Ant

Watson's Biblical & Theological Dictionary

נמלה , in the Turkish and Arabic, neml,   Proverbs 6:6;  Proverbs 30:25 . It is a little insect, famous from all antiquity for its social habits, its economy, unwearied industry, and prudent foresight. It has afforded a pattern of commendable frugality to the profuse, and of unceasing diligence to the slothful. Solomon calls the ants "exceeding wise; for though a race not strong, yet they prepare their meat in the summer." He therefore sends the sluggard to these little creatures, to learn wisdom, foresight, care, and diligence.

"Go to the ant; learn of its ways, be wise; It early heaps its stores, lest want surprise. Skill'd in the various year, the prescient sage Beholds the summer chill'd in winter's rage.

Survey its arts; in each partition'd cell

Economy and plenty deign to dwell."

That the ant hoarded up grains of corn against winter for its sustenance, was very generally believed by the ancients, though modern naturalists seem to question the fact. Thus Horace says,

"—Sicut

Parvula (nam exemplo est) magni formica laboris Ore trahit quodcunque potest, atque addit acervo Queni struit, haud ignara ac non incanta futuri; Quae, simul inversum contristat aquarius annum, Non usquam prorepit, et illis utitur ante

Quaesitis sapiens." Sat. v. 50. v. 5. 33.

"For thus the little ant (to human lore No mean example) forms her frugal store, Gather'd with mighty toil on every side,

Nor ignorant nor careless to provide

For future want; yet, when the stars appear

That darkly sadden the declining year, No more she comes abroad, but wisely lives On the fair stores industrious summer gives."

The learned Bochart, in his Hierozoicon, has displayed his vast reading on this subject, and has cited passages from Pliny, Lucian, AElian, Zoroaster, Origen, Basil, and Epiphanius, the Jewish rabbins and Arabian naturalists, all concurring in opinion that ants cut off the heads of grain, to prevent their germinating; and it is observable that the Hebrew name of the insect is derived from the verb נמל , which signifies to cut off, and is used for cutting off ears of corn,   Job 24:24 .

The following remarks are from "the Introduction to Entomology," by Kirby and Spence:

"Till the manners of exotic ants are more accurately explored, it would be rash to affirm that no ants have magazines of provisions; for, although, during the cold of our winters in this country, they remain in a state of torpidity, and have no need of food, yet in warmer regions, during the rainy seasons, when they are probably confined to their nests, a store of provisions may be necessary for them. Even in northern climates, against wet seasons, they may provide in this way for their sustenance and that of the young brood, which, as Mr. Smeatham observes, are very voracious, and cannot bear to be long deprived of their food; else why do ants carry worms, living insects, and many other such things, into their

nests? Solomon's lesson to the sluggard has been generally adduced as a strong confirmation of the ancient opinion: it can, however, only relate to the species of a warm climate, the habits of which are probably different from those of a cold one; so that his words, as commonly interpreted, may be perfectly correct and consistent with nature, and yet be not at all applicable to the species that are indigenous to Europe."

The ant, according to the royal preacher, is one of those things which are little upon the earth, but exceeding wise. The superior wisdom of the ant has been recognised by many writers. Horace, in the passage from which the preceding quotation is taken, praises its sagacity; Virgil celebrates its foresight, in providing for the wants and infirmities of old age, while it is young and vigorous:—

— —atque inopi metuens formica senectae.

[And the ant dreading a destitute old age.]

And we learn from Hesiod, that among the earliest Greeks it was called Idris, that is, wise, because it foresaw the coming storm, and the inauspicious day, and collected her store. Cicero believed that the ant is not only furnished with senses, but also with mind, reason, and memory: — In formica non modo sensus sed etiam mens, ratio, memoria. [The ant possesses not only senses, but also mind, reason, memory.] The union of so many noble qualities in so small a corpuscle, is indeed one of the most remarkable phenomena in the works of nature.

