There Arose to Defend Israel...a Worm

When people ask you what your favorite verse in the Bible is, I doubt that Judges 10:1 springs right to mind.  Not that it's a verse you dislike...I just imagine that maybe, if you're like me, you haven't thought much about this verse in the past.

And when someone asks who your favorite judge in the book of Judges is (uh, no, I've never been asked that question and I don't know why someone would ask it, but just work with me here) I doubt Tola is the first guy you think of.  You may be partial to Samson with his superhuman strength or Gideon because of the amazing underdog story there. You may even think of Deborah (particularly if you want to emphasize that she was a WOMAN), or MAYBE Ehud, but Tola...what do we know about Tola?  Not much as it turns out.  Here's what we've got on him:

Judges 10:1  And after Abimelech there arose to defend Israel Tola the son of Puah, the son of Dodo, a man of Issachar; and he dwelt in Shamir in mount Ephraim. 
Judges 10:2  And he judged Israel twenty and three years, and died, and was buried in Shamir. 

Pretty riveting stuff, huh?

We've got a name, a small genealogy, the tribe he's from, the place he lived, the length of time he judged, and the place he was buried.  What? No story? No conquering cities to win the hand of the fair maiden, as Othniel did? No Ehud's assassin dagger? No long origin story like with Gideon, or interesting tidbits about the way he defended Israel like with Deborah and Barak?  Come on, even with Shamgar, another judge we have only two verses about, we have enough to set our imagination afire as we learn that he fought off 600 Philistines with an ox goad.  But with Tola, eh, not a lot to go on.

Or so I thought.

I've been teaching a youth Bible study through the book of Judges, and I assumed we would fly through chapter 10 and get right into the story of Jephthah, once we got there.  We had pulled some pretty interesting things out of Abimelech's story, and now it's time to move onto the next main guy.  I thought we'd read about Tola and Jair just to get through them and give them a mention since the Bible does, but it wouldn't be the main highlight.  But when someone brings a Bible dictionary and starts looking up names and places, you may just get derailed.  Which is what happened and we spent the entire Bible study talking about one guy: Tola.  Not so much about his life, but because of what his name means.  Someone looked it up, and when I realized what it was talking about I freaked out.

H8439
תּוֹלָע
tôlâ‛
to-law'
The same as H8438; worm; Tola, the name of two Israelites: - Tola.
Total KJV occurrences: 6

At this point, you may still be squinting your eyes at the screen you're reading this on, wondering what I got so excited about.  "Why is Michael so excited about a worm?"

So let's dig a little deeper.  This isn't referring to your general earthworm with which you go fishing.  I got excited because I recognized that this specific kind of worm was also mentioned in a Messianic psalm written by David but clearly pointing to the Messiah:

Psalm 22:6  But I am a worm, and no man; a reproach of men, and despised of the people. 

Kind of a downer verse, huh? ("Boy, Michael, you sure are hitting all the Biblical high points in this blog post!"  Oh, don't worry...I have some stuff about the building of the Tabernacle coming up too...)

At first glance, the author of the psalm just seems to be beating himself up. Or at least describing how others look down on him.  He's not just saying, "I'm the worst, no one likes me; I guess I'll go eat a worm", but describing himself as the actual worm a person may eat!  But, this psalm has a deeper significance than that.  In case you're not familiar with why I call this a Messianic psalm, let me give a quick breakdown of some specific points... (You may skip this numbered sidebar if you're already convinced Psalm 22 is Messianic and want to get on to the wormy part.)

