25. The Day of the Lord: What Joel and Obadiah Teach About Judgment and Hope

Dr. Tyler Mayfield unpacks the Day of the Lord in Joel and Obadiah, from locusts to lament to hope.

The Day of the Lord connects two of the Bible’s shortest and least familiar prophetic books. In this episode, Dr. Kathryn Schifferdecker and Katie Langston welcome Dr. Tyler Mayfield to explore Joel and Obadiah. Joel reads a catastrophic locust plague as a sign from God, calling the people to lament and repent before delivering a tender promise of restoration and a vision of a far-off day of divine judgment. It is the same passage about God pouring out the Spirit on all flesh that the book of Acts would later draw upon.

Obadiah turns its gaze toward Edom, the sibling nation whose story reaches back to Jacob and Esau and whose betrayal after the fall of Jerusalem turned the people’s lament into righteous anger. Dr. Mayfield helps us see how both books wrestle with judgment, hope, and the very human desire for vengeance, and why the Day of the Lord ultimately points toward God’s longing to set things right.

Bible Bingo

Joel: lament, repent, promise, Day of the Lord
Obadiah: Edom, exile, siblings, Day of the Lord

7-Word Summary

Joel: repent, but there is hope
Obadiah: when lament turns to anger

Scripture References

Joel 2 (God pouring out the Spirit on all flesh)
Joel 3 (the Valley of Jehoshaphat and the Day of the Lord)
Obadiah (judgment against Edom)
Genesis 25 (Jacob and Esau, twins wrestling in the womb)
Psalm 137 (the Edomites rejoicing at Jerusalem’s fall)
Acts 2 (Peter’s Pentecost sermon drawing on Joel)
Jonah (another Minor Prophet voice on God’s mercy)

Featuring

Tyler Mayfield

Tyler Mayfield is the A.B. Rhodes Professor of Old Testament and Director of the Grawemeyer Award in Religion at Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary. He is the author of Father Abraham’s Many Children: The Bible in a World of Religious Difference. He received the M.A.R. degree in Bible from Yale Divinity School and the Ph.D. in Hebrew Bible from Claremont Graduate University.

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Hosted By

Kathryn Schifferdecker

Kathryn M Schifferdecker is Professor and Elva B. Lovell Chair of Old Testament at Luther Seminary. Ordained in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America in 2001, Schifferdecker was associate pastor for five years at Trinity Lutheran Church, Arkdale, Wisconsin, before coming to Luther in 2006. Schifferdecker is a frequent contributor to Working Preacher, Word & World, and the author of "Out of the Whirlwind: Creation Theology in the Book of Job" (Harvard University Press, 2008). She is currently writing a commentary on the book of Esther.

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Katie Langston

Katie Langston is a doubter by nature and a believer by grace. She grew up Mormon in a small Utah town and still isn't sure she fits in anywhere sophisticated enough to have a Target. She's the author of Sealed: An Unexpected Journey into the Heart of Grace, an acclaimed spiritual memoir about her conversion to orthodox Christianity. Katie is Pastor of Mission and Outreach at New Promise Lutheran Church in St. George, Utah. From 2020-2025, she was the director of digital strategy for Luther Seminary's innovation team, where she oversaw digital projects aimed at cultivating vibrant Christian spirituality in a post-modern, post-Christian cultural context.

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About The Bible in a Year Podcast

This podcast guides you on a journey through the books of the Bible, providing insights on how Scripture can shape your life today. Each episode focuses on one or two books of the Bible in fun, engaging, and authentic conversations between Luther Seminary faculty and guest Bible scholars who are experts on the book(s) in question. Join us as we make our way through the Bible in a year — new episodes drop every Wednesday in 2026!