Are you ready to go fishing? If so, then you are going to need some worms, some Hebrew rimmâh or some Greek skōlēx. But if you are looking for salvation, then you are going to need an entirely different worm, a Tôlâʽ or Tôlêʽâh Worm . Yup, you guessed it, Hebrew has several distinct words for the English equivalent.
The Rimmâh / Skōlēx Worm [רִמָּה H7415 / σκώληξ G4663]
Job 7:5 – “My flesh is clothed with wormsH7415 and clods of dust; my skin is broken, and become loathsome.”
Job 21:26 – “They shall lie down alike in the dust, and the wormsH7415shall cover them.”
Mark 9:44-48 – “Where their wormG4663 dies not, and the fire is not quenched.”
The rimmâh / skōlēx worm is the fishing kind of worm, also known as a maggot. This worm is a cause and sign of decay. This is the same worm that caused Herod to become sick, to be eaten by worms and die (Acts 12:23).
The Tôlâʽ or Tôlêʽâh Worm [תּוֹלֵעָה H8439]
Isaiah 41:14–“Do not fear, you wormH8439 Jacob, you men of Israel; I will help you, declares Yahweh.”
Jonah 4:7 – “But when dawn came up the next day, Yahweh appointed a wormH8439 that attacked the bush.”
The tôlâʽ or tôlêʽâh Worm is the female ‘Coccus Illicis’ worm which the Hebrews used to make the red dye used in the coverings of the Tabernacle and the clothes of the priests. It is known as the crimson worm because of this color.
The Yeshua Tôlâʽ or Tôlêʽâh Worm
Job 25:6 – “How much less man, that is a wormH7415 and the son of man, which is a wormH8439.”
Psalm 22 – “But I am a wormH8439 and not a man, scorned by everyone, despised by the people. All who see me mock me; they hurl insults, shaking their heads. ‘He trusts in Yahweh,’ they say, ‘Let Yahweh rescue him. Let him deliver Him, since He delights in Him’.”
Job 25:6 uses both Hebrew words for worm, calling man a rimmâh and the son of man, Yeshua, a tôlêʽâh. As Yeshua is being crucified, fully aware of Job’s quote, he then quotes from Psalm 22 (Matthew 27:46, Mark 15:34). Psalm 22 and Job 25:6 both prophecy about the Messiah and this is why Yeshua applies the word tôlêʽâh to himself. It is the tôlêʽâh worm, or crimson worm, that climbs into the Hermes Oak, attaches itself to the tree and dies for its children, staining the tree red for three days, then turns white and flakes off. Isaiah 1:18 speaks of this saying: “Says Yahweh: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.”
Dr, Jobe Martin says of this tôlêʽâh:
- When the momma worm is ready to lay her eggs she climbs up a tree or fence post.
- She attaches herself to the tree and builds a hard red shell around herself.
- Inside this crimson shell she lays her eggs, keeping her eggs under her body to protect them.
- After hatching the baby worms feed on the body of the mother for three days.
- During these three days the mother worm oozes a bright crimson red fluid. This red fluid stains the tree and the young worms are covered and permanently stained with it. After three days the young worms are ready to leave the shell.
- The mother is still attached to the shell and to the tree and she dies so that she can birth a family.
- On day four the mother worm’s tail pulls up to her head into a heart shape, and the heart is no longer red—it turns into a snow white wax. The snow white wax looks like a little patch of wool on the side of the tree and begins to flake off and drop to the ground like snow.
Click here for Dr. Martins’s full essay:The Incredible Crimson Worm
Conclusions
1 Peter 2:24 – “Yeshua bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness.”
Yeshua likened Himself with the Tôlâ or Tôlê âh Worm – a perfect picture of the messiah. Like the Crimson Worm, Yeshua was also attached to a tree to die (1 Peter 2:24). He did so willingly and died to give birth to his family, the Bride of Yeshua ((John 10:17-18). The beatings, tortures, and crucifixion turned his body red with the shed blood (Luke 18:33). Yeshua rose from the dead after three days just as the baby worms leave the shell after three days (Matthew 12:40). His shed blood covers our sins and turns them white as snow (Isaiah 1:18). How awesome is our God to provide us with such an example, with so many coinkydinks! Awesome in deed.
Final Thought
The great day of Yahweh is getting really near, even at the door. It hastens forth and will not delay. We do NOT set dates, but clearly Yahweh is getting ready to change the course of human history once again. The signs are clear for those who have eyes to see and ears to hear.
Rapture Party 