Joel 1:2

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

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: he is about to report a very wonderful occurrence, and desires all to consider it, mark it well, and tell me what you know. Ye old men; the oldest among you, who can remember things done in your days when you were young, some scores of years past. Give ear, all ye inhabitants of the land: it is an appeal to all that may possibly know more than others, and remember better than others can. Hath this been in your days? did you personally ever know the like? Or even in the days of your fathers? did your fathers ever tell you of such a thing happening in their days? was there ever such a thing known among them? have you ever heard them speak of it?

Joe 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?Ver. 2. Hear this, ye old men] Who, as ye are fittest to hear serious discourses (Aristotle excludeth young men from his ethic lectures, because raw and rash: green wood is ever shrinking and warping), so ye are more experienced; and yet not so wise, but that, by hearing, ye may become wiser, Proverbs 1:5. Solon said, he could never be too old to learn, γηρασκωαιειπολλαδιδασκομενος. Julianus, the lawyer, said, that when he had one foot in the grave, yet he would have the other in the school. David Chytraeus, when he lay dying, lifted up himself to hear the divine discourses of his friends that sat by him; and said, that he should die with better cheer if he might die learning something, Si moribundus etiam aliquid didicisset. And give ear, all, &c.] Hear and give ear: draw up the ears of your minds to the ears of your bodies, that one sound may pierce both. When these two words are joined together, as they are often, the matter propounded is either very dark or very remarkable, and commands attention, as Deuteronomy 1:45 Isaiah 1:2; Isaiah 1:10 Jeremiah 13:15 Hosea 5:1. All ye inhabitants of the land] sc. of Judea, or all ye inhabitants of the whole earth, q.d. I shall speak of so great a matter, as that I could wish to be heard all the world over. And because all men love to hear news, I shall tell you that that was never known to happen in any age. Rem novam pollicetur emphaticoteros quam more Rhetorico, saith Oecolampadius. Prick up your ears, therefore, and listen. Hath this been in your days, or even in the days of your fathers] Was there ever such havoc made by several sorts of vermin successively, for four years together? This was the very finger of God, Exodus 8:19, all whose works (by how small instruments soever) are great, sought out of all them that have pleasure therein, Psalms 111:2. His extraordinary works especially are to be noted and noticed; the memory of them is to be transmitted to all posterity. "This shall be written for the generation to come," Psalms 102:18. "They shall come, and shall declare his righteousness unto a people that shall be born, that he hath done this," Psalms 22:31. Sed vae stupori nostro. There is a woe to such as regard not the works of the Lord, neither consider the operation of his hands, Isaiah 5:12, that make of them but a nine days’ wonderment at best, and so pass them over. Whereas every judgment of God should be a warning peal to repentance. We be like the smith’ s dog (saith one), who the harder the anvil is beaten on, lies by, and sleeps the sounder.

(2, 3) Hath this been in your days.—The introduction points to the startling nature of the portent: it was unexampled; it was a cause of consternation to all who beheld it; it would be recollected as a subject of wondering comment among succeeding generations. The hand of God was evident, recalling the marvellous things he did in the land of Egypt, in the field of Zoan.

Verse 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.

Part I. Chap. Joe 1:2 to Joe 2:17 Description of the present calamity (ch. 1.). The terrible “Day of Jehovah,” of which it is the harbinger (Joe 2:1-11), but which may yet be averted by the nation’s timely repentance (Joe 2:12-17).

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.

2. Hear this — A solemn summons to give attention to the words about to be uttered (Amos 3:1; Amos 4:1; Amos 5:1).