CHASIL (Heb. khaw-seel', de vourer, Eng. Vers. occurs in Hebrew. 1 Kings viii:37; 2 Chron. vi:28; Ps. ixxviii:46; Is, xxxiii :4; Joel i :4 ; :25.
In the :lull:. Vers. t Kings viii:37; 2 Chron. Vi :28; Ps. lxxviii :46 ; cv :34; Is. Xxxiii :4 ; Jer. li 27; Joel :25.
The English word caterpillar belongs strictly to the larvae of the genus lepidoptera, and more especially to the larvae of a section of it, the Pafillionelce. It is, however, far from provable that the chasil is any species of caterpillar. The root from which it is derived, signifies to 'con sume' or 'devour,' and it is especially used to de note the ravages of the locust (Dent. xxviii :38).
The Arabic and Syriac cognates also signify to consume. The word ppoi3x0s, by which it is frequently rendered in the Septuagint, from ppwamo, I eat up, conveys also the idea of rav enousness. All these names indicate a creature whose chief characteristic is voracity, and which also attaches to all the species of locusts. The
ancients, indeed, concur in referring the word to the locust tribe of insects, but are not agreed whether it signifies any particular species of lo cust, or is the name for any of those states or transformations through which the locust passes from the egg to the perfect insect. The Latin Fathers take it to mean the larva. of the locust, and the Greek understand it as the name of an adult locust.
The Septuagint, in Lev. xi :22, seems to dis tinguish the bruchus 'and its kind' from the com mon locust as differing not in age, but in species. It also ascribes flight to the brookhos, and speaks of it as a distinct species, so that it is difficult to suspect it of an egregious error.