Fausset's Bible Dictionary

( Proverbs 6:6-8;  Proverbs 30:25; "provideth her meat in the summer, and gathereth her food in the harvest.") So Hesiod, Works and Days, 776; Horace, Sat., 1:1, 33; Virgil, AEneid, 4:402; Plautus, Trinummus, 2:4, 1, 7; AElian, Natura Animal., 2:25, 6:43; AEsop's Fables, 92 (Tauchnitz edition). Ants in northern Europe lie dormant in winter; and do not feed on grain, but flesh of other insects, worms, birds, the honeydew of aphides, and saccharine matter, exuding from trees. But in southern Europe there are species which feed on grain and store it for winter use. Solomon implies, the ant providently and diligently uses the proper seasons for obtaining her food, though she has "no guide, overseer, or ruler," such as man has in parents, teachers, and masters; therefore men are inexcusable in sluggishness. "Redeem the time" (Greek favorable season) is the spiritual lesson ( Ephesians 5:16).

There is no monarch, such as the queen is among bees; but ants labor together as a republic, having "no ruler" as Solomon describes. Moggridge (Harvesting Ants) has by observation proved that there are four harvesting ants on the Riviera, namely,: Atta barbara, under two forms, the one wholly black, the other red headed; Atta structor, claret brown colored; and Atta megacephala or Pheidole, a minute bodied, yellow ant, with great head, which works chiefly at night. The Atta barbara, mounting the stem of a fruiting plant as shepherd's purse, and seizing a green pod in its jaws, and fixing its hind legs as a pivot, turns round and round and strains the fibers until they snap. Ants sometimes allow the capsules which they have cut to drop, and their companions below carry them away. Neither the Atta barbara nor the structor bring aphids into their nests.

A host of ants seek and bring in the grain; others sort the materials, strip off the useless envelopes of seed or grain, and carry them out to throw away. Moggridge found masses of seeds stored in chambers and long subcylindrical galleries prepared in the soil. The granaries on a rock covered with earth lay horizontally from one and a half to six inches below the surface. The ants have some mysterious power which checks germination. The few seeds which may germinate the ants prevent from further growth by cutting off the end of the radicle. Hebrew "ant," Nemalah , is derived by some from Arabic for" clever." The Arabs put one in the new-born infant's hand, saying, "May he prove clever!" Others take it from Namal , Hebrew "cut off," the body being cut into segments, joined by but a slight thread. Similarly in  Proverbs 30:25 the ants' wisdom is set forth as making up for the absence of the strength of larger creatures.

They belong to the family formicidae, and order Hymenoptera. The mutual affection between the members of the republic is conspicuous in ants. In northern Europe ants strike with their antennae and so make the aphids discharge the juice extracted by their suckers from vegetables; the ants in fact make the aphids their milk cows, imprisoning a number in their nests to serve as a supply in winter (Huber). Both the insect masters and the insect cows are torpid in winter in northern Europe; but in warm winters both at times come to life. The Indian ant (Atta, providens), according to Colossians Sykes, raises up heaps of grass seed in January when they ripen, in store for the season of need.

Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible

ANT ( nemâlâh , Arab. [Note: Arabic.] namlah ). Ants are exceedingly abundant all over Palestine, where, through their vast numbers, they perform a most important rôle, by continually changing the surface soil in the way earthworms do in northern countries. No more apt illustration of diligence (  Proverbs 6:6-8 ) could be found than these little insects, which, in all but the wettest weather, can be seen scurrying backwards and forwards on the long tracks they have made. Some common varieties of Palestine ants ( AphÅ“nogaster barbara, A. structor and Pheidole megacephala ) store up great quantities of various kinds of seeds, which they are able, in some unknown way, to prevent germinating and make use of as food (  Proverbs 30:25 ). Whole troops of these little insects may be seen carrying seeds, often many times their own size and weight, from a distant garden or corn-field. The writer has even seen a procession of ants carrying their harvest under the thickness of a broad mud wall which bounded the corn-field, and then across a wide and frequented road. The stores of seeds so collected have been found so great that the Mishna laid down rules in regard to their ownership. If they were discovered in the field before reaping, they belonged to the owner, but if afterwards, they were all or in part for the poor. The sagacity of the ant in this and other respects is widely recognized both in Oriental lore as in   Proverbs 30:24-25 and even more forcibly by the modern naturalist.

E. W. G. Masterman.

Smith's Bible Dictionary

Ant. (Hebrew, nemalah ). This insect is mentioned twice in the Old Testament: in  Proverbs 6:6;  Proverbs 30:25. In the former of these passages, the diligence of this insect is instanced by the wise man as an example worthy of imitation; in the second passage, the ant's wisdom is especially alluded to; for these insects "though they be little on the earth, are exceeding wise."

