Baker Encyclopedia of the Bible
The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, Revised
Flea [Heb. parʿōš; cf. Arab bargûṯ-‘flea’; Akk. pāršuʾu]. The only biblical reference to the flea is in 1 S. 24:14, as a symbol of insignificance. A wingless member of the species Pulex is indicated, perhaps Pulex irritans, P. penetrans, or P. canis, all of which are found in Palestine.
Tyndale Bible Dictionary
Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible
FleaA wingless, parasitic insect of the order Siphonaptera, whose mouth is particularly adapted for piercing the skin and sucking blood. Fleas (Heb. parʿōš) deposit their eggs in the hair of the host animal, and the larvae thrive in dry, sandy soil such as that of Palestine. After sparing Saul’s life,
InsectsTechnically, creatures whose bodies are divided into three segments and which have three pairs of legs. Entomologists estimate that tens of thousands of different species inhabit Israel. Two Hebrew terms appear to refer to insects in a generic sense. Heb. remek is translated “creeping things”
Eerdmans Bible Dictionary
Flea. (Heb. par˓ōš). A wingless, parasitic insect of the order Siphonaptera whose mouth is particularly adapted for piercing the skin and sucking blood. Their eggs are deposited in the hair or home of the host animal, and the larvae thrive in dry, sandy soil such as that of Palestine. After sparing
Smith’s Bible Dictionary
Easton’s Bible Dictionary
Flea—David at the cave of Adullam thus addressed his persecutor Saul (1 Sam. 24:14): “After whom is the king of Israel come out? after whom dost thou pursue? after a dead dog, after a flea?” He thus speaks of himself as the poor, contemptible object of the monarch’s pursuit, a “worthy object truly for
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
INSECTS<in’-sekts>: In English Versions of the Bible, including the marginal notes, we find at least 23 names of insects or words referring to them: ant, bald locust, bee, beetle, cankerworm, caterpillar, creeping thing, cricket, crimson, flea, fly, gnat, grasshopper, honey, hornet, locust, louse, (lice),
fleaThe flea is one of the most troublesome of insects and one of the most dangerous. Rat fleas carry the germs of bubonic plague from rats to man. They also spread the germs of a type of typhus fever.Fleas are tiny insects with bodies thin and flattened from side to side much as a fish is flattened.
insectThe world’s most abundant creatures are the insects, whose known species outnumber all the other animals and the plants combined. Insects have been so successful in their fight for life that they are sometimes described as the human race’s closest rivals for domination of the Earth. Entomologists,
whiteflyWhiteflies (Aleyrodidae) on leaf.Anthony Bannister—NHPA/EB Inc.The whitefly is any aphidlike, sap-sucking member of insect family Aleyrodidae of order Homoptera; adults have four wings and are 0.08 to 0.12 in. (2 to 3 mm) long and covered with white opaque powder; nymphs are flat, oval,
Dictionary of Phrase and Fable
Flea as a parasite.“Hobbes clearly proves that every creatureLives in a state of war by nature;So naturalists observe a fleaHas smaller fleas that on him prey.And these have smaller still to bite ’em,And so proceed ad infinitum.”Swift: Poetry; a Rhapsody.Sent off with a flea in his ear. Peremptorily.
The Westminster Bible Dictionary
Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary
INSECTS Air-breathing arthropods which make up the class Hexapoda. Representatives are found on land and in water. They have three distinct body parts (head, thorax, and abdomen) as well as three pair of legs, one pair of antennae, and usually one or two pairs of wings. Fossil studies have shown that