1) The psalm starts with the phrase: "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" You may recall that these are the exact words Jesus cried out from the cross in Aramaic just before he died. (Matt. 27:46; Mark 15:34) In those days they didn't necessarily have numbered psalms but would reference a psalm by quoting the first phrase.  Though I absolutely believe Jesus felt the weight of the world's sin on him, bringing the separation described here, I also believe he wanted to point our attention to this psalm in his final moments.
2) After the verse that prompted this post describing himself as a worm, a reproach of men, and despised of the people, the next two verses describe what people were actually saying about him..."All they that see me laugh me to scorn: they shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying, He trusted on the LORD that he would deliver him: let him deliver him, seeing he delighted in him." These words are almost verbatim what the chief priests said about Jesus while he was on the cross.  The text also mentions that those who passed by reviled him, wagging their heads and mocked him. Even the thieves who were being crucified with him said similar things! (Matthew 27:39-44)
3) The psalmist continues to describe his torment as strong bulls of Bashan surrounding him, gaping at him like a ravenous lion. The prophet Amos described the corrupt leaders of Israel with this description (Amos 4:1), and if corrupt Israelite leaders are in mind in this psalm, we certainly see them attacking with wide open mouths in Jesus's case.
4) The psalmist continues, "I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint: my heart is like wax; it is melted in the midst of my bowels." Interesting how John was quick to point out that when Jesus died, blood and water poured out of his side when he was pierced with a spear. (John 19:34) Medical experts have proposed that it came from Jesus's heart.
5) Again, the experience is described: "My strength is dried up like a potsherd; and my tongue cleaveth to my jaws; and thou hast brought me into the dust of death." Before Jesus ever got to the cross, his strength gave way so that someone had to help him carry his cross. (Luke 23:26) One of the simplest but most poignant statements we get from the mouth of Jesus on the cross was the two-word sentence: "I thirst." (John 19:28)
6) After describing the bulls of Bashan surrounding him, the psalmist also makes mention of "dogs" and the "wicked" surrounding him. "For dogs have compassed me: the assembly of the wicked have inclosed me: they pierced my hands and my feet." Dogs are often a way of describing the wicked Gentiles (Matt. 15:26; Phil. 3:2; Rev. 22:15). If the bulls refer to the leadership of Israel, and dogs refer to the Gentile Romans, the description of what they do to the psalmist's hands and feet is almost shockingly prophetic in what happened to Jesus. (Luke 23:33; John 20:25)
7) "I may tell all my bones: they look and stare upon me." (John 19:33-37)
8) "They part my garments among them, and cast lots upon my vesture." The gospel writers explicitly draw attention to this particular verse as a fulfilled prophecy in two cases, though all four gospels record that this happened to Jesus. (John 19:23-24; Matthew 27:35)
9) The author of Hebrews applies this phrase to Jesus from the resurrection portion of the psalm: "I will declare thy name unto my brethren: in the midst of the congregation will I praise thee." (Hebrews 2:12)

I could go on, but you get the picture.  The parallels between this psalm and Jesus's crucifixion are clearly staggering, and the early church obviously recognized this psalm as a prophecy concerning the Messiah, given how often they quoted in reference to Jesus.

So, back to the original question, what is the significance of the psalmist/Messiah calling himself a worm or, as some translate it, maggot?  Isn't it just an expression of humility? Well, it certainly is that, but not only that.

This is actually a specific kind of worm, described in Strong's as follows:

H8438
תֹּלַעַת    תּוֹלַעַת    תּוֹלֵעָה    תּוֹלָע
tôlâ‛    tôlê‛âh    tôla‛ath    tôla‛ath
to-law', to-lay-aw', (3,4) to-lah'-ath
From H3216; a maggot (as voracious); specifically (often with ellipsis of H8144) the crimson grub, but used only (in this connection) of the color from it, and cloths dyed therewith: - crimson, scarlet, worm.
Total KJV occurrences: 43

To underscore my distinguishing between this and other worms, this is a different kind of worm than is mentioned at the beginning of Job 25:6 (which is entirely derogatory) with the following definition that matches how we most often think of worms or maggots in a Biblical context:
Job 25:6  How much less man, that is a worm? and the son of man, which is a worm? 

H7415
רמּה
rimmâh
BDB Definition:
1) maggot, worm (as cause and sign of decay)

Both are often mentioned together, as in the above verse, but there is something special that separates the tola from the rimmah, though both translated in the KJV as "worms".  We learn from the encyclopedia the following information:

CRIMSON WORM , biblical tola'at shani (Heb. תּוֹלַעַת שָׁנִי), which yields a dye, called in the Bible shani, tola, karmil, and in rabbinic literature zehorit, which was extracted from the body of the "crimson worm" (carmine), the Kermes biblicus.
("Crimson Worm." Encyclopaedia Judaica. . Retrieved July 17, 2019 from Encyclopedia.com: https://www.encyclopedia.com/religion/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/crimson-worm)

In fact, this color is what they used to dye many things in the Tabernacle: the innermost layer of curtains making up the inside of the Tabernacle (Ex. 26:1), the vail that separated the Holy Place from the Most Holy Place (Ex. 26:31), the hanging for the door to the Holy Place (Ex. 26:36), the gate to get into the outer court (Ex. 27:16), the ephod, girdle and breastplate of the high priest (Ex. 28:6, 8, 15) and even the pomegranates on the hem of his robe (Ex. 28:33).  The dye was to be used in the cleansing of the leper in Leviticus 14 and in the ashes of a heifer for purification after touching a dead body in Numbers 19.  A scarlet cloth made with this same dye was to cover the bread and instruments on the table of showbread when it was being moved according to Numbers 4:8.

