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moth Summary and Overview

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moth in Easton's Bible Dictionary

Heb. 'ash, from a root meaning "to fall away," as moth-eaten garments fall to pieces (Job 4:19; 13:28; Isa. 50:9; 51:8; Hos. 5:12). Gr. ses, thus rendered in Matt. 6:19, 20; Luke 12:33. Allusion is thus made to the destruction of clothing by the larvae of the clothes-moth. This is the only lepidopterous insect referred to in Scripture.

moth in Smith's Bible Dictionary

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 #Job 4:19; 13:28; Ps 39:11| etc. (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 east away the nap, and finally ruins the fabric. There are more than 1500 species of moths. --McClintock and Strong's Cyclopedia.)

moth in Schaff's Bible Dictionary

MOTH . By this word is meant the clothes-moth, which, in its caterpillar state, is very destructive to woven fabrics. The eggs of this miller, being deposited on fur or cloth, produce a small, soft worm which immediately forms a house for itself by cutting from the cloth, which it thus weakens and destroys. In Job 4:19 man is said to be "crushed before the moth" that is, more easily than the moth. There are also references to the destructiveness of this insect in Job 13:28; Ps 39:11; Isa 50:9; Isa 51:6, Jer 51:8; Hos 5:12; Matt 6:19-20; Jas 5:2. In Ps 6:7 the word "consumed" properly means "moth-eaten." As much of the treasure of the ancients consisted in costly garments, we may readily understand why the moth was considered so noxious an insect, and this will teach us the true import of our Saviour's words. Matt 6:19-20. It was common in Asia to lay up stores of precious garments, which descended as an inheritance to children, for their modes of dress never changed; but the moth was a formidable enemy to such treasures, so as to render it useless to take much pains to lay them up.

moth in Fausset's Bible Dictionary

The clothes moth, Hebrew 'ash, Greek sees. Job 4:19; "houses of clay crushed (as a garment) before the moth" (compare 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 (Matthew 6:19-20; James 5:2); Hosea 5:12, "I will be unto Ephraim as a moth," gradually, silently, and surely consuming the nation's substance (Isaiah 50:9; Isaiah 51:8). The Tinea pellionella and Tinea biselliata still abound in Israel. The order is the Lepidoptera. Job says of the man enriched by wrong, (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.