worms

September 13, 2016

Eternal salvation (Isa 51:7-51:8)

“Listen to me!

You who know righteousness!

You people!

You have my teaching in your hearts!

Do not fear the reproach of others!

Do not be dismayed

When they revile you!

The moth will eat them up

Like a garment.

The worm will eat them

Like wool.

But my deliverance will be forever.

My salvation is to all generations.”

Again, Second Isaiah asks people, especially the righteous who have his teaching in their hearts, to listen to Yahweh. They should not be afraid of the reproach of others when they are reviled. Forget about that! These revilers would be eaten up like a moth destroys a garment or worms ruin wool. Never fear, the deliverance and salvation of Yahweh is forever into many generations to come.

July 23, 2016

The greetings in Sheol (Isa 14:9-14:11)

“Sheol beneath is stirred up.            

They want to meet you

When you come.

They rouse the shades

To greet you.

All who were leaders of the earth

Greet you.

All who were kings of the nations

Rise from their thrones.

All of them will speak.

They will say to you.

‘You too have become

As weak as we!

You have become

Like us!’

Your pomp

Is brought down to Sheol.

The sound of your harps

Is brought down to Sheol.

Maggots are the bed beneath you.

Worms are your covering.”

This haughty king now descends after his death into the shadowy underworld of Sheol. Everyone there wanted to meet this king. All the former leaders and kings of the world were there to greet this newly deceased Babylonian king. They got up from their thrones and greeted him. Then they reminded him that he had become like them, weak. All his self important pomps were gone in Sheol. There was no harp playing in Sheol. In fact, he would sleep on a bed of maggots with worms as his covering, not a pretty picture.

May 13, 2016

Reckless drunkards (Sir 19:1-19:3)

“A worker who is a drunkard

Will not become rich.

One who despises small things

Will fail little by little.

Wine leads intelligent men astray.

Women lead intelligent men astray.

The man who consorts

With prostitutes is reckless.

Decay will take possession of him

Worms will inherit him.

The reckless person

Will be snatched away.”

Sirach warns us that a drunkard will not become rich. If you despise small things, you will fail little by little. Both wine and women have led intelligent men astray. You are reckless, if you hang around with prostitutes. Always blame your downfall on someone or something other than yourself. Your body will decay and worms will take over. The reckless person will have his life snatched away.

April 28, 2016

Humble work (Sir 7:15-7:17)

“Do not hate hard labor.

Do not hate farm work.

These were created by the Most High.

Do not enroll in the ranks of sinners.

Remember that retribution does not delay.

Humble yourself to the utmost.

The punishment of the ungodly is fire and worms.”

These Sirach recommendations continue. You should not dislike hard labor or farm work since they were created by the Most High God. Do not hang out with sinners because retribution will not be delayed. Humble yourself. The punishment for the ungodly is both fire and worms.

July 15, 2015

Bildad praises God (Job 25:1-25:6)

“Then Bildad the Shuhite answered.

‘Dominion and fear are with God.

He makes peace in his high heaven.

Is there any number to his armies?

Upon whom does his light not arise?

How then can a mortal be righteous before God?

How can one born of woman be pure?

If even the moon is not bright,

If the stars are not pure in his sight,

How much less a mortal,

A maggot,

A human being,

A worm?”

This is a very short chapter with only 6 verses. This is clearly the response of Bildad. He said that dominion and fear come with God since he had made peace in the high heavens. No one could number or count God’s armies or his angels because they were so numerous. His light shines on all. How could a mortal man be righteous before God? No one born of a woman can be pure or clean. Event the moon and the stars are not totally bright. Mortals are like maggots, worms or just plain humans.

July 15, 2015

The ways of the wicked (Job 24:18-24:21)

“Swift are they on the face of the waters.

Their portion in the land is cursed.

No one who treads turns toward their vineyards.

Drought and heat snatch away the snow waters.

Sheol snatches away those who have sinned.

The womb forgets them.

The worm finds them sweet.

They are no longer remembered.

Wickedness is broken like a tree.’

They harm the childless woman.

They do no good to the widow.”

These are difficult passages since they are later in the Jerusalem Bible, after chapter 27, in order to connect to the curse of Zophar. It is difficult to say whether this is Job or one of his comforters speaking. This may have been an inserted poem. These wicked are quick, but their land is cursed. No one walks, tramples, or treads in their vineyards. The snow waters do not reach their land. Sheol eventually takes them. Their mothers forget them. They are not remembered. The worms like their sweetness like a broken tree. They have harmed the childless woman and the widows.

July 13, 2015

Do the wicked really suffer? (Job 21:17-21:26)

“How often is the lamp of the wicked put out?

How often does calamity come upon them?

How often does God distribute pains in his anger?

