Locust (ἀ κρίς)
Apart from Matthew 3:4, Mark 1:6, the only references to the locust in the NT are contained in the Apocalyptic Vision-‘the Fifth Trumpet or the First Woe’ (Revelation 9:3, Revelation 9:7)-where a swarm of locusts is represented as emerging out of the smoke of the abyss. There is probably here an allusion to the plague of locusts in Exodus 10:4 f. (cf. also Joel 1:4), but both the power and the mission of these locusts are not that of the locust tribe. They have the power of ‘scorpions,’ the deadliness of whose sting was proverbial (cf. 1 K 12:11, 14, 2 Chronicles 10:11, Ezekiel 2:6, Luke 10:19; Luke 11:12), while in contradistinction to the usual habits and tastes of locusts, they are commanded not to hurt ‘the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree.’ Apparently the work of judgment on this part of creation had been sufficiently carried out by the hail which followed the First Trumpet (Revelation 8:7). It is interesting in this connexion both to compare and to contrast the part played by locusts in Exodus. There too they follow the hail, but in Exodus (10:5) their mission is to ‘eat the residue of that which is escaped, which remaineth unto you from the hail,’ and to ‘eat every tree which groweth for you out of the field,’ whereas here they have a more important vocation-they are sent forth as the messengers of God’s wrath upon ‘those men which have not the seal of God on their foreheads’ (Revelation 9:4), whom they are to torment with ‘the torment of a scorpion’ for ‘five months.’
The appearance of these particular locusts is as unusual and unexpected as their mission (9:7-10). ‘The shapes of the locusts were like unto horses prepared unto battle’: this part of the description would indeed be equally applicable to an ordinary swarm of locusts; it is borrowed from Joel 2:4, and is a metaphor ‘chosen partly on account of their speed and compact array, but chiefly on account of a resemblance which has often been observed between the head of a locust and the head of a horse’ (See Driver, ad loc.). The next two features are peculiar to the locusts of the vision; they had ‘crowns’ on their heads ‘like unto gold,’ and ‘their faces were as men’s faces.’ The crowns are indicative of their power and authority, while their human faces testify to the wisdom and capacity with which they were imbued. Further, they had ‘hair as the hair of women,’ and it has been supposed that we have here a reference to the long antennAE of locusts.
The locust belongs to the same genus as the grass-hopper (AcrididAE). There is a number of different kinds, but the most destructive are the Œdipoda migratoria and the Acridium peregrinum, of which the latter apparently predominate. The history of their development is somewhat strange: after emerging from the egg, which is laid in April or May, they enter the larva state, during which period they have no wings; in the pupa state, germinal wings enclosed in cases appear; while about a month later, they cast the pupa skin, and, borne on their newly emancipated wings, they soar into the air. Their hind-wings are generally very bright-coloured, being yellow, green, blue, scarlet, crimson, or brown, according to the species. It is noteworthy that, unlike moths, they pass through no chrysalis period. They only appear in swarms periodically, and when they do, they literally darken the sky (cf. Exodus 10:15), while the rattle of their wings is like a fall of rain (cf. Joel 2:5). In the drier parts of the country they are at all times abundant, and are a constant source of annoyance to the husbandmen, whose crops they sometimes entirely devour. The larvAE are responsible for most of the havoc wrought; as they are unable to fly, they hop over the land around which they were hatched and destroy grass, plants, and shrubs promiscuously. It is, on the other hand, easier to drive off full-grown locusts that can fly, as they are quickly frightened; but at all stages of their development they are extremely voracious.
They are used as an article of diet by the natives to-day, just as they were in NT times, the legs and wings being first removed, and the body stewed with butter or oil. They are said to taste somewhat like shrimps.
Literature.-H. B. Tristram, The Natural History of the Bible 10, 1911, pp. 306ff., 313; H. B. Swete, The Apocalypse of St. John, 1907, p. 115ff., The Gospel according to St. Mark 2, 1902, p. 5f.; SDB [Note: DB Hastings’ Single-vol. Dictionary of the Bible.] 549; HDB [Note: DB Hastings’ Dict. of the Bible (5 vols.).] iii. 130f.; EBi [Note: Bi EncyclopAEdia Biblica.] iii. 2807ff.; and especially Driver’s ‘Excursus on Locusts’ in his Joel and Amos, 1897, pp. 82-91, cf. also pp. 37-39, 48-53; W. M. Thomson, The Land and the Book, 1910 ed., p. 407f.; J. C. Geikie, The Holy Land and the Bible, 1887, i. 79, 80, 142, 391-5, 402.
P. S. P. Handcock.