FIERY SERPENTS.

The punishment inflicted on the children of Israel by means of the fiery serpents with which they were visited, in consequence of their murmuring against the Lord and Moses, scarcely comes within the scope of our subject. But the curious and novel explanation which Küchenmeister¹ has attempted to give of the brief Biblical account seems deserving of notice, as it is but little known. In Numbers xxi. 4 we read, ' And they journeyed from Mount Hor by the way of the Red Sea, to compass the land of Edom; and the soul of the people was much discouraged because of the way. And the people spake against God and against Moses.' 'And the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people, and much people of Israel died.' In Deut. viii. 15 the same visitation is recorded — 'Who led thee through that great and terrible wilderness, wherein were fiery serpents, and scorpions, and drought, where there was no water.' In the prophecies of Isaiah only do we hear of 'flying fiery serpents 'along with the 'viper.'²

The Hebrew generic term for the serpent tribe is נָחַשׁ, translated by the LXX ὄφις. There has been much discussion as to the particular species by whose bite much people died, without, however, any trustworthy decision having been arrived at. Some have considered it to be the διψάς, one of the Colubers, whose bite is attended by burning pain and inflammatory eruption and great thirst. There is no true flying serpent, although some have the faculty of darting from a distance at the object of their attack. But there is a species of Haye or hooded serpent, which has the power of distending the hood in the form of wings at the side of the head. This or an allied species of serpent is met with at the Cape, and called the 'Pof or Spooch Adder.' In some of the symbolical pictures of the Egyptians there are serpents represented with wings like a bird. The specific term 'fiery' might very well be applied to several serpents met with in the desert of Arabia, whose bite is followed by burning pain, and one of these is supposed to be the שָׂרַפ of Numbers xxi, the ὄφεις τοὺς θανατοῦντας or deadly serpents of the LXX, which can dart from branch to branch of a tree, or fling themselves to the ground.

Now Küchenmeister contends that the Hebrew words rendered 'fiery serpents' ought to have the article before each word οἱ ὄφεις οἱ σεράφιμ, and that as seraphim is derived from שָׂרַפ, it merely signifies that which burns ('is qui comburit'). He therefore thinks it is clear that a 'species of animal is referred to, which is distinguished by the inflammability of its bite, or generally by the inflammation which its presence occasions.' He further maintains that the mode in which הַנְּחֶשׁים הַשְּׂרָפִים annoyed the people is described in the seventh verse: ' Therefore the people came to Moses, and said, We have sinned, for we have Spoken against the Lord, and against thee. Pray unto the Lord, that He take away the serpents from us.' Thejast clause, he says, should be rendered ' that Jehovah may allow to be taken away from upon us.' This he believes is not descriptive of the attacks of snakes, which when they inflict wounds do it without remaining upon the person; they come to him unseen, but not upon him. But it suits very well the Filaria Medinensis, as its seat is immediately beneath the skin, where it gives rise to boils and tumours upon the surface.

This parasitic worm, the Filaria Medinensis, or guinea-worm, was in ancient times reckoned among the serpents, on account of its snake-like form, and was named by the Greeks δρακόντιον = dracunculus, i. e. a species of snake which had something fabulous and inexplicable about it, and which, though from its form it might be considered a serpent, could not with equal propriety, from its nature, pass as a snake. The inflammatory pain and swelling which occur with the breaking out of the worm are very well expressed by ' seraphim.'

The dracunculus, or guinea-worm, has long been known as endemic on the borders of the Red Sea and in the Arabian desert. The first notice of it appears to have been given by Agatharchides³, who is quoted by Plutarch⁴ as narrating that 'the people taken ill near the Red Sea suffered from many strange and unheard-of attacks; amongst others little snakes came out upon them (δρακόντια μικρὰ), which gnawed away their legs and arms, and when touched again retracted themselves up in the muscles, and there gave rise to the most insupportable inflammations.'

This is a correct description of the attacks of a now well-known parasite which is endemic in many parts of the East, and sometimes assumes an epidemic character, as we may suppose was the case during the time of the Exodus, if we can entertain the view of Küchenmeister and some others.

The following are the characters of this parasite, commonly called dracunculus, or guinea-worm, but now classed with the Filariœ, or threadlike worms (filum, a thread). It usually measures from one to three feet in length, but examples have been met with measuring six feet. In breadth it is about one-tenth of an inch. In the adult state it is believed to obtain entrance into the body of a person through those parts which are most exposed, especially the feet and legs. When introduced into the system by drinking infected water, the worm developes in the intestinal canal, and subsequently makes its way to the surface, and this probably is the chief mode by which it obtains entrance. The presence of the worms is first denoted by the pain and inflammation attending their attempted exit through the skin, which becomes swollen and inflamed around the point at which they appear, especially if by unskilful attempts to extract them the worm is broken and a portion left behind. To avoid this, the old method employed by the Persians is still in use. By gentle and continuous traction the exposed portion of the worm is wound around a small stick or bone, till at successive intervals the whole is wound on to the stick and so extracted.

In certain districts the ponds and stagnant pools swarm with microscopic organisms, among which the guinea-worm often abounds. There is then certainly no improbability in the supposition that the Israelites, when suffering from drought, as we know they did, would be likely, from seizing on any water, however foul, to become infested with the Filaria, which from its general form might be spoken of as a serpent, and denominated fiery from its inflammatory and painful effects. And it is certainly more easy to understand how, in this way, large numbers of people should be destroyed rather than by serpent bites in the ordinary way in which they are inflicted. Serpents exist in comparatively small numbers in any locality, and are generally easily seen and guarded against, and whilst their mortal effects are rapidly induced, they are not generally attended by much pain and inflammation, but rather by stupor and depression.

'The Filaria Medinensis! says a recent writer,⁵ 'is met with throughout the western half of the Arabian peninsula, from the most northern part of the Hedjaz province to Aden, and both in the burning sandy plains and mountainous districts. Of 3500 to 4000 Turkish soldiers of an expeditionary force visiting for four months the country of Djebel Chahare in 1877, no less than 2500 men were attacked, and there was an average of four worms in each man, whilst some had 10, 20, 30, or more. The exhausted soldiers on the march got them from drinking of the stagnant pools. The length of the worms was from 4 to 48 inches.'

How far Küchenmeister's view is admissible or satisfactory, we leave to the reader to determine. But whatever opinion may be held as to the particular creature through whose agency the people died, it cannot affect the more important part of the record, which relates to the means by which the mortality was stayed.

'And the Lord said unto Moses, Make thee a fiery serpent and set it upon a pole; and it shall come to pass that every one that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live. And Moses made a serpent of brass, and put it upon a pole, and it came to pass that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass he lived.'

Whatever similitude of form there may be between the Filaria and a serpent, we can scarcely doubt that the brazen image erected by Moses was that of a serpent. Various important considerations would lead us to conclude that the symbol employed was that of a serpent. But it is sufficient to recall the precious use which our Lord makes of the miracle recorded by His servant, in His ever to be remembered words to Nicodemus:

'And as Moses lifted up the serpent (τὸν ὄφιν) 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. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.'

1) Manual of Parasites. Syden. Soc. Edition. Vol. i. p. 390.

2) Isaiah xxx. 6 and xiv. 29.

3) A Greek writer on geography who lived in the second century B.C., the fragments of whose works contain a great deal of information regarding the Nile and the Red Sea.

4) Sympos. viii. 9.

5) Sambolsky, Du Ver de Medine, 1879.