SPIDER

A small, eight-legged, wingless animal that, according to strict biological definition, is not an insect but an arachnid. Most spiders spin webs to catch their prey. They are beneficial to man by keeping the insect population in check. Spiders generally have three pairs of spinnerets or spinning organs located on the rear underside of the abdomen. These are linked with the silk glands inside the creature’s body by means of many minute tubes. To spin its thread, the spider presses its spinning organs against an object and forces out some liquid silk. Moving away from the object, it draws out the liquid, which, in turn, hardens in the air. By keeping its spinnerets together the spider can produce one thick thread. A band of fine threads results when the spinning organs are held apart. Comparatively, the spider’s silken thread has a tensile strength far greater than steel and can be stretched a fifth beyond its normal length before breakage occurs.

The web, differing according to the variety of spider making it, is beautiful in symmetry and complex in design, displaying the complicated principles of logarithms. At equidistant intervals on the silken strands are drops of glue, likewise made by the spider. After having laid a line between two spokes and smeared it with glue, the spider pulls down the thread and then lets it snap back. This results in the equidistant spacing of the tiny glue droplets. The sticky thread serves to trap the spider’s prey.

In its two occurrences in Scripture the spider figures in an illustrative setting. Bildad, in speaking to Job, referred to an apostate as one who trusts in or leans upon a “spider’s house,” or web, something that would be too frail to keep him standing. (Job 8:14, 15) The hurtful and violent works of unfaithful Israelites are likened to the weaving of a spider’s web. However, such unfaithful ones could not cover themselves with their works, any more than a cobweb would be suitable for a garment.—Isa. 59:5, 6.