grasshopper Summary and Overview

belongs to the class of neuropterous insects called Gryllidae. This insect is not unknown in Israel. In Judg. 6:5; 7:12; Job 39:30; Jer. 46:23, where the Authorized Version has "grasshopper," the Revised Version more correctly renders the Hebrew word ('arbeh) by "locust." This is the case also in Amos 7:1; Nah. 3:17, where the Hebrew word "gob" is used; and in Lev. 11:22; Num. 13:33; Eccl. 12:5; Isa. 40:22, where "hagab" is used. In all these instances the proper rendering is probably "locust" (q.v.).

[LOCUST]

GRASS'HOPPER , an insect of the locust species, often mentioned in the sacred writings. Eccl 12:5. The word rendered "grasshopper" in the above-cited passage is rendered "locust" in 2 Chr 7:13. Grasshoppers were allowable food under the Jewish law. Lev 11:22. Their timidity is proverbial. Job 39:20. They are often found in great multitudes (hence the figurative language, Jud 6:5 and Num 7:12; Jer 46:23), and prove destructive to vegetation, especially in its early stages. Am 7:1. The allusion in Nah 3:15-17 is to a common habit of these insects. When benumbed with the cold, they assemble in vast numbers upon the hedges or other shrubbery; and such is their multitude that the places they occupy are darkened, and resemble the encamping-ground of a great army. As soon, however, as they are revived by the warmth of the sun, they fly away, no one knows whither. The grasshopper is used to illustrate comparative insignificance. Num 13:33; Isa 40:22; and in the passage from Ecclesiastes first cited, reference is probably made to that degree of weakness and infirmity in old age which makes the weight, or even the chirping, of a grasshopper burdensome.

(See LOCUST.)