In Egypt and other oriental countries, a serpent was the common
symbol of a powerful monarch; it was embroidered on the robes of
princes, and blazoned on their diadem, to signify their absolute power
and invincible might, and that, as the wound inflicted by the basilisk
is incurable, so the fatal effects of their displeasure were neither to
be avoided nor endured. These are the allusions involved in the address
of the prophet, to the irreconcilable enemies of his nation: “Rejoice
not thou, whole Palestina, because the rod of him that smote thee is
broken; for out of the serpent’s roots shall come forth a cockatrice,
and his fruit shall be a fiery flying serpent,” Isaiah xiv, 29. Uzziah,
the king of Judah, had subdued the Philistines; but taking advantage of
the weak reign of Ahaz, they again invaded the kingdom of Judea, and
reduced some cities in the southern part of the country under their
dominion. On the death of Ahaz, Isaiah delivers this prophecy,
threatening them with a more severe chastisement from the hand of
Hezekiah, the grandson of Uzziah, by whose victorious arms they had been
reduced to sue for peace; which he accomplished, when “he smote the
Philistines, even unto Gaza and the borders thereof,” 2 Kings xviii, 8.
Uzziah, therefore, must be meant by the rod that smote them, and by the
serpent from whom should spring the fiery flying serpent, that is,
Hezekiah, a much more terrible enemy than even Uzziah had been. But the
symbol of regal power which the oriental kings preferred to all others,
was the basilisk. This fact is attested by its Arabian name _melecha_,
from the Hebrew verb _malach_, “to reign;” from its Greek name
ϐασιλίσκος, and its Latin name _regulus_: all of which, it is asserted,
referred to the conspicuous place it occupied among the regal ornaments
of the east. The basilisk is of a reddish colour, and its head is
decorated with a crest in the form of a crown; it is not entirely
prostrate, like other serpents, but moves along with its head and half
the body erect; the other parts sweep the ground behind,
And wind its spacious back in rolling spires.
All the other species of serpents are said to acknowledge the
superiority of the real or the fabled basilisk, by flying from its
presence, and hiding themselves in the dust. It is also supposed to live
longer than any other serpent; the ancient Heathens therefore pronounced
it immortal, and placed it in the number of their deities; and because
it had the dangerous power, in general belief, of killing with its
pestiferous breath the strongest animals, it seemed to then invested
with the power of life and death. It became, therefore, the favourite
symbol of kings; and was employed by the prophet, to symbolize the great
and good Hezekiah, with strict propriety.
2. The cerastes, or horned snake. The only allusion to this species of
serpent in the sacred volume occurs in the valedictory predictions of
Jacob, where he describes the character and actions of Dan and his
posterity: “Dan shall be a serpent by the way, an adder, שפיפון, in the
path, that biteth the horse’s heels, so that his rider shall fall
backward,” Gen. xlix, 17. It is indisputably clear, that the patriarch
intended some kind of serpent; for the circumstances will not apply to a
freebooter watching for his prey. It only remains to investigate the
species to which it belongs. The principal care of the Jewish writers is
to ascertain the etymology of the name, about which their sentiments are
much divided. The Arabian authors quoted by Bochart inform us, that the
_sephiphon_ is a most pernicious reptile, and very dangerous to man. It
is of a sandy colour, variegated with black and white spots. The
particulars in the character of Dan, however, agree better with the
cerastes, or horned snake, than with any other species of serpent. It
lies in wait for passengers in the sand, or in the rut of the wheels on
the highway. From its lurking place it treacherously bites the horse’s
heels, so that the rider falls backward, in consequence of the animal’s
hinder legs becoming almost immediately torpid by the dreadful activity
of the poison. The cerastes is equally formidable to man and the lower
animals; and the more dangerous, because it is not easy to distinguish
him from the sand in which he lies; and he never spares the helpless
traveller who unwarily comes within his reach. Like the cerastes, Dan
was to excel in cunning and artifice, to prevail against his enemies
rather by his policy in the cabinet than by his valour in the field.
3. The seraph, or fiery flying serpent, to a Biblical student, is one of
the most interesting creatures that has yet been mentioned. It bears the
name of an order among the hosts of heaven, whom Isaiah beheld in
vision, placed above the throne of Jehovah in the temple; the brazen
figure of this serpent is supposed to be a type of our blessed Redeemer,
who was for our salvation lifted up upon the cross, as the serpent was
elevated in the camp of Israel, for the preservation of that people. It
is the only species of serpent which the almighty Creator has provided
with wings, by means of which, instead of creeping or leaping, it rises
from the ground, and leaning upon the extremity of its tail, moves with
great velocity. It is a native of Egypt, and the deserts of Arabia; and
receives its name from the Hebrew verb _seraph_, which signifies to
burn, in allusion to the violent inflammation which its poison produces,
or rather to its fiery colour, which the brazen serpent was intended to
represent. Bochart is of opinion, that the seraph is the same as the
hydrus, or, as Cicero calls it, the serpent of the waters. For, in the
book of Isaiah, the land of Egypt is called the region from whence come
the viper and flying seraph, or burning serpent. Ælian says, they come
from the deserts of Libya and Arabia, to inhabit the streams of the
Nile; and that they have the form of the hydrus.
