Conference yukon::christian_v7

		    I AM A WORM (AND NO MAN)


by Tony Barbieri
August 1, 1995
(Rough draft)


Introduction

Perhaps no other phrase in all the scriptures so poignantly
depicts the sin-laden condition of our Savior while on the cross
than Psalm 22:6, "But, I am a worm and no man."  The word worm,
in the context of this verse, brings to mind a particular sense
of depravity, a profound inner sense of seemingly overwhelming
reproach.

In this little thought paper, a line upon line study of the
English word worm as well as close attention to context is
carried out in the expectation that fresh light will appear. 
The worm texts cited will be only those that refer to persons
(or groups of persons) as worms.

Job: Brief Summary and Worm Texts

A good place to start is the book of Job.  As a backdrop, Job is
clearly a type of the last generation.  He is subject to
tremendous adversity and the reason for the adversity is a
behind the scene's battle of issues waged between Christ and
Satan.  The setting for Job is the invitation of Christ to Satan
to consider His servant Job.  Interesting!  God actually
solicits Satan's opinion.  What ensues is a great controversy
over issues.  What settles the controversy is a tremendously
painful experiment.  Job is the specimen and his response to
adversity the evidence for verdict.  Job 1:22 and 2:10 indicate
that he does not respond to his persecution by sinning.  The
apocalyptic application is clear; in the last days the great
controversy will be waged to its climax and the controversy's
settling will be decided by the response of the last day's
experimental specimen.  This will be the remnant of God's
faithful.  They will be pure as well.

Within the above backdrop is many allusions to an experience
described in much the same way as the cross experience is
described.  Such as:


Job 16:12-17 
12  I was at ease, but He has shattered me; He also has taken me
by my neck, and shaken me to pieces; He has set me up for His
target, 13  His archers surround me. He pierces my heart and
does not pity; He pours out my gall on the ground. 14  He breaks
me with wound upon wound; He runs at me like a warrior. 15  "I
have sewn sackcloth over my skin, And laid my head in the dust.
16  My face is flushed from weeping, And on my eyelids is the
shadow of death; 17  Although no violence is in my hands, And my
prayer is pure.

 
Job 30:16-19 
16  "And now my soul is poured out because of my plight; The
days of affliction take hold of me. 17  My bones are pierced in
me at night, And my gnawing pains take no rest. 18  By great
force my garment is disfigured; It binds me about as the collar
of my coat. 19  He has cast me into the mire, And I have become
like dust and ashes. 

Worm Texts Grounds for Other Similarities


Job's experience indeed bears some resemblance to descriptions
given to the cross.  The Job worm texts form ground for other
similarities.

Job 17:14 
14  If I say to corruption, 'You are my father,' And to the
worm, 'You are my mother and my sister,'

Job 25:4-6 
4  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 [KJV: worm], And a son of man, who is a worm?"


Within the context of the book of Job, scripture most explicitly
refers to man as a worm from the perspective of corruption and
impurity.  Man is referred to as a worm and the basis for this
qualification is his fallen condition.  Thus, while the
following two sets of verses are not worm texts, they are highly
relevant as they link Christ to them. 


Job 14:1-4 
1  "Man who is born of woman Is of few days and full of trouble.
2  He comes forth like a flower and fades away; He flees like a
shadow and does not continue. 3  And do You open Your eyes on
such a one, And bring me to judgment with Yourself? 4  Who can
bring a clean thing out of an unclean? No one!

Galatians 4:4 
4 But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His
Son, born of a woman, born under the law,


Job even described the most common title Christ gave Himself
while He walked this earth, son of man, as being a worm.  The
basis for this description is corruption.  As His mind was
altogether spotless, clearly worm refers to the sinfulness of
the flesh He bore.  After all, as Galatians 4:4 says, Jesus was
born of a woman and His mother was a worm (Job 17:14).

It would seem then that an underlying basis for how it is Jesus
endured what He endured on the cross is the fallen flesh He
took.  This is concluded from the linkage of worm in Job to
fallen flesh and Christ's referral to Himself as a worm in the
midst of the cross experience.  Thus the flesh He took and the
cross experience would seem to be inter-related.  Somehow, Jesus
experienced what He did, in part, because of the manner of flesh
He bore.

