Insect parasites—The plague of Lice—Its effect on the magicians or priests—The Hebrew word Chinnim—Probability that it may be represented by "tick"— Habits of the ticks, their dwellings in dust, and their effects on man and beast.
WE close the history of insects mentioned in Scripture with two parasites of a singularly disagreeable character.
With respect to the former of them, we find it mentioned in the account of the great plagues of Egypt. After the two plagues of the waters and the frogs, both of which were imitated by the magicians, i.e the priests, a third was brought upon Egypt, which affected the magicians even more than the people, for a reason which we shall presently see:—
" And the Lord said unto Moses, Say unto Aaron, Stretch out thy rod, and smite the dust of the land, that it may become lice, throughout all the land of Egypt.
“And they did so; for Aaron stretched out his hand with his rod, and smote the dust of the earth, and it became lice in man and in beast; all the dust of the land became lice throughout all the land of Egypt.
“And the magicians did so with their enchantments to bring forth lice, but they could not: so there were lice upon man and upon beast.”
Now it is hardly possible to conceive a calamity which would have told with greater effect upon the magicians, by whose advice Pharoah had resisted the requests of Moses and Aaron.
Living in a land where all, from the highest to the lowest, were infested with parasites, the priests were so much in advance of the laity that they were held polluted if they harbored one single noxious insect upon their persons, or in their clothing. The clothing, being linen, could be kept clean by frequent washing, while the possibility of the body, being infested by parasites was prevented by the custom of shaving the whole of the body, from the crown of the head to the role of the foot, at least once in every three days.
It may easily be imagined, therefore, how terrible this visitation must have been to such men. As swine to the Pharisee, as the flesh of cattle to the Brahmin, so was the touch of a parasite to the Egyptian priest. He was degraded in his own estimation and in that of his fellows. He could perform no sacred offices so that, in fact, all the idolatrous worship of Egypt ceased until this particular plague had been withdrawn.
We now come to a consideration of the insect which is signified by the Hebrew word chinnim. Sir Samuel Baker is of opinion that the word ought to have been translated as "ticks," and for the following reasons: After quoting the passage which relates to the stretching of Aaron's rod over the dust, and the consequence of that action, he proceeds as follows: " Now the louse that infests the human body and hair has no connection whatever with dust, and, if subjected to a few hours' exposure to the dry heat of the burning sand, it would shrivel and die. But a tick is an inhabitant of the dust, a. dry horny insect, without any apparent moisture in its composition. It lives in hot sand and dust, where it cannot possibly obtain nourishment until some wretched animal should lie down upon the spot, and become covered with these horrible vermin.
“ I have frequently seen dry desert places so infested with ticks that the ground was perfectly alive with them, and it would have been impossible to have rested upon the earth. In such spots, the passage in Exodus has frequently seemed to me as bearing reference to these vermin, which are the greatest enemy to man and beast. It is well known that from the size of a grain of sand, in their natural state, they will distend to the size of a hazel nut after having preyed for some days on the body of an animal." ("Nile Tributaries," p. 122.)
Granting that this suggestion be the correct one, as it certainly is the most consistent both with actual facts and with the words of Holy Writ, the plague would lose none of its intensity, but would, if anything, be more horrible. Only those who have suffered from them can appreciate the miseries caused by the attack of these ticks, which cling so tightly that they can scarcely be removed without being torn in pieces, and without leaving some portion of their head beneath the skin of their victim. Man and beast suffer equally from them, as is implied in the words of Scripture, and, unless they are very cautiously removed, painful and obstinate is the result of their bites.