(For a long time, European commentators and naturalists denied that ants stored up grain for future use, as was asserted in Proverbs, but while this is true of most of the 104 European species, two of those species do lay up food, and are called Harvesting Ants . Like species have been found in Texas and South America, and are known to exist in Palestine.

They show many other proofs of their skill. Some of them build wonderful houses; these are often several stories high, sometimes five hundred times the height of the builders, with rooms, corridors, and vaulted roofs supported by pillars. Some species keep a kind of cows; others have a regular army of soldiers; some keep slaves - "No closer imitation of the ways of man could be found in the entire animal economy." (See Encyclopedia Britannica.) McCook's "The Honey Ants" gives many curious facts about the habits of this peculiar kind of ant, and of the harvesting ants of the American plains. - Editor).

Wilson's Dictionary of Bible Types

 Proverbs 6:6 (c) The ways and the actions of this little creature are brought before us as a lesson and a picture for our own lives. The ant is tireless, never ceasing to work. It is unselfish, always laying up food for others. It is kind, helping other ants that are in need. It is energetic, for it searches continually until it finds the food it wants. It is wise in that it prepares for the future when ice and snow will prevent foraging for food. In all of these things, we too should seek these same graces that we may not be careless and lose that reward which GOD wishes to give to us.

 Proverbs 30:25 (c) The ant in this portion is a type of those who recognize and realize their own weakness and danger. They remind us that we too are no match for our enemies and are unable to control our circumstances. They cannot prevent the winter from coming, but they do provide for that future time of storm. So we should remember that there is a coming time when old age, disease, accident and trouble may prevent us too from serving or from earning that which we need. We should prepare for that eventuality now while we may. We must prepare now in this life for death and eternity. As the ant lays up in store in its earthen nest, so we take advantage of the shelter of the Rock of Ages, and lay up treasure in Heaven.

American Tract Society Bible Dictionary

A small insect, famous for its industry and economy, for its social habits and skill in building. Some species build habitations truly immense compared with themselves, and able to contain a dozen men. Their roofs are impervious to rain, and they contain numerous stories, galleries, etc., the result of skilful and incessant labor. Ants lavish the utmost care and pains upon their young, both in the egg and the chrysalis state. The termites or white ants are large and very destructive. Most varieties of ants are known to choose animal or saccharine food; and no species has yet been found laying up stores of grain for winter use, for while the frost continues they all lie torpid. The language of Solomon,  Proverbs 6:6 , commends them for toiling as soon and as long as the season permits and rewards their labor, and bids us make the same diligent use of life and opportunities,  Proverbs 30:24,25 . The inferior animals are in many respects wiser than sinful man,  Job 12:7,8 .

Morrish Bible Dictionary

There are several species of ants, but to which of these the Proverbs refer is not known: the Hebrew word nemalah is said to be from a root signifying 'to crowd together,' which applies to all ants. Buxtorf traces it from the root 'to eat.' This insect is held up as a practical reproof to the sluggard; the scripture says that it provides its meat in the summer, and gathereth its food in the harvest.  Proverbs 6:6;  Proverbs 30:25 . Sceptics take exception to this, because ants are held to be carnivorous and they could not lay up such food in summer; but there is abundance of evidence to prove that they lay up grain in the summer, and if it becomes damp they bring it out into the sun and dry it. Another point worthy of note is that they have 'no guide, overseer, or ruler,' and yet no one can watch this insect without seeing that they are 'exceeding wise:' each one finds what his particular work is, and diligently does it — a profitable lesson for the saints of God to learn.

Easton's Bible Dictionary

 Proverbs 6:6 30:25

King James Dictionary

AN'T, in old authors, is a contraction of an it, that is if it. See An.

