Jesus as a Worm
Hello, my name is Danny and I was a Latter-day Saint for 60 years.
This year the LDS Church Sunday School curriculum is from the Old Testament. The LDS Church only gives one year to studying the Old Testament and the following year to studying the New Testament, before spending the next two years studying other specific LDS texts. Thus, a lot of valuable information is brushed over to complete the Bible in such a brief time. Especially now that the LDS Church has decided to cut its Sunday School time back to a barebones 25 minutes.
My point is that many of the precious insights into both the promised Messiah and the mortal Messiah - that could be mentioned and discussed, are simply past over. Well today, I want to focus on a special little through-line of scripture that shouldn’t be missed.
Anyone who has read the book of Psalms would probably admit - that it is some of the most beautiful literature of the Old Testament. Most of the Psalms were poetry put to music written by David, who became the King of Israel. David had endured much suffering in his lifetime - and this is reflected in many of his collected poems. I am going to read a few verses from Psalm chapter 22. Listen to David’s anguish as he calls out to God. And ask yourself, if his words aren’t reminiscent of a future event recorded at the end of the New Testament Gospel accounts.
1 My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? why art thou so far from helping me, and from the words of my roaring?
2 O my God, I cry in the daytime but thou hearest not; and in the night season and am not silent.
3 But thou art holy, O thou that inhabits the praises of Israel.
4 Our fathers trusted in thee: they trusted, and thou didst deliver them.
5 They cried unto thee, and were delivered: they trusted in thee, and were not confounded.
6 But I am a worm, and no man; a reproach of men and despised of the people.
7 All they that see me laugh me to scorn: they shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying,
8 He trusted on the Lord that he would deliver him: let him deliver him, seeing he delighted in him.
13 They gaped upon me with their mouths, as a ravening and a roaring lion.
14 I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint: my heart is like wax; it is melted in the midst of my bowels.
15 My strength is dried up like a potsherd; and my tongue cleaveth to my jaws; and thou hast brought me into the dust of death.
16 For dogs have compassed me: the assembly of the wicked have enclosed me: they pierced my hands and my feet.
17 I may tell all my bones: they look and stare upon me.
18 They part my garments among them and cast lots upon my vesture.
19 But be not thou far from me, O Lord: O my strength, haste thee to help me.
20 Deliver my soul from the sword; my darling from the power of the dog.
It remained a mystery to David - why God does not intervene and end his suffering and pain. He sees God as enthroned as the Holy One, the praise of Israel. God lives in heaven where all is good, where there is no weeping or fear, no hunger or hatred. David questions - what does God know of all that humans have to endure? David complains that “dogs have surrounded him; a band of evil men has encircled him; they have pierced his hands and his feet. He can count all his bones; people stare and mock him. They divide his garments among them and cast lots for his clothing.”
Did God ever answer David’s petition? Yes, He did. Roughly one thousand years later, a descendant of David named Jesus or Yeshua - was crucified on a hill called Calvary. On the cross, Yeshua endured the suffering and shame of his forefather, David. Are you seeing the throughline of scripture?
There is probably no psalm that prophesies of - and points us to Jesus’ suffering and death as much as Psalm 22. The whole psalm takes us on a vivid journey through those horrible hours of Christ’s suffering on the cross. There He hung, surrounded by the Gentile dogs who pierced His hands and feet. They stared at Him, shook their heads, and mocked Him. They cast lots for His garment. You can envision Yeshua nailed to that cross, exhausted, dehydrated, and bleeding. Who can ever forget Yeshua’s familiar cry as He uses David’s exact words, recorded in Matthew 27:46 “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me.”
In Psalm 22:6, David writes this very interesting description “I am a worm, and no man”. Why would David refer to himself as something that lives in the dirt, in the darkness beneath the earth – a lowly, kind of unpleasant insect? And what does that have to do with Yeshua? SO MUCH! As we are about to find out. Yeshua was going to use David’s psalm to be a TYPE of worm - but not just any common worm. He will be compared to the unique crimson worm. Oh, the creative genius of our Creator!
The crimson worm is one of these lowly but distinctive creations of nature. It’s different than the worms you find in your own backyard and use to catch fish. It is an insect with a shell and six little legs. About seven millimeters or a quarter of an inch long - it’s minuscule. And God created the crimson worm to live in a specific area of the world, which just happens to be - the land of Israel. And its life cycle points us to ONE significant event – Yeshua’s sacrificial death on the cross. You will see that within this crimson worm is the story of our salvation.
In the Bible, the Hebrew word for a common worm is “rimmah”, which means a maggot. Generally, when we think of a worm, we think of a helpless creature with no defense mechanisms that live in the dirt - we picture an earth worm. People don’t respect them or value them. But the specific Hebrew word used here in Psalm 22 for worm, is “TOLA’ATH”, which means “Crimson worm” or “Scarlet worm.” Both scarlet and crimson are the colors of deep blood red. From the dead bodies of such female crimson worms, the commercial scarlet dyes of antiquity were extracted. The scarlet dye extracted from these worms was highly prized, and it was woven into the curtains of the Tabernacle at Sinai and the High Priest's garments—serving as a constant, symbolic reminder of the blood required for atonement. It states in 2 Chronicles 3:14 “And he made the vail (in the temple) of blue, and purple, and crimson, and fine linen, and wrought cherubim thereon.”
As we will see, the "crimson worm" serves as a profound biblical metaphor for the sacrifice of Jesus Christ and His work in the cleansing of our sin. When King David prophetically spoke the words, "But I am a worm and not a man," he metaphorically identified the coming Messiah (Jesus) with this lowly, sacrificial creature.
Okay, here is the spectacle: When the female crimson worm is ready to reproduce - she crawls to a tree and makes the difficult accent up the trunk and attaches herself firmly to the tree. She has come there to give life to her children - and then give up, her own. Once she reaches her spot and secures herself permanently against the wood - she begins creating a hard protective crimson shelter. It’s under this covering, where her eggs are laid and hatched. For three days, she provides protection for her children and provides life for them - as the babies begin to feed on her body until she dies. Once the mother passes away, she secretes a crimson dye that bleeds out and stains the tree, including the children underneath her. The newborns are now crimson worms for the rest of their life cycle. She willingly gives her life, leaving a permanent crimson stain on the wood. This mother’s sacrifice directly mirrors Yeshua’s willingness to have Himself - attached to the wooden cross, bleeding, and giving His life, so humanity could be born again and have eternal life.
Soon afterwards - her body dries out, breaks down, and bleaches into snow-white wax that flakes to the ground. This process also mirrors the cleansing of sin - promised by Yeshua’s death for us, as recorded in Isaiah 1:18 "Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow".
They treated Jesus with contempt – they treated the Son of God as if He was worthless. In other words, they did not treat Him like a man, or a human - they treated Him like a worm. Yet, just as the mother crimson worm goes to the tree voluntarily to give her life for her children - so Jesus offered Himself on the tree of the cross for our sins. Just as the crimson worm bleeds out a scarlet dye in the death she endures for her children, so Jesus poured out his blood in dying for us. Just as the baby crimson worms are stained with the crimson dye that comes from their mother, so are we washed from our sins and covered in Jesus’ own precious blood. It states in Revelation 1:5 “And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood.” All that - so we can be clothed with His righteousness - and be as clean and white as snow in our standing before God.
I hope you enjoyed this scriptural insight. It’s not original from me – but I thought I’d share my thoughts on it with you today.
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God Bless!