Horseleach (see Leech).
Source: [Anon-Animals]
Tag Archives: Insect
Grub
Grub (see Worm).
Source: [Anon-Animals]
Grasshopper
Grasshopper.
Numerous references to grasshoppers and locusts in the Bible show what an impact these insects had in the hot, dry lands of the ancient world. Some of these references are literal (Ex. 10:4-19) while others are symbolic (Num. 13:33).
The terms grasshopper and locust are often used interchangeably. A locust is one kind of grasshopper. Another term used rarely for these insects is katydid (Lev. 11:22), (NIV). It has a brown-colored body two to three inches long. Airborne, with two sets of wings, the locust was dreaded because of its destructive power as a foliage-eating insect in the ancient world.
The eighth plague that God sent upon the Egyptians was an invasion of locusts. Millions of these insects may be included in one of these swarms, which usually occur in the spring. Locusts in such numbers speedily eat every plant in sight, totally destroying the crops. A locust plague is practically unstoppable. Water does not work; for when enough locusts drown, the survivors use their bodies as a bridge. They have also been known to smother fires that had been set to destroy them. Even modern farmers wrestle with this problem, often resorting to poisoning the adults and harrowing fields in the fall to destroy the eggs before they can hatch in the spring.
(Chapter 9 of the Book of Revelation) presents a nightmarish prospect: locusts with special powers will be unleashed upon mankind for five months.
Locusts do not always appear in swarms. Hot weather normally brings a few solitary grasshoppers and locusts to the Holy Land. But scientists have learned that under certain conditions of climate and food scarcity, chemical changes take place in the female locust. These cause more eggs to hatch, sending millions of locusts into the air at the same time in search of food.
Many people, including the Jews, eat locusts (Lev. 11:22). These insects may be boiled, fried, or dried. Locusts were part of the wilderness diet of John the Baptist (Matt. 3:4).
Source: [Anon-Animals]
Gnat
Gnat (see Fly).
Source: [Anon-Animals]
Fly
Fly.
The “flies” of the Bible included the common housefly, as well as other two-winged insects. Many of these were biting insects. This explains the “devouring” flies of (Psalm 78:45). The flies visited as a plague upon the Egyptians probably included the housefly and the stinging sand fly, as well as gnats and mosquitoes.
The prophet Isaiah’s reference to the “fly that is in the farthest part of the rivers of Egypt” (Isa 7:18) may have been a symbol of swarms of Egyptian soldiers. Or, he could have had in mind the dreaded tsetse fly of Africa, which spreads sleeping sickness. Still another possibility is the olive fly, which could ruin a crop of ripe olives.
Solomon’s “fly in the ointment” (Eccl. 10:1) has become a proverb. So also has Jesus’ “straining out a gnat”– which referred to the custom of straining wine to take out the impurities before it was served (Matt. 23:24).
Source: [Anon-Animals]
Flea
Flea.
Fleas flourished in the sand and dust of the Holy Land. Classified as parasites, these tiny insects attach themselves to a body and suck blood from their host. Fleas have no wings, but they do have strong legs and can jump several inches at one leap. The flea that lives on man is tiny, but it can be very irritating. David described himself as a mere flea being pursued by a king (1 Sam. 24:14; 26:20). He may have seemed insignificant, but he irritated King Saul.
Source: [Anon-Animals]
Cricket
Cricket (see Beetle).
Source: [Anon-Animals]
(see Beetle).
Blast
Blast certainly, designates, Deut. 28:42, a voracious insect; the Hebrew çelãçál, “chirping”, suggests that the cricket was possibly meant and might be substituted for blast. In Ps. 127:46 (Hebr., Psa 128:46), blast stands for hãsîl, “the destroyer”, perhaps the locust in its caterpillar state, in which it is most destructive.
Source: [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_the_animals_in_the_Bible]
Beetle
Beetle.
Beetles fly, but they do not leap (Lev. 11:21).
Crickets, which are related to locusts, both fly and leap. Some scholars contend that katydid, or locusts, are more likely the correct translations of this one biblical reference to beetles or crickets.
Source: [Anon-Animals]
Beetle
given by A.V. (Leviticus 11:22) as an equivalent for Hebrew, árbéh, does not meet the requirements of the context: “Hath the legs behind longer wherewith it hoppeth upon the earth”, any more than the bruchus of D.V., some species of locust, the locusta migratoria being very likely intended.
Source: [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_the_animals_in_the_Bible]
Ant
Bible occurrences: Pro 6:6; 30:25.
The notable character of the ant is its prudent habit of providing for the future, and their ceaseless hard work.
Source: [DCox]
Ant. Approximately 100 species of ants live in the Holy Land. Harvester ants are the ones meant in (Proverbs 6:6-8) and (30:25). These tiny insects settle near grain fields, carrying seed after seed into their private storehouses. In cold weather these ants cluster together and hibernate. When winter comes, they have food stored up until the next harvest.
God has provided ants with such amazing instincts that they appear to reason and plan ahead. If stored grain gets wet, they haul it out into the sun to dry. Their hard work was considered a worthy example for human beings by the writer of Proverbs (Prov. 6:6-8; 30:25).
The Ant
If you look at the sixth verse of the sixth chapter of Proverbs, you will read, “Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise.” A sluggard, you know, is a man, or woman, or child, who does not love to read or to do any kind of work, but likes to sleep or be idle all the day long. Do you think you were ever acquainted with one?
Now see what the Bible tells the sluggard to do. It bids him go to the little ant, and “consider her ways,” that is, look on and see what she does. Have you ever watched the ants when they were busy at work? It will give you very pleasant employment for half an hour on a summer’s day. In some places you may see small ant-hills scattered about, so close together that you can hardly step without treading on them; and you may find other places where there are not so many, but where the hills are much larger. I have seen them so large that you could hardly step over one of them without touching it with your foot and breaking some part of it. And then how busy the little creatures are! Just kneel down on the grass beside them, and notice how they work! You will see one little fellow creeping along as fast as he can go, with a grain of sand in his mouth, perhaps as large as his head. He does not stop to rest, but when he has carried his grain to help build the hill, away he goes for another. You may watch them all day and never see them idle at all.
You see why God tells the sluggard to go and look at the little ants: it is that when he sees them so busy, he may be ashamed of himself for being idle, and learn to be “wise,” or diligent in whatever he undertakes. I should not think he could help going to work, after he had looked at them a little while. The ants seem to be very happy, and I think it is because they are so busy. God has put nobody in this world to be idle: even children have something to do. The inside of an ant-hill is very curious, but it is not easy to examine it without destroying all the work that the little insects have taken so much pains to finish. There is a kind of ant in warm climates that builds for itself hills as high as a man. They are not made of sand, but of a kind of clay; and have a great many cells or apartments, and many winding passages leading from one part to another. All this is done, as the Bible says, without “guide, overseer or ruler;” that is, they have no one to direct them how to do it. God gives them skill just as he does to the honey-bees in building the beautiful cells which you have so often admired; all His works are wonderful.