Serpents in the Bible

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Serpents (

symbol of a serpent or snake played important roles in the religious traditions and cultural life of ancient Greece, Egypt, Mesopotamia, and Canaan.[1] The serpent was a symbol of evil power and chaos from the underworld as well as a symbol of fertility, life, healing, and rebirth.[2]

Nāḥāš (נחש‎),

Hebrew for "snake", is also associated with divination, including the verb form meaning "to practice divination or fortune-telling". Nāḥāš occurs in the Torah to identify the serpent in the Garden of Eden. Throughout the Hebrew Bible, it is also used in conjunction with seraph to describe vicious serpents in the wilderness. The tannin, a dragon monster, also occurs throughout the Hebrew Bible. In the Book of Exodus, the staves of Moses and Aaron are turned into serpents, a nāḥāš for Moses, a tannin for Aaron. In the New Testament, the Book of Revelation makes use of ancient serpent and the Dragon several times to identify Satan or the Devil[3] (Revelation 12:9; 20:2). The serpent is most often identified with the hubristic Satan, and sometimes with Lilith.[3]

The narrative of the Garden of Eden and the

mythological tradition shared by all the Abrahamic religions,[3][4][5][6] with a presentation more or less symbolic of Judeo-Christian morals and religious beliefs,[3][4][7] which had an overwhelming impact on human sexuality, gender roles, and sex differences both in the Western and Islamic civilizations.[3] In mainstream (Nicene) Christianity, the doctrine of the Fall is closely related to that of original sin or ancestral sin.[8] Unlike Christianity, the other major Abrahamic religions, Judaism and Islam, do not have a concept of "original sin", and instead have developed varying other interpretations of the Eden narrative.[3][5][8][9][10][11]

Serpents in Mesopotamian mythology

See also:
Serpent (symbolism) and Snakes in mythology
S.S. Mary and David's Church
, England

In one of the oldest stories ever written, the

life, death, and rebirth
, leading to immortality.

Ningizzida
was sometimes depicted as a serpent with a human head, eventually becoming a god of healing and magic.

Hebrew Bible

Main articles: Genesis creation narrative and Jewish mythology
Christian iconography as a result of the identification of women as the ones responsible for the fall of man and source of the original sin.[3]

In the

King of Babylon to a serpent (Jer 51:34
).

Eden

Medieval illustration of Eve and the serpent in the Garden of Eden. Folio from the Biblia pauperum, 14th–15th century.

The Hebrew word נָחָשׁ (Nāḥāš) is used in the Hebrew Bible to identify the serpent that appears in Genesis 3:1, in the Garden of Eden. In the first book of the Torah, the serpent is portrayed as a deceptive creature or trickster,[1] who promotes as good what God had forbidden and shows particular cunning in its deception. (cf. Genesis 3:4–5 and 3:22) The serpent has the ability to speak and to reason: "Now the serpent was more subtle (also translated as "cunning") than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made".[22] There is no indication in the Book of Genesis that the serpent was a deity in its own right, although it is one of only two cases of animals that talk in the Torah[23] (Balaam's donkey being the other).

God placed

Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, "for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die."[24] The serpent tempts Eve to eat of the tree, but Eve tells the serpent what God had said.[25] The serpent replies that she would not surely die (Genesis 3:4) and that if she eats the fruit of the tree "then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil." (Genesis 3:5) Eve ate the fruit, and gave some to Adam who also ate. God, who was walking in the Garden, learns of their transgression. To prevent Adam and Eve from eating the fruit of the Tree of Life and living forever, they are banished from the garden upon which God posts an angelic guard. The serpent is punished for its role in the Fall, being cursed by God to crawl on its belly
and eat dust.

There is a debate about whether the serpent in Eden should be viewed figuratively or as a literal animal. According to one

Belzebub, or Devil, in the Pentateuch."[28]

20th-century scholars such as W. O. E. Oesterley (1921) were cognizant of the differences between the role of the Edenic serpent in the Hebrew Bible and its connections with the "ancient serpent" in the New Testament.[29] Modern historiographers of Satan such as Henry Ansgar Kelly (2006) and Wray and Mobley (2007) speak of the "evolution of Satan",[30] or "development of Satan".[31]

According to

God's law) rather than an evil spirit or the personification of the Devil, as the later Christian literature erroneously depicted it; moreover, von Rad himself states that the snake is neither a supernatural being nor a demon, but one of the wild animals created by God (Genesis 3:1
), and the only thing that differentiates it from the others in Eden is the ability to speak:

