Joel 1:2

Hear this, ye old men, and give ear, all ye inhabitants of the land. Hath this been in your days, or even in the days of your fathers? HEAR THIS, YE OLD MEN, AND GIVE EAR, ALL YE INHABITANTS OF THE LAND ... TELL YE YOUR CHILDREN OF IT. A spirited introduction, calling attention. OLD MEN - the best judges in questions concerning the past (; , "Days should speak, and multitude of years should teach wisdom"). The people of the East, when books were scarce, and ages before the use of printing, handed down from generation to generation the traditions of the past, by the help of memory alone. HATH THIS BEEN IN YOUR DAYS, OR EVEN IN THE DAYS OF YOUR FATHERS? - i:e., Hath any so grievous a calamity as this ever been before? No such plague of...

_Hear this, ye old men; and give ear, all ye inhabitants of the land: has this been in your days, and in the days of your fathers? This declare to your children and your children to their children, and their children to the next generation: the residue of the locust has the chafer eaten, and the residue of the chafer has the cankerworm eaten, and the residue of the cankerworm has the caterpillar eaten _(2) I have in the last Lecture already mentioned what I think of this passage of the Prophet. Some think that a future punishment is denounced; but the context sufficiently proves that they mistake and pervert the real meaning of the Prophet; for, on the contrary, he reproves here the hardness of the people, — that they fell not their plagues. And as men are not easily moved by God’s judgments, the Prophet here declares that God had executed such a vengeance as could not be regarded otherw...

1-7 The most aged could not remember such calamities as were about to take place. Armies of insects were coming upon the land to eat the fruits of it. It is expressed so as to apply also to the destruction of the country by a foreign enemy, and seems to refer to the devastations of the Chaldeans. God is Lord of hosts, has every creature at his command, and, when he pleases, can humble and mortify a proud, rebellious people, by the weakest and most contemptible creatures. It is just with God to take away the comforts which are abused to luxury and excess; and the more men place their happiness in the gratifications of sense, the more severe temporal afflictions are upon them. The more earthly delights we make needful to satisfy us, the more we expose ourselves to trouble....

Verse Joel 1:2. _YE OLD MEN_] Instead of הזקנים _hazzekenim, old men_, a few MSS. have הכהנים _haccohanim, ye priests_, but improperly. _HATH THIS BEEN IN YOUR DAYS_] He begins very abruptly; and before he proposes his _subject_, excites attention and alarm by intimating that he is about to announce disastrous events, such as the _oldest_ _man_ among them has never seen, nor any of them learnt from the histories of ancient times....

HEAR THIS, YE OLD MEN - By reason of their age they had known and heard much; they had heard from their fathers, and their father’s fathers, much which they had not known themselves. Among the people of the east, memories of past times were handed down from generation to generation, for periods, which to us would seem incredible. Israel was commanded, so to transmit the vivid memories of the miracles of God. The prophet appeals “to the old men, to hear,” and, (lest, anything should seem to have escaped them) to the whole people of the land, to give their whole attention to this thing, which he was about to tell them, and then, reviewing all the evils which each had ever heard to have been inflicted by God upon their forefathers, to say whether this thing had happened in their days or in the days of their fathers....

EXPOSITION JOEL 1:1 THE WORD OF THE LORD THAT CAME TO JOEL THE SON OF PETHUEL. The name Joel signifies "Jehovah is God," or "whose God is Jehovah." We read in Scripture of several of the same name, but the prophet is distinguished as "the son of Pethuel," a name signifying "the sincerity of God," or "godly simplicity." We are not certain of the exact period at which Joel prophesied, but he is generally believed to have been the earliest prophetic writer of the southern kingdom, and one of the earliest of the twelve minor prophets, while Jonah is generally thought to have been the earliest prophetic writer whose book has found a place in the sacred canon. It is at least certain that Joel preceded Amos, who begins his prophecy with a passage from Joel (comp. Joel 3:16 wi

HEAR THIS, YE OLD MEN,.... What the prophet was about to relate, concerning the consumption of the fruits of the earth, by various sorts of creatures, and by a drought; and these are called upon to declare if ever the like had been known or heard of by them; who by reason of age had the greatest opportunities of knowledge of this sort, and could remember what they had heard or seen, and would faithfully relate it: this maybe understood of elders in office, as well as in age; AND GIVE EAR, ALL YE INHABITANTS OF THE LAND; or "earth", not of the whole earth; but of the land of Judea; who were more particularly concerned in this affair, and therefore are required to listen attentively to it: HATH THIS BEEN IN YOUR DAYS, OR EVEN IN THE DAYS OF YOUR FATHERS? that is, not the selfsame thing, but anything equal to it; a judgment of the same kind and nature, and of the same degree. By this ques...

ANALYSIS AND ANNOTATIONS I. THE PLAGUE OF LOCUSTS II. THE COMING DAY OF THE LORD: THE RUIN, THE REPENTANCE AND THE RESTORATION III. THE EVENTS OF THE DAY OF THE LORD: ISRAEL'S ENEMIES JUDGED AND THE KINGDOM ESTABLISHED I. THE PLAGUE OF LOCUSTS CHAPTER 1 _ 1. The prophet's appeal (Joel 1:1) _ 2. The call to the drunkards (Joel 1:5) 3. The call to the people and the priests (Joel 1:8) 4. The day of the Lord and the suffering land (Joel 1:15) 5. The prayer of the prophet (Joel 1:19)...

JOEL 1:2 TO JOEL 2:17. A DESCRIPTION OF THE PLAGUE OF LOCUSTS, AND A SUMMONS TO AN ASSEMBLY FOR CONFESSION AND INTERCESSION. Joel 1:2. The Unprecedented Character of the Plague. No living Jew has experienced so terrible a plague: it will be talked of in generations yet to come. The locusts have eaten the land absolutely bare. Joel 1:2. ye old men: might also be rendered ye elders, _i.e._ officials; but the words are probably a later insertion. Joel 1:4. palmerworm, locust, cankerworm, caterpillar: neither of the suggestions in _mg._ is probable. The names,

HEAR. Note this indication of the formula of Joel's prophetic utterances. See App-82. YE. Hebrew has no proper vocative. The simple Noun with the Article takes its place. OLD MEN. Not official elders, but those whose memory goes back farthest. HATH... ? Figure of speech _Erotesis_ (App-38), for emphasis. Compare Joel 2:2....