“I am a worm and not a man,” David writes in Psalm 22:6. But which worm did he have in mind?

In this episode of Stars, Cells, and God, Fazale “Fuz” Rana and Hugh Ross explore a discovery from a Judean Desert. Cave researchers discovered a wool fragment about two centimeters across, dyed with kermes—the scarlet dye the ancient world produced from a scale insect known as the crimson worm. The find provides physical evidence for a dye the Old Testament connects to the tabernacle, the priests’ garments, and rites of cleansing—long before David wrote his psalm.

Fuz and Hugh explain why biblical archaeology matters, how Psalm 22 foreshadows the crucifixion, why death and life are interwoven throughout creation, and how fulfilled prophecy points to the Bible’s reliability.

In this episode, they also discuss:

● How archaeologists identified a 3,800-year-old red dye

● What the Bible’s “scarlet worm” meant to ancient readers

● How Psalm 22 describes Jesus’s crucifixion in remarkable detail

● Why David’s word for “worm” matters

● How life through death runs through creation and the gospel

RESOURCES:

The paper discussed in the episode:

doi.org/10.1016/j.jasrep.2024...

DIG DEEPER:

10 Prophecies of Jesus’s Birth in the Old Testament:

reasons.org/jesus/birth-life...

Was Jesus a Real Person?

reasons.org/jesus/birth-life...

Fulfilled Prophecy: Evidence for the Reliability of the Bible

reasons.org/christianity/bibl...

Spotlight on Fulfilled Prophecy

reasons.org/christianity/bibl...

Are Scientific Predictions Like Biblical Prophecy?

reasons.org/christianity/bibl...

__________________________

TIMESTAMPS:

0:00 Intro

2:00 Biblical Archaeology and RTB’s Creation Model

9:37 Inside the Discovery of a 3,800-Year-Old Scarlet Textile

15:33 Psalm 22 and the Cross

20:59 “I Am a Worm” and the Crimson Worm’s Life Cycle

25:30 Why Life Through Death Runs Through Creation

28:51 Does Creation Point to the Gospel?

31:22 Fulfilled Prophecy and a Path to Faith

33:45 Conclusion

_____________________________

CONNECT WITH US

▶️ Help us reveal God through #science by supporting Reasons to Believe at: support.reasons.org/donate-no...

▶️ Follow RTB_Official for more #apologetics content!

Facebook:   / rtbofficial  

Twitter:   / rtb_official  

Instagram:   / rtb_official  

Website: reasons.org