“If he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion?”
Luke 11:11–12
Figure of speechWell-supportedJesus
What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead? Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? (Luke 11:11–12 BSB)
What it sounds like today
Random cruel substitutions.
The cultural key
The pairs are look-alikes: a round, flat Galilean loaf resembled a smooth stone (the same visual behind 'command these stones to become bread,' Matthew 4:3), and an eel-like catfish from the lake, unclean and unkosher, could pass for a snake. The cruelty imagined is a trick gift that looks right and betrays. Luke trades Matthew's bread-and-stone pair for an egg and a scorpion: the pale scorpion of the region, curled with tail tucked, is roughly egg-sized and egg-shaped. Same visual logic, one notch more sinister; the counterfeit gift does not merely disappoint, it stings.
Recovered meaning
Even flawed human fathers don't answer a child's need with a convincing counterfeit. God is not playing bait-and-switch with those who ask him.
Parallels: Matthew 7:9–10