Tola Worm, "But I am a worm"

 

Tola Worm                                             July 25, 2015

I am constantly amazed at the hidden things that come from passages that in the past I would read right over or skip, say "What in the world is that all about?"  

Proverbs 25:2 It is the glory of God to conceal a matter, But the glory of kings is to search out a matter. 

This is what we like to do.   Search out the matter. 

Deuteronomy 29:29 NKJV  "The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but those things which are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law. 

Let’s look at just one of those passages. 

Psalms 22, (sometimes called the Psalm of the Cross)  

Psalm 22 tells about the suffering, death and crucifixion of our Lord Jesus 1,000 years before He actually gave His life for our sins upon the tree: 

He will say, vs 1 

Psalms 22:1 to the Chief Musician. Set to "The Deer of the Dawn." a Psalm of David.  My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me? Why are You so far from helping Me, And from the words of My groaning?   

Matthew said 

Matthew 27:46 And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, "Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?" that is, "MY GOD, MY GOD, WHY HAVE YOU FORSAKEN ME?" 

These famous verses we know by heart as this is the only time Jesus felt so distant (or separated) from His Father that He refers to Him as God. 

Psalms 22: 6 But I am a worm, and no man; A reproach of men, and despised by the people.  (tola) 

Why would Jesus say He was a worm?  Chapter 22 is about Jesus life and crucifixion. 

Is there a remezim (has a deeper meaning, a hint) “I am a worm” 

Job 25:4-6 How then can man be righteous before God? Or how can he be pure who is born of a woman?  (5)  If even the moon does not shine, And the stars are not pure in His sight,  (6)  How much less man, who is a maggot, And a son of man, who is a worm?"  (tola) 

Isaiah 1:18  "Come now, and let us reason together," Says the LORD, "Though your sins are like scarlet, They shall be as white as snow; Though they are red like crimson, They shall be as wool.  (tola) 

We just looked at three major Scriptures and what do they all have in common.   

Worm, Crimson, scarlet 

Usually in the Bible, the Hebrew name for ‘worm’ is ‘rimmah’ which is a maggot.   

But in these verses, the word used is: “tola’ which means crimson worm or scarlet worm. Both scarlet and crimson are the colors of blood – deep red.  

This particular worm has some interesting characteristics which relate to our crucified savior.  

Worm:  tôlâ‛    to-law,  Hebrew; a maggot; specifically the crimson grub, but used only (in this connection) of the color from it, and cloths dyed therewith: - crimson, scarlet, worm.

Occurs 43 times in the KJV and used  as Crimson 38 times. 

This Scarlet dye was made from a particular worm, Cermes vermilio.  

This Crimson worm is common to the area of Israel.  

The dead bodies of the female Crimson worms were scraped from the tree, dried and then ground into a powder that was used to dye their cloth and garments a scarlet or red color.  

Let’s look at the worm 

When the female tola worm is ready to reproduce, she prepares to lay her clutch of eggs.  She climbs to a branch of a tree, burrows into the tree, attaches itself to a branch, makes a hard crimson shell.  She is so stuck to the wood that the shell can never be removed without tearing her body apart and killing her. 

This Worm pierces the thin bark of twigs to suck the sap, from which it prepares a waxy scale to protect its soft body.   

The red dye is in this scale. When reproducing, the female climbs a tree (usually the holm oak), where it bears its eggs; the larvae hatch and feed on the body of the worm.  

The Crimson worm deposits or lay her eggs underneath her body and the protective shell.  The eggs stay under her body and the protective shell.

After just a few days, when the young worms are hatch, they grow to the point that they are able to take care of themselves, the mother dies. 

She sacrifices herself for her ‘children’.  As she dies, the red crimson color leaks out of her body onto the tree she is attached to but also her young. They are colored scarlet red for the rest of their lives.   

After the eggs hatch, the larva feeds upon the body of the tola in order to live. The worm gives its life in the process and only a crimson spot remains on the branch of the tree.

It gives its life…  The worm gives birth only once in her life, for it is fatal, and when the worm dies, a crimson spot is left on the branch; then the scarlet spot dries out. 

After three days, the dead mother, Crimson worm’s body, the red dye dries out and loses its crimson color and turns white, into a white wax which falls or flakes off to the ground “as pure snow.”  

The dead bodies of the female Crimson worms were scraped from the tree, dried and then ground into a powder that was used to dye their cloth and garments a scarlet or red color. 

Interesting, what comes to mind. 

They were harvested by the Israelites for the worm's brilliant crimson blood to be used in the Temple service. It was a potent dye for wool, because of its crimson, scarlet or blood color, is how it got its name,

This comparison used here is striking on how it relates to Jesus. 

The significance I see of Jesus saying “I am a worm” is: 

Psalms 22: 6 But I am a worm, and no man; A reproach of men, and despised by the people.  (tola) 

There are a lot of different ideas what Jesus might have meant, but nobody really knows for sure.  But when we look at Scriptures, we know what the worm means, Crimson worm or Scarlet worm,  

Jesus sacrificed his life on a tree so that those who are the children of the Father (us) might be washed with his crimson or scarlet blood and our sins cleaned white as snow. He died for us, that we might live through him. 

