Joe 1:3 | KingComments | STEP | Not only do we have to dig in the past, we also have to think about the future. Future generations must not forget what God has done to them. The fathers must tell their children what judgment struck them, how God had to punish them. They must not conceal this, they must be honest with it. Their children have to pass it on again. In the same way, the wonders that God did in liberating His people from Egypt were passed on to the next generations ( ). This transmission of God’s chastisement should serve as a warning and not as a fun story to entertain the audience. We are capable of telling stories from the past without going into what we should learn from them. God does not want 'teaching', His dealings with a deviant people, to be handled in that way. He wants His performance to be passed on, so that the children will not fall into the same evil and they will learn to fear the LORD. Telling ‘about’ it is more than just telling ‘it’. Tell ‘it’ can mean that only the mere fact, the event itself, is passed on. But God wants more to be passed on. He also wants the cause of the plague and its consequences to be mentioned and the next generation to learn the right lessons from it. It is not just a question of telling what happened, but of pointing out how God acted. The passing on of the historical lessons continues until the fourth generation. With this Joel emphasizes that what happened must be passed on to all generations (cf. ). In this context, it is worth looking at Psalm 78. That psalm is a teaching poem by Asaph, in which he, like Joel, teaches the lesson of history to the people. Asaph also starts with the call to hear and then he urges to pass on the heard to the next generation: “A Maskil of Asaph. Listen, O my people, to my instruction; Incline your ears to the words of my mouth. 2 I will open my mouth in a parable; I will utter dark sayings of old, 3 Which we have heard and known, And our fathers have told us. 4 We will not conceal them from their children, But tell to the generation to come the praises of the LORD, And His strength and His wondrous works that He has done” ( ). In his teaching, Asaph also recalls the locusts in Egypt, which they used there: “He gave also their crops to the grasshopper And the product of their labor to the locust” ( ). It is of great significance to tell our children and grandchildren happenings of a shorter or longer past, which shows the actions of God in our lives or those of others. With this we give our children a good tool in their hands so that they get to know the will of God better. It is to be feared that quite a few parents can hardly tell their children anything about what the Lord has done in their lives because they hardly ever live with Him. Busy, busy, busy with all kinds of things, but no time to talk to the children about God’s guidance in their lives. There is also little knowledge of what God has done in the lives of other committed Christians. It is difficult for us to encourage our children to read a good book about experiences men and women have had with the Lord if we are not interested in it ourselves. Moses calls upon Israel, just before the people enter the promised land, to speak with their children about the deeds and words of the LORD ( ).

‏ Joel 1:3

The Lesson for the Future

Not only do we have to dig in the past, we also have to think about the future. Future generations must not forget what God has done to them. The fathers must tell their children what judgment struck them, how God had to punish them. They must not conceal this, they must be honest with it. Their children have to pass it on again. In the same way, the wonders that God did in liberating His people from Egypt were passed on to the next generations (Jdg 6:13a).

This transmission of God’s chastisement should serve as a warning and not as a fun story to entertain the audience. We are capable of telling stories from the past without going into what we should learn from them. God does not want 'teaching', His dealings with a deviant people, to be handled in that way. He wants His performance to be passed on, so that the children will not fall into the same evil and they will learn to fear the LORD.

Telling ‘about’ it is more than just telling ‘it’. Tell ‘it’ can mean that only the mere fact, the event itself, is passed on. But God wants more to be passed on. He also wants the cause of the plague and its consequences to be mentioned and the next generation to learn the right lessons from it. It is not just a question of telling what happened, but of pointing out how God acted.

The passing on of the historical lessons continues until the fourth generation. With this Joel emphasizes that what happened must be passed on to all generations (cf. Pro 4:1-4). In this context, it is worth looking at Psalm 78. That psalm is a teaching poem by Asaph, in which he, like Joel, teaches the lesson of history to the people. Asaph also starts with the call to hear and then he urges to pass on the heard to the next generation:

“A Maskil of Asaph.

Listen, O my people, to my instruction;

Incline your ears to the words of my mouth.

2 I will open my mouth in a parable;

I will utter dark sayings of old,

3 Which we have heard and known,

And our fathers have told us.

4 We will not conceal them from their children,

But tell to the generation to come the praises of the LORD,

And His strength and His wondrous works that He has done” (Psa 78:1-4).

In his teaching, Asaph also recalls the locusts in Egypt, which they used there: “He gave also their crops to the grasshopper And the product of their labor to the locust” (Psa 78:46). It is of great significance to tell our children and grandchildren happenings of a shorter or longer past, which shows the actions of God in our lives or those of others. With this we give our children a good tool in their hands so that they get to know the will of God better.

It is to be feared that quite a few parents can hardly tell their children anything about what the Lord has done in their lives because they hardly ever live with Him. Busy, busy, busy with all kinds of things, but no time to talk to the children about God’s guidance in their lives.

There is also little knowledge of what God has done in the lives of other committed Christians. It is difficult for us to encourage our children to read a good book about experiences men and women have had with the Lord if we are not interested in it ourselves. Moses calls upon Israel, just before the people enter the promised land, to speak with their children about the deeds and words of the LORD (Deu 4:9 ; Deu 6:6-7 ; 20-25).