Those who live in tropical climates or in the deserts of the southern part of the United States try to stay away from scorpions. They know a scorpion sting is very painful and sometimes can be fatal. This creature, which will strike anything it thinks is threatening, fits the description of the above scripture. Although sometimes seen in daylight, it prefers the dark and will scurry to a dark hiding place if light reaches it.
A scorpion looks rather scarey. It has a five to eight-inch jointed body covered with a dark shell which protects it from heat and injury. Its four pairs of legs are covered with hair, and two sharp pincers extend in front. A poisonous stinger is at the end of its tail, usually curled over its back, ready for action. They are not even friendly among themselves and prefer living alone. When an insect comes close the sharp pincers catch it, and the tail arches over its back, plunging the poisonous stinger into its victim.
Some scorpions have as many as twelve eyes, but most have only six or eight. When it moults (sheds its shell), some of these eyes drop off, but they grow back in when the new outer shell is formed. This happens four to eight times in its short life. Its brain is very simple, but it has been given a keen sense of touch through the hairs that cover its body. In addition, the comb-like parts on its abdomen pick up ground vibrations.
When hatching from their eggs, the little ones are exact miniatures of the parents and stay with their mother until their first moulting. She is unusually kind to them and lets them cling to her back, legs and tail. Sometimes there are so many of them that they completely cover her.
We cannot help but marvel at the way God has equipped scorpions with features that allow them to fit so well into their harsh way of life. We know that He has a place for them among all His other creation. He has even made them helpful to mankind in one way-they destroy many harmful insects.
But they also remind us of those people who are without God in their lives, of whom the Bible says that "denying the Lord that bought them:..bring upon themselves swift destruction." We are further told that these same people "speak evil of the things that they understand not; and shall utterly perish in their own corruption." 2 Peter 2:1,121But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction. (2 Peter 2:1)
12But these, as natural brute beasts, made to be taken and destroyed, speak evil of the things that they understand not; and shall utterly perish in their own corruption; (2 Peter 2:12). What a sad contrast these are to those who through faith claim the Lord Jesus Christ as their Savior. To these the promise is to know "the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, (which) shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus." Phil. 4:77And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:7).