by Today, I would like to share a short vocabulary definition! Have you ever gone your whole life not understanding a word or using it incorrectly? Or, maybe you have gone your entire life mispronouncing a word? I remember the first time I heard the word, “frequent”, in school but was never given the definition!
In my mind, part of the word sounded like, “freak”, so I surmised that it must mean something that isn’t common or was rare. You can imagine how many conversations from then on that I misunderstood! Even today, I sometimes have to stop and think about that word to be sure I am understanding or using it correctly!
I have been in church since I was in the nursery class. I went to Bible College. I have been a preacher’s and missionary wife. I have taught Sunday school for many years. Then, this last month, I learned a new definition for a particular word! Was I sleeping in Bible College the day this was taught? Surely, the professor explained this to the class in Old Testament History!
It was the word, “Scorpion”. Several Bible passages obviously refer to this arthropod as the stinging insect that can inflict intense pain. But, in I Kings 12:11 and 12:14, it has a different definition. That is where I was oblivious! King Rehoboam had consulted with the wise, old men but forsook their counsel and, instead, followed the unwise counsel of his peers.
I Kings 12:11-14
11 “And now whereas my father did lade you with a heavy yoke, I will add to your yoke: my father hath chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions.
12 So Jeroboam and all the people came to Rehoboam the third day, as the king had appointed, saying, Come to me again the third day.
13 And the king answered the people roughly, and forsook the old men’s counsel that they gave him;
14 And spake to them after the counsel of the young men, saying, My father made your yoke heavy, and I will add to your yoke: my father also chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions.”
For years, my mind imagined a room packed full of creepy, crawly insects! It would give me chills just thinking about these petrifying insects crawling all over a person! And, who scavenged for these creatures? I can’t even watch a horror movie on TV without cringing!
Perhaps there are different theories but, as my husband and I were reading and having our devotions out of that chapter, I happened to glance at a marginal note that translated “scorpion” in this passage as, “scourges with points”! And then I had that, “Aha Moment”! Aha! I was well aware how that our Saviour and Redeemer, Jesus Christ, was scourged and that historically, these leather whips would contain chards of sharp broken glass, pottery, bones, etc. Those whips were apparently, the same type of thing that King Rehoboam was referencing to as “Scorpions” used in this passage!
So, now you know! I hope this short vocabulary lesson is as enlightening to you as it was to me! Who knew!
