What does “their worm dieth not” mean?
Just my thoughts here…
The worms (magots) that devour corpses themselves expire when the corpse is finished. But in this case the worms don’t die. Why? Because the dead are, in a certain sense, the living dead. Imagine being fed upon continuously. Your death and corruption provide a continual source of consumption for feeding. A pretty horrofying analogy.
Tom
We recently had a big discussion about that (& the surrounding verses):
Worms require dead flesh to eat, so it can’t be talking about ECT (where people are alive), so there seems to be two possible ways to understand it:
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It’s talking about the ultimate destruction of the evil self (Pauline “old man”, “flesh”, etc.) within us.
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That it’s apocalyptic language, to show that rebellion against God will be crushed (before resurrection & reconciliation). Similar to Sodom being “eternally” burned (which it isn’t, i.e. you’ll see no fires in it’s physical location) and that God (through Ezekiel) later promises to restore.
Is there no possible way that it could be speaking of a continual reproduction of maggots actually eating rotting corpses that were thrown in Gehenna?
From a universalist point of view, that would make more sense to me then the symbolic immortality of the worms.
What would immortal worms symbolize if not the eternal torment of those they’re feeding on?
I’ll stick with my view so far.
Tom
Bu isn’t your view inconsistent with UR?
If the worms don’t dies because they just keep on feeding on the flesh of their victems, isn’t that a picture of eternal torment?
They’re not immortal worms. I think what’s being said is that their feeding (and it’s all metaphorical anyhow, right? There are no LITERAL worms that feed on the resurrected wicked in hell) is a description of undying physical torment which is definitive of the suffering so long as one suffers. But that’s not to say it’s irrevocable. In other words, keep refusing and keep suffering. What’s impossible is that one can reject God in hell with impunity.
Tom
The worms that die not simply refer to maggots, fly larva. They do not die, they change into pupae and then into flies.
Adult flies lay eggs in moist, decaying organic material, such as manure or dead flesh. Each female fly can lay up to five hundred eggs in her three to four week lifespan. Once the eggs hatch, the larvae feed on the material in which the eggs were laid. Mature larvae transform into pupae, where the developing fly is encased in an outer shell formed from the last larval skin. During the pupal stage, the larva uses chitin to form the exoskeleton of an adult fly. An adult emerges from the pupa in five days for the house fly, and seven days for the stable fly, under ideal conditions.
These are worms that do not die. It has nothing to do with some kind of immortal worm that is eating on people forever.
“But I am a worm, and no man; a reproach of men, and despised of the people.” - Psalm 22:6
“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.” - Isaiah 41:14
“And they shall go forth, and look upon the carcases of the men that have transgressed against me: for **their **worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched; and they shall be an abhorring unto all flesh.” - Isaiah 66:24
Seems to me that this ‘worm’ is an intrinsic part of a person. It is a humbling experience to discover that one is not ‘all that’, but merely a grub of one’s existence when one’s true condition is revealed.
But there is hope…
“They shall lick the dust like a serpent, they shall move out of their holes like** worms **of the earth: they shall be afraid of the LORD our God, and shall fear because of thee.
Who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage? he retaineth not his anger for ever, because he delighteth in mercy.
He will turn again, he will have compassion upon us; he will subdue our iniquities; and thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea.” - Micah 7:17-19
“Worms require dead flesh to eat, so it can’t be talking about ECT (where people are alive).” Not so fast- ECT conceives of people as being spiritually dead, so perhaps you are taking it too literally!