34–35. He spake, and the locusts came, and caterpillars, and that without number. One word from the Captain and the armies
leaped forward. The expression is very striking, and sets forth the immediate
result of the divine word. The caterpillar is called “the licker,” because it seems to lick
up every green thing as in a moment. Perhaps the caterpillar here meant is
still the locust in another form. That locusts swarm in countless armies is a
fact of ordinary observation, and the case would be worse on this occasion. We
have ourselves ridden for miles through armies of locusts, and we have seen
with our own eyes how completely they devour every green thing. The description
is not strained when we read, And did eat up all the herbs in their land, and devoured the fruit of their ground. Nothing escapes these ravenous
creatures; they even climb the trees to reach any remnant of foliage which may
survive. Commissioned as these were by God, we may be sure they would do their
work thoroughly, and leave behind them nothing but a desolate wilderness.
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