n was approved of by _Gesenius_ in the _Thesaurus_;
but in opposition to it _Hitzig_ may be compared, who himself gives the
explanation, "The Typhonic." _V. Coeln_ (_de Joelis aetate_, Marb. 1811,
p. 10). _Ewald_ and _Meier_ propose a change in the text. With the
reasons preventing us from referring the expression to the locusts In a
literal sense, we may combine the fact that the North is constantly
mentioned as the native land of the most dangerous enemies of Israel,
viz., the Assyrians and Chaldeans. And although this designation be. In
a geographical point of view. Inaccurate, this is outweighed by the
circumstance, that enemies always Invaded Palestine from Syria, after
having previously made that land a part of their dominions. Compare
Zeph. ii. 13: "And the Lord stretches out His hand over the _North_,
and destroys Assyria, and makes Nineveh a desolation--a dry
wilderness;" Jer. i. 14: "And the Lord said unto me, Out of the _North_
the evil shall break forth upon all the inhabitants of the land;" Jer.
iii. 18, where [Pg 319] the land of the North is mentioned as the land
of the captivity of Judah and Israel; Jer. iv. 6, vi. 1, 22, x. 22,
xlvi. 24, where the people of the North form the antithesis to Egypt,
the African power; and Zech. ii. 10. _Jerome_ long ago remarked: "The
prophet mentions the North, that we might not think of real locusts,
which are wont to come from the South, but might, by the locusts,
understand the Assyrians and Chaldeans."

2. That we have here to do with a poetical description, and not with
one of natural history, appears from a designation of the places to
which the locusts are to be driven. Among these, the dry and hot
southern country--the Arabian desert--is first mentioned; then, the
anterior sea, _i.e._, the Dead Sea, situated eastward of Jerusalem; and
lastly, the hinder, or Mediterranean Sea. That, according to the view
of the prophet, the dispersion in these different directions was to
take place in a moment, appears from the circumstance that, according
to his description, the van of the same army is driven into one sea,
and the rear, into the other sea. Now, every one very easily sees that
this is a physical impossibility, inasmuch as opposite winds cannot
blow at the same time. _Credner's_ explanation, according to which the
[Hebrew: pniM] of the locusts is intended to be the swarm of those who
first invaded Palestine, while [Hebrew: svpv] is their brood, deserves
mention in s