Leviticus 11:22 - Joseph Benson’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

The locust after his kind The Hebrew word ארבה arbeh, is sometimes a common name for all locusts, but here signifies a peculiar sort of them The name derived from רבה rabah, to multiply, imports a multitude, no animal being more prolific. The bald locust As it is not easy to determine what species of locust this is, and as it has not any name in modern languages, it might be better, in a translation, to retain the original name סלעם solgnam, which, in the Chaldaic, signifies to consume. The beetle As none ever eat beetles, and they are not four-footed with legs to leap withal, it is the opinion of good critics that the Hebrew word חרגל chargol is not properly translated. It is rather to be taken for another sort of locust unknown to us. The grasshopper Another species of locust, the Hebrew name of which is derived, according to Bochart, from an Arabic word, which signifies to veil, because they fly in such swarms as sometimes to veil or darken the sun. But how to distinguish these locusts from the rest is difficult, if not impossible to us. They were, however, well known of old in the eastern countries. For locusts, though unusual food with us, were commonly eaten by the Æthiopians, Lybians, Parthians, and other eastern people bordering upon Judea. And as it is certain the eastern locusts were much larger than ours, so it is probable they were of different qualities, and yielded better nourishment.