“O Death Where is Your Sting?”

If you’ve ever been stung by a bee or wasp you know it can be momentarily painful. The most painful and deadly sting is from is the poisonous jelly fish, the “marine stinger.” According to one website, 5,568 people have died from its sting since 1954. These jelly fish have fifteen tentacles which extend up to ten feet. Each tentacle has about half a million-darts full of venom. The venom causes cardiovascular arrest within minutes. Victims may die in incredibly intense pain even before the venom strikes.

What image did Paul have in mind when he quoted Hosea: “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” (1 Corinthians 15:55). Did he imagine the bee that leaves its stinger behind in its victim and then dies? Or the wasp which lives to sting another day? Or the “Deathstalker Scorpion” whose powerful cocktail of neuro and cardiotoxins cause…