Have you heard of wormwood? It is in Lamentations chapter 3. I knew it was an herb of some kind, but I had no idea what I would discover as I dove into studying it more in relation to this book of the Bible.
Click below to watch the video and hear more about wormwood in Lamentations chapter 3.
Wormwood is a bitter tasting shrub that grew wild along the rocky slopes of Palestine. Bitter taste is a symbol of hardship and sorrow. Wormwood is used to treat parasites. It increases digestive enzymes and bile production.
Parasites are bugs in your body, especially the stomach. They cause all sorts of problems in your body. I have delt with them before after eating certain things on my travels. All your insides want to come out when you have parasites.
Parasites are like sin. It's inside of us, eating us, causing all these horrible things to come out of us.
"He has filled me with bitterness; he has sated me with wormwood." (Lamentations 3:15)
Define sated: filled, gorged, often to the point of not taking any more
"Remember my affliction and my wanderings, the wormwood and the gall!" (Lamentations 3:19)
Define gall: the contents of the gallbladder; bile
Wormwood is a junior demon and the recipient of 31 letters from his uncle, Screwtape, in C.S. Lewis’s book, The Screwtape Letters. Wormwood is an inexperienced tempter, and he was tasked with leading a British human "patient" to destruction but ultimately fails. This book uses these letters to explore spiritual warfare and temptation from a demonic perspective.
I thought all this information was SO fascinating thinking about how the book of Lamentations is a book about sin and destruction and our need for God's forgiveness. There's so much symbolism.
Wormwood increases bile production, which reminded me of the word "bile" in Lamentations chapter 2.
"My eyes are spent with weeping;
my stomach churns;
my bile is poured out to the ground
because of the destruction of the daughter of my people,
because infants and babies faint
in the streets of the city."
(Lamentations 2:11)
Define bile: A greeny/yellow fluid produced by the liver, stored in the gallbladder to aid in digestion, eliminates waste products
If a word is jumping out at you as you read God's Word, take time to follow the trail. What does that word mean? Where is that word in society (movies, books, etc.)? What does it mean? How does it help you understand Scripture in a new way? Following this wormwood trail helped Scripture stick in my brain in a totally new way.