Two Different Worms


But, there are actually two worms in these texts and this is
extremely significant.  The second worm mentioned in Job 25:6
and the worm in Psalm 22:6 are rendered from an altogether
different Hebrew word than the Hebrew in all the other
scriptures discussed.  This is further support that son of man
in Job 25:6 actually refers to Christ.

The Hebrew word for the other Job uses of worm is Strong's 7415
- rimmah and is defined as a maggot, worm.  The Hebrew word for
the second Job 25:6 and the Psalm 22:6 uses is Strong's 8438 -
tola'ath and is defined as a maggot, a crimson grub, but used
(only in this connection) of the color from it, and cloths dyed
therewith: - crimson, scarlet, worm.

It is suggested that the usage of Strong's 8438 as worm is
connotative of man laden with sinful flesh and also of man laden
with the weight of sin.  As Isaiah says:


Isaiah 1:18 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.


The word crimson is 8438 in Strong's. The son of man...not just
a worm, but a crimson worm, a worm laden with a particular sin
burden. 

The Worm That Is Jacob


It is at this point that fresh nuggets of light dramatically
appear as a result of the scripturally given line upon line,
precept upon precept, here a little there a little mode of Bible
study.  For it is at this point that another worm text is
brought to the table.


Isaiah 41:14 14 
"Fear not, you worm Jacob, You men of Israel! I will help you,"
says the LORD And your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel.


Strong's 8438 is used.  JACOB IS HERE REFERRED TO AS A CRIMSON
WORM!!

Who Is Jacob?


This begs a question.  Why would Jacob be so described?  Who is
Jacob anyway?  As much of this paper centers on Psalm 22:6, the
Psalms are here first used as a summary of who Jacob is.  It is
suggested that the sequence of Psalms from 22 to 24 is not by
accident.  Psalm 22 is the cross psalm and it ends with Christ
looking forward to some future generation.


Psalm 22:30-31 
30  A posterity shall serve Him. It will be recounted of the
Lord to the next generation, 31  They will come and declare His
righteousness to a people who will be born, That He has done
this.


In the context of the cross, allusion is made of a posterity, a
generation who declares Christ's righteousness, who demonstrates
"that He has done this."  How does a generation demonstrate that
Christ went to the cross?  What would serve as such a testimony?

The next psalm, 23, is perhaps the most beautiful section of
poetry in all the scriptures, so laden with imagery and
metaphor.  It would seem to be Christ's retrospective synopsis
of the cross experience.  "Yea, though I walk through the valley
of the shadow of death..."  "You anoint my head with oil; My cup
runs over."  When the mind is flooded with a revelation of
agape, a cup runs over.  Perhaps, this refers to the cup, i.e.
"the commandment came, sin revived, and I died."  That death
experience.  The drinking of the cup, a cup so full that it runs
over.

Next follows Psalm 24.

Psalm 24:3-6 
Who may ascend into the hill of the LORD? Or who may stand in
His holy place? 4  He who has clean hands and a pure heart, Who
has not lifted up his soul to an idol, Nor sworn deceitfully. 5 
He shall receive blessing from the LORD, And righteousness from
the God of his salvation. 6  This is Jacob, the generation of
those who seek Him, Who seek Your face. Selah


Here is the people who ascend into the hill of the lord which
bares similarity to the group in Hebrews 12 that inhabits Mount
Zion where everything that can be shaken will be shaken.  This
generation is pure in character and they seek the face of the
Lord.  They seek the unveiled presence of God.  Could this be
the posterity that serves Him that is referred to in Psalm 22?

Contributions From Jeremiah


Much is said about Jacob in Jeremiah 30.

 
Jeremiah 30:5-7 
5 "For thus says the LORD: 'We have heard a voice of trembling,
Of fear, and not of peace. 6  Ask now, and see, Whether a man is
ever in labor with child? So why do I see every man with his
hands on his loins Like a woman in labor, And all faces turned
pale? 7  Alas! For that day is great, So that none is like it;
And it is the time of Jacob's trouble, But he shall be saved out
of it.


Jeremiah 30:24 
24 The fierce anger of the LORD will not return until He has
done it, And until He has performed the intents of His heart. In
the latter days you will consider it.

 
This event described with the imagery of a woman travailing in
birth pangs has the last days as its most significant
application and is so unique and forceful that other passages
making mention of that same image would seem to be alluding to
the same experience.  On that basis, several of the judgment
descriptions in Jeremiah are almost startling.  The first of
these strings is Israel again, but the rest are other countries.

Jeremiah 6:24-26 
24 We have heard the report of it; Our hands grow feeble.
Anguish has taken hold of us, Pain as of a woman in labor. 25 
Do not go out into the field, Nor walk by the way. Because of
the sword of the enemy, Fear is on every side. 26  O daughter of
my people, Dress in sackcloth And roll about in ashes! Make
mourning as for an only son, most bitter lamentation; For the
plunderer will suddenly come upon us.

Jeremiah 22:23 
23  O inhabitant of Lebanon, Making your nest in the cedars, How
gracious will you be when pangs come upon you, Like the pain of
a woman in labor?

Jeremiah 48:41 
41 Kerioth is taken, And the strongholds are surprised; The
mighty men's hearts in Moab on that day shall be Like the heart
of a woman in birth pangs.

Jeremiah 49:22 
22 Behold, He shall come up and fly like the eagle, And spread
His wings over Bozrah; The heart of the mighty men of Edom in
that day shall be Like the heart of a woman in birth pangs.

Jeremiah 49:24 
24  Damascus has grown feeble; She turns to flee, And fear has
seized her. Anguish and sorrows have taken her like a woman in
labor.

Jeremiah 50:43 
43  "The king of Babylon has heard the report about them, And
his hands grow feeble; Anguish has taken hold of him, Pangs as
of a woman in childbirth.

In the scriptures containing the imagery of woman in childbirth,
there is one qualification given to Jacob that is not given to
any other example, "But he shall be saved out of it."  There is
something that takes place at the end such that the experience
of saved and lost is so similar that the inspired record sees
fit to describe both experiences with the peculiar imagery of
pangs of a woman in childbirth, but Jacob has a different
response to that trial.  He becomes Israel.  He overcomes.

All of Chapters 30-32 of Jeremiah have much to say about Jacob
and (as has been seen) its application is mainly endtime.  For
examples:


Jeremiah 31:2 
2 Thus says the LORD: "The people who survived the sword Found
grace in the wilderness -- Israel, when I went to give him rest."


Jeremiah 31:29-31 
29 "In those days they shall say no more: 'The fathers have
eaten sour grapes, And the children's teeth are set on edge.' 30
"BUT EVERY ONE SHALL DIE FOR HIS OWN INIQUITY; every man who
eats the sour grapes, his teeth shall be set on edge. 
31 Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, when I will make
a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of
Judah --

  
The first text refers to a people who survive the sword.  As
this people is the remnant, there is a link with Zechariah
13:7-9, the scripture which speaks of a sword that smites the
Shepherd and then goes on to describe the same fate befalling a
remnant who is brought through the fire, refined as silver is
refined and tested as gold is tested (Zech. 31:9).  The second
text describes an amazing transition of covenant.  Every one
dies for his own iniquity and (as the later scriptures reveal)
the law of God is written in Israel's  (Jacob's) heart.

The Apocalyptic Setting of Isaiah 41


Isaiah 41, the chapter which refers to Jacob as a worm, is also
mainly apocalyptic.  The chapter starts out with mention of
judgment.  Verses 8 and 9 bare strong resemblance to the call of
people from every corner of the earth out of Babylon.  Chapter
42, as continuation, refers to the law coming.  This brings to
mind the Feast of Trumpets which is a proclaiming of the law and
which prepares for the Day of Atonement - clearly endtime
imagery!  And within this backdrop, 


Isaiah 41:4 
Who has performed and done it, Calling the generations from
the beginning? 'I, the LORD, am the first; And with the last I
am He.' "


In a special sense, the Lord is with the last generation.  "I am
crucified with Christ."  There is a union that takes place at
the end that is so singular from the rest of human history that
Isaiah says, "I am the first, and with the last I am He."  The
union is so unique that only Christ and the last generation are
described as crimson worms.

