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SERPENT.—
1. nâchâsh, generic name (cf. Arab. [Note: Arabic.] chanash), Gen_3:1; Gen_3:3 etc.; the most commonly used word, occurs frequently.
2. ‘eph’eh (root to ‘groan’ or ‘hise,’ cf. Arab [Note: Arabic.] , af‘a) is applied to the viper (Job_20:16, Isa_30:6; Isa_59:6).
3. ‘akshûb, Psa_140:3 ‘adder.’ The root meaning (cf. Arab. [Note: Arabic.] ‘akasa) seems to be ‘bending back,’ as a serpent does before striking.
4. pethen, tr. [Note: translate or translation.] ‘asp,’ Deu_32:33, Job_20:14, Isa_11:8; tr. [Note: translate or translation.] ‘adder,’ Psa_58:4, where it is referred to as the favourite of the serpent-charmer.
5. shĕîphôn Gen_49:17, tr. [Note: translate or translation.] ‘adder,’ AVm [Note: Authorized Version margin.] ‘arrowsnake,’ RVm [Note: Revised Version margin.] ‘horned snake’ (cf. Arab. [Note: Arabic.] sheffûn).
6. tsepha‘, Isa_14:29, AV [Note: Authorized Version.] ‘cockatrice,’ RV [Note: Revised Version.] ‘basilisk,’ EVm ‘adder.’
7. tsiphô‘nî, Pro_23:32 ‘adder’; Isa_11:8; Isa_59:6, Jer_8:17, ‘cockatrice,’ RV [Note: Revised Version.] ‘hasllisk,’ mg. ‘ar adder.’
8. qippôz. Isa_34:15, AV [Note: Authorized Version.] ‘great owl,’ RV [Note: Revised Version.] ‘arrowsnake.’ See Owl.
9. sârâph. Isa_14:29; Isa_30:6 ‘fiery serpent,’ coupled with nâchâsh in Num_21:6, Deu_8:15.
10. zôch ãl ç ’âphâr, Deu_32:24; zôch ãl ç’ erets, Mic_7:17; some creature that glides on or into the earth, probably therefore a serpent. Cf. Worm, 5.
11. tannîn, tr. [Note: translate or translation.] ‘serpent,’ Exo_7:9-10; Exo_7:12, RVm [Note: Revised Version margin.] ‘any large reptile’; Psa_91:13, AV [Note: Authorized Version.] and RV [Note: Revised Version.] ‘dragon.’ See Dragon.
12. (Gr.) echidna—any poisonous serpent (Mat_3:7; Mat_12:34; Mat_23:33, Luk_3:7, Act_28:3).
Serpents are very common in the Holy Land and in the wilderness to the south. Over 30 species are known. Though the great majority are really harmless, all are dreaded by the natives, and several kinds are most deadly. Fatal snake bites are by no means uncommon; the writer knows of seven cases at first hand. The Egyptian cobra (Naja haji) is found, but fortunately is not common. It is the favourite with snake-charmers, and is very probably the pethen, tr. [Note: translate or translation.] ‘asp’ in OT. It was held in much veneration by the ancient Egyptians, and a little bronze serpent recently found in the excavations of ancient Gezer—probably an object of worship in pre-Israelite times—was of this form. Another very dangerous snake is the horned sandsnake (Cerastes hasselguistii), supposed to be the ‘asp of Cleopatra.’ It lies in ambush (Gen_49:17) in depressions of the road and bites the passer-by. It is called by the Arabs shiffûn, which corresponds to the Heb. shĕîphôn. Other poisonous Palestine snakes belonging, like the last mentioned, to the viper family are Vipera euphratica, V. ammodytes, Daboia xanthina—a large, nocturnal species—and the small Echis arenicola which haunts sandy deserts. These vipers are all included under the Heb. ’eph‘eh (Arab. [Note: Arabic.] af’a). The viper of Act_28:3 was probably Vipera aspis, which is common on most of the larger isles of the Mediterranean, though extinct in Malta. The expression ‘fiery serpent’ probably refers to the burning sensation produced by the bite; in Psa_140:3 their poison is supposed to reside in their tongues.
Some of the references to serpents do not apparently refer to any natural object. This view is taken in the translation in Isa_14:29 of tsepha‘, and in Isa_11:3; Isa_59:5, Jer_8:17 of tsiph’ ônî, where ‘cockatrice’ occurs in AV [Note: Authorized Version.] and ‘basilisk’ in RV [Note: Revised Version.] . The former was, among early English writers, a creature with a head and body like a cock, but the tail of a serpent, with a sting at its extremity. The basiliskos of the LXX [Note: Septuagint.] was probably the golden urœus, the ornament of the royal headdress among the Egyptians. There is no clear reason why in the passages quoted the references should not be to an actual species of snake. The reference in Amo_9:3 to the serpent (nâchâsh) at the bottom of the sea may have some reference to the Babylonian myth of Tiâmat. See also Dragon and Leviathan. For the serpent of Gen_3:1-24 See Fall (4), and Satan, p. 829b f.
E. W. G. Masterman.