From the Scriptures it appears that Egypt, Palestine, and the adjacent countries were frequently laid waste by vast bodies of migrating locusts, which are especial- ly represented as a scourge in the hand of divine Prov- idence for the punishment of national sins; and the brief notices of the inspired writers as to the habits of the insects, their numbers, and the devastation they cause, are amply borne out by the more labored details of modem travellers. 1. Locusts occur in great num- bers, and sometimes obscure the sun (Exod. x, 15; Jcr. xlvi, 23; Judg. vi, 5; vii, 12; Joel ii, 10; Nah. iii, 15; compare Livy, xlii, 2 ; ..-Elian, A'. .4 . iii, 12 ; Phnv, X. H. xi, 29 ; Shaw, Travels, p. 187 [fol. 2d ed.] ; Ludolf, JJist.
LOD
487
LODGE
^fJiiop. i, 13, and De Locusiis, i, 4 ; Volney, Travels in Sijriii, i, 236). 2. Their voracity is alluded to in Exod. X, 12, 15; Joel i, 4, 7, 12, and ii,3 ; Dent. xxviii,38; Psa. Ixxviii, 46 ; cv, 34 ; Isa. xxxiii, 4 (comp. Shaw, Travels, p. 187, and travellers in the East, passim). 3. They are compared to horses (Joel ii,4; Kev. ix, 7. The Italians call the locust " Cavaletta ;" and Ray says, " Caput ob- longum, equi instar prona spectans." Compare also the Arab's description to Niebuhr, Descr. de VA rahie), 4. They make a fearful noise in their flii>'ht (Joel ii, 5 ; Rev. ix, 9; comp. Forskal, Descr. p. 81 : "Transeuntes grylli super verticem nostrum sono magnre cataractaj ferve- bant ;" Yolney, Trav. i, 235). 5. Their irresistible prog- ress is referred to in Joel ii, 8, 9 (comp. Shaw, Trav. p. 187). 6. They enter dwellings, and devour even the wood-work of houses (Exod. x, G ; Joel ii, 9, 10 ; comp. Pliny, N. H. xi, 29). 7. They do not tiy in the night (Nah. iii, 17 ; comp. Niebuhr, Descr. de VA rahie, p. 173). 8. Tlio sea destroj-s the greater number (Exod. x, 19: Joel ii, 20 ; compare Pliny, xi, 35 ; Hasselquist, Trav. p. 445 [Engl, transl. 1766] ; also Iliad, xxi, 12). 9. Their dead bodies taint the air (Joel ii, 20 ; comp. Hasselquist, Trav. p. 445). 10. They are used as food (Lev. xi, 21, 22; Matt, iii, 4; Mark i, 6; compare Pliny, iV. //. vi, 35 ; xi,35; Diod. Sic. iii,29; Aristoph. -4e/;«r. 1116 ; Ludolf, //. ^-Ethiop. p. 67 [Gent's transl.J ; Jackson, Morocco, p. 52 ; Niebuhr, Descr. de I'A rahie, p. 150 ; Sparman, Trav. i, 367, who says the Hottentots are glad when the lo- custs come, for they fatten upon them; Hasselquist, Travels, p. 232,419; Kirby and Spence, Eniom. i, 305). There are people at this day who gravely assert that the locusts which formed part of the food of the Baptist were not the insect of that name, but the long, sweet pods of the locust-tree (Ceratonia siliqua), Johannis brodt,''iit. John's bread," as the monks of Palestine call it. For other equally erroneous explanations, or unau- thorized alterations of ciKpiSic, see Celsii Hieroh. i, 74.
IV. The following are some of the works which treat of locusts-: Ludolf, Dissertatio de Locustis (Franco f. ad Moen. 1694) [this author believes that the quails which fed the Israelites in the wilderness were locusts (vid. his Diutriba qua senfentiu nova de Selavis siv'e Locusiis de- fenditur, Francof. 1694), as do the Jewish Arabs to this day. So does Patrick, in his Comment, on Numbers. A more absurd opinion -(vas that held by Norrelius, who maintained that the four names of Lev. xi,22 were birds (see his Schediasma de A vibus sacris, A I'heh, Chagab, Solam, et Charrjol, Upsal. 1746, and in the Bill. Brem. iii, 36)] ; Faber, De Locusiis Biblicis, et sir/illatim de A vi- bus Quadrupedibus, ex Lev. xi, 20 (Wittenb. 1710-11); Asso, Abhaiullung vnn den Heuschrecl-en (Rostock, 1787 ; usually containing also Tychsen's Comment, de Locustis) ; Oedman, Vermischte Samndung, vol. ii, e. vii ; Kirby and Spence, Introduction to Entomology, i, 305, etc. ; Bochart, Hierozoicon, iii, 251, etc., ed. Rosenmiiller ; Kitto, Plijjs. History of Palestine, p. 419,420; Harris, Natural Hist, of the Bible, s. v. (1833); Harmer, Observations (Lond. 1797); Fabricius, Eiitomol. System, ii, 46 sq. ; Credner, Joel, p. 261 sq. ; Thomson, Land and Book, ii, 102 sq. ; Tristram, Nat. Hist, of the Bible, p. 306 sq. ; Wood, Bible Animals, p. 596 sq. ; Hackett. ///i/.f^/Y/. of Script, p. 97; ServUle, Monograph in the Suites a. Buffon ; Fischer, Or- thoptera Europwa ; Suicer, Thesaurus, i, 169, 179; Gu- therr, De Victu .Johannis (Franc. 1785); Rathleb, ^ ^rj- dotheolor/ie (Hanover, 1748); Rawlinson, Eire Ancient Monarchies, ii, 299, 493 ; iii, 144.
IiOd (1 Chron. viii, 12; Ezra ii, 32; Neh. vii,37; xi, 35). See Lyuda.
Lo-de'bar (Heb. Lo-Dehar,' "ISI J<b. no pasture, 2 Sam. xvii, 27, Sept. Awcafiao ; written "i^n i> in 2 Sam. ix, 4, 5, Septuag. Aw^apap), a town apparently in Gilead,not far from ]\Iahanaim.the residence of Ammiel, whose son Machir entertained Mephibosheth, and after- wards sent refreshments to David (2 Sam. ix, 4, 5 ; xvii, 27). It is probably the same with the place (see Re- land, Palcest. p. 875) called Deisik (or rather Lidhir',
'13'7^, Josh, xiii, 26 ; Sept. Af/3i'p, Vulg. Dabir ; for the P is not a prefix, but a part of the name [see Keil's Com- ment, ad loc], which should probably be pointed "iSI'b Lodebar'), on the (north-easteni) border of Gad, but in which direction from IMahanaim is uncertain, perhaps north-west (in which general direction the associated names appear to proceed), and not far from et-Tayiheli.