Isaiah 1:18 "Come now, and let us reason together," Says the LORD, "Though your sins are like scarlet, They shall be as white as snow; Though they are red like crimson, They shall be as wool. 

Jesus through the sacrifice of His body on the cross and covered our sins with his Blood as we celebrate each Passover. 

Jesus life blood poured out and became a tola, or crimson sacrifice for us all.  

John 19:34 But one of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear, and immediately blood and water came out. 

Jesus died on a tree 

Acts 5:30 The God of our fathers raised up Jesus whom you murdered by hanging on a tree. 

And then three days later arose in glory and brightness.   

John 2:19 Jesus answered and said to them, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up." 

Hebrews 1:1-3 God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets,  (2)  has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds;  (3)  who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, 

Our sins were red like crimson and by His blood made them as white as if they never happened.   

John 6:53-57 Then Jesus said to them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you.  (54)  Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.  (55)  For My flesh is food indeed, and My blood is drink indeed.  (56)  He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him.  (57)  As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who feeds on Me will live because of Me. 

When we come to realize that the tola became a protective covering that sacrifices itself for its babies in nature, what Christ did for each of us, sacrificed Himself for each of us to live,  yes, personally for you and me. 

The red and white phase characteristic of the tola worm is a foreshadow of what Jesus Christ went through. 

When Jesus died on the cross, His own blood was spilled out.  After 3 days, Jesus was resurrected from the dead. 

Revelation 1:5 and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler over the kings of the earth. To Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood, 

Psalms 51:7 Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. 

Revelation 3:5 He who overcomes shall be clothed in white garments, and I will not blot out his name from the Book of Life; but I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels. 

Some very encouraging words by Jesus about every true believe.  Our sins are covered by the pouring out of Jesus blood. 

Some other interesting facts for the tola or Crimson worm. 

·      The crushed tola worm was also used to make medicine that helps the heart beat smoothly, contains a chemical that is an anti-bacterial agent which is why it was used in two types of purification ceremonies. 

·      The white wax body was used to make shellac, a preservative of wood 

·      They are round, about the size of a pea.  Because they don’t look a worm, some people thought they were part of a plant. 

·      Looks more like a grub than a worm 

·      The scarlet worm was also used in the formula with the ashes of the red heifer. Num 19:6 NKJV  And the priest shall take cedar wood and hyssop and scarlet, and cast them into the midst of the fire burning the heifer.  These ashes were used to cleanse a person when they came into contact with a dead body (a host for bacteria). This crimson worm was necessary to make one clean, which is symbolic of the blood of Jesus removing the sin of disease and death from us. 

·      When there was a plague, scarlet was included in the purification of the house. Purification of the house - Lev 14:52 NKJV  And he shall cleanse the house with the blood of the bird and the running water and the living bird, with the cedar wood, the hyssop, and the scarlet. 

The Temple Institute (a Jerusalem organization) is in the process of preparing for the re-starting of the Temple Services.  They want to be ready to restart the sacrifices when the Temple is rebuilt. 

The Temple Institute is trying to rediscover how things were done.  They have been working on the Temple vessels and priestly garments that require a working knowledge of the materials and methods commanded by Torah.  

The process has been lost over the many years and must be relearned. 

On the afternoon of July 16, this year, the Temple Institute organized an historic event:  the first harvest of the tola, crimson worm in the land of Israel in perhaps 2000 years. 

They need to educate and learn how to harvest, produce and make the crimson dye prescribed in the Torah for a number of Temple related purposes, including the 120 wool priests belts of the garments, the scarlet wool tied onto the scapegoat on Atonement, and one of the essential ingredients for producing the ashes of the red heifer.  They found that a favorite nesting ground in Israel is the common Israel Oak tree. 

Some examples: 

Exodus 26:1  "Moreover you shall make the tabernacle with ten curtains of fine woven linen and blue, purple, and scarlet thread; with artistic designs of cherubim you shall weave them  (tola) 

Exodus 26:31 "You shall make a veil woven of blue, purple, and scarlet thread, and fine woven linen. It shall be woven with an artistic design of cherubim. (tola) 

Exodus 26:36 "You shall make a screen for the door of the tabernacle, woven of blue, purple, and scarlet thread, and fine woven linen, made by a weaver.  (tola) 

Exodus 39:1 Of the blue, purple, and scarlet thread they made garments of ministry, for ministering in the holy place, and made the holy garments for Aaron, as the LORD had commanded Moses. (tola) 

Now, lets go back and read those 3 verses, maybe they will have a little more meaning for us now. 

Psalms 22: 6  But I am a worm, and no man; A reproach of men, and despised by the people. 

Job 25:4-6 How then can man be righteous before God? Or how can he be pure who is born of a woman?  (5)  If even the moon does not shine, And the stars are not pure in His sight,  (6)  How much less man, who is a maggot, And a son of man, who is a worm?" 

Isaiah 1:18 "Come now, and let us reason together," Says the LORD, "Though your sins are like scarlet, They shall be as white as snow; Though they are red like crimson, They shall be as wool. 

Now, we know a little more and a deeper understanding when Jesus said,  

“but I am a worm.”