How much less man, [that is] a worm? and the son of man, [which is] a worm?
Ver. 6. How much less man, that is a worm?] He saith not, as a worm, but a worm itself, so Psalms 22:6, "I am a worm, and no man"; nullificamen hominis, as Tertullian somewhere phraseth it. David in the Arabic signifieth a worm, saith one, to which he may seem in that psalm to allude. The word here rendered a worm, signifieth a small worm bred in cheese or flesh, a mite, a maggot, Vermis parvus in carne aut caseo nascens, Exodus 16:24. Others say, it signifieth rottenness, which hath no strength. Hereby man, convinced of his infirmity, vanity, and impurity, should learn Virium suarum ουδενειαν agnoscere, to give glory to God, and to take shame to himself.
And the son of man, which is a worm?] Lumbricus, quo vix quidquam contemptius nominari potest, So vile and abject a creature is man. The greater is God's mercy to look upon such a walking dunghill: learn hereby to know God and thyself, which is the highest point of heavenly wisdom.