THE NEW SCHAFF-HERZOG
LOCUST: A common and familiar insect of the East. Locusts are counted among the small winged animals which " go upon all four " and were all regarded as unclean, with the exception of those which had two hind legs projecting above their feet " to leap withal upon the earth " (Lev. xi. 21-22). These legs for leaping are a characteristic of the locust, while other marks are a head set at riiiht angles with the body, armed with strong mandibles and having two antennae, large eyes, and a body formed of nine annulets. The four wings are of nearly equal length, but the rear ones are considerably broader than those in front. The female with her ovipositor thrusts the eggs, after they are fertilized, into the loose earth. In the spring, when the sun warms the ground, the larvae creep out, greenish white or black, small as flies, in shape like the full-grown locusts, only without external sexual organs. They cast their skin four times; after the third casting the sexual parts appear and after the fourth the insects are able to fly. In Syria locusts begin to breed by the middle of April.
The two species which are most common in Syria (Acridium peregrinum and (Edipoda migratoria) are particularly dreaded on account of their voracity and their great numbers. When the desert winds drive the immense swarms through the air (Ex. x. 13; Prov. xxx. 27) they darken the sun like heavy clouds and the rattling of their wings sounds like the noise of chariots (Joel ii. 2, 5; Rev. ix. 9). Wherever they settle down, the verdure immediately disappears, even the Garden of Eden becomes a desert (Joel ii. 3). Those which are not yet winged crawl on the ground and no obstacle can stop them or divert them from the path they have chosen (Ex. x. 6; Joel ii. 7, 9). Broad ditches and large fires avail little to destroy the swarms, and even the red-hawk and the rosy crackle (turdus roseus), which fly along with them and devour many, scarcely lessen the swarms. Rain is their most dangerous enemy, as it destroys their eggs, and a severe storm does away with them altogether by sweeping them into the sea (Ex. x. 19; Joel ii. 20).
Locusts were looked upon as clean according to Lev. xi. 22, and they were eaten by the poor as they are to-day by the Bedouins (cf. Matt. iii. 4; Mark i. 5). By the Assyrians they were regarded as a delicacy. They are often mentioned in the Old Testament as a type of an enormous multitude (Judges vi. 5; Jer. xlvi. 23; Nah. iii. 15; Eccles. xliii. 17); of littleness, unimportance, and transitoriness (Num. xiii. 33; Ps. cix. 23; Isa. xl. 22; Nah. iii. 17); of greed (Deut. xxviii. 38; Isa. xxxiii. 4), and of destruction (Amos vii. 1). Their advancing in bands is described in Prov. xxx. 27; in their leaping and in theit appearance they are compared to horses (Joel ii. 4; Rev. ix. 7). A plague of grasshoppers was one of the most dreadful judgments of God (Deut. xxviii. 38; I Kin^s viii. 37; Amos iv. 9). A highly poetical description of a swarm of locusts and the destruction and waste they left behind them is given by Joel (chaps, i.-ii).
The Old Testament has many names to designate locusts. The one most generally used, 'arbeh,
is a generic name (cf. Ex. x. 4 sqq.) as well as the name of a particular species, probably the flying, migratory locust (gryllus migratorius) , which is said to bear this name in Bagdad at the present day. In Lev. xi. 22, sal'am, hargal, and haghabh are named as different species; haghabh, however, seems to be also a common designation. The names in Joel (i. 4, ii. 25) are popular expressions (cf. hasil, " the devourer," Deut. xxviii. 38; Ps. lxxviii. 46) which serve everywhere as general designations (Jer. Ii. 27; Amos iv. 9; Nah. iii. 16). To these may be added gebh and gobh (Isa. xxxiii. 4; Amos vii. 1; Nah. iii. 17) — an exceptional wealth of synonyms easily understood from the great part the locust played everywhere in the land. Some of these synonyms may have had their origin in the various dialects of the country. I. Benzinger.
Bibliography: S. Bochart, Hierozoicon, II., iv. 1, 3 vols., Leipsic, 1793-96; J. L. Burckhardt, Notes on the Bedouins and Wahabis, London, 1830; H. B. Tristram, Natural Hist, of the Bible, pp. 306 sqq., ib. 1880; A. Munro, The Locust Plague and its Suppression, ib. 1900; DB, iii. 130- 131; EB, iii. 2807-10; JE, viii. 147; and the commentaries on Leviticus at xi. 22, and on Joel, particularly that by Driver, in the Cambridge Bible, containing an excursus on locusts and giving the literature.
LODENSTEIN, lo'den-stain, JODOCUS VAN: Reformed preacher and ascetic; b. a*t Delft Feb. 6, 1620; d. at Utrecht Aug. 6, 1677. He studied theology at Utrecht under Voetius, Schotanus and De Maets, and in 1642 went to Franeker in order to devote himself to the study of Oriental languages under the direction of Coccejus. In 1644 he became preacher at Zoetermeer near Delft, in 1650 at Sluis in Flanders, and in 1653 at Utrecht, where he labored until his death. He was the originator of a reformation of life and morals in the Netherlands, and was thus for the Dutch and German Reformed Church what Spener soon after became in the German Evangelical-Lutheran Church, and by the same analogy he was followed by a party of " Lodensteinians," who kept aloof from the external life of the Church without formally separating themselves, unlike the adherents of Labadie, who were outspoken dissenters. He was a reformer of practical life, not of doctrine. The Netherlands were at that time exceedingly prosperous, and the popular mind seemed to be entirely absorbed by secular pursuits. Lodenstein, however, made a wide-spread impression by his preaching, by his writings, and by his spiritual songs. Of his sermons many were published and often reprinted in various collections, such as Geestelyke Opwekker (Amsterdam, 1701); Verralle Christendom (Utrecht, 1711); Heerlijkhcid van een waar Christelijk leven (Amsterdam, 1711); Boetpredikatien over Jerem. xlv (Utrecht, 1779). Of his important ascetic works must be mentioned especially Weegschale der onvolmaacktheden (Utrecht, 1664) and Beschouwinge van Zion (ib. 1674-76). A collection of his spiritual songs is in Uytspanningen en andere Gedigten (ib. 1676). (S. D. van Veen.) Bibliography: P. I. Proost, Jodocus van Lodenstein, Amsterdam, 1S80; M. Goebel, Geschichte des christlichen Lcbens in der rheinisch-westfalischen eranijelischen Kirche, ii. 100-180, Coblentz, 1S52; H. L. .1. Il.tppe, Geschichte des PietismuH und der Mystik in der rcformirten Kirche, Leyden, 1879; A. Uitschl, Geschichte des Pietismus, i. 152 sqq., Bonn, 1880.