The serpent which now enters the narrative is marked as one of God's created animals (ch. 2.19). In the

history of religions the snake indeed is the sinister, strange animal par excellence [...], and one can also assume that long before, a myth was once at the basis of our narrative. But as it lies now before us, transparent and lucid, it is anything but a myth.[23]

Moses and Aaron

When God had revealed himself to the prophet Moses in Exodus 3:4–22, Moses recognized that the call of God was for him to lead the

slavery, but anticipated that people would deny or doubt his calling. In Exodus 4:1–5, Moses asked God how to respond to such doubt, and God asked him to cast the rod which he carried (possibly a shepherd's crook) [32]
onto the ground, whereupon it became a serpent (a nachash). Moses fled from it, but God encouraged him to come back and take it by the tail, and it became a rod again.

Later in the Book of Exodus (Exodus 7), the staffs of Moses and Aaron were turned into serpents, a nachash for Moses, a tanniyn for Aaron.

Fiery serpents

Further information: Fiery flying serpent and Seraph

"Fiery serpent" (Hebrew: שָׂרָף‎ sārāf; "burning") occurs in the Torah to describe a species of vicious snakes whose venom burns upon contact. According to Wilhelm Gesenius, saraph corresponds to the Sanskrit Sarpa (Jawl aqra), serpent; sarpin, reptile (from the root srip, serpere).[33] These "burning serpents"(YLT) infested the great and terrible place of the desert wilderness (Num.21:4-9; Deut.8:15). The Hebrew word for "poisonous" literally means "fiery", "flaming" or "burning", as the burning sensation of a snake bite on human skin, a metaphor for the fiery anger of God (Numbers 11:1).[34]

The

Temple itself: but these are divine agents, with wings and human faces, and are probably not to be interpreted as serpent-like so much as "flame-like".[36]

Serpent of bronze

Further information: Nehushtan

In the

Hebrew, nehash nehoshet.[2]

Mainstream scholars suggest that the image of the fiery serpent served to function like that of a magical amulet. Magic amulets or charms were used in the ancient Near East[37] to practice a healing ritual known as sympathetic magic in an attempt to ward off, heal or reduce the impact of illness and poisons.[2] Copper and bronze serpent figures have been recovered, showing that the practice was widespread.[37] A Christian interpretation would be that the bronze serpent served as a symbol for each individual Israelite to take their confession of sin and the need for God's deliverance to heart. Confession of sin and forgiveness was both a community and an individual responsibility. The plague of serpents remained an ongoing threat to the community and the raised bronze serpent was an ongoing reminder to each individual for the need to turn to the healing power of God.[2] It has also been proposed that the bronze serpent was a type of intermediary between God and the people[37] that served as a test of obedience, in the form of free judgment,[38] standing between the dead who were not willing to look to God's chosen instrument of healing, and the living who were willing and were healed.[39] Thus, this instrument bore witness to the sovereign power of Yahweh even over the dangerous and sinister character of the desert.[38]

In 2 Kings 18:4, a bronze serpent, alleged to be the one Moses made, was kept in Jerusalem's Temple[2] sanctuary.[35] The Israelites began to worship the object as an idol or image of God, by offering sacrifices and burning incense to it, until Hezekiah was made King. Hezekiah referred to it as Nehushtan[40] and had torn it down. Scholars have debated the nature of the relationship between the Mosaic bronze serpent and Hezekiah's Nehushtan, but traditions happen to link the two.[2]

New Testament

Gospels

In the

Twelve Apostles. Jesus exhorted them, "Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves" (Matthew 10:16). Wilhelm Gesenius notes that even amongst the ancient Hebrews, the serpent was a symbol of wisdom.[41]

In the

Son of Man on a cross (John 3:14–15).[42]

Ivory of Christ treading on the beasts from Genoels-Elderen, with four beasts; the basilisk was sometimes depicted as a bird with a long smooth tail.[43]

Temptation of Christ

In the temptation of Christ, the Devil cites Psalm 91:11–12, "for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and in [their] hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone."[44] He cuts off before verse 13, "Thou shalt tread upon the lion and adder: the young lion and the dragon (tanniyn)[45] shalt thou trample under feet."[46][47]

The serpent in Psalm 91:13 is identified as Satan by Christians:

Genesis 3:15. Sometimes it is pierced by the cross and in one ivory is biting Christ's heel, as in the curse.[50]

