Scorpion

Scorpions infested the rocks and deserts of the Bible lands, their sting sharp and sometimes deadly. Moses recalled the wilderness as “that great and terrible wilderness, wherein were fiery serpents, and scorpions” — a place of constant lurking threat.

Jesus used the scorpion to highlight a father’s love: no decent father, asked for an egg, “will he offer him a scorpion?” The point is God’s far greater goodness in giving the Holy Spirit to those who ask. The scorpion stands for the cruel, harmful thing a loving giver would never hand over.

He also gave his disciples authority “to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy,” and in Revelation demonic locusts are given power “as the scorpions of the earth have power.” The scorpion thus pictures harm that hides and strikes — danger over which the believer is finally given the upper hand.