Problem: Critics claim that Joel could not have mentioned the “Greeks” in the eighth century BC. Is this the case? Does it demonstrate a late date for Joel?
Solution: Joel mentions the Greeks as a distant people—not spread throughout the world (“far from their territory”). Moreover, Archer writes, “It cannot be supposed that the Hellenic peoples were unknown to Israel in the pre-exilic period, since they are found mentioned in Assyrian inscriptions as early as the eighth century BC.”[1]
[1] Archer, Gleason. A Survey of Old Testament Introduction (3rd. ed.). Chicago: Moody Press. 1994. 340.