Ancient serpent

Serpent (Greek: ὄφις;[51] Trans: Ophis, /ˈo.fis/; "snake", "serpent") occurs in the Book of Revelation as the "ancient serpent"[52] or "old serpent"(YLT) used to describe "the dragon",[20:2] Satan[53] the Adversary,(YLT) who is the devil.[12:9, 20:2] This serpent is depicted as a red seven-headed dragon having ten horns, each housed with a diadem. The serpent battles Michael the Archangel in a War in Heaven which results in this devil being cast out to the earth. While on earth, he pursues the Woman of the Apocalypse and gives power and authority to the Beast. Unable to obtain her, he wages war with the rest of her seed (Revelation 12:1-18). He who has the key to the abyss and a great chain over his hand, binds the serpent for a thousand years. The serpent is then cast into the abyss and sealed within until he is released (Revelation 20:1-3).

In Christian tradition, the "ancient serpent" is commonly identified with the Genesis serpent and as Satan. This identification redefined the Hebrew Bible's concept of Satan ("the Adversary", a member of the Heavenly Court acting on behalf of God to test Job's faith), so that Satan/Serpent became a part of a divine plan stretching from Creation to Christ and the Second Coming.[54]

Religious views

Biblical apocrypha and deuterocanonical books

The first

Vita Adae et Evae) where the devil works with the serpent.[56]

Christianity

In

KJV
).

Following the imagery of chapter 12 of the Book of Revelation, Bernard of Clairvaux had called Mary the "conqueror of dragons", and she was long to be shown crushing a snake underfoot, also a reference to her title as the "New Eve".[57]

Gnosticism

Main article: Gnosticism
Further information:
Gnostic texts, Naassenes, and Ophites
A lion-faced, serpentine deity found on a Gnostic gem in Bernard de Montfaucon's L'antiquité expliquée et représentée en figures may be a depiction of the Demiurge.

worldview along with faith in the ecclesiastical authority.[59][60][61][63]

In

Jesus Christ and creator of the spiritual world, as the true, good God.[59][60][63][64] In the Archontic, Sethian, and Ophite systems, Yaldabaoth (Yahweh) is regarded as the malevolent Demiurge and false god of the Old Testament who generated the material universe and keeps the souls trapped in physical bodies, imprisoned in the world full of pain and suffering that he created.[65][66][67]

However, not all Gnostic movements regarded the creator of the material universe as inherently evil or malevolent.

Early Church Fathers.[59][60][61][63]

