Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Jonathan Mohler <jonathan.mohler AT gmail.com>]

To me the circumstantial evidence is overwhelmingly in favor of a termite.

1)in v.19 the subject is a Mud House: 

-anyone one who has live around mud houses knows that termites devour the inside wood of the structure inside about three years.

2)in v.20  "Between morning and evening they are broken in pieces" and 

- mud houses often collapse in the middle of the night on unsuspecting victims. a common occurrence even today.

- v.21 "Is not their tent-cord plucked up within them" parallels the imagery of a collapsing mud house.

3) the termites' bite is like fire, thus the probable origin of the name.

Jonathan Mohler