The Good and Evil Serpent (115 page)

10.

“viper” 153

Prov 23:31

N

“vipers”

Isa 59:5, Jer 8:17

N

Wine if not controlled will bite like a serpent (
) and sting like a viper (Prov 23:31). The LXX renders the former noun with the familiar and generic “serpent” (
) and the latter noun with “horned viper” (KepaoTou) that is probably the
Cerastes cornutus.
¹⁵⁴
Again, according to Isaiah’s prophecy in 11:8, the child will be safe playing near the cobra and viper (LXX:
). According to Isaiah 59:5, those whose iniquities have separated them from God have hatched viper’s eggs from which a “sand viper” appears. This verse shows that
, “viper,” and
, “sand viper,” are closely related, at least in the mind of the author of Isaiah 59.
¹⁵⁵
The onomatopoeic nature of this noun also seems apparent.

The form
, with the
mater lectionis
, appears in CD MS A 5.14: “[A]nd eggs of vipers [are] their eggs.”
¹⁵⁶
The author castigates those who profane the Torah in the Land.

11.

“arrow-snake”

Isa 34:15

N for Israel

This
hapax legomenon
in Isaiah 34:15 seems to describe a snake who shall “make her nest” in Zion. The relation with a hawk, in the same verse, may indicate some type of snake. The English “arrow-snake” is found in some lexicons
¹⁵⁷
and translations;
¹⁵⁸
the RSV and NRSV erroneously opted for “owl.”
¹⁵⁹
An analogy seems to be with Arabic
qafazat
, which means “arrow-snake.” Fabry thinks the VIQp denotes “the arrow snake,” the most common reptile in Palestine, and identifies it with the
Coluber jugularis.
¹⁶⁰
The translator of the Septuagint has either reworked the passage or worked from a different text tradition; hence, the translator’s choice of “hedgehog” (Exivoq) is of little help in discerning the meaning of VIQp (which may not have been in his exemplar). The Peshitta also has “hedgehog” (
), but the translator may be simply working from the Septuagint and cannot constitute a separate witness. Likewise,
Targum Jonathan
has: “There the hedgehog shall make a nest” (
).
¹⁶¹

The Septuagint, Peshitta, and Targum (and there is most likely some interdependence here) cumulatively suggest that “T19p—”hedgehog,” or “short-eared owl”
¹⁶²
—was in the Hebrew text behind these translations.
¹⁶³
On the one hand, we need to recall that often in Hasmonean scripts the
dalet
and
zayin
are indistinguishable; indeed in many manuscripts VIQp looks very similar to 119p. On the other hand, it is evident that in the centuries before 70
CE
the Hebrew texts were copied by Aramaic-speaking scribes who knew well the substitution between Hebrew and Aramaic.

It is clear that 1QIs
^a
has 191p,
¹⁶⁴
“hedgehog” (perhaps under the influence of Aramaic pronunciation the
waw
was transposed).
¹⁶⁵
The
dalat
is certain in this most ancient copy of Isaiah. Focusing myopically only on the ancient texts of Isaiah, we are left with the possibility that tlQp never existed in biblical Hebrew. One might be forgiven for thinking that the noun existed only in the minds of some biblical scholars.