Studies have been done on this worm in the Promised Land, and researchers believe they have identified the very creature described here.

Apparently, the female worm attaches itself to some sort of tree (usually oak) where she lays her eggs, then dies in process of giving them life.

"Kermes echinatus larvae are cleaved during summer from their mother coccoid, which dies thereafter." (Zohar Amar, Hugo Gottlieb, Lucy Varshavsky, David Iluz, The Scarlet Dye of the Holy Land, BioScience, Volume 55, Issue 12, December 2005, Pages 1080–1083, https://doi.org/10.1641/0006-3568(2005)055[1080:TSDOTH]2.0.CO;2)

And again, we see this entry from Dr. Henry Morris:

"When the female of the scarlet worm species was ready to give birth to her young, she would attach her body to the trunk of a tree, fixing herself so firmly and permanently that she would never leave again. The eggs deposited beneath her body were thus protected until the larvae were hatched and able to enter their own life cycle. As the mother died, the crimson fluid stained her body and the surrounding wood. From the dead bodies of such female scarlet worms, the commercial scarlet dyes of antiquity were extracted."
(Dr. Henry Morris, "Biblical Basis for Modern Science", p. 73. Baker Book House, 1985.)

According to Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913):

Kermes \Ker"mes\, n. [Ar. & Per. girmiz. See Crimson, and cf.

   Alkermes.]
   1.(Zo["o]l.) The dried bodies of the females of a scale
      insect (Coccus ilicis), allied to the cochineal insect,
      and found on several species of oak near the
     Mediterranean. They are round, about the size of a pea,
      contain coloring matter analogous to carmine, and are used
      in dyeing. They were anciently thought to be of a
      vegetable nature, and were used in medicine. [Written also
      chermes.]

In response to those who believe the dye actually came from a plant instead of a living creature, Rabbi Moshe Bloom writes,

There are several poskim who believe that it does not make sense that the shani dye would be produced from a non-kosher insect, so they hold that the dye is plant-based (note that the same problem exists for both argaman and techelet). However, the Yerushalmi (Kila'im 9:1) states outright: "What is tola'at shani? Something with the spirit of life."https://www.toraland.org.il/en/beit-midrash/articles/place-and-parasha/shemot/parashat-pekudei-the-biblical-scarlet-worm-tolaat-hashani/

He also references the tradition in the Mishna that two woolen strings (dyed with the dye from this particular worm) were used on the Day of Atonement, one hanging above the door and another from the horns of the goat.

When the goat reached its final destination in the desert, the woolen string in the heichal would turn white. This was a Divine sign that the Jewish People's sins were atoned (Yoma 6:6-8). 
https://www.toraland.org.il/en/beit-midrash/articles/place-and-parasha/shemot/parashat-pekudei-the-biblical-scarlet-worm-tolaat-hashani/

The rabbi connects the tradition with Isaiah 1:18, which says, "Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool."   The words for "scarlet" and "crimson" in this verse are connected with...you guessed it!...the tola worm.

Are you seeing the connections here??  Just to summarize, the Messiah in Psalm 22:6 is referred to as a worm, but not just any worm, a small, unattractive, living creature with "the spirit of life" that dies on a tree giving life to its children, producing a scarlet, crimson dye that is used in the Tabernacle, specifically connected with Atonement providing purity to the children of Israel!  AND it was used in medicine.  Isn't that incredible?  The gospel story told in the life cycle of a bug!

So back to the original verses in Judges, which we started with, I see the gospel radiating out of this short story, as well.

After Abimelech
The Bible tells us that Tola arose "after Abimelech."  Well, if you just read Judges chapter 9, you would know that Abimelech was the first self-proclaimed king of Israel.  He was the lowly, practically illegitimate son of one of Gideon's concubines.  Gideon's story is familiar to most of us, as it is one of the greatest deliverance stories in the book of Judges!  But his ending is not talked about much as he seemed to decline spiritually and make several major mistakes after God used him to defeat the Midianites.  However, he did know that God was the only rightful king over Israel.
Judges 8:22  Then the men of Israel said unto Gideon, Rule thou over us, both thou, and thy son, and thy son's son also: for thou hast delivered us from the hand of Midian. 
Judges 8:23  And Gideon said unto them, I will not rule over you, neither shall my son rule over you: the LORD shall rule over you.

