Spider
“Spider”
Summary
A small creature mentioned in Scripture primarily as a symbol of frailty and the futility of trusting in human schemes.
☩Symbolic Usage
The spider's web is used metaphorically in Scripture to represent frailty and the futility of false hope. Job's friend Bildad compared the trust of the godless to a spider's web—apparently secure but easily destroyed. The spider builds its house with great ingenuity, yet it cannot withstand even slight violence. Isaiah used similar imagery, describing how the wicked weave plots like spider's webs that cannot become garments to cover themselves.
☩Natural History
Many species of spiders exist in Palestine, including web-spinning varieties and hunting spiders that chase their prey. The Hebrew word akkabish refers specifically to the spider known by its web. The creature in Proverbs 30:28 (translated 'spider' in KJV) is more likely the gecko, a type of lizard, since the spider's characteristic is web-weaving rather than taking hold with hands in kings' palaces.
See Also
References
- 1.John McClintock and James Strong, "Spider," in Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature, vol. IX (Harper & Brothers, 1867–1887).
- 2.Andrew Robert Fausset, "Spider," in The Englishman's Critical and Expository Bible Cyclopædia (Hodder & Stoughton, 1878).
- 3.George Morrish, "Spider," in Morrish's Concise Bible Dictionary (George Morrish, 1898).