The Good and Evil Serpent (170 page)

2
. In this appendix, I recognize that the reader will probably be a scholar trained in Semitics, but I will attempt, when possible, to include the nonspecialist.

3
. T. K. Cheyne, “Serpent,”
Encyclopedia Biblica
(New York, London, 1902) 4.4391.

4
. E. E. Day and G. D. Jordan, “Serpent,”
ISBE
(fully revised) (Grand Rapids, 1988) 4.417–18; see p. 417, “The OT has eleven Hebrew terms for serpents.”

5
. In Rabbinic Hebrew there are additional nonbiblical Hebrew nouns that denote snakes or serpents: “dragon-snake” (“ppTT) in the
b. B. Bat
. 16b and “dragon-snake” (hmp-n) in
b. Ber
. 62b.

6
. A good, but not comprehensive, list is found in R. C. Stallman, “
,”
Dictionary of Old Testament Theology and Exegesis
, ed. W. A. VanGemeren (Grand Rapids, 1997) 5.84–88. For studies of
hapax legomena
, see H. R. Cohen,
BiblicalHapax Legomena in the Light of Akkadian and Ugaritic
(Missoula, Mont., 1978) and F. E. Greenspahn,
Hapax Legomena in Biblical Hebrew
(Chico, Calif., 1984).

7
. See, e.g., Stallman, “Reptiles,”
Dictionary of Old Testament Theology and Exegesis
, 4.1129–32.

8
. M.-L. Henry, professor in Hamburg, reports that “Luther übersetzt alle Arten mit Otter,
sepha’
und
siph’öni
mit Basilisk,
qippöz
mit Natter.” Henry, “Schlange,”
BHH
(1966) vol. 3, cols. 1699–1701; the quotation is on col. 1700.

9
. See the following rather popular work: K. Zimniok,
Die Schlange das unbekannte Wesen
(Hanover, 1984).

10
. Many complex meanings of the serpent are found in O. Seel’s
Der Physiologus: Tiere und ihre Symbolik Übertragen und erläutert
(Zürich, 1995 [7th ed.]), but they are not critically evaluated and are too impressionistic.

11
. See the questions raised by C. Paul-Stengel in her
Schlangenspuren: Reptilien in der Kulturgeschichte
(Königstein/Taunus, 1996) pp. 156–68.

12
. Of the numerous publications, see M. Lurker,
Symbol: Mythos und Legende in der Kunst
(Baden-Baden, 1984) esp. p. 60; E. J. Edelstein and L. Edelstein,
Asclepius: Collection and Interpretation of the Testimonies
, 2 vols. (Baltimore, London, 1945, 1998); K. Kerenyi,
Der Göttliche Arzt: Studien über Asklepios und seine Kultstätten
(Darmstadt, 1956); and H. A. Cahn, “Asklepios,”
LIMC
II.1.863–901 (text) and
LIMC
II.2.631–69.

13
. I am preparing for publication an early Roman vase with numerous serpents depicted on it. It was discovered by Clermont-Ganneau near Bethzatha at the end of the nineteenth century. It is now housed in the Palestinian Exploration Fund archives in London. For a succinct and popular article on serpent symbolism, see R. S. Bianchi, “The Ancient Mediterranean Good and Evil Snakes,”
Faces: The Magazine About People
(October 1995) 6–9.

14
. In his commentary on Gen 3, A. Clarke claimed that if it were a serpent that tempted the woman, then he went about on his tail before the Fall. See the rebuttal by J. Bellamy in his
The Ophion; or the Theology of the Serpent, and the Unity of God
(London, 1811) p. 7.

15
. For example, see the four-footed seven-headed serpent-dragon according to an Old Akkadian seal from about 2200
BEC
(ANET
no. 691; also see no. 671). Also see the picture of a serpent with human arms and legs in Brooklyn Museum Papyrus 47.218.156 of the fourth or third century
BCE
. See especially S. Sauneron,
Le Papyrus magique illustre de Brooklyn [Brooklyn Museum 47.218.156]
(Oxford, New York, 1970). Consult A. Roitman, “ ‘Crawl upon your belly’ (Gen 3.14): The Physical Aspect of the Serpent in Early Jewish Exegesis,”
Tarbiz
64 (1994) 157–82 (Hebrew); for serpents with legs, see illustrations. See the numerous drawings from Egypt of serpents with legs in K. Michalowski,
LArt de l’ancienne Égypte
, esp. Illus. Nos. 386, 391, 392, 505. Also see Fig. 27 in this work.

