Locusts

LOCUSTS. The Hebrews have many Names for Locusts, and they have discovered several Sorts of them, which are not Ex. x. 4, 12, &c. Ps. lxxvii. 46. and civ. 34, 35.known among us. God smote Egypt with the Plague of Locusts, which ravaged every Thing that was left remaining in the Joel i. 6, 7, &c. ii. 3, 4, 5, &c. Isai. xxxiii. 4, 5.Fields belonging to that Countrey. The old Historians, and modern Travellers remark, that Locusts are very numerous in Africk, and in many Places of Asia; that sometimes they fall like a Cloud upon the Countrey, and eat up every Thing they meet with; that the Quantity of them is sometimes so large, that they obscure the Sea; and that the People discerning them in the Air, are in a Consternation, being uncertain whether they will fall or not upon their Lands¹. The Prophet Joel giving an Account of a great Dearth which happened in Judæa, after it had been laid waste by a Multitude of Locusts, speaks of them as of an Enemy’s Army, which had committed all Sorts of Devastations there. Isaiah remarks, that when the Locusts were carried away into the Sea, and were afterwards thrown up in Heaps upon the Sands, great Holes were dug in the Earth to bury them; or else they were burnt, to prevent the Infection which might otherwise have been produced by them in the Air. And in Reality it has sometimes happened, that great Plagues have been occasioned by them².

Moses³ declares all Creatures that fly and walk upon four Feet to be impure, but he excepts those which having their Hindfeet larger than the others, skip and do not crawl upon the Earth. Afterwards he describes four Sorts of Locusts⁴, called in Hebrew, Arbi, Salab, Chargol, and Hachagab, which Saint Jerom translates Bruchus, Attacus, Ophiomacus, and Locusta. The Reader, if he pleases, may see Bochart upon Locusts, in his large Work De Animal. Sacr. Part ii. l. iv. c. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8.

Since there was a Prohibition made by Moses against using Locusts, it is not to be questioned but that these Creatures were commonly eaten in Palestine, and in the neighbouring Countries; wherefore there is no Difficulty in supposing, that the Word Acrides, made Use of by Saint Matth. iii. 4.Matthew, speaking of the Food on which Saint John subsisted, might signify Locusts. The Ancients affirm⁵, that in Africk, Syria, Persia, and almost throughout all Asia, the People did commonly eat these Creatures. Nay there are some intire Nations called Acridophagior, Eaters of Locusts, because this is their principal Food. Several modern Authors testify, that the Use of them is still at this Day common in Africk and the East. Clenard, in a Letter written from Fez in the Year 1541 assures us, that he saw Waggon-loads of Locusts brought into that City, which the People bought to feed on. Kirstenius in his Notes upon Saint Matthew, says, he was informed by his Arabick Master, that he had often seen of them upon the River Jordan, that they are of the same Form as ours, but larger; that the Inhabitants pluck off their Wings and their Feet, and hang the rest at their Necks till they grow warm and ferment; and that then they eat them, and think it a very good Sort of Food. A Monk who has travelled into Egypt, assures us, that he had eaten of these Locusts, and that in the Countrey they subsisted upon them four Months in the Year. See the Commentators upon Saint Matthew, Chap. iii. V. 4. And Bochart de Animal. Sacr. p. 2. l. 4.

Ludolphus in his Comment upon the History of Æthiopia pretends to shew, that what the Vulgate and Generality of Interpreters explain of the Quails sent by Ex. xvi. 1. Numb. x. 11.God for the Sustenance of his People, should be understood of Locusts. He produces several Arguments to support his Opinion, whereof we shall give a short Abstract under the Word QUAILS.

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