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The locust

Locusts belong to the Acrididae family of short-horned grasshoppers, which has around 10,000 different species. Only about 25 species of these form destructive swarms. Under certain conditions these transition from a solitary harmless state into a gregarious and highly destructive swarming phase. Regular grasshoppers are solitary and green coloured, with a low metabolism. In the gregarious phase, they change colour to brown with a high metabolic rate, being very active. They actively seek companionship and move in large hungry groups.

Life-cycle

The overall lifespan of a locust is anything between two and six months, depending on the individual species and the environmental conditions. Eggs are laid just beneath the surface of moist sandy soil, where they can remain for many months until there is enough moisture for them to hatch. The larva, known as nymphs or hoppers, have the general shape of the adult, but are without wings. The hopper stage lasts between two and twelve weeks. During this time they molt five or six times, each time growing larger, and finally developing wings. There is no pupa or resting stage as in other insects. Adult locusts live between two and five months. Once fully grown, they undergo a maturation period before the females can lay eggs.

Transformation

Most locust swarms are triggered by overcrowding. This often happens when heavy rain leads to a large increase in the growth of vegetation, allowing the population of locusts to multiply rapidly. If the rains are followed by drought, the vegetation dries up and the insects are forced into close contact with each other. Repeated touch by rubbing against each other in restricted spaces triggers a chemical change which leads to a transformation of behaviour. Within a few hours they change colour, increase in size and become highly gregarious. Relatively harmless grasshoppers rapidly become ravenous swarming pests.

Locust swarms

Each locust consumes their body weight of vegetation each day. A swarm of locusts can contain up to 12 million insects per square kilometre (30 million per square mile). Swarms can be driven by the wind, and cover great distances. Swarms will also join together with other swarms, creating enormous swarms, which devastate the landscape. Swarms are often only ended when rain falls again after a drought.

Locusts swarms often have two stages because the first swarm lay eggs before dying. If the conditions continue to be advantageous, then the eggs will hatch bringing a second locust plague shortly after, in the form of locust larvae. These crawl along the ground, usually in opposite direction from the parents and consume everything in their path.

Modern examples of locust swarms

The Albert’s swarm in the USA in 1875 is recognised as the largest locust swarm ever recorded, containing an estimated 12.5 trillion rocky mountain locusts, covering over 512,800 square km (198,000 square miles) across the American Midwest. It was described as a cloud that darkened the sun.

In the locust plague of 1874 in the USA, rocky mountain locusts ravaged the Great Plains, destroying crops from Minnesota to the Rio Grande. The swarm destroyed millions of dollars worth of crops, causing severe economic devastation and famine.

The Madagascar plague in 2013 was regarded as the worst in 60 years, with 100 swarms containing roughly 500 billion locusts destroying half of the island's food crops, including rice and corn.

Locusts, particularly desert locusts, consume their own body weight in food every day. A small swarm can eat as much food in one day as 2,500 people. They leave behind barren, destroyed landscapes, severely impacting the food supply for both animals and humans.

Locusts like horses

Locusts are compared with horses in appearance (Joel 2:4, Rev 9:7). The head of a locust does have a resemblance to the head of a horse, when observed closely. This is reflected in the word for locusts in several modern languages, including Italian and Polish.

Locusts in the Bible

Swarms of locusts are frequently used in the Bible as a God’s judgement because of the devastation they cause. Several of the prophets, including Jeremiah, and particularly Joel, use swarms of locusts to describe invading enemy armies, like the Assyrians.

Eighth plague of Egypt (Ex 10:12-15)

The Lord brought an east wind upon the land, which brought the locusts. Locusts settled on the whole country of Egypt, such a dense swarm of locusts as had never been before, nor ever shall be again. They covered the surface of the whole land, so that the land was black, and they ate all the plants in the land and all the fruit of the trees. Nothing green was left, no tree, no plant in the field, in all the land of Egypt.

