MOTH

The common moth is an insect destructive to woolen cloths. The egg is laid by a small shining worm; which by another transformation becomes a miller. Allusions to the moth, as devouring clothes, and as a frail and feeble insect, are frequent in Scripture, Job 4:19 13:28 27:18 Isa 50:9 Ho 5:12 Mt 6:19,20. See GARMENTS. The insects called in general moths, of which the above is only one species, are exceedingly numerous. The main genus is called by naturalists Phaloena, and contains more than fifteen hundred species. Moths fly abroad only in the evening and night; differing in this respect from the tribe of butterflies that fly only by day. Their larva, or the worms from which they spring, are active, and quick in motion, mostly smooth, and prey voraciously on the food adapted to them; the common moth on cloths, others on furs, the leaves of plants, etc.

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Moth. Moth
Heb. ‘ash, from a root meaning “to fall away,” as moth-eaten garments fall to pieces (Job 4:19; 13:28; Isa. 50:9; 51:8; Hos. 5:12).

Gr. ses, thus rendered in Matt. 6:19, 20; Luke 12:33. Allusion is thus made to the destruction of clothing by the larvae of the clothes-moth. This is the only lepidopterous insect referred to in Scripture.

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MOTH. → An insect Job 4:19; 27:18; Ps 39:11 → Destructive of garments Job 13:28; Isa 50:9; 51:8; Ho 5:12 → FIGURATIVE Mt 6:19,20; Jas 5:2

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moth. Moth, n. a small winged insect that eats cloth

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Moth (mŏth), n. A mote. Shak.