Whereas the central metaphor of Hosea is the faithless wife, the controlling image in Joel is the killer locust, symbolizing God’s judgment against an apostate nation. The book thus has affinities with the genre of the horror story. Surprisingly (and unlike the usual prophetic practice of being weighted on the side of judgment), the Joel’s prophecy is divided between a “bad news” half (two oracles of judgment) and a “good news” half (two oracles of redemption)