See also

References

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  2. ^ a b c d e f Olson 1996, p. 136
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  7. ^ "Catholic Encyclopedia: Adam". www.newadvent.org.
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  9. ^ Kolatch, Alfred J. (2021) [1989]. "Issues in Jewish Ethics: Judaism's Rejection of Original Sin". Jewish Virtual Library. American–Israeli Cooperative Enterprise (AICE). Archived from the original on 9 October 2017. Retrieved 10 April 2021.
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  12. ^ "Storytelling, the Meaning of Life, and The Epic of Gilgamesh". eawc.evansville.edu. Archived from the original on 2011-11-30. Retrieved 2017-11-27.
  13. ^ Gerard Michon. "Meanings of Mathematical Symbols and Scientific Icons". Numericana. Retrieved 2017-11-27.
  14. ^ Gordon Loud, Megiddo II: Plates plate 240: 1, 4, from Stratum X (dated by Loud 1650–1550 BC) and Statum VIIB (dated 1250–1150 BC), noted by Karen Randolph Joines, "The Bronze Serpent in the Israelite Cult" Journal of Biblical Literature 87.3 (September 1968:245-256) p. 245 note 2.
  15. ^ R.A.S. Macalister, Gezer II, p. 399, fig. 488, noted by Joiner 1968:245 note 3, from the high place area, dated Late Bronze Age.
  16. ^ Yigael Yadin et al. Hazor III-IV: Plates, pl. 339, 5, 6, dated Late Bronze Age II (Yadiin to Joiner, in Joiner 1968:245 note 4).
  17. ^ Callaway and Toombs to Joiner (Joiner 1968:246 note 5).
  18. ^ Maurice Viera, Hittite Art (London, 1955) fig. 114.
  19. ^ Leonard W. King, A History of Babylon, p. 72.
  20. ^ Pritchard ANET, 331, noted in Joines 1968:246 and note 8.
  21. ^ E.A. Speiser, Excavations at Tepe Gawra: I. Levels I-VIII, p. 114ff., noted in Joines 1968:246 and note 9.
  22. ^ Genesis 3:1
  23. ^
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  24. ^ Genesis 2:17
  25. ^ Genesis 3:3
  26. ^ Barton, SO "Midrash Rabba to Genesis", sec 20, p.93
  27. ^ Hakira, Vol. 5: Reclaiming the Self: Adam’s Sin and the Human Psyche By Menachem Krakowski
  28. ^ Gorton & Voltaire 1824, p. 22
  29. ^ Oesterley Immortality and the Unseen World: a study in Old Testament religion (1921) "... moreover, not only an accuser but one who tempts to evil. With the further development of Satan as the arch-fiend and head of the powers of darkness we are not concerned here, as this is outside the scope of the Old Testament."
  30. ISBN 978-0-521-84339-3
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  31. ISBN 978-1-4039-6933-0.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link
    )
  32. ^ Keil and Delitzsch, OT Commentary on Exodus 4 http://biblehub.com/commentaries/kad/exodus/4.htm accessed 2015-10-09.
  33. ^ a b Gesenius, Wilhelm & Samuel Prideaux Tregelles (1893). Genenius's Hebrew and Chaldee lexicon to the Old Testament Scriptures. J. Wiley & Sons. p. dccxcv.
  34. ^ Olson 1996, p. 135
  35. ^ a b Noth 1968, p. 156
  36. ^ Hendel 1999, pp. 746–7
  37. ^ a b c Thomas Nelson 2008, p. 172
  38. ^ a b Noth 1968, p. 157
  39. ^ a b Olson 1996, p. 137
  40. ^ Joines, Karen Randolph (1968). The Bronze Serpent in the Israelite Cult The Bronze Serpent in the Israelite Cult. JOBL, 87. p. 245, note 1.
  41. ^ Gesenius, Wilhelm & Samuel Prideaux Tregelles (1893). Genenius's Hebrew and Chaldee lexicon to the Old Testament Scriptures. J. Wiley & Sons. p. dccxcvi.
  42. ^ C. H. Spurgeon, "The Mysteries of the Brazen Serpent" Archived 2013-02-12 at the Wayback Machine, 1857
  43. Wenceslas Hollar
  44. ^ Matthew 4:6)
  45. ^ Strong's Concordance: H8577
  46. ^ (Psalm 91:13 KJV)
  47. ^ Whittaker, H.A. Studies in the Gospels "Matthew 4" Biblia, Cannock 1996
  48. ^ Psalm 91 in the Hebrew/Protestant numbering, 90 in the Greek/Catholic liturgical sequence - see Psalms#Numbering
  49. ISBN 978-0-7546-3178-1, google books
  50. ^ Schiller, I, pp. 112–113, and many figures listed there. See also Index.
  51. ^ Strong's Concordance: G3789
  52. ^ From the Greek: ἀρχαῖος, archaios (/arˈxɛ.os/) - Strong's Concordance Number G744
  53. ^ Σατανᾶς, Satanas, (/sa.taˈnas/) - of Aramaic origin corresponding to Σατάν (G4566) - Strong's Concordance Number G4567
  54. Harris, Stephen L.
    , Understanding the Bible. Palo Alto: Mayfield. 1985.
  55. ^ Alfred von Rohr Sauer, Concordia Theological Monthly 43 (1972): "The Wisdom of Solomon deserves to be remembered for the fact that it is the first tradition to identify the serpent of Genesis 3 with the devil: 'Through the devil's envy death entered the world' (2:24)".
  56. ^ The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha: Expansions of the "Old ... James H. Charlesworth - 1985 "He seeks to destroy men's souls (Vita 17:1) by disguising himself as an angel of light (Vita 9:1, 3; 12:1; ApMos 17:1) to put into men "his evil poison, which is his covetousness" (epithymia, ..."
  57. ISBN 0-85331-270-2
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  63. ^
    JSTOR j.ctt2050vqm.8
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  64. ^ a b c Bousset, Wilhelm (1911). "Valentinus and the Valentinians" . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 27 (11th ed.). pp. 852–857.
  65. OCLC 966607824
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  66. JSTOR 1560677
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  67. ^  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Arendzen, John Peter (1908). "Demiurge". In Herbermann, Charles (ed.). Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 4. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
  68. ^
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Further reading

External links


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