Difference between revisions of "Moth"

<p> The clothes moth, [[Hebrew]] ''''''Ash''''' , Greek '''''Sees''''' . &nbsp;Job 4:19; "houses of clay crushed (as a garment) before the moth" (compare &nbsp;Job 13:28); but Maurer, "crushed after the manner of the moth," whose lustrous satiny wings and body are soon crushed. The minute wasting of garments, stored up as they are in the East as wealth, by the larva which forms its own case out of the cloth material on which it feeds, is the chief point of similitude (&nbsp;Matthew 6:19-20; &nbsp;James 5:2); &nbsp;Hosea 5:12, "I will be unto Ephraim as a moth," gradually, silently, and surely consuming the nation's substance (&nbsp;Isaiah 50:9; &nbsp;Isaiah 51:8). </p> <p> The '''''Τinea Pellionella''''' and '''''Τinea Biselliata''''' still abound in Palestine. The order is the '''''Lepidoptera''''' . Job says of the man enriched by wrong, (&nbsp;Job 27:18) "he buildeth his house as a moth," whose house, in and of the garment, is broken, so frail is it whenever the garment is shaken out. The moth chooses for laying its egg a garment under cover, rather than one exposed and in use. The young one chooses the longer hairs for the outside, the shorter for the interior, of its oblong case; it finishes it within with closely woven silk. When needed, it enlarges the case by pieces inserted in the sides. Only when the case is complete it begins to eat. It chooses for food the shortest and thickest fibers, eating into the body of the cloth and rejecting the nap. </p>

<div> '''1: '''''Σής''''' ''' (Strong'S #4597 — Noun Neuter — ses — sace ) </div> <p> denotes "a clothes moth," &nbsp;Matthew 6:19,20; &nbsp;Luke 12:33 . In &nbsp;Job 4:19 "crushed before the moth" alludes apparently to the fact that woolen materials, riddled by the larvae of "moths," become so fragile that a touch demolishes them. In &nbsp; Job 27:18 "He buildeth his house as a moth" alludes to the frail covering which a larval "moth" constructs out of the material which it consumes. The rendering "spider" (marg.) seems an attempt to explain a difficulty. </p>

<p> '''Moth.''' By the Hebrew word, we are certainly to understand some species of clothes-moth, ( '''tinea''' ). Reference to the destructive habits of the clothes-moth is made in &nbsp;Job 4:19; &nbsp;Job 13:28; &nbsp;Psalms 39:11; etc. </p> <p> (The moth is a well-known insect, which in its caterpillar state is very destructive to woollen clothing, furs, etc. The egg of the moth, being deposited on the fur or cloth, produces a very small shining insect, which immediately forms a house for itself by cuttings from the cloth. It eats away the nap, and finally ruins the fabric. There are more than 1500 species of moths. - McClintock and Strong's Cyclopedia). </p>

<p> ''''' moth ''''' ( עשׁ , <i> ''''' ‛āsh ''''' </i> ; compare Arabic <i> ''''' ‛uththat ''''' </i> , "moth"; colloquial, <i> ''''' ‛itt ''''' </i> ; סס , <i> ''''' ṣāṣ ''''' </i> , "worm" &nbsp; Isaiah 51:8; compare Arabic <i> ''''' sûs ''''' </i> , "worm," especially an insect larva in flesh, wood or grain; σής , <i> ''''' sḗs ''''' </i> , "moth" &nbsp;Matthew 6:19-20; &nbsp;Luke 12:33; σητόβρωτος , <i> ''''' sētóbrōtos ''''' </i> , "moth-eaten" &nbsp;James 5:2 ): </p> <p> The moths constitute the larger division of the order <i> Lepidoptera </i> . Two of the points by which they are distinguished from butterflies are that they are generally nocturnal and that their antennae are not club-shaped. Further, the larva in many cases spins a cocoon for the protection of the pupa or chrysalis, which is never the case with butterflies. The Biblical references are to the clothes-moth, i.e. various species of the genus <i> Tinea </i> , tiny insects which lay their eggs in woolen clothes, upon which the larvae later feed. As the larva feeds it makes a cocoon of its silk together with fibers of the cloth on which it is feeding, so that the color of the cocoon depends upon the color of the fabric. The adult is only indirectly harmful, as it is only in the larval stage that the insect injures clothing. Therefore in &nbsp; Isaiah 51:8 , "For the moth ( <i> ''''' ‛āsh ''''' </i> ) shall eat them up like a garment, and the worm ( <i> ''''' ṣāṣ ''''' </i> ) shall eat them like wool," both words must refer to the larva, the distich demanding such a word as <i> ''''' ṣāṣ ''''' </i> to balance <i> ''''' ‛āsh ''''' </i> in the first half. The word "moth" occurs 7 times in the Old Testament, in Job, Psalms, Isaiah and Hosea, always in figurative expressions, typifying either that which is destructive &nbsp;Job 13:28; &nbsp;Psalm 39:11; &nbsp;Isaiah 50:9; &nbsp;Isaiah 51:8; &nbsp;Hosea 5:12 or that which is frail &nbsp; Job 4:19; &nbsp;Job 27:18 . See Insects . </p>