LOCUST. Nine Heb. words are tr. locust in one or other Eng. VS, as follows:

(1) אַרְבֶּה, H746, from רָבָה֒, H8049, to multiply. Locust most Eng. VSS; grasshopper, also swarming locust (Joel 1:4). Most common word for locust; used for eighth plague.

(2) סָלְעָם, H6155. Bald locust all Eng. VSS (Lev 11:22). This tr. is based on a rabbinical statement that the front of the head of this species is bald.

(3) חַרְגֹּל, H3005. Beetle KJV; Cricket RSV, (11:22).

(4) חָגָב֒, H2506. Cf. to hide (?) the sun. Tr. grasshopper most Eng. VSS; locust once only (11:22).

(5) גֹ֣וב. A swarm (11:42), grasshopper, great grasshopper KJV (Nah 3:17); locust (Amos 4:9); grasshopper (Nah 3:15, RSV). Found in Amos and Nahum only.

(6) גָּזָם, H1612. To cut off, palmerworm (Joel 1:4, KJV). Cutting locust (Joel 1:4, RSV). Joel and Amos only.

(7) יֶ֫לֶק, H3540. To lick, cankerworm (1:4), caterpillar (1:4) KJV. Locust, hopping locust (1:4) RSV.

(8) חָסִיל, H2885. To consume. Caterpillar (1:4 KJV); destroying locust (1:4 RSV).

(9) צְלָצַל, H7526. To whirr. Locust, all Eng. VSS, Deuteronomy 28:42 only. (Also fishspear, Job 41:7; whirring Isa 18:1).

Only one Gr. word is used ἀκρίς, G210, locust.

1. Difficulty of identifying species. This rich vocabulary is evidence of the importance of these insects in the life of the Israelites. Including the four NT references, these words occur some fifty-six times, and it is generally agreed that they all refer to one or other kind or species of locust. They are found in many different books and contexts, yet these provide little incidental information. No. 4 could be an exception; tr. “grasshopper” four times and “locust” once, it is used three times as a measure of smallness; e.g. Numbers 13:33 “we seemed to ourselves like grasshoppers.” It is once described as good for food and only once as a potential danger to crops (2 Chron 7:13). This could thus be a smaller grasshopper, perhaps non-gregarious, of which there are many species, but against this the root may suggest a swarming species. As the above table shows, there is little uniformity of tr. either within one Eng. VS or between KJV and RSV; e.g. in KJV three Heb. words are tr. both “locust” and “grasshopper. One word (No. 2) is consistently tr. “bald locust,” and this description would fit some of the Tryxalinae, which have long smooth heads but are otherwise typical grasshoppers. Solomon refers to the extraordinary co-ordinated mass movements of swarming locusts (Prov 30:27), which is almost the only direct Biblical comment on their biology and habits.

2. Are Hebrew names species or phases?From the list in Leviticus 11:22 it would seem that Nos. 1, 2, 3, 4 are different; they may be separate species. From the striking description of the locust plague (Joel 1:4) it seems at first that Nos. 1, 6, 7, 8 are different, but it is equally likely that these are all names for various phases of the migratory locust. With the exception of Nos. 2 and 3, which are prob. other species, each name refers to a different attribute of locusts, and they may be virtually synonyms. (Such usage is common today in undeveloped countries; e.g. in Ghana a ground squirrel can be a serious farm pest and is also eagerly killed for food. It has a precise name in each language, but is more often referred to as traveler, road-crosser, peanut thief, etc.) If such is true generally of “locust” in the Scriptures, there is no point in trying to identify words which may be largely nicknames.

3. Description of locust family. In Europe locusts are often the larger members of the family and grasshoppers the smaller, but the criterion is sometimes that locusts swarm and migrate, while grasshoppers are more or less solitary. In America the connotation is different and the words are nearly interchangeable; even cicadas, of another insect order, may be called locusts. The name strictly belongs to a number of large insects of the family Acridiidae (Gr. ἀκρίς, G210) of the order Orthoptera—straight-winged. The main characteristic of locusts is that from time to time they multiply at a frightening rate and move in huge swarms, often over great distances. Their antennae are short and the female has a short, stubby ovipositor. Locusts are entirely vegetarian, which is a reason why they were allowed the Israelites as food, and they eat a wide range of green stuff. Much research work has been done on this major pest and it is now known that all locusts exist in two phases, solitary and gregarious, with intermediate forms. These differ in appearance, and within each phase there is variation in color, size and proportions. Swarming is in part a physiological response to conditions and is a way of colonizing new areas.

4. Species now found in Palestine. The Migratory Locust (Locusta migratoria), in many races, is found in most warm parts of the world except America. The other two likely to do damage in Pal. are the Desert Locust (Schistocerca gregaria) and the Moroccan Locust (Dociostaurus maroccanus). Eggs are laid in small packets near the surface of the soil; hatching sometimes depends on moisture, and the eggs of some species, e.g. S. African Brown Locust can survive for three and one half years in dry ground, but hatch in ten days if the soil is damp. The young that emerge have the same general shape as adults, but no wings, and they pass through five or six moults, growing larger after each and gradually acquiring wings. The narrow forewings are like parchment, while the hind-wings, which are folded like a fan when at rest, are broad and membranous, sometimes with a color pattern.

