PSALM 58:8 DO SNAILS MELT?

 

One scientific objection to the Bible on the internet is in regard to Psalm 58:8a: “As a snail which melteth, let every one of them [the wicked] pass away.” (KJV) The comment is that snails do not melt.

This provides a good illustration of how anyone can investigate the validity of this objection without being a Bible scholar. One approach is to consult an Analytical Concordance such as Strong's or Young's. They are inexpensive to purchase and are also available on-line for free. If you look up “snail,” you will find that the particular Hebrew word it translates is shablul, which has the alternative meaning of a festering sore. Then if you look for other appearances of shablul in the OT, you will find that it is an hapax legomenon, a fancy term meaning that the word only occurs once in the Bible. If it had been present in other places in the OT, you could have looked at those passages to see how the word was used there. But the fact that it is a very rare word automatically triggers the fact that any translation at all must be highly tentative.

The next key word in this passage that you might want to look up is “melt.” Any concordance will show that there are a great number of Hebrew words translated as “melt” in the OT. So it would be useful to try to determine why the Psalmist used the particular word that he did (temes in this case) rather than one of the other possibilities. Strong's Concordance says that temes conveys the nuance of wasting away. Interestingly, in the previous verse, Ps. 58:7, you can see that “melt” also appears, but in this case the Hebrew word is maas, which Strong's says has the underlying meaning of being loathed or rejected. And again, it turns out that temes is another hapax legomenon.

So one possible response to the scientific objection is that our English translation is based on two very rare words, whose meaning therefore is rather obscure.

The next approach is to look at other versions to see how different groups of translators approached this verse. It turns out that the majority of modern translations follow the KJV is translating shablul as “snail,” although NIV uses the alternative understanding of “slug.” Unfortunately, that does not get us out of our problem since slugs don't melt either. Modern translations, however, do give us a little more information by adding a few explanatory words regarding the “melting” process: “snails that dissolve into slime.” (Living Bible, TEV, RSV, NRSV) If any of you have ever put salt on a slug or snail, you can understand what the Psalmist might be talking about.

There is a third approach that the layman can use to understand a difficult passage if it is written in Hebrew poetry, as is this verse. Hebrew poetry utilizes two or three parallel lines to a verse in which each line basically expresses the same idea. So how does the second half of Psalm 58:7 read?

        “like the untimely birth that never sees the sun.”

So it is possible to translate the obscure first half of the verse to express the same thought as the concluding line. And this is the approach used by the New English Bible: “like an abortive birth which melts away.” Notice that “melts” is still present, but it has an obviously figurative, not literal, meaning. And that same figurative use of “melt” may also be in mind even if “snail” is the proper translation. Thus, the Psalmist is merely saying that the life of a snail is a very fleeting thing.

And when all else fails, you can consult a commentary on the subject to see what the scholars have to say. Here are a few results from that search:

A. A. Anderson (Psalms 1-72) happens to agree with the NEB approach to translating this verse.

Beth Tanner (The Book of Psalms, NICOT) confirms the fact that “snail” is an uncertain translation because the Hebrew word only appears in this passage.

The International Bible Commentary uses “slug” as the translation, but notes that “miscarriage” fits the context much better (as in the NEB).

The Dictionary of OT: Wisdom, Poetry & Writings (p. 19) says that either “slug” or “snail” is acceptable and explains that the slimy trail that they leave behind appears to indicate that the animal is melting away. That gives us another possible rejoinder to the scientific objection, namely, that the Psalmist is using phenomenological language, describing the natural world in terms of how it appears to the observer, rather than describing it in scientific terms explaining the underlying processes and causes. Even scientists do the same thing today when they say that the sun rose or set.

So in conclusion, there is a great deal a layman can discover on his/her own and use for apologetic purposes, but the process can certainly be aided with the help of trustworthy sources sent throughout the Bible.