eath in the Red
Sea--are, as the author of the hypothesis himself confesses, passed
over in silence by the prophet.

We may now proceed to the solution of our proper problem. There are no
general reasons, either against the figurative, or against the literal
interpretation; neither of them has any unfavourable prejudice which
can be urged against it. A devastation by real locusts is threatened,
in the Pentateuch, against the transgressors of the law, Deut. xxviii.
38, 39; against the Egyptians, the Lord actually made use of this,
among other methods of punishment; and a devastation in Israel by
locusts is, in Amos iv. 9, represented as an effect of divine
anger.--[Pg 308]On the other hand, figurative representations of that
kind are of very common occurrence. In Isaiah, _e.g._, the invading
Assyrians and Egyptians appear, in a continuous description, as swarms
of flies and bees. The comparison of hostile armies with locusts is
very common, not only on account of their multitude (from which
circumstance the locusts received their name in Hebrew), but also on
account of the sudden surprise, and the devastation: compare Judges vi.
5; Jer. xlvi. 23, li. 27; Judith ii. 11. Several times a hostile
invasion also is represented under the _image_ and _symbol_ of the
plague of the locusts. In Nah. iii. 15-17, the Assyrians appear in the
form of locusts,--and that this is not only on account of their
numbers, but also on account of the devastations which they make, is
shown by the comparison with the [Hebrew: ilq] in ver. 15;--and just in
the same manner are the enemies described who accomplish their
overthrow. And,--what is completely analogous,--in Amos vii. 1-3, the
prophet beholds the approaching divine judgment under the image of a
swarm of locusts, just as, in ver. 4, under that of a fire, and in ver.
7, under that of a plumb-line. All these three images are in substance
identical; their meaning is expressed in ver. 9 by the words: "The high
places of Isaac shall be desolate, and the sanctuaries of Israel shall
be destroyed." The locusts denote destroying hostile armies; the fire
denotes war; and the plumb-line, the destruction to be accomplished by
the enemies. It was so much the more natural to represent the divine
judgment under the image of a devastation by locusts--as is done also
in Rev. ix. 3 ff.--because, formerly, it had actually manifested
itself in this way in Egypt. The figurative representation had
therefore a