I discussed some of the issues surrounding the ‘clean’ insects in a paper that looked at the relationship between created kinds and the Ark kinds (Arment 2022), and especially how the Hebrew word mîn is used in the phrase translated ‘after its kind’ or similarly. I pointed out that the traditional Talmudic understanding of ‘after its kind’ at these specific verses does not support referring to the concept of a greater baraminic lineage (the order Orthoptera or baraminic divisions thereof). This was never a ‘greater than the sum of the parts’ interpretation, in that listing several orthopteran insects did not mean that they interpreted it as God calling all orthopterans ‘clean’. Here I want to delve just a bit more into the problem that arises when English readers try to place such an interpretation on what these ‘clean’ insects were.
Traditionally, the Rabbinic literature has suggested that rather than ‘of any kind’ (as the ESV translate above), or ‘after his kind’ (KJV), or ‘in its kinds’ (NAS), the phrase is simply relational and refers to four separate pairs of related grasshoppers as ‘clean’ insects (Kelhoffer 2004; BMNH --). Certain tokens (Kelhoffer 2004; Belovski 2014) were necessary for identification: four regular legs, two additional ‘jumping’ legs, and four wings that cover most of the thorax. Throughout Israel’s history, it would have been necessary for the rabbis to be able to identify any species in question ‘continuously’ over time in order for it to remain kosher (Ohr Somayach --). This can be problematic over the centuries, as ethnozoological names can change over time, with new names applied to the same animal, or new animals given the same name (Amar 2002-3). In many modern Rabbinic traditions, locusts are no longer considered kosher because those direct connections have been lost. Only a few traditions still allow eating locusts. How would locusts be eaten? Amar (2002-3) noted from rabbinic sources that wings were removed, and the insects were then boiled, pickled, or prepared in soup. Generally, this would have only been done in times of poverty (Ohr Somayach --). John the Baptist ate locusts, but no details are given of culinary efforts. (Of some interest, while Deuteronomy 14: 19-20 gives a later edict against eating flying insects, the fact that John the Baptist was eating locusts suggests that this did not remove the ‘clean’ verdict for locusts.)
Amar (2002-3) suggested that the ‘eight types’ were intended to denote not species, but “groups of insects with specific characteristics as indicated by the rabbinic literature”. As the ethnobiological knowledge shifted over the centuries, the later Jewish sages used those characters to identify the insects according to contemporary names. Among those who have tried to specifically identify the original grasshoppers from the Hebrew words in Leviticus 11: 22, Aharoni (1938) suggested that Arbeh referred to the pairing of the desert locust (Schistocerca gregaria) and Egyptian locust (Anacridium aegyptium); Sol‘am to the short-horned grasshopper (Truxalis nasuta); Hargol to the great green bush-cricket (Tettigonia viridissima); and Hagab to the Moroccan locust (Dociostaurus maroccanus). Much of this comes from relating the original Hebrew to common words for various orthopterans in the Middle East. As previously noted, language changes. Arbeh is often a generalized word for locust; Hagab is sometimes just a synonym for the same, or may refer to a different locust phase. Today, Hargol in Arabic may refer to Saga ephippigera, a wingless, predatory katydid.
Slifkin (2021) made a good case, I think, that each of the four original Hebrew words referred to a different locust (or ‘swarming’ grasshopper). He suggested they referred to the desert locust, the migratory locust (Locusta migratoria), the Egyptian locust, and the Moroccan locust. Those would certainly have been the four main swarming species that the Israelites encountered during their agricultural work. Locust plagues were a significant threat to Israel. The prophet Joel, for example, gives four different names for locusts in connection to a devastating plague (Joel 1: 4). Simkins (1991) noted that those different names may refer to four different stages in the desert locust’s life cycle, or perhaps referring to three life stages while denoting two different adult forms (solitary and gregarious). Thompson (1974) noted ten different words in the Old Testament for locusts or similar insects, including different stages in the life cycle, while the Talmud had over twenty names for locust (Thompson 1955).
