Joel 2:16

An expansion of the injunctions contained in the rest of Joel 1:14 a.

sanctify an assembly] i.e. hold a sacred religious meeting.

gather the elders the old men (R.V. marg.). All are to take part in the great public act of national humiliation and supplication, neither old men nor children are to be excepted; even the newly married bride and bridegroom, who might deem themselves entitled to claim exemption from such duties (cf. Deuteronomy 24:5), are to come forth from their retirement for the purpose.

closet rather, pavilion; the idea suggested by -closet" is too modern. The reference is no doubt to the special nuptial tent (cf. 2 Samuel 16:22), still, in Arabia, erected for the consummation of a marriage. In Arabic a common phrase for -to marry a wife" is -to build over her" (sc. a tent, with reference to this custom). The later bridal bed, with its canopy, appears to be a survival of the more primitive -tent" [40]. Ḥuppâhis a rare word in Hebrew: in Psalms 19:5 it is spoken of also as the bridegroom's. Here ḥéder(-chamber"), in the parallel clause, appears to be merely a poetical synonym of it [41].

[40] See W. R. Smith, Marriage and Kinship in Early Arabia, pp. 167 170, 291; Wellhausen's essay, Die Ehe bei den Arabernin the Göttingen Nachrichten, 1893, No. 11, p. 444 f.; and Levy's Neuhebr. Wörterbuch, s. v. נִּנּוּן (1:348), and חוּפָּה (2:92).

[41] Cf. Judges 14:18, where החדֵרה should probably be read for החרסה, "before he went into the bride-chamber"