Ant behavior is a remarkable teacher. It teaches us God’s wisdom shown in all of His creatures, even down to the smallest and weakest. We see that wisdom in doormaker ants and sealed doorways.
The Bible refers to ants as models that humans would do well to imitate. In Proverbs 6:6-8 and 30:25, we read, “Go to the ant, consider its ways and be wise. It has no commander. No overseer or ruler, yet it stores its provisions in summer and gathers its food at harvest… Ants are creatures of little strength, yet they store up their food in the summer.”
We have mentioned before that various kinds of ants are programmed genetically to do things that they don’t think out but which show thinking and care. The species Stenamma alas is another example of a behavior that speaks of God’s design. These doormaker ants and sealed doorways show wisdom of design.
These ants build their colony so that the entrance is surrounded by hard material. The entrance is circular, and one ant is posted there with a nearby pebble that has been carefully chosen to fit the entrance exactly. The pebble is the same color and texture as the surroundings. When an enemy approaches, the guard ant rolls the pebble into the opening. The fit is so tight that enemies cannot dislodge it even if they find the opening. You can see why the scientists who study these ants call them doormaker ants.
This reminds us of the tombs of the Egyptian kings and people of Jesus day who made or selected large stones to carefully fit the entrance to their places of burial. Jesus was buried in such a tomb. Rolling away the stone from the entrance to the tomb of Jesus was not a simple task. (See Matthew 28:2.) It involved a violent earthquake and an angel. Most importantly, it involved the power of God over death. Unlike doormaker ants and sealed doorways, the stone was not moved to let Jesus out but to let others in to see that his body was gone.
— John N. Clayton © 2020
Information about doormaker ants in Skeptic Magazine, Volume 25 # 1 2020 page 8.
We have all seen dubious claims about hidden messages in the Bible. They include everything from numerology to codes with special meanings. The only place where hidden messages do unquestionably occur in the New Testament is in the book of Revelation. That book uses symbols that the Christian readers would understand, and the Romans would not. However, there are a few cases that we might call hidden messages in the Bible that Christian or Jewish readers might understand and which other readers would miss.