The scorpion of desert areas should definitely be avoided. When the Lord Jesus mentioned a scorpion in the above verse, He was telling us that loving parents do not give harmful things to their children.
Several types of vicious fish called scorpionfish are found in the Red Sea off the coast of Africa and nearby Jordan. These are avoided by those who know about them.
One is named turkeyfish, probably because of the way it spreads its fins when swimming. It is one of the more active in the scorpionfish family and a fearful enemy of small fish as well as shrimp. It will gobble them up quickly. Hunting in small groups, a few of them circle a school of small fish, driving them toward other turkeyfish, which quickly eat quantities of them and then change places with their companions. They do not attack people unless stepped on. Then, like a scorpion, they sting the swimmer’s foot or bare leg with a poisonous fin. This is usually not fatal but very, very painful.
Another variety, equipped with small fins that help it crawl along the sea bottom, is the devil scorpionfish. This one usually lies on the bottom and is so well camouflaged that it looks like a piece of coral. It’s a short life for a shellfish crawling nearby or a small fish swimming too close—they are quickly eaten. When swimming, it is quite colorful, and other fish stay far away from it.
A close relation to this one is the shortfin lionfish which, motionless on the sea bottom, also looks like a piece of coral until it leaps into action.
The most fearful of all is the stonefish, which doesn’t really look like a fish but more like a piece of colored rock. With no visible fins or mouth, its brightly colored eyes look like pieces of gravel resting on top. Swimmers are also fearful of this one as its sting is extremely painful and sometimes fatal! Even its skin is poisonous. Like a cannibal, it doesn’t hesitate to eat a smaller stonefish.
These poisonous and crafty creatures remind us of Satan’s ways, the one of whom the Bible warns us, “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour” (1 Peter 5:88Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: (1 Peter 5:8)). Satan, of course, does not want to eat our bodies, but to “devour” our lives by leading us into sin and closing our ears to the story of God’s love and care toward us.
There is excellent counsel in the Bible, telling us how to avoid Satan and his evil ways: “The Lord shall help them, and deliver them: He shall deliver them from the wicked [one], and save them, because they trust in Him” (Psalm 37:4040And the Lord shall help them, and deliver them: he shall deliver them from the wicked, and save them, because they trust in him. (Psalm 37:40)). Have you taken that counsel for yourself?
ML-11/27/2016