Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Joel 1:3
Tell ye your children of it, and [let] your children [tell] their children, and their children another generation.
3. Recount concerning it to your children ] recount, a stronger word than tell, and implying some narrative of particulars.
to your children, &c.] comp. (also with recount) Exo 10:2; Psa 22:30 (R.V.), Psa 48:13, Psa 78:4; Psa 78:6; and “our fathers have recounted to us,” Jdg 6:13; Psa 44:1; Psa 78:3. Usually, it is the memory of Jehovah’s deliverances, which is thus to be handed on from father to son (comp. also Exo 12:26 f., Exo 13:8; Exo 13:14; Deu 4:9; Deu 6:20 f.; Jos 4:6 f., 21 f.); here it is the memory of an unprecedented disaster.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Tell ye your children of it – In the order of Gods goodness, generation was to declare to generation the wonders of His love. He established a testimony in Jacob, and appointed a law in Israel, which He commanded our fathers that they should make them known to their children, that the generation to come might know them, the children which should be born, who should arise and declare them to their children that they might … not forget the works of God Psa 78:5-7. This tradition of thankful memories God, as the Psalmist says, enforced in the law; Take heed to thyself, lest thou forget the things which thine eyes have seen, but teach them thy sons and thy sons sons (Deu 4:9; add Deu 6:6-7; Deu 11:19). This was the end of the memorial acts of the ritual, that their sons might inquire the meaning of them, the fathers tell them Gods wonders Deu 6:20-24. Now contrariwise, they are, generation to generation, to tell concerning it, this message of unheard-of woe and judgment. The memory of Gods deeds of love should have stirred them to gratitude; now He transmits to them memories of woe, that they might entreat God against them, and break off the sins which entail them.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 3. Tell ye your children of it] To heighten the effect, he still conceals the subject, and informs them that it is such as should be handed down from father to son through all generations.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Declare it very particularly, or record it, write it as in a book, that your children may know it, and the memory of it may be perpetuated; for as it was a very wonderful and unusual thing, so it was for to mind us of the cause of it, and what it taught, or should have taught, them and us.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
3. Tell ye your childreninorder that they may be admonished by the severity of the punishmentto fear God (Ps 78:6-8;compare Exo 13:8; Jos 4:7).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Tell ye your children of it,…. Give them a particular account of it; describe the creatures and their number as near as you can; say when they begun and how long they continued, and what devastations they made, and what was the cause and reason of such a judgment, your sins and transgressions:
and [let] your children [tell] their children, and their children other generation; or, “to the generation following” l; let it be handed down from one generation to another that it may be a caution to future posterity how they behave and lest they bring down the like awful judgments on them. What this referred to was as follows:
l “posteritati sequenti”, Vatablus; “generationi posterae”, Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Tarnovius.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
He then adds, Tell it to your children, your children to their children, their children to the next generation. In this verse the Prophet shows that the matter deserved to be remembered, and was not to be despised by posterity, even for many generations. It appears now quite clear that the Prophet threatens not what was to be, as some interpreters think; it would have been puerile: but, on the contrary, he expostulates here with the Jews, because they were so slothful and tardy in considering God’s judgments; and especially as it was a remarkable instance, when God employed not usual means, but roused, and, as it were, terrified men by prodigies. Of this then tell: for עליה olie means no other thing than ‘tell or declare this thing to your children;’ and further, your children to their children. When any thing new happens, it may be, that we are at first moved with some wonder; but our feeling soon vanishes with the novelty, and we disregard what at first caused great astonishment. But the Prophet here showed, that such was the judgment of God of which he speaks, that it ought not to have been overlooked, no, not even by posterity. Let your children, he says, declare it to those after them, and their children to the fourth generation: it was to be always remembered.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
Joe 1:3 Tell ye your children of it, and [let] your children [tell] their children, and their children another generation.
Ver. 3. Tell ye your children of it, and let your children tell their children ] Heb. Cipher them up diligently, after the manner of mathameticians; reckon up the several years with the several calamities thereof to your children and nephews, that they may hear, and fear, and do no more so, Deu 19:20 . Let your woes be their warnings, your sufferings their standing sermons; your corrections their instructions. See 1Co 10:5-12 . Ruina maiorum sit cautela minornm (Greg. Mot.). Hast thou marked the old way (saith Eliphaz to Job, Job 22:15-16 ), which wicked men have trodden, which were cut down out of time; whose foundation was overflown with a flood (Heb. a flood was poured upon their foundation), which said unto God, Depart from us? &c. He speaketh of those antediluvian atheists, buried in one universal grave of waters. See Jos 22:20 Neh 13:26 Jdg 1:5-7 , and learn to keep a catalogue of God’s great works, whether of mercy or judgment; yea, to polish and garnish them for the use of posterity, not with vain affectation of wit, nor with pedantic pomp of words, but with sobriety and holy gravity, as here; such as may stick by our children, and leave impression.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Tell ye your children. Ref to Pentateuch (Deu 4:9; Deu 6:6, Deu 6:7; Deu 11:19). App-92. Compare Psa 78:3-8.
children = sons. Note the Figure of speech Climax (App-6).
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Exo 10:1, Exo 10:2, Exo 13:14, Deu 6:7, Jos 4:6, Jos 4:7, Jos 4:21, Jos 4:22, Psa 44:1, Psa 71:18, Psa 78:3-8, Psa 145:4, Isa 38:19
Reciprocal: Psa 48:13 – that ye Psa 78:4 – We will Psa 78:6 – who Jer 2:3 – all that Hos 9:2 – floor Joe 2:2 – there
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Joe 1:3. Tell ye your children is a general instruction to spread the information to ali generations both present and future.