Scorpion (Aqrab, σκορπίος)

 •  1 min. read  •  grade level: 9
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These words refer to the well-known animal armed with claws like a lobster, and having its sting in its tail. In the East it inhabits desolate places, hides under stones or logs of wood, and comes out at night. It is carnivorous. Various species are known, they belong to the class arachnida, which includes the spider (Deut. 8:15; Luke 10:19; Luke 11:12). In Ezekiel 2:6 the children of Israel are compared to scorpions, among whom Ezekiel had to labor.
In Revelation 9 we read of locusts with stings in their tails, and which torment men as do the scorpions: they are employed as symbols of some form of cruel and pitiless agents. In 1 Kings 12:11,14 and 2 Chronicles 10:11,14, a scourge with hard knots or metal points is supposed to be alluded to.