BEETLE

be'-t'-l (the Revised Version (British and American) CRICKET; chargol; See LOCUST ): This name occurs only in Leviticus 11:22 as one of four winged Jumping insects (sherets ha-`oph) which may be eaten. It certainly is not a beetle and is probably not a cricket. Probably all four are names of locusts, of which more than 30 species have been described from Syria and Palestine, and for which there are at least 8 Arabic names in use, though with little distinction of species. Closely allied to chargol are the Arabic charjalet, a troop of horses or a flight of locusts, from charjal, "to gallop," and harjawan, "a wingless locust."

Alfred Ely Day

From the International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
Edited by James Orr, published in 1939 by Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.