INSECTS INJURIOUS TO THE VINE. VZ t 



The word gaza occurs in Joel ii. 25 : — " I will restore to 

 you the fruits of the year, and all that arbeh, jelek, chazil, 

 and gaza, that devouring multitude which I sent against you, 

 have destroyed." 



But the passage in Joel in which gaza occurs, that is most 

 important to the interpretation of the word, is in chap. i. 

 ver. 4: — " What gaza leaves arbeh eats; that which arbeh 

 leaves jele/c eats ; and what jelek leaves chazil eats." 



In these different passages, the Septuagint translates gaza 

 by kampe, and the Vulgate by eruca, i. e. a caterpillar. 

 The pastors of Geneva, and Sacy, have adopted this latter 

 translation. Bochart and Michaelis agree with them in 

 opinion. 1 But the Chaldean version employs the word gaza 

 to designate a kind of wingless locust ; and in the book of the 

 Prophets alone, the Talmud enumerates ten species of locusts, 

 among which gaza is included. 



The three other insects mentioned in Joel in the same verse 

 with gaza, i. e. arbeh, jelek, and chazil, are also included 

 among the ten species enumerated by the Hebrew doctors in 

 the Talmud. The interpreters of the Bible differ as to the 

 signification of the words jelek and chazil, but they all agree 

 on the meaning of the word gaza. There is no doubt that it 

 was intended for a locust. The Chaldean version agrees with 

 the Septuagint and Vulgate in all the passages where the word 

 is found in the Bible. Arbeh is the first of four kinds of 

 insects, or crawling creatures, pointed out by Moses as fit for 

 food ; and Forskael tells us that the Arabs still give the name 

 of arbeh to a kind of locust they eat in their country. Now 

 we learn from Joel, that what gaza leaves the arbeh eats, and 

 we may safely conclude that gaza was the name of an insect 

 eminently destructive, not only to the vine, but to all kinds of 

 plants ; and that to its ravages succeeded the attacks of many 

 kinds of locusts, who finished the work of destruction, and 

 completely consumed every thing this formidable insect had not 

 devoured. Some learned interpreters have considered this insect 

 to be a caterpillar ; others, of equal authority, have concluded 

 that it was a kind of wingless locust. We will endeavour to 

 ascertain the true meaning hereafter, but at present, adhering 

 to our proposed plan, as we have now examined all that the 

 Hebrews have handed down to us respecting the insects 



1 Bochart, Hierozokon, part ii. p. 483. 



