Locusts and Grasshoppers: Biblical Power Animals

Locusts and Grasshoppers: Biblical Power Animals

Locusts. Grasshoppers. Bees. Wasps. Biblical insects, all.

Why pay attention to locusts and grasshoppers?

Animal characters in Hebrew Bible are never random. The authors know their biology. And they know their ecology. And they assume that you do too. So if you know how an animal lives, then you can understand its role in a story, and you can deeply receive the story’s spiritual message.

Today’s animal is…the grasshopper. A strong supporting character throughout Hebrew Bible.

Isaiah invokes grasshoppers…also known as locusts

The Prophet Isaiah says, “Don’t you get it? God dwells above the circle of the earth, and those who dwell on earth are like grasshoppers” (Isaiah 40: 21-22).

From the human perspective, grasshoppers are really small. About the size of an adult’s thumb. From this human perspective, Isaiah reminds us that God is infinitely creative, powerful, everlasting, energetic, and wise – while we are only kinda sorta a little bit creative and wise, with a little bit of power and a little bit of energy.

But from the grasshopper’s perspective, a grasshopper is not small at all. It’s just the right size. The right size to inspect grassy grains, to see how plants grow, and decide what to eat. And the right size to launch a leap with a height 10x the grasshopper’s length…and a distance 20x the grasshopper’s length. The grasshopper is just the right size to vault up…and catch a glimpse of heaven as it travels. Isaiah wants us to know that we may be small, but we can glimpse the infinity of God. Just like the grasshopper!

Grasshoppers carry sparks of divinity

Isaiah’s poetic Hebrew gives us two hints of the grasshopper’s spirituality. Two hints that the grasshopper holds a little spark of the essence of God. Isaiah uses the same word to talk about how God lives, and how the grasshopper lives. God yoshev, dwells, above the earth, and the grasshopper is among the earth’s in-dwellers, yoshveiha. Both God and the grasshopper “dwell.”

Isaiah also draws a connection between where God lives and the word for “grasshopper.” God dwells above the chug, the circle, of planet earth, and earth-dwellers are like chagavim, the grasshoppers. Can you hear the alliteration? Yoshev, yoshveiha; Chug, chagavim. A grasshopper may look small to us, but God’s life and the grasshopper’s life are connected.

Don’t underestimate the grasshoppers

Isaiah presses this message because misunderstanding a grasshopper’s power can have terrible consequences. As it does in this story from the Book of Numbers (Num. 13:1-14:39). The Israelites are camped in the wilderness, somewhere between Egypt and Canaan, the land flowing with milk and honey. God says to Moses, “Get yourself twelve scouts. Twelve distinguished people with good leadership qualities. Send them to scout out this land of Canaan where you’ll be living. You can hear straight from them what kind of a land it is.”

Moses appoints the scouts, and sends them out. Forty days later, the scouts come back. They report to Moses in front of all the people. They say: “This is indeed a land flowing with milk and honey. Just look at these grapes and pomegranates and figs we brought back! They’re gigantic! But so are the people. Next to them, we looked to ourselves like grasshoppers.”

As soon as the people hear the word “grasshoppers,” they start yelling and crying. They become terrified. They rail against Moses and Aaron. “Why did God bring us to the wilderness just to kill us!?! We might as well die right here and now!”

And God says, “You know, you’re right. You are not ready to enter the land. You’ll get your wish to die in the wilderness. When the next generation grows up, they’ll have the opportunity to enter the land flowing with milk and honey.”

When grasshoppers become locusts

Why do the people become afraid as soon as they hear “we looked to ourselves like grasshoppers”? Because they are thinking only of how small the grasshopper’s body is. They’ve forgotten about the grasshopper’s extraordinary jump, and the glimpses it gets of heaven every time it jumps.

And they’ve forgotten one more important thing about grasshoppers. They’ve forgotten about grasshopper transformation. When a big group of grasshoppers get together, their bodies and their minds change. They become migratory locusts.