How often are they like straw before the wind?

How often are they like chaff that the storm carries away?

You say.

‘God stores up their iniquity for their children.

Let it be paid back to them.

Thus they may know it.

Let their own eyes see their destruction.

Let them drink of the wrath of the Almighty Shaddai.’

What do they care for their household after them?

When the number of their months is cut off?

Will any teach God knowledge?

He judges those that are on high.

One dies in full prosperity.

They are at ease and secure.

Their loins are full of milk.

The marrow of their bones is moist.

Another dies in bitterness of soul.

They have never tasted of good.

They lie down alike in the dust.

The worms cover them.”

Job wondered whether the wicked were really punished at all. The wicked people seem to be surviving pretty well. Where is their pain and calamity? They do not seem to be like chaff or straw in the wind. As for their children getting the punishment, what do they care about that? What do they care about their inheritance after they have died? They seem to die at ease and secure with their prosperity. What else could you ask for? They die like everyone else. Dust and worms will cover them up whether they were prosperous or not, whether they were wicked or not. Where is God’s punishment to them since they do not seem to care or know about God?

July 12, 2015

Job considers death (Job 17:11-17:16)

“My days are past.

My plans are broken off.

The desires of my heart are gone.

They make night into day.

They say.

‘The light is near to the darkness.’

If I look for Sheol as my house,

If I spread my couch in darkness,

If I say to the pit,

‘You are my father,’

If I say to the worm,

‘You are my mother,

You are my sister,’

Where then is my hope?

Who will see my hope?

Will it go down to the bars of Sheol?

Shall we descend together into the dust?”

Once again, Job ended his reply with a morose tone as he considered his death once again. The days were gone. The plans were broken. The desires of the heart were gone. There was a confusion of night and day, light and darkness. His home would be Sheol, the underworld of the dead. The ground and worms will become his father, mother, and sister. There was no hope. All of us should just go together into the depths of Sheol as the dust on the ground. This is a man in despair not hope.

July 5, 2015

Job describes his difficult human life (Job 7:1-7:6)

“Do not human beings have a hard service on earth?

Are not their days like the days of a laborer?

Are not their days like a slave who longs for the shadow?

Are not their days like laborers who look for their wages?

So I am allotted months of emptiness.

Nights of misery are apportioned to me.

When I lie down I say.

‘When shall I arise?’

But the night is long.

I am full of tossing until dawn.

My flesh is clothed with worms and dirt.

My skin hardens.

Then my skin breaks out again.

My days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle.

They come to their end without hope.”

This was a man in despair. He had a hard mortal life. He was like a day laborer who got paid by the day, assuming that he worked. He was like a paid mercenary. He was a like a slave who only looked for shade. All that he could hope for was his paid wages. His months were empty. His nights were miserable.   When he lay down, all he could think of was when he would get up. He tossed and turned all night long with little sleep. His flesh was full of worms and dirt. His skin hardened and then broke out again. His days went by like a weaver’s spinning wheel. In the end, there was no hope in his hopeless hard human life.

June 16, 2015

The cruel painful illness of King Antiochus IV (2 Macc 9:5-9:10)

“But the all-seeing Lord, the God of Israel, struck him an incurable and unseen blow. As soon as he stopped speaking he was seized with a pain in his bowels with sharp internal tortures, for which there was no relief. That was very just, for he had tortured the bowels of others with many and strange inflictions. Yet he did not in any way stop his insolence. He was even more filled with arrogance, breathing fire in his rage against the Jews. He gave orders to drive even faster. So it came about that he fell out of his chariot as it was rushing along. The fall was so hard as to torture every limb of his body. Thus only a little while before, he had thought in his super human arrogance that he could command the waves of the sea. He imagined that he could weigh the high mountains in a balance. Finally, he was brought down to earth. He was carried in a litter, making the power of God manifest to all. Worms swarmed all over the ungodly man’s body. While he was still living in anguish and pain, his flesh rotted away. Because of the stench, the whole army felt revulsion at his decay. Because of his intolerable stench, no one was able to carry the man who a little while before had thought that he could touch the stars of heaven.”

Here the cause of the illness of King Antiochus IV was not depression but the God of Israel who struck him down. Notice that it is the God of Israel not the almighty Shaddai God who struck him down. This biblical author went into great detail about his illness. The king had a bowel problem because he had tortured others with infliction of various stomach disorders. He still wanted to get to Jerusalem so he asked his chariot to go faster. However, then he fell out of the chariot causing him even more pain. King Antiochus IV had been arrogant so that he thought that he could command the sea waves, measure the height of mountains, and touch the stars. However, his body swarmed with worms as it rotted away. There was a terrible smell about him that kept people away from him. The great king was reduced to a smelly sick pain filled old man.