Holman Bible Dictionary

Insects

Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature

( נְמָלָח , Nemalah', either from an Arab. root, signifying Creeping, or rather from נָמִל , to Cut Off [circumcise], from its Destructive habits, or, still better, from its insect form; Sept. Μύρμηξ , Vulg.Formica ) occurs  Proverbs 6:6;  Proverbs 30:25. In both passages its provident habits are referred to, especially its providing its food in the summer. This has generally been supposed to imply that these insects hoard up grains of corn, chiefly wheat, for their supply during winter, having first bitten out the germ to prevent it from growing in their nests. Bochart has collected an immense array of the most eminent authors and naturalists of antiquity (Jewish, Greek, Roman, and Arabian), who all gravely propound this assertion ( Hieroz. 3, 478 sq.; comp. Aristot. Anim. 9, 26; Pliny, Hist. Nat. 11:36; Horace, Sat. 1, 1, 38). But it is now ascertained beyond a doubt that no European ants, hitherto properly examined, feed on Corn or Any Other kind of grain. (See Kirby and Spence's Entomology, p. 313, 7th ed. London, 1856, where the question is fully discussed.) Bonnet found that, however long they had been kept without food, they would not touch corn. Nor do they attack the roots or stems of corn, nor any other vegetable matter. Nor has any species of ant been yet found, with food of Any Kind laid up in its nest. The truth is, that ants are chiefly carnivorous, preying indiscriminately on all the soft parts of other insects, and especially the viscera; also upon worms, whether dead or alive, and small birds or animals. If unable to drag their booty to the nest, they make an abundant meal upon it, and, like the bee, disgorge it, upon their return home, for the use of their companions; and they appear able to retain at pleasure the nutritious juices unchanged for a considerable time. Ants are also extremely fond of saccharine matter, which; they obtain from the exudation of trees, or from ripe fruits, etc.; but their favorite food is the saccharine exudation from the body of the aphides, or plant-lice. Every one must have observed these insects on the rose-tree, etc. Each different species of vegetable has its peculiar species of aphis (Reaumur, 6:566). The aphides insert their tube or sucker between the fibres of vegetables, where they find a most substantial nutriment. This nutriment they retain a considerable time, if no ant approaches them. The ant has the talent of procuring it from the aphides at pleasure. It approaches the aphis, strikes it gently and repeatedly with its antennae, when it instantly' discharges the juice by two tubes easily discerned to be st inding out from its body. These creatures are the milch kine of the ants. By a remarkable coincidence, which M. Huber justly considers too much to be ascribed to chance, the aphides and the ants become torpid at the same. degree of cold (27 deg. Fahr.), and revive together at the same degree of warmth (Huber, Natural History of Ants, p. 210, etc.).

In the Introduction to Entomology, by Kirby and Spence, some diffidence is expressed (2, 46) respecting the inference that no exotic ants have magazines of provisions, till their habits shall have been "more accurately explored." Still, are we not in possession of sufficient data to form a strong presumption in regard to the ants of Palestine, to which Solomon of course alludes in his writings? The ants of the Holy Land certainly have to encounter a degree of cold quite as severe as ever occurs in England (Kitto, Physical Hist. of Palestine, p. 210, 216). Is it not highly probable that the ants at such times become torpid, and need no magazine of provisions? And since we learn from the same authority (p. 31) that there are intervals, even in the depth of winter, when the sun shines, and there is no wind, when it is perfectly warm, sometimes almost hot, in the open air, may not the ants of Palestine and their food revive together at such times, as is the case in other countries, where ants may often be seen pursuing their avocations over the snow? With regard to Solomon's words respecting the ant, Kirby and Spence are of opinion that, "if they are properly considered, it will be found that the interpretation which seems to favor the ancient error respecting ants has been fathered upon them rather than fairly deduced from them. He does not affirm that the ant, which he proposes to the sluggard as an example, laid up in her magazines stores of grain against winter, but that, with considerable prudence and foresight, she makes use of proper seasons to collect a supply of provisions sufficient for her purposes. There is not a word in them implying that she stores up grain or other provisions. She prepares her bread and gathers her food (namely, such food as is suited to her) in summer and harvest (that is, when it is most plentiful), and thus shows her wisdom and prudence by using the advantages offered to her."