For years, modern biologists tried to identify the baby form of a migratory locust. But they couldn’t find any babies – until entomologist Boris Uvarov figured it out in the early 20th century. When desert drought gets extreme, and only a few tiny patches of moist grass can be found, grasshoppers congregate there. When the area gets so crowded that the grasshoppers can’t move without rubbing up against one another, their brain chemistry literally changes. Their serotonin levels rise. Their bodies harden. They eat more. Mate more. Develop a group mind. And they fly off together, a billion strong, in search of food. Once they’ve swarmed, nothing can stand in their way. Your field becomes their lunch. Their dinner. And their breakfast.

Biblical locusts are mission specialists

In Hebrew Bible, locust swarms are God’s armies. Their deployment is never random. Locusts are mission specialists. Sometimes people forget that a creative, energetic, and wise God dwells above the chug, the circle of the earth. That’s when the locusts, the community of chagavim, grasshoppers, show up.

They visit Pharaoh in the Exodus story. Pharaoh is not a fan of inclusive community. He feels terribly threatened by immigrants. Especially the numerous Israelites. So he oppresses them, enslaves them, kills them. God sends a message, “Let my people go.” Pharaoh ignores God and ignores God’s message. So God sends a giant community, a swarm of locusts, to strip Pharaoh’s fields. Pharaoh doesn’t get it, but his advisors do. They say, “Let the people go, so they can worship their God!”

Locusts: A powerful community

Locusts visit the Israelites in the time of the prophet Joel. Years of abundant harvest have destroyed Joel’s community. Agribusiness has created huge divisions between exploitive landowners and desperate day laborers. Rich and poor alike have forgotten that their number one religious responsibility is to look out for the welfare of others. So, God sends a giant community, a swarm of locusts, to remind them. When the locusts consume the fields, the prophet Joel sees the power of their community. And he calls his people into community to start over together (Joel 1-4).

And now you see, that Isaiah’s little reference to the grasshopper is not little at all. Isaiah hints at the locusts. He hints at Pharaoh, at Joel, at the power of inclusive community. After mentioning the grasshopper, Isaiah continues. “God brings princes to naught, and makes the rulers of the earth as nothing. Scarcely are they planted, scarcely sown, when God blows upon them, and they wither. Lift up your eyes on high and see: Who created these? The One who brings out their host and counts them, calling them all by name. Because God is great in strength, mighty in power, not one fails to show up.” (Isaiah 40:23-26)

What can we learn from Isaiah’s grasshoppers?

Isaiah just about says that we are the grasshoppers. We’re tiny, in the grand scheme of creation. Sometimes we get lost in our solitary concerns. But when times get tough, we glimpse a different spiritual possibility. We gather into community to support one another. In community, we become strong, we find a political voice, and we inspire other communities.

Isaiah speaks to the community of Judeans returning from exile in 530 BCE. Today, our communities include synagogues, mosques, churches and temples. They can include networks of spiritual groups across traditions. When our connections are strong, no one can divide us for political gain.

Originally presented as a sermon at Highlands United Church, on Vancouver School of Theology Sunday, Feb 4, 2018.

23 Comments
  1. Dear Rabbi,

    Please to see this essay. Does it indicate that you are back to working on our book zoology and the bible? If so, how may taxa do you have out of the way so far? What is your overall target?

    Richard W.

    1. Hi Richard! I can only say “yes” in an aspirational way! My overall target is ten good chapters. Thanks for your encouragement.

  2. What wonderful ideas ! MUCH to think about. Thank you for sharing these thoughts. Marion Adler

  3. I’m so grateful to God I ran across your blog. On April 10 2019 I had a dream I was driving and two grasshoppers landed on my windshield, and the dream ended. When I woke up later on that morning, I knew God were telling me something about myself that related to the grasshopper. Then around noon I left my house, and as I got near to my car, a grasshopper jumped from the car onto me and it literally blew my mind. I panicked at first, causing the grasshopper to jump off of me onto the ground, however, I was certain that God was trying to tell me something about myself and the grasshopper. I am getting ready to take the greatest leap of faith in ministry, it is ordained by God. And how strong and powerful, you’ve described how these grasshopper’s are, is how strong and powerful God has created me to be for my ministry.