5. Locust control. In their early stages locusts move only by crawling or hopping, being known as hoppers. These are less mobile and thus easier to destroy, and control organizations aim at forecasting swarm formation and movement in order to do this. Many swarms fly out to sea or into true desert and so destroy themselves. Numbers can be astronomical; a Desert Locust swarm that crossed the Red Sea in 1889 was estimated to cover 2,000 square m. Such swarms are like dark clouds and contain countless millions. Wind is the main factor in determining the direction taken by a swarm. Locusts usually approach Pal. from the Arabian deserts to the SE, but they may also come from other directions. Locusts have always been a scourge, esp. in the Middle E, but modern materials, and communications based on a degree of co-operation rare in that area, have greatly reduced the damage done annually.

6. Locusts in the Bible narrative. Locusts appear mainly in three settings:

a. The cause of the eighth plague, nine times.

b. A destroyer, both literal and fig. (twenty-five times).

c. A source of human food (six times).

The remaining sixteen occurrences are in a variety of contexts, mostly fig., some of which have already been mentioned.

a. Eighth plague. This tr. is amply confirmed by the details in the narrative (Exod 10). The complete stripping of all crops and green stuff; swarms dense enough to hide the sun; arriving with the E wind and being carried away by a “very strong W wind.” Hort (see Lice) sees the locusts as part of a logical sequence, for the unusually heavy winds that began the series would create conditions likely to cause mass breeding and swarm formation. The divine element is seen in the complete control of the situation, with the swarms coming and going according to God’s will. It is ironic that the cause of this devastating plague, with its long-lasting effects, should also have been a useful source of food to the Israelites on their desert journey.

b. As a destroyer. From antiquity the locust has been almost synonymous with destruction. Joel 2:25, “the years that the locust hath eaten” is now a proverb. Soon after the Bible was tr. into Eng. by Tyndale (1546) a greedy, devouring man was known as a locust. To the inhabitants of Pal. and many lands to the NE locust swarms were classed with drought and pestilence as utter calamities against which they could do nothing. It is not surprising that on nearly half the occasions where the words are used it is in this connection. Most commentators see in Joel 1 the accurate description of an actual plague, but some take it as largely fig. In at least three cases, apart from the plague, locusts are sent or threatened by God as a direct punishment for wrongdoing. Deuteronomy 28 lists the curses which will result from disobedience in Canaan; v. 42, “All your trees and the fruit of your ground the locust shall possess.” (See also 2 Chron 7:13; Amos 5:9.)

c. As food permitted to Hebrews. The regulations about food in Mosaic law were not arbitrary rules such as one finds in food taboos among primitive tribes today, but divinely inspired keys for easy recognition of safe and harmful kinds. Where distinction was hard, the good was forbidden along with the bad. Leviticus 11:20: “All winged insects that go upon all fours are an abomination to you.” These would include beetles, cockroaches, crickets, etc., many of which feed on or live among carrion and domestic rubbish and are therefore liable to transmit filth diseases. All these must be avoided. Insects are, of course, six-legged, and “all fours” must be here regarded as a technical term for creeping or running as opposed to jumping, which characterizes the grasshopper tribe. So v. 21, “Yet among the winged insects that go on all fours you may eat those which have legs above their feet, with which to leap on the earth.” The anatomy sounds strange in all Eng. VSS but the meaning is clear, for the hind pair of legs is greatly enlarged, and when at rest they reach far above the body.

7. Value of locusts as human food. Except for termites in some areas, locusts are more important than any other insect as a source of food, and they have been used as such since antiquity. Stone carvings in the palace of Ashurbanipal (8th cent. b.c.) show locusts on sticks being carried to a royal banquet. Diodorus of Sicily (2nd cent. b.c.) (Historia III. 2) among other Gr. historians, refers to Acridiphagi, or locust-eaters, of Ethiopia. Locusts are permitted food for Muslims and tradition has it that Mohammed himself used to eat them. Some African tribes still largely depend on locusts for their protein for much of the year; after eating as many as possible roasted and boiled they preserve large quantities by drying or grinding into flour. Until recent years, and perhaps now, the nomads of Algeria tried to store about 450 lbs. per tent. The recent influx of oil wealth into N Africa and other Arab lands is changing many old habits but in poorer areas locusts are still a welcome and valuable addition to an often marginal diet. It is not stated directly that the Israelites ate locusts in the desert, but this can reasonably be assumed. The food laws were first given at Sinai, early in the journey, and, as for locusts, this permission prob. codified a practice of long standing. Their routes must have crossed the lines taken by many swarms, and though the desert would offer no green food at most seasons, locusts cannot fly indefinitely and would be compelled to land at intervals, thus coming within reach of the travelers. Locusts are a useful source of protein, fat and calories; they also have a fair amount of mineral salts, but are not rich in vitamins. Dried locusts contain more than fifty per cent protein and a variable amount of fat—up to twenty percent. When John the Baptist was reported to be living on “locusts and wild honey” (Matt 3:4), he was enjoying a crude but fairly balanced diet; the honey would be basically sugar, but with some pollen and perhaps bee grubs as well, which would increase the protein content.

Bibliography H. B. Tristram, The Natural History of the Bible 9th ed. (1898), 306-318; F. S. Bodenheimer, Insects as Human Food (1951); P. Pesson, The World of Insects (1959).