Isaiah 41:14 Fear not, you worm Jacob, and you men of Israel; I will help you, said the LORD, and your redeemer, the Holy One of Israel.… The worm here indicated is elsewhere referred to as being injurious to vineyards (Deuteronomy 28:39). It was the destroyer of Jonah's gourd (Jonah 4:7). It is said to be the coccus, a genus which includes the cochineal insect. Naturalists describe the coccus as living upon trees and plants, and as being very small. When collected in districts where these insects are cultivated for the dye which they yield, there are found to be about 70,000 of them in a pound. Two kinds of insect are designated "worm" in Isaiah 14:11. "The worm (mite of corruption) is spread under thee, and worms (cocci) cover thee." This is also the case in Job 25:6. In the passage before us, then, the descendants of Jacob are compared with a creature that is despicable, because it is insignificant and noxious (Psalm 22:6). Orelli, explaining that "worm Jacob" denotes here smallness, weakness, and helplessness, seems to have presented to his mind some such insignificant creature as the coccus; but the commentators generally have thought rather of the familiar earthworm, which they regard as a symbol of debasement and affliction, after the manner of Glo'ster in King Lear, when he says of the supposed idiot beggar — "I' the last night's storm I such a fellow saw, Which made me think a man a worm."God's people, says Henry, "are as 'worms' in humble thoughts of themselves, and in their enemies' haughty thoughts of them: worms, but not vipers, or of the serpent's seed." Other writers use the expressions "despicable and trampled upon" (Lowth); "weak and despised," and "trodden under foot" (Wordsworth); creature of the dust, prostrate and helpless" (Kay); "abject, weak, and wretched of thyself" (Diodati). We must turn to Micah 7:17 for a passage in which reference is expressly made to the earthworm. The comments supplied by show that expositors have not always been content to regard the epithet "worm Jacob" merely as a suggestion of lowliness and meanness. In the opinion of the more ancient among them it signifies, historically and typically, the Jews afflicted by the Assyrians, but antitypically the apostles and early Christians, turn ob paucitatem, turn ob contemptum et humilitatem. Allusion was made to Luke 12:32 and 1 Corinthians 4:9; while Ezekiel 28:11, 12 was referred to as a parallel passage. is quoted as saying, Sicut vermis terram penetrat, ita sermo Apostolicus penetravit Gentium civitates, et ingressus est corda prius durissima. On Luke 12:32 Bengel comments, Grex est non numerissimus, si ad mundum comparetur; and by applying the thought thus expressed to the phrase under discussion we get a slight, but useful, addition to the suggestions made elsewhere. (F. Jarratt.) Parallel Verses KJV: Fear not, thou worm Jacob, and ye men of Israel; I will help thee, saith the LORD, and thy redeemer, the Holy One of Israel. |
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