    Thank you Laura.

    1. Thank you, Yolanda. This is a powerful story. I love the connection you make between the leap of the grasshopper and your leap of faith. Blessings on your work. – Laura

  4. Very useful instructions. Thank you dear. Glory to God amen

  5. I really enjoyed your comments about the locust,I had one in the house and I was a little nervous so my husband came into the the kitchen and supposedly he had killed the grasshopper,so later I was looking around in my kitchen and I have a plaque in the kitchen says God keeps his promises and was the grasshopper sitting in the middle of the plaque not dead but very alive

    1. Betty, thanks so much for this lovely story. I hope you were able to safely re-locate the grasshopper outdoors!Thank you for reading the post. – Laura

      1. Very interesting article. I haven’t been able to make sense why thousands and thousands of grasshoppers appeared a couple of days before my wedding day. It was one of the weirdest thing I’ve ever experienced. My father in law had to buy a few bags to trap these grasshoppers in a they would swamp us.

        Do you know what this may symbolize?

        Thank you.

        1. By the way, my native tribal animal totem is the Grasshopper.

        2. Elaine, usually changing climate conditions cause grasshopper, cricket, and locust populations to swarm.For some species, biologists understand the details and for others they don’t. Personally, I think of grasshoppers as a symbol of transformation, because they change so much in different conditions. Transformation around your wedding day could be a great message!

  6. I’m thankful to read this article idk if it’s the same grasshopper or a different one every time but I’ve been seeing one outside my home for 4 days now sitting in different places but now he just sits on the window in the back yard Ik god is telling me to take that leap of faith it’s time for me to move on in my life I’ve been so afraid and have not been obedient when god told me to go but now I’m am going.

    1. Thanks, Brandi, for sharing this. How wonderful that you see God’s presence in these small animals. Wishing you health, safety, and wonder in your next steps.

  7. Thank you Laura,

    Someone told me a dream that they saw locusts and water but just left it incomplete.
    I like the part about them being God’s armies I trust He will vindicate us.
    May the bless your work. Amen

    1. Thank you, Ursula and Amen. I’ve heard from a number of people who have dreamed about locusts. If you take a look at the chapter on locusts in my book *Mouth of the Donkey,* there are several connections between locusts and water…

  8. Thank you for sharing this wouderful message I feel so uplifted and bless reading it.. A few weeks ago I have a dream and in this dream a green grasshopper was place into my hand.. I was taken back how beautiful and green it was. Symbol I know there is a meaning to the grasshopper after reading your blog. I have a better understanding with the written word in the Holy Bible. Thank you ️

    1. Thank you so much, Eliana for this comment. Grasshoppers can be very beautiful and their bodies are so intricate. The biblical symbolism very definitely suggests that God has a message for you. I hope it continues to be one of uplift, comfort, and a clear direction.

  9. Hello. I came across this article because as I was praying for myself and a colleague, I happened to notice outside my window, a very large oversize grasshopper sitting on the fence….. oooohhhhhhh…… wow I just heard myself – (in relation to some of the comments above, also) about the leap of faith!!…. Wow!! God is challenging me- oh boy!!

    As I read your article, I saw in the spirit, a swarm of locusts, like in the days of Moses, when they had the cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night….. when I saw the swarming locusts as a black vertical cloud, rising up from the earth.

    I know the Lord has more to say to me about the fact that this is a dark cloud. I wonder that this is not about a calling into deeper personal and ppl group transformation…..

    1. Kristin, thanks for this beautiful comment. Locusts have long been an image of transformation. I hope the messages keep coming to you!

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