Day 3: Death by Worms

Day 3: Death by Worms

Biblical stories that could make good horror/paranormal movies

On Days 1 and 2 we had talking animals. Today is another type of animal: worms! These don’t speak, but they do fulfill God’s mission of killing a blasphemer. The language they speak is that eating a man's flesh in divine judgment, and they speak it upon Herod Agrippa I, King of Judea (and other areas). He was the grandson of Herod the Great, another terrible person (and through incestual relations somewhat common among the rich and powerful, Herod the Great was also Agrippa’s great-uncle). Herod the Great killed Herod Agrippa’s father (who was also his uncle), Alexander, as part of court intrigue and politics. Herod Agrippa I learned well about violence and power from his grandfather and his friends the Emperors Tiberius, Caligula, and Claudius.

Here's the story!

From the book of Acts, Chapter 12.

20 Now Herod was angry with the people of Tyre and Sidon. So they came to him in a body, and after winning over Blastus, the king’s personal attendant, they asked for a reconciliation, because their country depended on the king’s country for food. 21 On an appointed day Herod put on his royal robes, took his seat on the platform, and delivered a public address to them. 22 The people kept shouting, “The voice of a god and not of a mortal!” 23 And immediately, because he had not given the glory to God, an angel of the Lord struck him down, and he was eaten by worms and died.

Notice that he doesn’t die until he was eaten by worms. God’s striking down wasn’t death, but to be struck down with worms that then slowly ate him until he died. Horrible. History reports that Agrippa did have some large public gathering in which the people proclaimed him a god and he did not say to them that he wasn’t, then two days later was affected by a painful stomach something-or-other and died five days later.

Chew on that image this Halloween season.

All text is from the New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition.