Locusts and John the Baptist
“His meat was locusts and wild honey” (Matthew 3:4)
From time to time there are friendly discussions as to whether John the Baptist ate locust insects or locust bean (Matthew 3:4, Mark 1:6). One approach to resolving the question is to see how the Greek word for locust(s) is used in the rest of the Bible. If that is not sufficient to resolve the question, then see how other ancient writers used the word.
The Merriam-Webster dictionary notes that “The name of the insect was first applied to the carob bean.” That could weigh in favor of John eating locust bean (carob bean, acacia bean).
Leviticus 11:22 declares four kinds of locusts as clean foods, acceptable for humans. That eliminates a potential objection to John having eaten the insect kind of locust.
The Greek word for locusts is akris (singular) or akrides (plural). The word is used in only two other places in the New Testament, in Revelation 9:3,7, where the “locusts” come out of the smoke of the abyss; there they are likened to scorpions and to war horses with heads, faces, hair, teeth, scales, wings, and stinging tails of scorpions. The Greek Septuagint version of the Old Testament, in Exodus 10, uses the word to describe the locusts of the eighth plague, which ate up the two remaining crops of Egypt.
Thayer’s Lexicon defines the Greek word as insect locusts, and not as carob bean. It is defined as “grasshopper, locust, cricket” by Liddell & Scott (unabridged).
Therefore, pending further information, the other usages of the word indicate John the Baptist ate insect locust and wild honey, however unappetizing it may seem to some of us.
— Br. James B. Parkinson