Reference: Worm
Easton
(1.) Heb sas (Isa 51:8), denotes the caterpillar of the clothes-moth.
(2.) The manna bred worms (tola'im), but on the Sabbath there was not any worm (rimmah) therein (Ex 16:20,24). Here these words refer to caterpillars or larvae, which feed on corrupting matter.
These two Hebrew words appear to be interchangeable (Job 25:6; Isa 14:11). Tola'im in some places denotes the caterpillar (De 28:39; Jon 4:7), and rimmah, the larvae, as bred from putridity (Job 17:14; 21:26; 24:20). In Mic 7:17, where it is said, "They shall move out of their holes like worms," perhaps serpents or "creeping things," or as in the Revised Version, "crawling things," are meant.
The word is used figuratively in Job 25:6; Ps 22:6; Isa 41:14; Mr 9:44,46,48; Isa 66:24.
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Fausets
Not the earth worm (Lumbricus terrestris). Isa 51:8; "the moth ('ash) shall eat them up like a garment, and the worm (sas) shall eat them like wool." The sas is a species of (See MOTH . Rimmah synonymous with toleah; applied to the worm bred in the manna when kept more than a day (Ex 16:26), tolaim, answering to rimmah (Ex 16:24); so in Job 25:6; maggots and larvae of insects which feed on putrefying matter (Job 21:26; 24:20; 7:5; 17:4); maggots were bred in Job's sores produced by elephantiasis. "Herod was eaten of worms" (Ac 12:23). Josephus tells the same of Herod the Great (Ac 19:8), and 2Ma 9:9 of Antiochus Epiphanes.
In Job 19:26; Hebrew "though after my skin (is destroyed) this (body) is destroyed," Job omits "body" because it was so wasted as not to deserve the name. The tolath was to eat the grapes of apostate Israel (De 28:39); also Jonah's gourd (Jon 4:7). Hell is associated with the "worm that dieth not," an image from maggots preying on putrid carcass (Isa 66:24). (See HELL.) Mr 9:44,46,48, "THEIR worm" is the gnawing self reproach of conscience, ever continuing and unavailing remorse. The Lord Jesus represents here both the worm and those on whom it preys as never dying. Symbolizing at once decay and loathsome humiliation, and this everlasting.
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Smith
Worm,
the representative in the Authorized Version of several Hebrew words. Sas, which occurs in
probably denotes some particular species of moth, whose larva is injurious to wool. Rimmah,
points evidently to various kinds of maggots and the larvae of insects which feed on putrefying animal matter, rather than to earthworms. Toleah is applied in
De 28:39
to some kinds of larvae destructive to the vines. In
there is an allusion to worms (insect larvae) feeding on the dead bodies of the buried. There is the same allusion in
which words are applied by our Lord,
metaphorically to the torments of the guilty in the world of departed spirits. The valley of Hinnom near Jerusalem, where the filth of the city was cast, was alive with worms. The death of Herod Agrippa I, was caused by worms.
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Watsons
WORM, the general name in Scripture for little creeping insects. Several kinds are spoken of:
1. Those that breed in putrefied bodies, ???, Ex 16:20,24; Job 7:5; 17:14; 21:26; 24:20; 25:6; Isa 14:11; ??????, Ecclus. 7:17; 10:11; 1 Mac. 2:62; 2 Mac. 9:9; Judith 16:17; Mr 9:44,46,48; Ac 12:23.
2. That which eats woollen garments, ??, Isa 51:8; ???, Mt 6:19-20; Lu 12:33.
3. That which, perforating the leaves and bark of trees, causes the little excrescences called kermes, whence is made a crimson dye, ????, De 28:39; Job 25:6; Ps 22:6; Isa 14:11; 41:14; 66:24; Ex 16:20; Jon 4:7.
4. The worm destructive of the vines, referred to in De 28:39; which was the pyralis vitanae, or pyralis fasciana, of Forskal, the vine weevil, a small insect extremely hurtful to the vines.