Boyd’s Bible Dictionary:
Many Hebrew words are translated worm, all indicative of something loathsome, destructive, helpless, or insignificant, as the moth
(Isa. 51:8); maggot (Job 19:26); possibly the serpent (Mic. 7:17). The allusion (Isa. 64:24; Mark 9:44-48), is thought to be to the valley near Jerusalem where the refuse of the city constantly bred worms and where fires were kept burning to consume the collections. The helplessness of the worm affords the figures (Job 25:6; Psa. 22:6; Isa. 41:14).
Concise Bible Dictionary:
The worm is used symbolically to show the extreme feebleness of man (Job 17:14; Job 25:6). In blessing Israel Jehovah said, “Fear not, thou worm Jacob” (Isa. 41:14); and the Lord, to indicate the low estate in which He was, said, “I am a worm and no man” (Psa. 22:6). In the grave man’s body becomes the companion of worms, if they do not actually feed upon it (Job 21:26; Job 24:20; Isa. 14:11). Of the eternal punishment of the wicked it is recorded “their worm dieth not” (Mark 9:44,46,48: Compare Isa. 66:24). Herod Agrippa, being smitten by an angel, was literally “eaten of worms” (Acts 12:23). In Job 25:6 man is compared to a worm—literally “a maggot”—an apt figure of moral corruption.
Maggots
From Manners and Customs of the Bible:
Job 24:20. The worm shall feed sweetly on him; he shall be no more remembered.
It is an Oriental opinion that worms exist in the skin and in all parts of the body, and that they are among the principal causes of its destruction. Roberts (Oriental illustrations, p. 271) quotes from an ancient Indian medical work in which eighteen kinds of worms are enumerated by the author in as many different parts of the body. In Job 19:26, the translators have supplied the word worms: “Though after my skin worms destroy this body.” Though the word is not in the original, yet the sentiment is in accordance with the text we are now illustrating and with several other passages. See Job 7:5; 17:14; 21:26; Isaiah 14:11. In India it is common for a sick man to say, “Ah, my body is but a nest for worms; they have paths in all parts of my frame!” “Ah, these worms are continually eating my flesh!”
Related Books and Articles: