Bruce Is Not in the Bible — and the Spider Story Is Not True

Names and Their Biblical MeaningsSee all 223 articles in this series

Bruce is not in the Bible. It is a place in Normandy, and it became a name because a family from there took it to Scotland.

Bruce is a Norman territorial surname — de Brus, from a place in the Cotentin. It means, in effect, “from Brix,” and it carries no meaning beyond the location.

It reached Scotland with a Norman family in the twelfth century, became famous through Robert the Bruce, and moved from surname to given name largely in the twentieth century.

No. Norman French place names come a thousand years after the New Testament.

The story attached to the name is the spider in the cave: Robert the Bruce, defeated and hiding, watches a spider fail repeatedly to anchor a thread and finally succeed, and decides to try again.

It is almost certainly not true. The tale does not appear in the early accounts of his life and is popularised centuries later, notably by Walter Scott.

That is worth saying plainly, because the story is usually told as history. The perseverance it illustrates is real enough; the spider is furniture.

The Bible’s version has no spider and is considerably more uncomfortable.

Jesus tells a parable specifically so that his hearers should always pray and not give up (Luke 18:1) — and the parable is about a widow wearing down a judge who admits he neither fears God nor cares what people think. He grants her justice to be rid of her.

It is a strange story to tell about prayer, and Jesus draws the comparison himself: if even that judge gives in, how much more.

Paul’s version is plainer and has a condition: Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. (Galatians 6:9)

At the proper time — which is to say, not at ours. That clause is what makes it hard.

Scripture is careful here in a way the spider story is not.

Persistence in the Bible is never presented as a technique for getting what we want. Paul asked three times for something and was told no, and he records the refusal along with the reason he was given (2 Corinthians 12:8-9).

And the endurance James commends is not the kind that grits its teeth: Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. (James 1:4)

Perseverance is doing work on the person, not on the obstacle. That is the difference between the biblical picture and the spider.

May we keep going at the things worth keeping going at.

May we know the difference between persistence and refusing to hear an answer.

And may we not need a spider to tell us.

Is Bruce a biblical name?

No. It is a Norman territorial surname from a place in the Cotentin, carried to Scotland in the twelfth century.

What does Bruce mean?

“From Brix,” a place name. It has no meaning beyond the location.

Is the Robert the Bruce spider story true?

Almost certainly not. It does not appear in the early accounts of his life and was popularised centuries later, notably by Walter Scott.

What does the Bible say about persistence?

Luke 18:1-8 tells a parable so that people “should always pray and not give up,” and Galatians 6:9 promises a harvest “at the proper time” — which is not ours.

• Is Your Name in the Bible? A Directory of 231 Names
• Lorraine Is Not in the Bible — but Joan of Arc Was Born There

More from this seriesNames and Their Biblical MeaningsSee all 223 articles