Spiritual Meaning of Spiders in the Bible

Spiders are generally looked at as creepy crawly creatures which aren’t too pleasant to look at. If anything, they generally evoke fear at the very sight of them. Yet, you’d be surprised to know that these eerie beings have a spiritual meaning backing them – both good and bad – in the Holy Bible. This post intends to educate you on how spiders are viewed spiritually and the significance they hold in our holy scripture.

Spiritual Meaning of Spiders in the Bible

It’s important to note here that spiders have both good and bad meanings in the Bible. This is why each passage of the scripture would reflect a different perspective on these creatures. At some places, spiders and spider webs are considered as auspicious spiritual omen; at other times, they’re referred to as symbols of evil and sin. 

Let’s look at some of the positive references of the spiders in the Bible and how they’re looked at as good and positive signs:

1. Symbol of higher calling – You’d find several passages in the Bible where this tiny creature is given immense regard for its wisdom and exceptional skills in web-weaving. In fact, the latter is interpreted to mean a sign of higher calling, asking all living beings on earth to move towards achieving their dreams and goals just like the spider. 

The way this tiny creature relentlessly pulls itself back up each time it falls off the web to renew its effort, we humans should also weave our own web of brilliance and strive towards achieving our higher purpose in life.

2. Symbol of humility – The spider also presents another great quality before us – humility. It creates a remarkable web – its home – but goes about carrying the next task ahead of it. It teaches us to keep doing our work and achieve our goals without priding on them. The spider is also a great teacher of patience and wisdom. When you strive for excellence in something, challenges and hurdles are bound to come on the way; you’re bound to fail initially too. 

Still, the key lies in picking yourself up and bouncing back again as though you never failed. This is what wise people do. Only the foolish cry over spilled milk.

3. Symbol of God’s shelter over us – Do you know why the spider spends hours, even days, to create that exemplary web? To safeguard itself against harm of any kind and to shield itself from potential enemies. In fact, the spider web serves another excellent purpose too – of trapping all kinds of harmful insects in our homes within, protecting our kids and family from unwanted trouble and insect bites.

This web reminds us of similar God protection over our heads at all times. Just like th spider web, the God also has a web around us always that shields us against evil thoughts, actions, and words. 

This is why in the Bible, the spider is often referred to as a messenger of God, sent on the earth as a symbol of God’s protection, safeguarding us from evil outside (harmful insects) through the web it creates in our homes. 

4. Symbol of God’s protection in war – The Bible points out a few references where the Lord is seen using the spider web as an excellent means of offering protection to His disciples during the war. At one such instance, God is seen using these webs to seal a cave housing His followers, in order to provide spiritual protection to them against all war evil. 

Negative Biblical Meaning of Spiders

Now let’s look at some of the not-so-good references of the spider and the spider web in the Biblical passages:

• Symbol of weakness – The spider web is often looked at in the Bible as one that characterizes a creature’s fragility. You’d find a couple of passages in the holy text which use the spider web as a common metaphor to mean weak, useless or unworthy of relying on. To cite a few instances, the book of Job draws an analogy between the spider web and the incidence of placing trust or faith in a hypocrite. 

Just like trusting a hypocrite is deemed to be foolish or useless, certain passages in the Bible state that depending on a spider web is nearly the same act. In addition, the spiritual meaning of spider webs is often drawn comparison with acts of evil in Isiah. You’d find reference where these evil acts are termed futile and fragile, similar to the spider web.

Note here that the spider web isn’t deemed as necessarily evil, only weak. For example, certain passages in the Bible indicate that it may be futile or a waste of time to spin spider webs (metaphoric). This generally implies that one shouldn’t trust a hypocrite person or place faith in something that’s as weak as a spider web itself.

Spiritual Meaning of Spider Dreams

A lot of people over the years have talked about dreaming of these creepy creatures. This has led them to seek insights into the possible meaning of these dreams and what potential impact can they have on their individual lives. Here we present a spiritual perspective on spiders’ appearance in dreams from the point of view of Christianity. These dreams can be personally interpreted to understand what they hold for you.

• Fear – If you’ve dreamt of a spider last night, it’s most likely interpreted to a specific fear or insecurity in your life.
• Conflicts in relationships – Spider dreams may also be a warning sign for an impending dispute/conflict with your partner, spouse or beloved. However, this is mostly true only if the spider that you dreamt of bites you.
• Deception – A spider dream may point out at someone you closely trust who could turn out to be a deceiver. 

Let us know your opinions on the spiritual meaning behind these spider dreams or what you feel about their spiritual references in the Bible. Perhaps we could remember these implications the next time we shoo away this creature or squish its web.