Grasshopper

Grasshopper

is the rendering in certain passages of the Auth. Vers. of three Heb. words: אִרבֶּה, arbeh' (Jg 6:5; Jg 7:12; Job 39:20; Jer 46:26), a locust (as elsewhere rendered), sometimes a particular species, the migratory kind (Le 11:22; Joe 1:4); גּוֹב, gob (Am 7:1; Na 3:17), a locust in general; חָגָב, chagab' (Le 11:22; Nu 13:33; Ec 12:5; Isa 11:16), a locust (2Ch 7:13), winged and edible (Leviticus 40:22), and therefore evidently not a proper grasshopper. SEE LOCUST. In Nu 13:33; Isa 40:22, this insect is used to express comparative insignificance. In Ec 12:5 reference is probably made to that degree of weakness and infirmity in old age which makes the weight, or even the chirping of this insect, to be burdensome. For the curious illustration of this passage from the fable of Tithornius, see Kitto's Daily Bible Illust. ad loc. SEE OLD AGE. The true grass hopper (Gryllus grossus) belongs to a tribe of neuropterous insects styled Gryllidae, and it appears from modern travelers that it is not unknown in Pal estine. Its habits greatly resemble those of its congener, the Oriental locust it has mandibles or jaws peculiarly fitted for devouring green vegetables, and in many parts even of America its ravages often be come quite formidable. SEE INSECT.