Snare

The snare appears across scripture as a vivid image of hidden danger — a fowler's trap, a hunter's pit, a noose laid in the path. It runs from proverbial observation through psalmic lament, prophetic indictment, and wisdom warning, on to the snares laid against Jesus by his opponents.

The proverbial trap

Amos draws on the snare as a self-evident cause-and-effect image: nothing springs without a trigger, no trap snaps shut on nothing. "Can a bird fall in a snare on the earth, where no trap is [set] for him? Will a snare spring up from the ground, and have taken nothing at all?" (Amos 3:5).

The wicked man caught by his own steps

Bildad's portrait of the wicked turns the figure inward: the trap closes on its setter. "For he is cast into a net by his own feet, And he walks on the toils. A trap will take [him] by the heel, [And] a snare will lay hold on him. A noose is hid for him in the ground, And a trap for him in the way" (Job 18:8-10).

The Psalter's snare-prayers

In the Psalms the snare is consistently the device of the wicked, hidden in the path of the godly. "For without cause they have hid for me the pit of their net; Without cause they have dug [it] for my soul" (Ps 35:7). The Yahweh-trust of Psalm 91 promises rescue from precisely this: "For he will deliver you from the snare of the fowler, And from the word of calamity" (Ps 91:3). The long meditation of Psalm 119 returns to the image twice: "The proud have dug pits for me, Who are not according to your law" (Ps 119:85); "The wicked have laid a snare for me; Yet I have not gone astray from your precepts" (Ps 119:110). Three Davidic prayers near the end of the book press the same plea: "The proud have hid a snare for me, and cords; They have spread a net by the wayside; They have set traps for me. Selah" (Ps 140:5); "Keep me from the snare which they have laid for me, And from the traps of the workers of iniquity" (Ps 141:9); "When my spirit was overwhelmed inside me, You knew my path. In the way in which I walk They have hidden a snare for me" (Ps 142:3).

The prophets' indictment

Jeremiah indicts his people for trapping each other as a fowler traps birds: "For among my people are found wicked men: they watch, as a fowler lying in wait; they set a trap, they catch men" (Jer 5:26). Later in the same book the prophet uses the figure of his own enemies' plotting: "Let a cry be heard from their houses, when you will bring a troop suddenly on them; for they have dug a pit to take me, and hid snares for my feet" (Jer 18:22). Hosea applies the same image to corrupt leaders, charging that priests, people, and king alike have become traps for the nation: "Hear this, O you⁺ priests, and listen, O house of Israel, and give ear, O house of the king; for to you⁺ pertains the judgment; for you⁺ have been a snare at Mizpah, and a net spread on Tabor" (Hos 5:1).

Wisdom's snares — woman, gold, wine, the path

The Sirach collection gathers the snare-image in a sustained wisdom register. The strange woman is the first warning: "Do not come near to a strange woman; Or else you will fall into her snares" (Sir 9:3). The reciprocity of the trap returns from Job and Proverbs: "He who digs a pit will fall into it, And he who sets a snare will be taken in it" (Sir 27:26). Schadenfreude is itself a snare: "Those who rejoice in the fall of the godly will be taken in a snare, And torment will consume them before their death" (Sir 27:29). Wealth ensnares: "There are many who have been entangled through gold, And those who put their trust in pearls [have been ensnared]. It is a stumbling-block for the foolish, And the simpleton is ensnared by it" (Sir 31:6-7). Wine ensnares the fool: "Much wine is a snare to the fool, It diminishes strength and increases wounds" (Sir 31:30). And the prudent walker watches the path itself: "Do not walk in a path set with snares, That you do not stumble twice at an obstacle" (Sir 32:20).

Snares against Christ

In the gospels the snare moves from figure to historical reality. The opponents of Jesus repeatedly try to trap him with questions and surveillance. Mark records three such episodes: "And the Pharisees came forth, and began to question with him, seeking of him a sign from heaven, trying him" (Mark 8:11); "And Pharisees came to him, and asked him, Is it lawful for a man to divorce [his] wife? trying him" (Mark 10:2); "And they send to him certain of the Pharisees and of the Herodians, that they might catch him in talk" (Mark 12:13). Luke makes the snare-imagery explicit: "laying wait for him, to catch something out of his mouth" (Luke 11:54); "And they watched him, and sent forth spies, who feigned themselves to be righteous, that they might take hold of his speech, so as to deliver him up to the rule and to the authority of the governor" (Luke 20:20).

A snare in war

The figure also surfaces once outside the proverbial register, in the historical record of the Hellenistic crisis — where a fortified city becomes a literal snare for Israel: "And laid them up there: and they became a great snare" (1 Macc 1:35).