Hornet

Israel was promised help from an unlikely source. God tells Moses, “I will send hornets before thee, which shall drive out the Hivite, the Canaanite, and the Hittite, from before thee.” Moses repeats it in Deuteronomy 7:20, and at the end of his life Joshua reminds the people that God did it: “I sent the hornet before you, which drave them out from before you.” The point stressed is that the land was not won by the sword or the bow alone. A hornet is a small thing, and the story gives the credit to the one who sends it.

3 verses

Exodus

Exodus 23:28

And I will send hornets before thee, which shall drive out the Hivite, the Canaanite, and the Hittite, from before thee.

Deuteronomy

Deuteronomy 7:20

Moreover the LORD thy God will send the hornet among them, until they that are left, and hide themselves from thee, be destroyed.

Joshua

Joshua 24:12

And I sent the hornet before you, which drave them out from before you, even the two kings of the Amorites; but not with thy sword, nor with thy bow.

From Easton's Bible Dictionary

Matthew George Easton, 1897

Heb. tsir’ah, “stinging”, (Ex. 23:28; Deut. 7:20; Josh. 24:12). The word is used in these passages as referring to some means by which the Canaanites were to be driven out from before the Israelites. Some have supposed that the word is used in a metaphorical sense as the symbol of some panic which would seize the people as a “terror of God” (Gen. 35:5), the consternation with which God would inspire the Canaanites. In Palestine there are four species of hornets, differing from our hornets, being larger in size, and they are very abundant. They “attack human beings in a very furious manner.” “The furious attack of a swarm of hornets drives cattle and horses to madness, and has even caused the death of the animals.”

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From Smith's Bible Dictionary

William Smith, 1884

The hornet bears a general resemblance to the common wasp, only it is larger. It is exceedingly fierce and voracious, especially in hot climates and its sting is frequently dangerous. In Scripture the hornet is referred to only by the means which Jehovah employed for the extirpation of the Canaanites. (Exodus 23:28; 7:20; Joshua 24:12) Wisd. 12:8. (It is said that the Phaselitae, a Phoenician people, were driven from their locality by hornets; and other examples are given in Paxton’s "Illustrations of Scripture," 1:303.--ED.)