Joad is an Old Testament prophet commemorated on March 30, identified in Orthodox tradition with the unnamed "man of God" who appears in the third Book of Kingdoms (1 Kings) chapter 13. According to that narrative he was sent by the Lord from Judea to Bethel to rebuke Jeroboam, king of Israel, for leading the people into idolatry. He is reckoned to the tenth century before Christ.
The biblical account leaves the prophet anonymous, and Orthodox synaxaria preserve different names for him; the name Joad is used in part to distinguish him from the better-known Prophet Joel, who is commemorated on October 19. Some sources connect the figure to the name given in 2 Chronicles 9:29. The synaxarion relates that he came to Bethel as Jeroboam stood at the altar he had erected for sacrifice, and there delivered his prophetic word against it.
Joad foretold that a son would be born to the house of David, to be named Josiah, and that the priests who offered sacrifice on the altar at the high places would be burned upon it. When Jeroboam stretched out his hand to seize the prophet, the king's hand withered; at Joad's intercession it was restored. The account of his death by a lion, following his disobedience of the Lord's command, is recorded in the same chapter and is the principal episode associated with him in the tradition.
