[Avodah] We Were Like Grasshoppers

[Zev Sero]

On 1/6/21 11:22 am, Micha Berger wrote:
>> Because 12 locusts is hardly a swarm.  12 locusts against one giant is
>> hardly a contest.

> And people are hardly locusts. So why insist on 12?

They're saying how they felt, and how the locals perceived them (which 
they [claim to] know because they [claim to have] overheard them saying 
so).

> I am just noting that "and we were like ants" wouldn't have that
> ambiguity

1. Ants can also swarm.  Soldier ants.
2. Are ants even mentioned in the chumash?  We know Mishlei had ants on 
his mind, and had a word for them, but were they a thing in ancient 
Egypt?  Not did they physically exist, but were they significant enough 
to be part of the culture?  Were Bnai Yisrael of the midbar so familiar 
with them that they would have come to mind as readily as grasshoppers 
or beetles?

-- 
Zev Sero            Wishing everyone a healthy summer
zev at sero.name