as early as the ninth century BCE to as late as the Maccabean period for its final compilation. A fifth-century-BCE date, putting it in the mid-Persian period, has attracted many scholars due to the vocabulary and expressions that Joel shares with other late books,