Hornet

The hornet (Hebrew ṣirʿâ, stinging) appears three times in the Old Testament (Exodus 23:28; Deuteronomy 7:20; Joshua 24:12) as the instrument God promised to send before Israel to drive out the Canaanite peoples. The literal reading—that God would use actual hornets as a plague against Canaan's inhabitants—finds some support in ancient Near Eastern texts where bee or hornet infestations are mentioned as causing population displacement.

Allegorical interpretations have also been proposed: that the hornet represents terror, fear, or a divine panic that God would send upon the Canaanites to weaken their resistance before Israel's advance. Some modern scholars propose the hornet may be a metaphor for Egypt's military campaigns that weakened the Canaanite city-states before Israel's conquest. Joshua 24:12 specifically credits the hornet (rather than Israel's sword or bow) with driving out the two Amorite kings, emphasizing divine initiative in the conquest. The hornet thus becomes a symbol of God fighting for his people through means beyond ordinary military force.