By: Curtis Evelo | April 16, 2019
So many times as we read the scriptures, we see pictures and images that are painted by the words spoken like “ I am the vine….” or “ a grain of wheat must fall into the ground and die before it brings forth much grain.” Observing, we also know that all Creation speaks of His glory. Well, I was reading Psalm 22 one day and a word caught my attention. My mind went back to a teaching from Pastor Jon Courson and a pastor who mentioned that Jesus was a “worm,” and also how great the mysteries of God are. So, I started to research this little word and my findings just amazed me.
Psalm 22 :6
So when do we hear Jesus referring to himself as a worm? On the cross where he recites the very beginning of Psalm 22.
If we look at the time period and the culture, we see that Jesus gathered and taught his disciples in a very Rabbinic way. Through parables, trigger words, or contrasted (small to very large ) picture phrases like “ if you have faith like a mustard seed and you say to this mountain move” Matthew 17: 20.
Now Jesus was a Rabbi and was ever increasing his intensity of teaching to those around him you will see in the gospels the evidence of this. And as he approaches the last hours his final sentences on the cross are his most intense and most certainly important to pay attention to.
Recorded in Mark 15: 34 Jesus cries out “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani” (“my God, my God, why have you forsaken me!”). At that very moment was the only time Jesus and the Father were separated. God is Holy and cannot look upon sin. So as Jesus Christ was taking the full wrath and punishment for my sins and your sins no doubt, he was feeling the loss and separation we should have felt. So, as he cries out “my God my God “ he was speaking what he was feeling. But could it be he was still teaching and drawing attention to the entirety of Psalm 22? I think so. And the prophetic implications are written 1000 years before Christ was on this planet and 800 years before crucifixion was even invented are staggering. We read things like “ for dogs encompass me “and “they divide my garments among them “. Well back up a few verses to 22: 6, it says “But I am a worm, and no man “ so what was Jesus saying in these last words?
Well, let’s dig a little further. The word “worm “ is used many times and places like in Job 17:10,24:20 in the Hebrew it is “rimmah” which is referring to a type of earthworm . But in Psalm 22:6 the word “worm” is different in Hebrew it is “tola’ath.” Or “towla.” The “tola’ath” worm is known as the “Scarlet or Crimson worm” and it has been used for centuries in Temple uses. This Crimson worm was used for its concentrated crimson/scarlet color. The scarlet, blue, and purple colors were among the most valued fabrics of that time period. This scarlet dye was used in Levitical priestly garments like woven blue, purple, scarlet sash (Ex.39:29). On Yom Kippur, the scapegoat had a scarlet cord tied around it as it was taken to the wilderness and released as part of the atonement. The scarlet dye was used in the curtains for the Tabernacle (Ex.26:1); in the purification rites of a leper (lev.14:4-6) it was also used in the yarn thrown into the fire burning the “red heifer “ (Num.19:6).
What I found that is really interesting is the Temple Institute has now after almost 2000 years started using again the “scarlet worm “ in the wool that is woven and embroidered into the belts of the 120 priestly garments that they are currently in the process of producing. Since the scattering and the regathering of the Jewish nation. The harvest of the Scarlet worm ceased and has begun again to show a younger generation how to produce the specific dye a tradition that was lost for almost 2 millennia.
So you wonder what’s the deal with the scarlet worm? Well, what I found as I dug a little further was staggering in the similarities to an event that formed Christianity. At the time it is ready to have its young the female tola’ath worm climbs a tree, then attaches herself permanently with a hard, crimson shell. She is so permanently attached that her body would tear apart. She then lays and hatches her eggs and they stay under her shell providing protection also as the larvae grow, they eat on her living body. After a few days the young can take care of themselves and the mother dies as the mother dies, she stains the young tola’ath worms a crimson red color which they will be for the rest of their lives. After a few days, the dead mother’s body turns into a white wax. So as some of the last words of Jesus spoke to us was he still teaching us a parable that we too will be stained scarlet red?
It was Christ’s love for us that permanently held him to that cross on the darkest day of creation and as his blood poured out we now are permanently stained as we accept him as Lord and live like we’ve been covered by his blood. When I see things like this in nature that tell the story of Gods mighty redemption and has hidden that story in creation, I just cannot help but say “How great are the mysteries of our God!”
Editor’s Note: The views expressed by guest writers on this blog are their own and may not represent those of Bellator Christi Ministries.
Links
The Crimson Worm by Rich Jacobs, M.D.
Jon Courson Searchlight Bible Teachings – 3/29/13 Psalm 22:1-21
About the Author
Curtis Evelo is the owner of the E/6 Miniature Hereford Ranch in Saint Ignatius, Montana and is a Bible teacher and up-and-coming preacher of God’s Word. Evelo attends Cornerstone Faith Center in Saint Ignatius, Montana and is enrolled at Global University—Berean School of the Bible.
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