Hornet: Heb. tsir'ah, "stinging",
(Exodus 23:28; Deuteronomy 7:20; Joshua 24:12) The word is used
in these passages as referring to some means by which the Canaanites
were to be driven out from before the Israelites. Some have supposed
that the word is used in a metaphorical sense as the symbol of some
panic which would seize the people as a "terror of God"
(Genesis 35:5) the
consternation with which God would inspire the Canaanites. In
Palestine there are four species of hornets, differing from our
hornets, being larger in size, and they are very abundant. They
"attack human beings in a very furious manner." "The furious attack
of a swarm of hornets drives cattle and horses to madness, and has
even caused the death of the animals."
