The Good and Evil Serpent (175 page)

215
. See Brockelmann,
LexSyr
, p. 162.

216
. See ‘l’n in Jastrow’s
A Dictionary of the Targumim
, p. 452 and ‘lvn in Soko-loff’s
A Dictionary of Jewish Palestinian Aramaic
, p. 197.

217
. See Löw,
Fauna und Mineralien der Juden
, p. 37.

218
. See Brockelmann,
Lex Syr
, p. 451.

219
. See Löw,
Fauna und Mineralien der Juden
, pp. 37–38.

220
. See I. Löw,
Fauna und Mineralien der Juden
, p. 38.

221
. See Löw,
Fauna und Mineralien der Juden
, p. 40. The noun is not listed in Sokoloff’s
A Dictionary of Jewish Palestinian Aramaic
.

222
. See Löw,
Fauna und Mineralien der Juden
, p. 35.

223
. See L. Stork, “Schlange,”
Lexikon der Ägyptologie
(1983) 4.1 645.

224
. Pap. Brooklyn Mus. No. 47.218.48 and No. 47.218.85. See S. Sauneron,
Un traité Égyptien d’ophiologie
(Cairo, 1989). I am grateful to Diane Bergman (librarian of the Wilbour Library of Egyptology) and Edward Bleiberg (associate curator) for assistance and permission to study this papyrus.

225
. See Appendix II; also see C. Leitz,
Die Schlangennamen in den ägyptischen und griechischen Giftbüchern
(Mainz, Stuttgart, 1997) pp. 16–17. The attempt to give the Latin names developed by biologists to each Greek name misses four points: such precision is anachronistic, the ancients usually did not know about the types of snakes, they often thought generically, and they were often inconsistent.

226
. This is the only meaning supplied by KBL, 2.528.

227
. See
OED
1.92.

228
. See also Muraoka,
Hebrew/Aramaic Index to the Septuagint
, p. 75.

229
. See Lev 11:30, first word in the list of unclean reptiles; also note the meaning given in KBL 1.70. J. Milgrom also prefers gecko for
hä’änäqä
. See his masterful
Leviticus 1–16
(Anchor Yale Bible; Garden City, N.Y., 1991; rpt. New Haven) p. 671.

230
. In his
Hexapla
, Origen gave an explanation for only the last word in the list; cf. F. Field,
Origenis Hexaplorum
(Oxford, 1875) 1.186.

231
. B. A. Levine opted for “lizard;” see his
Leviticus
(Philadelphia, New York, 5749/1989) p. 69.

232
. Consult I. J. Gleb et al.,
The Assyrian Dictionary
6.230 or R. Payne Smith,
Thesaurus Syriacus
1.1284–85. The Aramaic noun NDOin is not listed in the most recent Aramaic lexicons; that is, it is in neither Sokoloff’s
A Dictionary of Jewish Palestinian Aramaic
(1990) nor Koehler-Baumgartner’s
The Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament: Aramaic
, vol. 5 (2000).

233
. See the passages noted in LSJM 691.

234
. Most exegetes, commentators, and translators have wisely not opted for “the swarming [flying] thing that swarms [flies] over the earth,” which would exclude snakes. Nevertheless, some early Jewish thinkers were free to choose that rendering.

235
. See the passages cited in Sokoloff’s
A Dictionary of Jewish Palestinian Aramaic
, p. 568. Note also that the compilers of
Perek Shirah
, in chapter 6, have the “Creeping Creatures” and the “Prolific Creeping Creatures” praising God, quoting respectively Pss 104:31 and 128:3. For the Hebrew and English translation, see Slifkin,
Nature’s Song
, p. 35.

236
. The plural of
seret
appears in Rashi’s commentary; the noun does not appear in the plural in the Hebrew Bible.

237
. I am indebted to Slifkin for this reference; see his
Nature’s Song
, p. 412.

238
. I have enjoyed and benefited from conversations on this perspective with A. M. V. Capers.

239
. The Hebrew noun
, cf. Akkadian
nammastû(m)
, is not to be confused with the Rabbinic
, “evening” (which also appears as a loanword in Syriac
. The noun
means “crawling,” but in extant texts it does not clearly denote a snake (cf. the verb in Ps 104:20: all the beasts of the forest “crawl” about in the darkness of night). It specifies a worm (cf. Sir 10:11 [the Greek is
]) or an eel or sea monster (Ps 104:25). In Ps 148:10
, “creeping things” is contrasted to “a flying fowl.” It appears in CD 12.12 and denote “swarming creatures,” like locusts.” Cf. also 4Q381 Frg. 1.10; perhaps restore
. It is odd to observe that in T. Muraoka’s
Hebrew/Aramaic Index to the Septuagint
(Grand Rapids, 1998) WOT is said to equal èprestôç, which denote a “reptile” including a snake.

240
. Among those experts who should be celebrated, few are as renowned as Elisha Qimron. He has demonstrated how the Qumran Scrolls have increased our knowledge of Hebrew vocabulary. See his numerous publications, especially his well-known grammar of Qumran Hebrew.

241
. The supplement begins in the compact edition in vol. 2, pp. 3873 ff. The new entry would appear in vol. 2 on p. 3880.

242
. See, e.g., Brockelmann,
LexSyr
, p. 220a.

243
. In Ethiopic we find a word for “life”
(hiwat)
but no cognate, as in Arabic, Persian, Aramaic, and Syriac, to it for snake.

244
. See Lane,
Arabic-English Lexicon
Book I, Part 1 (1863) ad loc. cit. Ch. Clermont-Ganneau reported that the Bedouins know a snake they call
haiyé taiyâra
, “flying serpent.” See his “Les cerfs mangeurs de serpents,”
Recueil d’Archéologie Orientale
(Paris, 1901) pp. 319–22.

245
. F. Steingass,
A Comprehensive Persian-English Dictionary
(London, 1947) p. 434.

246
. In Samaritan Aramaic NVJPO denote “snake.” I am grateful to Professor D. Talshir for discussions on the Aramaic words for “snake.”

247
. See esp.
The Hymn of the Pearl
, 13 and 58; also see R. Payne Smith,
Thesaurus Syriacus
(1879) vol. 1, col. 1254 and col. 1210; Brockelmann,
LexSyr
(1928) pp. 173, 220.

248
. Wellhausen,
Prolegomena zur Geschichte Israels
(Berlin, 1886 [3rd ed.]) p. 322; see the 4th ed., p. 313.

249
. Trans. C. D. Yonge,
The Works of Philo
(Peabody, Mass., 1993) p. 182. Contrast the translation by F. H. Colson and G. H. Whitaker,
Philo
(Cambridge, Mass., London, 1988) vol. 3, pp. 156–57: “He did not liken the faculty to the serpent that played the friend and gave advice to ‘Life’—to whom in our own language we call ‘Eve.’ “ Philo’s Greek is not clear, but I think he intends to suggest that Eve is the serpent and not the one to whom the serpent gave advice. Cf.
Midrash Rabbah
on Gen 3:20; Hawwäh “played the eavesdropper like the serpent …. Aha interpreted it: The serpent was thy [Eve’s] serpent [i.e. seducer], and thou art Adam’s serpent.” See H. Freedman and M. Simon, trans.,
Midrash Rabbah
(London, 1939) pp. 169–70. This exegesis may reflect some philological reflections similar to those of Philo.