It is true that Col. Sykes speaks (Transactions of Entomol. Soc. 2, 103) of a species of Indian ant which he calls Atta providens, so called from the fact of his having found a large store of grass-seeds in its nest; but the amount of that gentleman's observations merely go to show that this ant carries seeds underground, and brings them again to the surface after they have got wet during the monsoons, apparently to dry. "There is not," writes Mr. F. Smith (Catalogue of the Formicidae in the British Museum, 1858, p. 180), "any evidence of the seeds having been stored for food;" he observes that the processionary ant of Brazil ((Ecodoma cephalotes) carries immense quantities of portions of leaves into its underground nests, and that it was supposed that these leaves were for food; but that Mr. Bates satisfied himself that the leaves were for the purpose of lining the channels of the nest, and not for food. There is no evidence that any portion of plants ever forms an article of their Diet. The fact is, that ants seem to delight in running away with almost any thing they find — small portions of sticks, leaves, little stones — as any one can testify who has cared to watch the habits of this insect. This will explain the erroneous opinion which the ancients held with respect to that part of the economy of the ant now under consideration; nor is it, perhaps, necessary to conclude that the error originated in observers mistaking the cocoons for grains of corn, to which they bear much resemblance. It is scarcely credible that Aristotle, Virgil, Horace, etc., who all speak of this insect storing up grains of corn, should have been so far misled, or have been such bad observers, as to have taken the cocoons for grains. Ants do carry off grains of corn, just as they carry off other things, not, however, as was stated, for food, but for their nests. "They are great robbers," says Dr. Thomson (The Land and the Book, p. 337), "and plunder by night as well as by day; and the farmer must keep a sharp eye to his floor, or they will abstract a large quantity of grain in a single night." (See Cistern).

It is right to state that a well-known entomologist, the Rev. F. W. Hope, in a paper "On some Doubts respecting the (Economy of Ants" (Trans. Entom. Soc. 2, 211), is of opinion that Colossians Sykes's observations do tend to show that there are species of exotic ants which store up food for winter consumption; but it must be remembered that Mr. Bates's investigations are subsequent to the publication of that paper. (See Encycl. Brit. 8th ed. s.v.)

The particular species of ant referred to by Solomon has not been identified; and, in fact, ants have only latterly become the subjects of accurate observation. The investigations of Latreille (Histoire Naturelle des Fourmis, Par. 1802), Gould, Geer, Huber, and Kirby and Spence, have dissipated many erroneous notions respecting them, and revealed much interesting information concerning their domestic polity, language, migrations, affections, passions, virtues, wars, diversions, etc. (see Penny Cyclopcedia, s.v.). The following facts are selected as relevant to scriptural illustration. Ants dwell together in societies; and although they have "no guide, overseer, or ruler," yet they have all one soul, and are animated by one object — their own welfare, and the welfare of each other. Each individual strenuously pursues his own peculiar duties, and regards (except in the case of females), and is regarded by every other member of the republic with equal respect and affection. They devote the utmost attention to their young. The egg is cleaned and licked, and gradually expands under this treatment till the worm is hatched, which is then tended and fed with the most affectionate care. They continue their assiduity to the pupa, or chrysalis, which is the third transformation. They heap up the pupae, which greatly resemble so many grains of wheat, or rather rice, by hundreds in their spacious lodges, watch them in an attitude of defense, carry them out to enjoy the radiance of the sun, and remove them to different situations in the nest, according to the required degree of temperature; open the pupae and, at the precise moment of the transformation, disinthrall the new-born insect of its habiliments.

Kitto's Popular Cyclopedia of Biblial Literature

Ant, fifth order of insects, occurs  Proverbs 6:6;  Proverbs 30:25. Ants have only latterly become the subjects of accurate observation, and the result has dissipated many erroneous notions respecting them, and revealed much interesting information concerning their domestic polity, language, migrations, affections, passions, virtues, wars, diversions, etc. The following facts are selected as relevant to Scriptural illustration. Ants dwell together in societies; and although they have 'no guide, overseer, or ruler,' yet they have all one soul, and are animated by one object—their own welfare and the welfare of each other. Each individual strenuously pursues his own peculiar duties; and regards (except in the case of females), and is regarded by every other member of the republic with equal respect and affection. They devote the utmost attention to their young. The egg is cleaned and licked, and gradually expands under this treatment, till the worm is hatched, which is then tended and fed with the most affectionate care. They continue their assiduity to the pupa, or chrysalis, which is the third transformation. They heap up the pupae, which greatly resemble so many grains of wheat, or rather rice, by hundreds in their spacious lodges, watch them in an attitude of defense, carry them out to enjoy the radiance of the sun, and remove them to different situations in the nest, according to the required degree of temperature; open the pupa, and at the precise moment of the transformation, disenthrall the new-born insect of its habiliments.

