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Bible Dictionaries
Serpent
People's Dictionary of the Bible
or Serpent. The serpent is a creature distinguished for its subtility, Genesis 3:1, and wisdom in avoiding danger, Matthew 10:16, as well as for the instinctive dread which it inspires in man and most animals. About one-sixth of all the species known are venomous. The devil is called "the serpent" and "the old serpent," Revelation 12:9; Revelation 12:14-15, probably in allusion to his subtility and malice, and also to the fact that in tempting our first parents to disobey God he employed a serpent or assumed the form of one. 2 Corinthians 11:3. We frequently find references in Scripture to serpent-charming. Psalms 58:4-5; Ecclesiastes 10:11; Jeremiah 8:17; James 3:7. This practice is still common in the east. Serpent-charmers carry enormous snakes, generally black, about them, allow them to crawl all over their persons and into their bosoms—always, however, with certain precautions, either necessary or pretended to be so. They repeatedly breathe strongly into the face of the serpent, and occasionally blow spittle or some medicated composition upon them. In Psalms 58:4-6, there is evidently an allusion to certain kinds of serpents which cannot be charmed. Such serpents there still are, which the charmer cannot subdue; and instances are related in which they have fallen victims to their daring attempts. When God punished the murmurs of the Israelites in the wilderness by sending among them serpents whose fiery bite was fetal, Moses, upon their repentance, was commanded to make a serpent of brass, whose polished surface shone like fire, and to set it up on the banner-pole in the midst of the people; and whoever was bitten by a serpent had but to look up at it and live. Numbers 21:4-9. This brazen serpent was a type of Christ: "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life." John 3:14-15. To present the serpent form, as deprived of its power to hurt, impaled as the trophy of a conqueror, was to assert that evil, physical and spiritual, had been overcome, and thus help to strengthen the weak faith of the Israelites in a victory over both. The "fiery flying serpent" of Isaiah 30:6 has no relation to the "fiery" or "burning serpents" of Numbers 21:6; Numbers 21:8. The latter were so called from the "fiery" or burning nature of their bite or sting.
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Rice, Edwin Wilbur, DD. Entry for 'Serpent'. People's Dictionary of the Bible. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/rpd/s/serpent.html. 1893.
