The Good and Evil Serpent (118 page)

The author of Deuteronomy 8:15 states that the desert is defined by a “fiery serpent and scorpion” (lipVI). According to Numbers 21:6, the Lord sent “fiery serpents” to bite the Hebrews who had murmured against God and Moses. Many of “the people of Israel” died from the bites.

15.	“flying serpent”	Isa 14:29	P for Israel
		Isa 30:6	N for Israel

Though some translators and compilers of lexicons prefer “winged serpent,”
¹⁸³
it is best to follow, in seeking to comprehend
, the Greek translators, who had an advanced vocabulary for speaking about snakes. See especially the Septuagint of Isaiah 14:29:
, which means “flying serpents.” This rendering is also supported by the translators of the Peshitta. The translators of the Targumim prefer “biting serpent.”

According to Isaiah 30:6, “flying serpents” and the “sand viper” came from the South, which is “a land of trouble and anguish” (Isa 30:6). That seems to suggest that the creatures are negative for Israel.

The creature that swallowed Jonah, according to the Hebrew Bible (and the Peshitta) is a “large fish” (!?VD 51 [Jon 2:1 (1:17 in English);
]). In the Septuagint, this creature becomes “a great sea-monster (or whale)”:
¹⁸⁴
In the earliest iconography represented in the frescoes of the catacombs, beginning in the late second century
CE
, the great fish is perceived to be a sea monster like a dragon reminiscent of Leviathan.
¹⁸⁵

16.

“winged-serpents”

Isa 6:2–6

P

In the Hebrew Bible, the Seraphim are mentioned in Isaiah 6 (cf. Num 21:6, 8; Ezek 1; cf. Rev 4). They should not be equated with the Cherubim.
¹⁸⁶

The Book of Isaiah (esp.
First Isaiah)
has the most extensive vocabulary for serpents in the Bible. Thus, the author (editors and possible additional authors) shared an interest in serpents and serpent iconography that distinguished them among the authors and editors of the books in the Hebrew Bible. Since Isaiah is especially influenced by Egyptian lore, it is wise to see the
“winged-serpents.”
¹⁸⁷

Informed experts are no longer influenced by Origen’s suggestion that the two Seraphim in Isaiah 6 denoted the Logos and the Holy Spirit. Yet, some scholars still claim that the Seraphim cannot be serpents because they have feet and wings.
¹⁸⁸
Note this sample of opinions:

They [the Seraphim] have nothing in common with serpents except the name. (1941)
¹⁸⁹

It may suffice to state that the
are … not snake demons … they are preponderatingly of human type—though winged—as they have a face, feet, and evidently, hands, since one of them can handle a pair of thongs. (1949)
¹⁹⁰

The word means “burning ones” in the transitive sense; the fact that it is used to describe the serpents in the wilderness (cf. Num. 21:6,8) has led some commentators here to the illogical conclusion that the seraphim of the vision were serpentine in form…. The seraphim … have the hands, faces, and voices of men, and stand upright; and they have three pairs of wings. (1956)
¹⁹¹

Seraphim (lit. “fiery ones;” the English simply transliterates the Hebrew) elsewhere are serpents (Num 21:6; Isa 14:29; 30:6; cf. 1 Kgs 6:23–28; 2 Kgs 18:4), but here they have six wings. (2001)
¹⁹²

The Seraphim have wings, faces, feet, and human features; these characteristics have confused some scholars who assume they thus cannot be serpents. Near Eastern iconography, as the present book illustrates, is replete with images of serpents with faces, feet, wings, and human features.
¹⁹³
Thus, K. Joines and O. Keel rightly understand this noun, Seraphim, in light of the cobra and the Egyptian uraeus. Both were well known in Palestine during and before the time of the eighth-century prophet Isaiah.
¹⁹⁴
It is interesting to note that the Greek translator chose to transliterate the Hebrew: “seraphim” (
).

The author of
1 Enoch
stated that the archangel Gabriel was in charge of paradise, the serpents (SpaKovteq), and the cherubim. G. W. E. Nickelsburg suggests that these serpents “may be seraphim, identified with the fiery sword of Genesis 3:24.”
¹⁹⁵
The author of
Genesis Rabbah
21:9, on the basis of Psalm 104:4 (God’s ministers are like flaming fire), identified the Genesis sword with angels.
¹⁹⁶

17.

“adder”

Gen 49:17

P for Israel