The Crimson Worm
- Jun 5
- 2 min read
Updated: Jun 8
A little crimson worm, sometimes called a grub, icoccus ilicis, has an interesting history in the Middle East.
When she is about to give birth, the female ilicis finds a tree or wooden post to lodge herself permanently.
She gives birth against this tree, her body providing protection for her babies; they feed on her body and, within three days, she dies, her body excreting a crimson liquid that stains the wood on which her body hung.
This liquid had great value in Hebrew culture because of its extraordinary dyeing power and antiseptic qualities.
If the red liquid was retrieved quickly, its dye could color fabric such as the curtains of the Tabernacle, the priest’s robes and the veil that separated the Holy of Holies.
Psalm 22:6 speaks prophetically of what Christ was to suffer: “But I am a worm to suffer and not a man, scorned by everyone, despised by the people.”
The word towla (or tola’ath worm) prophesies that Christ saw Himself as this creature whose blood covers the birth of new creatures.
On the fourth day after death, the body of the crimson worm turns waxy and white, but the babies have already been marked with the crimson dye of its parent.
Running throughout the Bible are crimson images, from God’s blood covenant with Abraham to the blood over the door before the Exodus to the death of Jesus Christ.
Crimson symbolizes the life blood of the human body and, thus, shedding it holds great significance as symbol, warning and sacrifice, just as those who believe Christ are marked, saved by the blood of the Son of God.
The crimson cord that hung around the neck of the scape goat sent into the wilderness as sacrifice for sin was dyed with the color of the little worm, as undoubtedly was the crimson cord the prostitute Rahab, who was in the line of David and Jesus, hung in her window of the wall that surrounded Jericho.
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Then I looked and heard the voice of many angels, numbering thousands upon thousands, and ten thousand times ten thousand.
They encircled the throne and the living creatures and the elders.
In a loud voice they were saying:
Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise!
Revelation 5:11-14
****************** Lambie acrylic on board
