Cankerworm
“Licking or lapping (describing its eating)”
Summary
A destructive insect, probably a species of locust in its larval stage, sent as divine judgment on crops.
☩Identification
The cankerworm (Hebrew: yeleq, meaning 'the licking locust') is believed to be either a species of locust in its caterpillar or nymph stage, or the 'hedge-chafer.' The same Hebrew word is translated 'caterpillar' in some passages. Nahum 3:16 describes it spreading itself out and then flying away, suggesting the emergence of wings as the insect matures—fitting the locust's development from crawler to flier. 'Cummin splitting' was a Greek adage for this creature's voracious appetite.
☩Instrument of Judgment
The cankerworm appears in Scripture as one of God's instruments of judgment, devouring crops and vegetation. In Joel's prophecy, it is listed among the various stages of locusts that devastated the land: 'That which the palmerworm hath left hath the locust eaten; and that which the locust hath left hath the cankerworm eaten.' The prophet also promises restoration of 'the years that the locust hath eaten, the cankerworm, and the caterpiller, and the palmerworm.' In Nahum, the cankerworm symbolizes the enemies that would destroy Nineveh.
See Also
References
- 1.George Morrish, "Cankerworm," in Morrish's Concise Bible Dictionary (George Morrish, 1898).
- 2.Andrew Robert Fausset, "Cankerworm," in The Englishman's Critical and Expository Bible Cyclopædia (Hodder & Stoughton, 1878).
- 3.Richard Watson, "Canker-Worm," in A Biblical and Theological Dictionary (John Mason, 1831).