JOEL

(Joʹel) [Jehovah is God).

1. A descendant of Issachar and family head in his tribe.—1 Chron. 7:1-4.

2. A descendant of Levi’s son Kohath; “son of Azariah” and forefather of No. 5 below.—1 Chron. 6:36-38.

3. A Reubenite whose descendant Beerah was taken into exile by Assyrian King Tiglath-pilneser (Tiglath-pileser).—1 Chron. 5:3-10.

4. A headman of the Gadites living in Bashan.—1 Chron. 5:11, 12.

5. The firstborn son of the prophet Samuel; a descendant of No. 2 above and father of Heman the Levitical singer. (1 Chron. 6:28, 33, 36; 15:17) Joel and his younger brother Abijah had been appointed by their father to be judges, but their dishonesty in office gave the people an excuse to ask for a human king.—1 Sam. 8:1-5.

At 1 Chronicles 6:28 the Masoretic text (and certain translations) says “Vashni” was ‘Samuel’s firstborn. Scholars, however, generally agree that “Joel” was in the original Hebrew, a reading retained by the Syriac and one edition of the Septuagint. (Compare verse 28 and 1 Samuel 8:2.) Similarity between “Joel” and the ending of a preceding word in the text possibly caused a scribe inadvertently to drop the name “Joel” altogether. Seemingly, he then mistook the following word (Heb., wash·niʹ, meaning “and the second [son]”) for the proper name “Vashni,” and inserted the letter waw (“and”) before the name Abijah.

6. One of David’s mighty men; brother of Nathan.—1 Chron. 11:26, 38.

7. A Gershonite Levite of the house of Ladan; son of Jehiel(i). (1 Chron. 23:7, 8) Joel the chief and 130 of his brothers sanctified themselves and helped bring the ark of the covenant to Jerusalem. (1 Chron. 15:4, 7, 11-14) Joel and his brother Zetham were later appointed as overseers of the sanctuary treasures.—1 Chron. 26:21, 22.

8. A prince, during David’s reign, of that part of Manasseh W of the Jordan; son of Pedaiah.—1 Chron. 27:20-22.

9. A prophet of Jehovah and writer of the Bible book bearing his name. He was the son of Pethuel.—Joel 1:1; see JOEL, BOOK OF.

10. A Kohathite Levite; son of Azariah. In the first year of Hezekiah, Joel helped take the unclean objects removed from the temple by the priests to the Kidron Valley for disposal.—2 Chron. 29:1, 3, 12, 15, 16.

11. One of several Simeonite chieftains who, in Hezekiah’s day, took by force the land of certain Hamites and the Meunim to expand their pasturage.—1 Chron. 4:24, 35, 38-41.

12. One of the sons of Nebo who dismissed their foreign wives and sons in Ezra’s day.—Ezra 10:43, 44.

13. An overseer of those Benjamites living in Jerusalem during Nehemiah’s governorship; son of Zichri.—Neh. 11:4, 7-9.