person · P0043
Yoel יואל בן פתואל
Prophet of the book of the locust plague — a devastation he read as the harbinger of the Day of God, calling for fasting and return, and promising the outpouring of the spirit on all flesh. His book carries no dated superscription; Seder Olam places him in the days of Menashe. Per the Rambam he received the Oral Torah from Michah and transmitted it to Nachum.
I. Who
- Hebrew
- יואל בן פתואל
- Also known as
- Yoel ben Petuel, Joel
- Era
- bible
- Received the mesorah from
- Michah
- Transmitted the mesorah to
- Nachum
II. When
- Traditional
- c. 3230–3280 AM (placed by Seder Olam in the days of Menashe)
- Lifespan (traditional)
- ≈50 years
- Precision
- approximate
V. How do we know
| Claim | Evidence | Confidence | Sources |
|---|---|---|---|
| Received the Oral Torah from Michah and his court, and transmitted it to Nachum — the sixteenth link in Rambam's forty-generation chain.
Confidence is for the chain as stated by the Rambam. |
rabbinic | ★★★★★ | |
| Described the fourfold locust devastation — "what the cutter left, the swarmer ate; what the swarmer left, the hopper ate" — and called the people to repentance.
Confidence is for what the biblical text states. |
biblical | ★★★★★ | |
| Seder Olam places Yoel, Nachum, and Chavakuk as prophets of the days of Menashe; the traditional band shown follows that placement.
Schematic traditional dating. |
tradition | ★★☆☆☆ | |
| The book gives no king or date, and academic dating is unusually open: proposals range from the 9th century BCE to the Persian period, with many scholars favoring a post-exilic setting. No single academic date is shown.
Recorded as the scholarly discussion. |
reconstruction | ★★★★☆ |