DEUTERONOMY 7:17-24

Q: What is the hornet that God will send among their enemies?

Here is a long and confusing answer to a short, simple question:

The word translated “hornet” in the NIV translation represents an obscure Hebrew word that only occurs three times in the Hebrew Bible – Deuteronomy 7:20; Exodus 23:27-28; and Joshua 24:1-2. The first two references give God's promise that he will send “hornets” to aid the Israelites in their conquest of Canaan, and the last reference demonstrates that he did indeed do so.

The New International Dictionary of Old Testament Translation & Exegesis (vol. 3, p. 847) explains that the most likely literal translation of the word in question is hornet, hornet's nest, wasp or wasp's nest. One could understand the references therefore to say that God sent stinging insects to soften the enemy up before the attacks by the Israelites and finish off the remnants of the enemy after the attack. However, that is not the only understanding of these verses.

Taking a more figurative meaning to the word, it has been variously translated as “pestilence” (NRSV), panic (NEB, TEV), plagues (TEV alternative translation), and madness/frenzy (A. D. H. Mayes, Deuteronomy, p.188). DOTTE adds, “Yahweh's sting may well have been the dread/fear of him upon the inhabitants when they heard of what he did to Egypt. The report psychologically incapacitated them much as a wasp's/hornet's sting does (Joshua 2:10-11).”

As if that were not enough opinions, Weinfeld (Deuteronomy 1-11, p. 375) states, “The insects here serve as metaphors for invading armies.” In this context, J. A. Thompson (Deuteronomy, pp. 132-133) expresses the opinion, shared by others, that the hornets were actually Egyptian troops who invaded Canaan before the Israelite conquest and softened up the enemy's resistance.

In any case, “What is stressed is that the victory was [to be] gained not by force of arms but by God's miraculous intervention.” (New Bible Commentary, p. 25)