The expositors of the Bible are divided in opinion upon the signification of the words Jelek and Chazil, but are all agreed upon that of the word Arbeh. There can be no doubt that a locust is signified by this word. The Chaldee Version, the Septuagint, and the Vulgate, all agree in their rendering of those passages of the Bible in which this word is found. The Arbeh is the first of the four species of insects, or creeping animals, named by Moses as proper for the food of man; and Forskael informs us that the Arabs at the present day give the name of Arbeh to the species of locust which is used among them for food. Now we know from Joel that what the Gaza leaves the Arbeh destroys; we are therefore entitled to conclude with certainty that Gaza was the name of an insect not only particularly destructive to the vine, but also to plants of every kind; and that to its ravages succeeded those of several species of locusts, which consumed all that was left undevoured by this formidable insect. Several learned expositors have considered this insect to be a caterpillar, while others of equal authority have decided it to be a sort of creeping locust. We shall consider this point upon another occasion; but at present, faithful to the plan we have traced for our guidance, having exhausted what the Hebrews have written upon the insects destructive of the vine, we shall pass to the Greeks.
VI. Ips, Iks.—I shall treat of these two words in one article, because, as will be seen, they cannot be separately considered.
The word Ips is used in ancient authors as the name of an insect particularly injurious to the vine; but it is also employed by Homer, St. John Chrysostom, and the lexicographers and grammarians of the lower ages, to denote an insect or worm which preys upon horn; and in these two acceptations this word cannot denote a worm properly so called, which has another name in the Greek language.
We will first consider the Ips of Homer.
This word is employed in the Odyssey, book xxi. verse 295, in which Ulysses, who is not yet recognised by his friends, is represented as receiving his terrible bow. The poet says, "The hero takes the bow, examines it with attention, and turns it in every direction, fearing that in the absence of its master the horn might have been injured by the Ips."
To ascertain what species of horn was subject to the attacks of the Ips of Homer, we must discover the animal the horns of which were employed in the time of Homer in the construction of bows of the best quality, such as were suitable for a king like Ulysses. Upon this point Homer himself gives us information: in the Iliad, book iv. v. 105, we read that the bow of the divine Pandarus was made of the horns of the Aigos, or the Ægagrus or wild goat; that its horns were five feet four inches in length; and that after being polished and united with care by a skilful workman their extremities were gilt.
