פתן. Deut. xxxii, 33; Job xx, 14, 16; Psalm lviii, 4; xci, 13;
Isaiah xi, 8. A very venomous serpent, whose poison is so subtle as to
kill within a few hours with a universal gangrene. This may well refer
to the _bæten_ of the Arabians, which M. Forskal describes as spotted
with black and white, about one foot in length, and nearly half an inch
in thickness, oviparous, and whose bite is death. It is the _aspic_ of
the ancients, and is so called now by the literati of Cyprus, though the
common people call it _kufi_, (κȣ́φη,) _deaf_. With the PETHEN we may
connect the _python_ of the Greeks, which was, according to fable, a
huge serpent that had an oracle at mount Parnassus, famous for
predicting future events. Apollo is said to have slain this serpent, and
hence he was called “Pythius.” Those possessed with a spirit of
divination were also styled Πυθωνες. The word occurs in Acts, xvi, 16,
as the characteristic of a young woman who had _a pythonic spirit_. It
is well known that the _serpent_ was particularly employed by the
Heathens in their enchantments and divinations. See SERPENT].
Pethen, פתן, is variously translated in our version; but interpreters
generally consider it as referring to the asp. Zophar alludes to it more
than once in his description of a wicked man: “Yet his meat in his
bowels is turned, it is the gall of asps within him. He shall suck the
poison of asps: the viper’s tongue shall slay him.” The venom of asps is
the most subtle of all; it is incurable; and, if the wounded part be not
instantly amputated, it speedily terminates the existence of the
sufferer. To these circumstances, Moses evidently alludes in his
character of the Heathen: “Their wine is the poison of dragons, and the
cruel venom of asps.” To tread upon the asp is attended with extreme
danger; therefore, to express in the strongest manner the safety which
the godly man enjoys under the protection of his heavenly Father, it is
promised, that he shall tread with impunity upon these venomous
creatures. No person of his own accord approaches the hole of these
deadly reptiles; for he who gives them the smallest disturbance is in
extreme danger of paying the forfeit of his rashness with his life.
Hence, the Prophet Isaiah, predicting the conversion of the Gentiles to
the faith of Christ, and the glorious reign of peace and truth in those
regions which, prior to that period, were full of horrid cruelty,
marvellously heightens the force of the whole description by declaring,
“The sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned
child shall put his hand on the cockatrice’ den. They shall not hurt nor
destroy in all my holy mountain; for the earth shall be full of the
knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.”
Isaiah xi, 8. A very venomous serpent, whose poison is so subtle as to
kill within a few hours with a universal gangrene. This may well refer
to the _bæten_ of the Arabians, which M. Forskal describes as spotted
with black and white, about one foot in length, and nearly half an inch
in thickness, oviparous, and whose bite is death. It is the _aspic_ of
the ancients, and is so called now by the literati of Cyprus, though the
common people call it _kufi_, (κȣ́φη,) _deaf_. With the PETHEN we may
connect the _python_ of the Greeks, which was, according to fable, a
huge serpent that had an oracle at mount Parnassus, famous for
predicting future events. Apollo is said to have slain this serpent, and
hence he was called “Pythius.” Those possessed with a spirit of
divination were also styled Πυθωνες. The word occurs in Acts, xvi, 16,
as the characteristic of a young woman who had _a pythonic spirit_. It
is well known that the _serpent_ was particularly employed by the
Heathens in their enchantments and divinations. See SERPENT].
Pethen, פתן, is variously translated in our version; but interpreters
generally consider it as referring to the asp. Zophar alludes to it more
than once in his description of a wicked man: “Yet his meat in his
bowels is turned, it is the gall of asps within him. He shall suck the
poison of asps: the viper’s tongue shall slay him.” The venom of asps is
the most subtle of all; it is incurable; and, if the wounded part be not
instantly amputated, it speedily terminates the existence of the
sufferer. To these circumstances, Moses evidently alludes in his
character of the Heathen: “Their wine is the poison of dragons, and the
cruel venom of asps.” To tread upon the asp is attended with extreme
danger; therefore, to express in the strongest manner the safety which
the godly man enjoys under the protection of his heavenly Father, it is
promised, that he shall tread with impunity upon these venomous
creatures. No person of his own accord approaches the hole of these
deadly reptiles; for he who gives them the smallest disturbance is in
extreme danger of paying the forfeit of his rashness with his life.
Hence, the Prophet Isaiah, predicting the conversion of the Gentiles to
the faith of Christ, and the glorious reign of peace and truth in those
regions which, prior to that period, were full of horrid cruelty,
marvellously heightens the force of the whole description by declaring,
“The sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned
child shall put his hand on the cockatrice’ den. They shall not hurt nor
destroy in all my holy mountain; for the earth shall be full of the
knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.”