16
. See H. W. Greene and D. Cundall, “Limbless Tetrapods and Snakes with Legs,”
Science
287 (2000) 1939–41 and E. Tchernov et al., “A Fossil Snake with Limbs,”
Science
287 (2000) 2010–12.

17
. See R. Bauchot, ed.,
Schlangen
, trans. C. Ronsiek (Augsburg, 1994) p. 30 (photograph) and p. 60 (statement).

18
. See the illustrations of “Demons, monsters and minor protective deities” in J. Black and A. Green,
Gods, Demons and Symbols of Ancient Mesopotamia: An Illustrated Dictionary
(London, 1992, 1998) Illus. No. 53.

19
. See Sauneron,
Le Papyrus magique illustre de Brooklyn
, esp. pp. vii-29; also see Figs. 2 and 3.

20
. PrJac 8 in OTP 2.721; trans. J. H. Charlesworth.

21
. O. Keel,
Das Recht der Bilder gesehen zu werden
. (Freiburg, Göttingen, 1992). Also see O. Keel and C. Uehlinger,
Gods, Goddesses, and Images of God in Ancient Israel
, trans. T. H. Trapp (Minneapolis, 1998) and A. Berlejung,
Die Theologie der Bilder
(Freiburg, Göttingen, 1998).

22
. W. Kramp,
Protest der Schlange: Signale zum Umdenken
(Berlin, 1981).

23
. F. S. Bodenheimer, in
(Jerusalem, 1949) p. 338, suggests that the noun represents the
echis carinatus
or
echis colorata
.

24
. L. Alonso Schökel et al., in
Diccionario bíblico hebreo-español
(Madrid, 1994), gives the meaning of “asp,” and “viper,” p. 84.

25
. A. Bahat and M. Mishor,
Dictionary of Contemporary Hebrew
(Jerusalem, 1995) p. 39 (Hebrew-to-Hebrew lexicon). Even if
echis colorata
is appropriate today, we have no means to discern what species of the snake was in the mind or eyes of an ancient author or writer.

26
. So also H.-J. Fabry in
TDOT
9.359.

27
. Much valuable information and reflection appears in E. Küster,
Die Schlange in der griechischen Kunst und Religion
(Giessen, 1913).

28
. This Greek noun is not found in the LXX, but Aquila used it to translate nVQN in Isa 59:5. See W. Foerster, “s/iöva,”
TDNT
2.815–16. The LXX has ßaaiAiaKoc,.

29
. See 1QH
^a
10.28 [= Sukenik 2] (here the noun means “emptiness”); 11.12 [Sukenik 3], 17, 18). See Charlesworth et al.,
GCDS
(Tübingen, Louisville, 1991).

30
. In the Hellenistic and Roman periods, the region was called “Batanea.” See J. C. Slayton, “Bashan,”
AYBD
1.623–24. With different vocalization the consonants can denote Beth Shan (Scythopolis); see N. Jechielis,
Aruch Completum sive Lexicon Vocab-ula et Res, quae in Libris Targumicis, Talmudicis et Midraschicis
(1970) vol. 1, p. 207.

31
. See, e.g., F. Brown, S. R. Driver, and C. A. Briggs.
A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament
(Oxford, 1907) 143.

32
. Cf. the Vulgate: Dixit Dominus: “Ex Basan convertam, /convertam in profun-dum maris.”

33
. None is cited in BHS for this construct.

34
. The Syriac is an idiomatic expression; John Mard., apud
Bibliotheca Orientalis Clementino-Vaticana
2.227, uses the same phrase but with the Syriac word for lion, which qualifies and explains the whole phrase: “from the house of the teeth of a lion” (i.e., “from within a lion’s mouth surrounded by teeth” or simply, idiomatically, “from a lion’s teeth”). See R. Payne Smith,
Thesaurus Syriacus
2.4231.

