Scorpion (Hastings' Dictionary)

There has never been any reason to doubt the identity of this animal. It is of tlie order Araihindte, resembling in shape a lobster, except that it has a long tail, at the end of whicli is its venomous sting. Its claws are used for seizing its prey, which it kills with its sting. When the animal runs it holds its tail upward in readiness to strike. It is carnivorous, living on insects and worms.

Scorpions swarm under stones and in cliinks of walls, and often conceal them- selves under beds and mats in houses. Their sting is very painful, frequently causing a night of agony, which nothing but a large dose of morpliino will assuage. The wound is dangerous to human life only when in a situation where the swelling obstnicts the respiration. Not less than a dozen species are found in Palestine and Syria. The largest is 6 in. long, and black.

Others are yellow, brown, white, and red, and variously striped. The scorpion is frequently mentioned in Scrip- ture. Allusion is made to its residence in the desert (Dt 8'°). Rehoboam threatens to chastise his contumacious subjects with scorpions (1 K 12"- ", 2 Ch 10"'"). This is prob. figurative (see next art.) Again, scorpions are alluded to figuratively with briers and thorns to designate a rebellious people (Ezk 2").

The offer of a scorpion instead of an egg (Lk 11'^) is mentioned in a way that shows the horror Avhich this creature inspired. The figure employed by our Lord in this passage is suggested by the egg-like form of the scorpion when at rest (see Plummer, rtrf^oc). The pain of its sting (Rev 9'), the organ that inflicts it (v.'°), and its venomous quality (v."), are noted. The scorpion is also men- tioned in Apocr. (Sir 26' Z^, 4 Mac ll'»). G. E. Post.

SCOURGE (b'ie', usually translated 'scourge,' six times[l K 12"-»,2Ch 10''- ",Pr26»,Nah3=]' whip'; Gr. nouns and verbs fiiari^, fuurriy&o), na<rril^<i> ; (ppay- AXjov, ippayeXMo) ; flagellum, Jlagellare). — Among the Hebrews the usual mode of corporal punish- ment, legal and domestic, was that of heating with the rod, just as the bastinado ia still tlie common method in Eastern countries. The only reference to the scourge as an instrument of punishment is found in 1 K 12"-", 2 Ch 10"-".

Rehoboam sig- nalized his accession to the throne by threatening that, whereas his father had chastised the people with whips (or scourges), he would chastise them with scorpions. The scorpion (^-jpv) may have been a more terrible kind of weapon in actual use — either a knotted cudgel or a scourge armed with barlied points, just as the Roman Scorpio was described by Isidore as virga nodosa et aculeata. It is possible, however, that the king was only using a lively figure of speech.

Under the Roman system of scourging, the culprit was stripped and tied in a bending posture to a pillar, or stretched on a frame (divaricatio), and tlie punishment was inflicted with a scourge made of leathern thonfjs weighted with sharp pieces of bone or lead. This is what Horace calls the horribile flagellum {Sat. I. iii. 119). Jesus was scourged with it by order of Pilate before being led away to be crucified (Mt27=», Mk 15", Jn 19').

He had foreseen and foretold tliis indignity (Mt 20'", Mk 10**, Lk 18"). The punishment of scourging usually preceded crucifixion (see references in Swete, St. Mark, adloc. ). The Porcian law forbade the scourging of Roman citizens ; and on one occasion St. Paul, after being actually bound in order to be scourged, escaped the inlliction by demanding if it was lawful to scourge a man who was a Roman and uncondemned (.»\c 22-'^' ^).

Jesus forewarned His disciples that they would be scourged in the synagogues (Mt 10" 23"). Tha Jewish method is fully described in the Miahuib 420 SCRABBLE SCRIBES Tin; scourge consisted of three thongs of leather, and the oUender received thirteen stripes on the bare breast and thirteen on each shonlder {Makhoth lii. 12). St. Paul records that he five times suti'ered this punishment at the hands of the Jews (2 Co 11"); and 'others had trial of . , . scourgings' (He 11").

Legal usages apart, Jesus made a scourge {<f>pa.- y4\\iop) of small cords before cleansing the temple (Jn 2"). Opinion differs as to the use He made of it. Meyer thinks He drove out the animals with it, not the persons ; Godet, that 'it was not an instrument but an emblem, a sign of authority and judgment.' 'Scourge' is frequently used in a metaphorical sense.

The Canaanites were a scourge {a~t') in the side of the Israelites (Jos 23") ; Eliphaz spoke of hiding from the scourge of the tongue (Job 5^') ; the phigue was the scourge by pre-eminence (Job 9^, Is lU-"}; and by a fusion of metaphors an invasion was called an overflowing scourge (Is 28'"). For literature see art Chimes and PninsBUEirra.