Sources of Similarities Between Experiences of Christ and Jacob


What is the source of their similarities?  It has already been
mentioned that Christ took sinful flesh.  Certainly that is one
source, but what is unique about the last generation that was
also unique about Christ?  Recall that the sword that smites the
Shepherd is turned on the remnant (Zechariah 13).  What is the
sword?


Hebrews 4:12-13 
12 For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than
any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and
spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the
thoughts and intents of the heart. 13 And there is no creature
hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the
eyes of Him to whom we must give account.


The sword is the word of God and it is this revelation of the
agape of Christ which reveals the sinfulness of man.  Note that
the above passage does not only refer to the intents of the
heart being revealed, it refers to the flesh.  It reveals all
that our sin-laden flesh is capable of outside of the grace of
God.  It reveals all the wretchedness there is.  The following
verses open with a mention of Christ's flesh.


Hebrews 5:7-9 
7 who, in the days of His flesh, when He had offered up prayers
and supplications, with vehement cries and tears to Him who was
able to save Him from death, and was heard because of His godly
fear, 8 though He was a Son, yet He learned obedience by the
things which He suffered. 9 And having been perfected, He became
the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him,

  
The above text seems to tie in the struggle of Christ to the
flesh He bore, "who in the days of His flesh."  And within this
context, Christ is referred to as the Author of eternal
salvation.  It seems that what He authored was some process that
took place as a result of bearing sinful flesh and being smitten
by the sword.

If the above is the case and given that sword equates to agape
revealed and that God's glory is His character, the following
forcefully shows similarity between Christ and Jacob so far as
their experience is concerned.


Hebrews 6:1,19-20
1 Therefore, leaving the discussion of the elementary principles
of Christ, let us go on to perfection, not laying again the
foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God,

19 This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and
steadfast, and which enters the Presence behind the veil, 20
where the forerunner has entered for us, even Jesus, having
become High Priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.

Christ: The Author and Enabler of the Behind the Veil Experience


He who authored perfection will write that experience in a
sin-laden crimson worm called Jacob, the generation who goes
behind the veil with Christ.  Indeed, it is this Authorship of
Christ which produces this sin-laden experience.  When Jacob is
led with Christ behind the veil, there is no more covering.


Isaiah 28:19-20 
19  As often as it goes out it will take you; For morning by
morning it will pass over, And by day and by night; It will be a
terror just to understand the report." 
20 For the bed is too short to stretch out on, And the covering
so narrow that one cannot wrap himself in it.


Isaiah 33:17-18a
17 Your eyes will see the King in His beauty; They will see the
land that is very far off. 18  Your heart will meditate on
terror:  

Concluding Summary of the Two Crimson Worms and Their
Similarities


Christ and Jacob.  Two sin-laden crimson worms.  The only two in
all the scriptures.  The only two to venture behind the veil. 
One the Author of salvation and the other the group of whom
Christ especially authors.  No others will have been subject to
the fullness of the discern- ing nature of the sword and thus
the report is one only they have fully seen for it is a report
only revealed by a sword permitted to cut to the deepest
recesses of the heart and flesh of man.

    What is really cool to me is the commentary on the word for worm in
    Psalm 22 that is in LOGOS.  The imagery is incredible!
    
    thanks Tony,
    Mike

    Deep. Simply deep.  
    
    
    
                 Thomas
    

    Tony,
    
    Just wanted to say EXCELLENT JOB and THANK YOU for all of your hard
    work.
    
    In His Love,
    
    Peter2

      Your welcome you guys!  All I can say is that if anything
      appeared fresh, well I hope it blessed and I hope all of
      us come to love to do line upon line, here a little there
      a little, precept upon precept studies of His word.
    
      Things will be revealed.  Thats how the word opens up, imo.
    
    					Thanks,
    
    					Tony

    Hi Tony -
    
    I enjoyed it too.  It was fresh again for me.
    
    Thanks
    Jill

    Hi Tony,
    
    I enjoyed your paper very much.  Well done.
    
    
    -steve