Whatever strange theological ideas we may hold about snakes, they are first of all animals, part of the creation that God so carefully and majestically put together. To think of the snake as, foremost, anything else is to do God an injustice. This means that our strange urge to kill every snake we see is not of God; would God ever create such "good" creatures just so that we can kill them off straight away?
The English word "snake" translates at least a dozen different Hebrew words, of which a number are hapax legomena. The broad range of words may represent an early attempt to identity specifically some of the more than 30 species of snakes native to Palestine (of which only six are venomous). The most common and generic term for snakes is nachash and sarap. Sarap, if it is derived from the same root of the word for "burning," may indicate snakes with particularly nasty bites. On two occasions these seraps are also said to be "flying" (NRS, NKJ, Isa 14:29; 30:6); this ability is "fly" should probably be understood in terms of their speed of movement rather than the ability for aerial locomotion (NIV's "darting snakes" is, therefore, probably a better translation). There are so-called "flying snakes." They don't actually fly but by flattening out their belly they are able to glide from a higher location to a lower one; the Malayan Paradise Tree Snake is a good example, but it is not known that any such "flying snakes" are found in Palestine.
Surprisingly, among the animals that God made and first received His blessings are the tannim, a word that is sometimes translated 'snake' (Gen 1:21, cf. Exo 7:9, 10, 12).
We encounter snakes rarely in life, even for those who live in rural areas; snakes avoid human contacts whenever possible. When they do, however, it is almost always dramatic; either someone was bitten or eaten, or the size of the snake is enormous. This too is reflected in the Bible, though the ancient Israelites and their neighbours probably had more opportunities for such encounters than we do.
The snake appears in a non-figurative, non-theological context in the Bible at Deut 8:15, where Moses reminds the people of God's gracious goodness towards them by recalling how Yahweh had "led you through the vast and dreadful desert, that thirsty and waterless land, with its venomous snakes and scorpions. He brought you water out of hard rock." The snake as one of the dangers of traveling through the wilderness is also the subject of Isa 30:6: "An oracle concerning the animals of the Negev: Through a land of hardship and distress, of lions and lionesses, of adders and darting snakes, the envoys carry their riches on donkeys' backs, their treasures on the humps of camels, to that unprofitable nation,. . ." Snakes are, of course, not only a danger in the wilderness. Snakes can and do wander into the house and lurk in unseen, unexpected places as Amos so dramatically warns those who longed for the Day of the LORD, "Woe to you who long for the day of the LORD! Why do you long for the day of the LORD? That day will be darkness, not light. It will be as though a man fled from a lion only to meet a bear, as though he entered his house and rested his hand on the wall only to have a snake bite him" (5:18-19). This also is the basis of the Preacher's remark at Eccl 10:8, "Whoever digs a pit may fall into it; whoever breaks through a wall may be bitten by a snake." The almost magical ways snakes can move unhindered over rocky crevasses is one of the four wonders of nature that eludes the wiseman's understanding: "There are three things that are too amazing for me, four that I do not understand: the way of an eagle in the sky, the way of a snake on a rock, the way of a ship on the high seas, and the way of a man with a maiden" (Prov 30:18-19).
Snake bites are reported in Num 21:6ff, when Yahweh sent venomous snakes among the complaining Israelites to punish them, but the most memorable is probably that of Paul the apostle when he was shipwrecked on the island of Malta (Acts 28:4-5).
Low C. H.
©Alberith, 2017