The most prevalent and inexcusable error, however, respecting ants, has been the belief that they hoard up grains of corn, chiefly wheat, for their supply during winter, having first bitten out the germ to prevent it from growing in their nests. This notion, however, is now completely exploded with regard to European ants. The mistake has no doubt arisen from the great similarity, both in shape, size, and color, before mentioned, of the pupa or chrysalis of the ant to a grain of corn, and from the ants being observed to carry them about, and to open the cuticle to let out the enclosed insect. It is now also ascertained beyond a doubt that no European ants, hitherto properly examined, feed on corn, or any other kind of grain. Nor has any species of ant been yet found of any kind laid up in its nest. The truth is, that ants are chiefly carnivorous, preying indiscriminately on all the soft parts of other insects, and especially the viscera; also upon worms, whether dead or alive, and small birds or animals. If unable to drag their booty to the nest, they make an abundant meal upon it, and, like the bee, disgorge it, upon their return home, for the use of their companions; and they appear able to retain at pleasure the nutritious juices unchanged for a considerable time. Ants are also extremely fond of saccharine matter, which they obtain from the exudation of trees, or from ripe fruits, etc.; but their favorite food is the saccharine exudation from the body of the aphides, or plant-lice. These insects insert their tube or sucker between the fibers of vegetables, where they find a most substantial nutriment. This nutriment they retain a considerable time, if no ant approaches them. The ant has the talent of procuring it from the aphides at pleasure. It approaches the aphis, strikes it gently and repeatedly with its antennae, when it instantly discharges the juice by two tubes, easily discerned to be standing out from its body. These creatures are the milch kine of the ants. By a remarkable coincidence, which M. Huber justly considers too much to be ascribed to chance, the aphides and the ants become torpid at the same degree of cold (27° F.), and revive together at the same degree of warmth. He says, 'I am not acquainted with any ants to whom the art of obtaining from the pucerons (aphides) their subsistence is unknown. We might even venture to affirm that these insects are made for their use' (Huber, Natural History of Ants, p. 210, etc.).

It is highly probable that the exotic ants subsist by similar means. The accounts given us of the termites, or ants, inhabiting the hottest climates, clearly show that they are carnivorous. Bosman, in his description of Guinea, says that they will devour a sheep in one night, and that a fowl is amusement to them only for an hour. In these situations living animals often become their victims. An Italian missionary at Congo relates that a cow in a stall had been known to be devoured by these devastators. We have therefore every reason to conclude that the ants of Palestine, like those of Europe, are carnivorous, become torpid in winter, and need no magazine of provisions. The words of Solomon ( Proverbs 6:6, etc.), properly considered, give no countenance to the ancient error respecting ants. He does not affirm that the ant, which he proposes to the sluggard as an example, laid up in her magazine stores of grain against winter, but that, with considerable prudence and foresight, she makes use of proper seasons to collect a supply of provisions sufficient for her purposes. There is not a word in them implying that she stores up grain or other provisions. She prepares her bread and gathers her food (namely, such food as is suited to her) in summer and harvest (that is, when it is most plentiful), and thus shows her wisdom and prudence by using the advantages offered to her. The sense is thus ably given by Dr. Hammond: 'As in the matter just mentioned the least delay is pernicious, so in all things else sluggishness, or negligence of those things which concern us most nearly, should ever be avoided; and if we need any instructor on this head, we may go to one of the least and meanest of creatures.' The moral, then, intended in Solomon's allusion to the ant, is simply to avail one's self of the favorable time without delay.

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

(נמלה , nemālāh = Arabic namalah ): The word occurs only twice in the Bible, in the familiar passages in Prov ( Ezekiel 6:6;  Ezekiel 30:25 ) in both of which this insect is made an example of the wisdom of providing in the summer for the wants of the winter. Not all ants store up seeds for winter use, but among the ants of Palestine there are several species that do so, and their well-marked paths are often seen about Palestinian threshing-floors and in other places where seeds are to be obtained. The path sometimes extends for a great distance from the nest.