“Every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth shall be an abomination . . . or whatsoever hath more feet among all creeping things . . . them ye shall not eat.”
Leviticus 11:4142
The first of our two subjects is the centipede. This name means 100 legs, but it is just a general term since not all of the 1500 centipede varieties have the same number of legs. The most common have only 30 (15 pairs), but large tropical centipedes may have more than 300! The centipede suggests danger, for their first pair of legs has poisonous claws used to kill their prey. In the tropics, there are large centipedes whose bite can be very dangerous; however, the common variety in North America cannot pierce human skin, and their victims are only earthworms and small insects.
These long, thin, blind creatures are composed of many segments, each segment having one right and one left leg attached. Most centipedes are born with very few segments, but at each moulting, new segments and legs are added. You might wonder if so many legs would get tangled up, but this is not the case as they travel fast with all their legs working in unison. Active at night, their days are spent hiding underground, under stones or in a piece of rotten wood.
Then there are the millipedes. This name means 1000 legs, but 200 would be more accurate. Their brown, cylindrical bodies are much like the centipedes’ except that each segment has four legs, and most varieties have only 30 or 40 segments. There are other differences too. The millipede, without poisonous claws, is entirely harmless. And rather than worms and insects, this creature’s food is mostly decaying plants or moist vegetation, which is why so many appear in damp flower beds.
They are often a nuisance because they damage plants, but there is no need to be afraid of them. In fact, they themselves are afraid when exposed and immediately coil up in a tight little circle, their heads in the center and their legs all pulled under their bodies.
While both these creatures are part of God’s creation and under His care, we are reminded that in Old Testament days, under the law, God told His people not to eat them (see opening verse above). Instead, He named clean animals and birds that stand up or fly above the earth as their proper food.
We are not now under those laws, but we see an important lesson in them. God does not want us to find our pleasures in the sinful things of this world, but He tells us to “seek those things which are above . . . not . . . things on the earth” (Colossians 3:1212Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering; (Colossians 3:12)). This is the way of true happiness. You will see if you follow it.
JANUARY 25, 1998
ML-01/25/1998