The Tzirah or Hornet of Scripture—Travellers driven away by Hornets—The Hornet used as a metaphor—Oriental symbolism—Sting of the Hornet.

Still keeping to the hymenopterous insects, we come to the Hornet. There are three passages in which occurs the word tzirah, which has been translated as Hornet. In every case when the word is mentioned the insect is employed in a metaphorical sense. See, for example, Exod. xxiii. 27, 28: "I will send my fear before thee, and will destroy all the people to whom thou shalt come; and I will make all thine enemies turn their backs unto thee.

"And I will send hornets before thee, which shall drive out the Hivite, the Canaanite, and the Hittite, from before thee."

The Hornet affords a most appropriate image for such a promise as was made to the Israelites, and was one which they must have thoroughly comprehended. The Hornets of Palestine and the neighbouring countries are far more common than our own Hornets here, and they evidently infested some parts to such an extent that they gave their name to those spots. Thus the word Zoreah, which is mentioned in Josh. xv. 33, signifies the "place of Hornets."

They make their nests in various ways; some species placing them underground, and others disposing them as shown in the illustration, and merely sheltering them from the elements by a paper cover. Such nests as these would easily be disturbed by the animals which accompanied the Israelites on their journeys, even if the people were careful to avoid them. In such a case, the irritated insects rush out at the intruders; and so great is the terror of their stings, that men and beasts fly promiscuously in every direction, each only anxious to escape from the winged foes.

The recollection of such scenes would necessarily dwell in the memory of those who had taken part in them, and cause the metaphor to impress itself strongly upon them.

It is needless to say that the passages in question might be literal statements of facts, and that the various nations were actually driven out of their countries by Hornets. Let the insects be brought upon the land in sufficient numbers, and neither man nor beast could stay in it. It is not likely, however, that such a series of miracles, far exceeding the insect-plagues of Egypt, would have been worked without frequent references to them in the subsequent books of the Scriptures; and, moreover, the quick, short, and headlong flight of the attack of Hornets is a very different thing from the emigration which is mentioned in the Scriptures, and the long journeys which such a proceeding involved.