Ver. 2. For the following description of this destructive horde of weird locusts, see Joel ii. with Driver’s notes and ex- cursus (C. B.) to which add the famous description of a locust-plague in New- man’s Callista (ch. xv.). Naturally the sketch is far more idealised than that given by Joel; it often recalls the monstrous associates created by Tiamat out of the primeval abyss (Jastrow, pp. 419 f.); {.ε., strong warriors, ‘‘ great ser- pents, merciless in attack, sharp of tooth. With poison instead of blood she filled their bodies. Furious vipers she clothed with terror, made them high of stature.*
Vv. 3,4. The dense smoke resolves itself into a swarm of infernal demons in the form of locusts but rendered more formidable by their additional power of stinging like scorpions. Instead of ptey- ing on their natural food (Exod. x. 15), already plagued (viii. 7) they are let loose upon men unmarked by the Divine
σφραγίδα τοῦ * Θεοῦ ἐπὶ τῶν µετώπων.
407
5. καὶ ἐδόθη adtots! tvai Full season
μὴ ἀποκτείνωσιν αὐτούς, GAN ἵνα βασανισθήσονται ‘pivas * πέντε" locusts καὶ 6 βασανισμὸς αὐτῶν ὡς βασανισμὸς σκορπίου, ὅταν παίσῃ April to ἄνθρωπον. k ορ 6. καὶ ἐν ταῖς ἡμέραις ἐκείναις " ζητήσουσιν οἱ ἄνθρωποι τὸν ΜΑ
θάνατον, trast Phil
‘kal οὐ μὴ εὕρωσιν 2 αὐτόν’ 1 Job χα
καὶ " ἐπιθυμήσουσιν ἀποθανεῖ», ors καὶ Φεύγει 6 θάνατος am αὐτῶν. ον
7. Καὶ τὰ ὁμοιώματα τῶν ἀκρίδων ὅμοια ™ ἵπποις ἠτοιμασμένοις Ἐν ως εἰς " πόλεμον, ο π
Aesch. fr. 314, cf. Sib. Or. viii. 353, Herod. vii. 46, and Eur. Hipp. 1047. πι Joel ii. 4. re all 17
1 Read avrous (NA, 1, Pr.) as in vv. 3 and 4 (80), with Ti., Ws., Bs., Bj. (Lach. WH marg., Sw., ver. 5).
2 Read ου py (NAPQ, 1, etc., And., Areth.) ευνρωσιν (AP, min., etc.) with Lach., Diist., WH marg., Ws., Bs., Bj. [ευρησουσιν QQ, min., vg., Andpal, Areth., Ti., Tr.
Al. Sw., WH].
seal (though the expected blast of winds is dropped), the idea being similar to that reproduced in Ps. Sol. xiii. 1-3, 4, 5, xv. I, 9 (see above, on vii. 3). The nations under command of Holofernes (Jud. ii. 20) are also likened by the Jewish romancer to a swarm of innumerable locusts ; and from the mouth of the beast in Hermas issue ἀκρίδες πύριναι to per- secute the virgin church. Josephus, too, compares the army of Simeon to locusts (B. ¥. iv. 97). Why are trees (vii. 1) exempted? For the reason suggested in Ps. Sol. xi. 6, 7»?
Ver. 5. maton here, like ἐπάταξεν Jas. iv. 7, represents LXX, tr. of in sense of reptile’s bite ; the scorpion with its long-fanged tail stings the prey which it has already gripped with its claws (cf. Sen. Hercul. 1218). Scorpions were a natural symbol for vicious and dan- gerous opponents (cf. Ezek. ii. 6, Luke x. 9), whose attacks were always painful and might be mortal. “The sting is not perilous. ... The wounded part throbs with numbness and aching till the third day, there is not much swell- ing” (Doughty, Ar. Des. i. 328). But the effects were not always so mild (Arist. Η. N. ix. 29).
Ver. 6. The withholding of death, instead of being an alleviation, is really a refinement of torture; so infernal is the pain, that the sufferers crave, but crave in vain, for death (Sibyll. iii. 208 : καὶ καλέσουσι καλὸν τὸ θανεῖν καὶ Φεύξετ᾽ am αὐτῶν). It is singular that
suicide is never contemplated, although it was widely prevalent at this period in certain circles of the Empire (see Meri- vale’s Romans under the Emfire, ch. lxiv; Lecky’s Europ. Morals, i. 212 f.). For its un-Jewish character see Jos. Bell. iii. 8. 5.
Ver. 7. Arabian poets compare locusts in head to the horse, in breast to the lion, in feet to the camel, in body to the snake, in antenne to a girl’s long, waving hair. The resemblance of the head in locusts and in horses has been often noticed (Cavalleta, Italian), and their hard scales resemble plates of equine armour. The rest of the description is partly fanciful (‘crowns gleaming like gold,” human faces; yet cf. Pl. H. N. vi. 28, Arabes mitrati degunt, aut intonsa crine), partly (vv. 8-g) true to nature (woman’s hair [t.e., abundant and flowing, a well-known trait of the Parthians and Persians], and lion-like teeth, scaly plates on the thorax, and rustling or whirring noises), partly (ver. το) recapitulatory (=ver. 5; note ὁμοίας σκορπίοις, an abbreviated comparison like Homer’s κόµαι Χαρί- τεσσιν ὁμοῖαι), partly (ver. seh icone tive (cf. Prov. xxx. 27). The leader of these demons is the angel of the inferno from which they issue. His name is Abaddon (cf. Exp. Times, xx. 234 f.), a Heb. equivalent for Nw personified like death and Hades. The final syllable of the name is taken to represent as in Greek, a personal ending. Hence the LXX rendering ἀπώλεια pro-