Albert Barnes Commentary Joel 1:2

"Hear this, ye old men, and give ear, all ye inhabitants of the land. Hath this been in your days, or in the days of your fathers?" — Joel 1:2 (ASV)

Hear this, you old men – Because of their age, they had known and heard much; they had heard from their fathers and their fathers' fathers much that they themselves had not known. Among the people of the East, memories of past times were handed down from generation to generation for periods that to us would seem incredible. Israel was therefore commanded to transmit the vivid memories of God's miracles.

The prophet appeals "to the old men, to hear," and (so that nothing might seem to have escaped them) also to all the people of the land, to give their full attention to this thing that he was about to tell them. He then directs them, after reviewing all the evils that each had ever heard God inflict upon their forefathers, to say whether this thing had happened in their own days or in the days of their fathers.