The word for old men (verse 2) is zaqen which is translated elders in 1: 14 and 2: 16.

Apparently either is a possible translation but here, in verses 2 and 3, Joel is encouraging

the people to look as far into the future as they can and as far back into the past as is

possible. Thus "old men", rather than "elders", seems more appropriate. Mind you! the

majority of the "elders" would be "old men" so perhaps we are splitting hairs!!!

Earlier we mentioned that nearly all of this prophecy is in Hebrew poetry so Joel,

having made the claim that his message is from the Lord and having exhorted his people

to listen, now launches into that message and he opens with a very short but very sharp

punch which would certainly make his listeners sit up. The English of Joel 1: 4 in the

A.V. is very graphic but in the Hebrew there are but twelve words and Dr. Bullinger

suggests the following translation of this opening of Joel's message:

Such a terrible overwhelming destruction would certainly gain the attention of any

listener and reader but how difficult it is to translate such expressions into easily

understood English. The A.V. has:

As there are over 90 types of locust and as there are ten different Hebrew words used

for locust the exact interpretation of this verse is difficult. The Companion Bible points

out that palmerworm is gazam, the gnawer and is the first of four different stages of the

locust. In England we might describe this as the hairy caterpillar.  Next, Joel 1: 4, is

locust = `arbeth; the swarmer. This is the imago or adult stage. Cankerworm is yehek,

the devourer, and caterpillar is hasil, the consumer and possibly the larva stage.

J. N. Darby has the same translation as the A.V. but adds notes: "probably different

species of locusts or different stages in growth, as `grub', `creeper', `feeder'." He goes

on to suggest that the cankerworm, literally "the feeder", may be a species of locust in the

stage just before it arrives in the perfect, imago state and in which it devours much