Scorpions, Snakes, and Stones

Jesus used a bit of humor in His preaching when He spoke of the Father’s ability to give good gifts to His children. In Matthew 7 He is recorded as saying, “Which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent (v.10)?” In Luke’s account there is a third rhetorical question: “Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion (11:11)?” If earthly fathers know how to give their children what they need, He asked, how much more does our good Heavenly Father know how to give us what we need? 

Those may sound like outlandish comparisons to us. Who in their right mind would mistake a scorpion for an egg, a snake for a fish, or a stone for bread? As odd as it may sound, it was possible in their culture. When we hear “loaf of bread,” we may picture what we pick up on the bread aisle at the grocery store, but their loaf looked nothing like ours; their bread looked more like our biscuits, so we can understand how a young child may think a stone is bread. He could chip a tooth or hurt himself in some way by making that mistake. 

Scorpions in Jerusalem curl into balls when they sleep, and the color of their exoskeleton made them look like an egg. We can understand how a child may reach for what he thought was an egg, only to learn that it was a harmful scorpion. Serpents do not look like fish, but their meat does. Since fish were in high demand, a person could easily serve snake and call it fish in order to rip off customers. 

Notice what Jesus is saying here. No good father would allow his child to hurt himself with a stone or scorpion because he was looking out for the child’s physical wellbeing. And since eating snakes was against God’s dietary laws, no father would allow his child to defile himself before God because he was looking out for his child’s spiritual wellbeing. 

Jesus said this in the context of prayer. There are going to be times when we pray for something that seems good to us, and yet God will tell us no. We have to put ourselves into the sandals of those children asking their father for something good—like eggs, fish, and bread. It looks good to us, but in our limited understanding we do not realize that we are really reaching for scorpions, snakes, and stones. It may be tempting to get upset with God for denying us what we wanted, but we need to trust that He knows what is best for our physical and spiritual wellbeing. When God says no to your prayer, He may have just been keeping you from grabbing a scorpion.