When describing the plagues of Egypt, Asaph the Psalmist declared that, “He (God) gave their crops to the caterpillar, and the fruit of their labour to the locust” (Ps 78:46). Another Psalm declares that in the plagues of Egypt, “He (God) spoke, and the locusts came, and young locusts without number; they devoured all the vegetation in their land, and ate up all the fruit of their ground” (Ps 105:34-35).

Covenant curse

One of the curses of Deuteronomy for disobeying the covenant was that locusts would eat their crops. “You shall carry much seed into the field but shall gather little in, for the locust shall consume it.” (Deut 28:38).

The Midianites

The tents of Midianites were described as being as thick as locusts, who wasted and impoverished the land (Judges 6:5). Later the Midianites and Amalekites were described as being as thick as locusts, with camels without number (Judges 7:12).

Wisdom of locusts!

In the Book of Proverbs there are four small things on the earth which are very wise. One of these is the locust, “the locusts have no king, yet all of them march in rank” (Prov 30:27). This is an accurate description of the movement of a swarm of locusts, particularly in their larval stage.

Jeremiah

In his oracle against Egypt, Jeremiah states that her enemies were more numerous than locusts, they are without number (Jer 46:23). In his oracles against Babylon, Jeremiah predicts that God will fill her with troops, like a swarm of locusts (Jer 51:14), and bring up horses like bristling locusts (Jer 51:27).

Locusts in Joel

Through his book, the prophet Joel gives several dramatic descriptions of a swarm of locusts devouring the land (1:4-10, 17-20, 2:2b-11). These descriptions certainly match what is observed today. Joel cleverly merges his description of a swarm of locusts into the coming of the Assyrian army as they invade the land. This judgement was also a foreshadowing of the final judgment on the day of the Lord.

Joel - four words for locusts

In two different passages, Joel uses four different Hebrew words for locusts. Different Bible versions vary in the way these words are translated.

“What the cutting locust left, the swarming locust has eaten.
What the swarming locust left, the hopping locust has eaten,
and what the hopping locust left, the destroying locust has eaten.” (1:4).

“I will repay you for the years that the swarming locust has eaten, the hopper, the destroyer and the cutter, my great army, which I sent against you.” (2:5).

It has been suggested that these represent four stages in the life-cycle of the locust. However, as noted above, the locust only has a three-stage life-cycle (egg, larva, winged adult), rather than the four-stage life-cycle found in other insects (egg, larva, pupa, winged adult). Also, the words come in a different order in the second passage (2:5). It is more likely that these words describe the different types of locust behaviour, as they swarm and cause immense destruction.

Cutting locust

This is listed first in 1:4, and last in 2:5. The Hebrew word is ‘gazam’ (Strongs 1501), translated as ‘palmerworm’ in the KJV, meaning to devour, to cut, or to gnaw. It is also used by Amos, “... the locust devoured your fig trees and your olive trees ...” (Amos 4:9). The emphasis implied by this word seems to be on the destruction caused by locusts. It may refer to the wingless stage cutting through vegetation.

Swarming locust

This is listed second in 1:4, but first in 2:5. The Hebrew word is ‘arbeh’ (Strongs 697), which is based on the verb ‘rabah’ (Strongs 7235), meaning to increase or multiply. This word is the most frequently used for locusts in the OT, and in other ancient languages. The emphasis is on the rapid multiplication which causes swarming, probably describing the mature, egg-laying, swarming adult form.

Hopping locust

This is listed third in 1:4, but second in 2:5. The Hebrew word is ‘yeleq’ (Strongs 3218), translated as ‘cankerworm’ in the KJV. The Arabic rood of this word means ‘to walk swiftly’, ‘to hasten’, or otherwise ‘to lick up’ or ‘to scrape’. This may be used to describe the wingless larval form, however Nahum uses this word to describe locusts flying away (Nah 3:17).

Destroying locust

This is listed fourth in 1:4, but third in 2:5. The Hebrew word is ‘chaciyl’ (Strongs 2625), translated as 'caterpillar' in the KJV. It means ‘ravager’, based on the verb ‘chacah’ (Strongs 2628), meaning to eat or consume and finish up. Again the emphasis is on the complete stripping and destruction of any vegetation. This word is also used in the curses of Deuteronomy, where the locust is consuming crops (Deut 28:38).

Amos

The prophet Amos also uses locusts to describe God’s judgements. In the series of previous warnings from God which Israel ignored, one of these is the locust. “I struck you with blight and mildew; I laid waste your gardens and your vineyards; the locust devoured your fig trees and your olive trees; yet you did not return to me, says the LORD.” (Amos 4:9). In this passage, like Joel, Amos uses the Hebrew word ‘gazam’ (Strongs 1501), showing the destructiveness of the locusts.

Later, Amos was given a series of visions of coming judgment. The first was locusts, “This is what the Lord GOD showed me: he was forming locusts at the time the latter growth began to sprout (it was the latter growth after the king’s mowings)”. (Amos 7:1). After each of the first two visions, Amos pleads to God to forgive his people, and God relented. In this passage Amos uses a different Hebrew word ‘gowb’ (Strongs 1462), based on the word ‘to dig’, perhaps referring to the larval form of locusts.

Nahum

Nahum describes judgement on the Assyrian capital Nineveh by their enemies in terms of a swarm of locusts. “There the fire will devour you, the sword will cut you off. It will devour you like the locust.” (Nah 3:15).

He also uses the departure of a swarm of locusts as a prediction of the multiplication and then disappearance of the guards of the city, “Multiply yourselves like the locust, multiply like the grasshopper! You increased your merchants more than the stars of the heavens. The locust sheds its skin and flies away. Your guards are like grasshoppers, your scribes like swarms of locusts settling on the fences on a cold day - when the sun rises, they fly away; no one knows where they have gone”. (Nah 3:16-17).

In both these passages Nahum uses the Hebrew word ‘yeleq’ (Strongs 3218), perhaps referring to the larval form, which later flies away.

Revelation

In the Book of Revelation, the fifth trumpet representing partial judgements is locusts rising from the bottomless pit (Rev 9:1-11). These locusts given the authority of scorpions, and are told not to damage the vegetation, but only those who did not have the seal of God on their foreheads (the unbelievers). They were allowed to torture them for five months, like the torture of a scorpion, when it stings someone. They cause people to seek death, but they will not find it. As noted above, the lifespan of an adult locust is around five months.

In appearance the locusts are like horses equipped for battle. They have human faces, women’s hair, lion’s teeth, scales like iron breastplates, and the noise of wings like noise of many chariots and horses rushing into battle. Their tails are like scorpions, with stingers. They are ruled by the angel of the bottomless pit, Abaddon (destruction) or Apollyon (the destroyer).

Rather than describing physical locusts, these probably represent some sort of demonic forces, under the authority of Satan, which oppress the unbelievers.

Clean animals (Lev 11:22)

In the law of Moses, most insects were not permitted to be eaten. The only ones permitted were winged insects that walk on all fours, with jointed legs above the feet. This included the locust, the bald locust, the cricket, and the grasshopper. John the Baptist ate locusts and wild honey while was in the wilderness (Mt 3:4, Mk 1:6). Today locusts are often eaten as a valuable source of protein, fat and minerals.

Again four words for locust used here, some of these are different from those used by Joel. The first is ‘locust’, using the Hebrew word ‘arbeh’ (Strongs 697), the normal word used for locusts in the OT. The second is the ‘bald locust’, using the Hebrew word ‘colam’ (Strongs 5556), a word for locust not used by Joel, describing being crushed by a rock, or being consumed. The third is the ‘cricket’, or ‘beetle’, using the Hebrew word ‘chargol’ (Strongs 2728), another word not used by Joel, describing a leaping insect. The fourth is the ‘grasshopper’, using the Hebrew word ‘chagab’, also not used by Joel, an alternative word for a locust, of uncertain derivation.

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