WORM?
The Scripture
Psalm 22:6-7 “But I am a worm and not a man, scorned by men and despised by the people. All who see me mock me; they hurl insults shaking their heads; He trusts in the LORD, let the LORD rescue him. Let him deliver him since he delights in him.”
You will recognize these as words from the cross. Here they predict those who saw Jesus would mock him.
What Does That Mean?
But a WORM? What is that all about? I always thought it was a poetic way to say Jesus was lowly. When mankind used the phrase it seemed a graphic way to say they were humble. Poetry might be reason enough to use the word, but folks, there is a much more profound reason. It is an exciting hidden picture that God left for those of us a long way removed from the original language to discover.
Fascinating Facts
In the Hebrew this word refers to the scarlet worm. “When the female of the scarlet worm species was ready to give birth to her young, she would attach her body to the trunk of a tree, fixing herself so firmly and permanently that she would never leave again. The eggs deposited beneath her body were thus protected until the larvae were hatched and able to enter their own life cycle. As the mother died, the crimson fluid stained her body and the surrounding wood. From the dead bodies of such female scarlet worms, the commercial scarlet dyes of antiquity were extracted. What a picture this gives of Christ, dying on the tree, shedding his precious blood that he might ‘bring many sons unto glory’ (Hbr 2:10)! He died for us, that we might live through him! Psa 22:6 describes such a worm and gives us this picture of Christ. (cf. Isa 1:18)” (Henry Morris. Biblical Basis for Modern Science, Baker Book House, 1985, p. 73)
Hidden Treasures
So, here in a passage commonly known as referring to Christ, including words Christ himself spoke while on the cross, is an embedded message about the cross, spoken hundreds of years before Christ was even born. How many more treasures are hidden in God’s word for those who are willing to hunt for them?