35
. The word is not cited in M. Sokoloff,
A Dictionary of Jewish Palestinian Aramaic of the Byzantine Period
(Ramat-Gan, Israel, 1990), nor is it discussed in E. Qim-ron,
The Hebrew of the Dead Sea Scrolls
, (Atlanta, 1986).

36
. In modern Hebrew,
basan
denote the large black snake in the Golan.

37
. Ugaritic
btn
become
bsn
in Hebrew and is equal to
bsm
in Akkadian with the
n
to
m
shift. I am grateful to Professor J. J. M. Roberts for discussing this issue with me.

38
. Spirantized
t
becomes unspirantized in Aramaic, and
b
shifts to
p
. See “|XI9, which means “snake,” in Sokoloff,
A Dictionary of Jewish Palestinian Aramaic
, p. 456.

39
. KBL 1.165.

40
. F. C. Fensham, “Ps 68:23 in the Light of Recently Discovered Ugaritic Tablets,”
JNES
19 (1960) 292–93. Fensham restores and translates Ps 68:3 as follows: “From the hole of the snake (or Bashan) I will bring back” (p. 293).

41
. A very similar translation is found in the NKJV and defended by M. E. Tate: “(He is) the Lord who says, / ‘I will bring back from Bashan, / I will bring back from the depths of the sea, / so that you may shake the blood off your feet, / (and) the tongues of your dogs may have a portion from the enemy!’ “ See Tate,
Psalms 51–100
(Dallas, 1990) p. 161. A translation similar to that of Tate appears in H.-J. Kraus,
Psalms 60–150
, trans. H. C. Oswald (Minneapolis, 1989) p. 45. Note how this translation has become standard; see S. Terrien: “Adonai said, I’ll bring back from Bashan; / I’ll bring back from the abysses of the sea, / To let you bathe your feet in the blood of your foes, / And even your dogs’ tongues will share in it!” (Terrien,
The Psalms
[Grand Rapids, 2003] p. 487).

42
. W. F. Albright, “A Catalogue of Early Hebrew Lyric Poems (Psalm LXVII),”
HUCA
23 (1950–1951) part 1, pp. 1–39.

43
. Note Albright’s words: “The bicolon is undoubtedly of Canaanite origin; the name
YHWH
has displaced original
Ba’al.”
Albright,
HUCA
23 (1950–1951) part 1, p. 27.

44
. A. Weiser also suggested this emendation. See his
The Psalms
, trans. H. Hartwell (Philadelphia, 1962) ad loc. cit.

45
. Albright,
HUCA
23 (1950–1951) part 1, p. 28.

46
. M. E. Tate rightly states that Albright’s rendering demands “obviously too much emendation,” but that Bashan as “serpent” has been accepted by many experts. See Tate,
Psalms 51–100
, p. 167.

47
. Albright,
HUCA
23 (1950–1951) part 1, p. 27.

48
. See Albright,
BASOR
46 (1932) 19; and Albright,
HUCA
23 (1950–1951) part 1, p. 27.

49
. See D. J. A. Clines,
DCH
(Sheffield, 1995) vol. 2, p. 281, in which a second meaning is wisely given to |W2: “snake.”

50
. C. Virolleaud,
Le palais royald’Ugarit II
(Paris, 1957) pp. 4–5 and Plate IV.

51
. Also, see 15.134 rev.
T.bsnt.trth[s;
Virolleaud,
Le palais royal d’Ugarit
, p. 6.

52
. in can denote a “hole” for people (1 Sam 14:11, Job 30:6) or a “den” for animals (Nah 3:13[12]). How can we explain the loss of a noun in Ps 68:23? On the one hand, copyists often miss a word in transcribing and one does not have to appeal for some homeoteleuton. The Qumran Scrolls, including the carefully copied biblical sacred texts, abound with supralinear corrections; that is, a word was missed by a copyist and he or a later scribe placed it above the line. These words, added above others, supply phrases or even clauses that were missed in transcribing. On the other hand, if the text had been read out loud and the laryngeal not carefully enunciated, then “hor” may have been lost in poor elocution or hearing (elderly scribes could have benefited by a hearing aid). We should assume that some of our texts are lacking words; thus, they may not be so extremely cryptic originally.