His words are beautiful, however, the sentiment doesn't seem to be carried on in the name of the son his concubine bears him in Shechem, who is called "Abimelech", which is a compound of the Hebrew words for "father" and "king." "My father is king."  Growing up with this kind of heritage in his name, it seems that Abimelech really began to think of himself as deserving to rule over Israel, and when he is older, he kills his half-brother rivals and the people of Shechem proclaim him as King!  It's a sad story full of intrigue, civil war, and ultimately, his death, which is portrayed as the judgment of God for his wickedness.

Isn't it interesting that after "Abimelech" who I style as "The Self-Proclaimed King", comes someone to "defend" or "save" Israel.  Check out the Hebrew word used here for "defend" in the BDB:
H3467 ישׁע yâsha‛ BDB Definition:
1) to save, be saved, be delivered
1a) (Niphal) to be liberated, be saved, be delivered, to be saved (in battle), be victorious
1b) (Hiphil) to save, deliver, to save from moral troubles, to give victory to
Part of Speech: verb

This is one of the roots that form the name "Joshua", or as our English transliteration from the Greek would pronounce it, "Jesus."

Who arrives to save Israel after the self-proclaimed king who causes destruction and strife? Is it another king? A warrior?  The contrast in the Hebrew cracks me up.  No, after Abimelech there arose to defend Israel...Tola.  A worm.  But as, I've pointed out, at great and possibly unnecessary length through this blog post, not just any worm.  The Tola worm that dies to give life, leaving a scarlet dye symbolizing our atonement

And, in fact, what do we know about Tola?  He was the son of Puah, whose name signifies a blast of breath or wind, a blowing away, a metaphor for the Spirit.  The son of Dodo, the loving/beloved.  A man of Issachar, which means "he will bring a reward", depicted by Jacob in his blessing as a strong but serving donkey ladened between two burdens. He lives in Shamir, a place of thorns, in the mountain of Ephraim, which ultimately produces double fruit.  These are all passive descriptions of his lineage and dwelling place.

What are the active verbs that describe what he did?  He judged, he died, he was buried.  But, if I can switch around the order of the verbs, and place the first action he did last, as the ESV says, he "arose to save Israel." He judged, he died, he buried, he arose.  The BBE words it differently but makes it explicit that he "became the saviour of Israel."

"Aw, come on, Michael," you say.  "Aren't you going a little overboard with all these word tricks?  Isn't this just a bunch of verbal gymnastics to make a mountain out of a molehill and force something out of the passage that isn't there?"  Maybe.  But I still think there's something we can learn here in the life of this judge who is given two whole verses of Scripture.

Let me ask you...are you an Abimelech?  Have you proclaimed yourself as the king of your life, perhaps justifying your action by the mistakes of your mentors or the hard life you've lived?  Are you trying to establish your own throne?  Have you chosen the path of Abimelech?

If so, I want to encourage you to consider another way.  There is another who can arise to save you.  The tree stained red may be difficult to look at.  The worm who wants to save you isn't necessarily attractive to the eye.  Not like an Abimelech or an Absalom who flatters and offers you peace even as he rebels against the ways of his father who knew that the Lord is the only true and rightful king over your life.

Yet in the life, death, burial, and resurrection of the true and greater Tola, an offer is made: "Come now, let us reason together.  Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be white as snow."

You may think I've gone way overboard in this analysis of two simple verses.  But I'll warrant that the next time you come across Judges 10, you'll read it slightly differently, and perhaps you'll be reminded of a picture of your true Savior and Defender who died to give you life if you'll only give up the rebellious ways of Abimelech, who must be put to death to open the way for Another who invites you to die and be buried with Him so that you can arise with Him to walk in newness of life. (Rom. 6:1-6)

Judges 10:1  And after Abimelech there arose to defend Israel Tola the son of Puah, the son of Dodo, a man of Issachar; and he dwelt in Shamir in mount Ephraim. 
Judges 10:2  And he judged Israel twenty and three years, and died, and was buried in Shamir.