The existence of winged serpents is attested by many writers of modern
times. A kind of snakes were discovered among the Pyrenees, from whose
sides proceeded cartilages in the form of wings; and Scaliger mentions a
peasant who killed a serpent of the same species which attacked him, and
presented it to the king of France. Le Blanc, as quoted by Bochart,
says, at the head of lake Chiamay are extensive woods and vast marshes,
which it is very dangerous to approach, because they are infested with
very large serpents, which, raised from the ground on wings resembling
those of bats, and leaning on the extremity of their tails, move with
great rapidity. They exist, it is reported, about these places in so
great numbers, that they have almost laid waste the neighbouring
province. And, in the same work, Le Blanc affirms that he had seen some
of them of immense size, which, when hungry, rushed impetuously on sheep
and other tame animals. But the original term מעופף does not always
signify flying with wings; it often expresses vibration, swinging
backward and forward, a tremulous motion, a fluttering; and this is
precisely the motion of a serpent, when he springs from one tree to
another. Niebuhr mentions a sort of serpent at Bassorah, which they call
_heie thiare_. “They commonly keep upon the date trees; and as it would
be laborious for them to come down from a very high tree, in order to
ascend another, they twist themselves by the tail to a branch of the
former, which, making a spring by the motion they give it, throws them
to the branches of the second. Hence it is that the modern Arabs call
them flying serpents, _heie thiare_. Admiral Anson also speaks of the
flying serpents that he met with at the island of Quibo, but which were
without wings.” From this account it may be inferred, that the flying
serpent mentioned in the prophet was of that species of serpents which,
from their swift darting motion, the Greeks call _aconitias_, and the
Romans, _jaculus_. The original phrase will bear another interpretation,
which, perhaps, approaches still nearer the truth. The verb עופ
sometimes means to sparkle, to emit coruscations of light. In this
sense, the noun תעפה frequently occurs in the sacred volume; thus Zophar
says: “The coruscation, תעפה, shall be as the morning.” The word in the
verse under consideration may therefore refer to the ruddy colour of
that serpent, and express the sparkling of the blazing sunbeams upon its
scales, which are extremely brilliant.
4. The dragon. In Hebrew, the word תנין signifies either a dragon or a
whale. As the name of a serpent, it frequently denotes one of any
species; as when the rod of Moses is said to have been turned into a
serpent, לתנין. But, in its more strict and appropriate application, it
is the proper name of the dragon, which differs from the serpent chiefly
in its size. “Three kinds of dragons were formerly distinguished in
India. 1. Those of the hills and mountains. 2. Those of the valleys and
caves. 3. Those of the fens and marshes. The first is the largest, and
covered with scales resplendent as burnished gold. They have a kind of
beard hanging from their lower jaw, their aspect is frightful, their cry
loud and shrill, their crest bright yellow, and they have a protuberance
on their heads, as the colour of a burning coal. Those of the flat
country are of a silver colour, and frequent rivers, to which the former
never come. Those of the marshes are black, slow, and have no crest.
Their bite is not venomous, though the creatures be dreadful.” This
description agrees in every particular with the boa, which is justly
considered as the proper dragon. But so great is the inconsistency of
the human mind, that the creature which is now an object of universal
dislike was, in early times, honoured with religious worship by every
nation of the earth. Rites were devised and temples built to its honour;
and priests were appointed to conduct the ceremonies. These miserable
idolaters appeared before the altars of their contemptible deity in
gorgeous vestments, their heads adorned with serpents, or with the
figures of serpents embroidered on their tiaras, when the creatures
themselves were not to be had; and in their frantic exclamations cried
out, in evident allusion to the triumph which the old serpent obtained
over our first mother, Eva, Eva. So completely was Satan permitted to
insult our fallen race, that the serpent, his chosen agent in
accomplishing our ruin, was actually raised to the first place among the
deities of the Heathen world, and reverenced by the most solemn acts of
worship. The figure of the serpent adorned the portals of the proudest
temples in the east.
The serpent was a very common symbol of the sun; and he is represented
biting his tail, and with his body formed into a circle, in order to
indicate the ordinary course of this luminary; and under this form it
was an emblem of time and eternity. The serpent was also the symbol of
medicine, and of the gods which presided over it, as of Apollo and
Æsculapius. In most of the ancient rites we find some allusion to the
serpent, under the several titles of Ob, Ops, Python, &c. This idolatry
is alluded to by Moses, Lev. xx, 27. The woman of Endor, who had a
familiar spirit, is called Oub, or Ob, and it is interpreted Pythonissa:
the place where she resided, says the learned Mr. Bryant, seems to have
been named from the worship then instituted; for Endor is compounded of
En-ador, and signifies _fons pithonis_, the “fountain of light,” the
oracle of the god Ador; which oracle was probably founded by the
Canaanites, and had never been totally suppressed. His pillar was also
called Abbadir, or Abadir, compounded of _ab_ and _adir_, and meaning
the serpent deity Addir, the same as Adorus. In the orgies of Bacchus,
the persons who partook of the ceremony, used to carry serpents in their
hands, and with horrid screams call upon Eva! Eva! Eva being, according
to the writer just mentioned, the same as epha, or opha, which the
Greeks rendered _ophis_, and by it denoted a serpent, and containing no
allusion to Eve, as above conjectured. These ceremonies, and this
symbolic worship, began among the magi, who were the sons of Chus; and
by them they were propagated in various parts. Wherever the Ammonians
founded any places of worship, and introduced their rites, there was
generally some story of a serpent. There was a legend about a serpent at
Colchis, at Thebes, and at Delphi; and likewise in other places. The
Greeks called Apollo himself Python, which is the same as Oupis, Opis,
or Oub. In Egypt there was a serpent named Thermuthis, which was looked
upon as very sacred; and the natives are said to have made use of it as
a royal tiara, with which they ornamented the statues of Isis. The kings
of Egypt wore high bonnets, terminating in a round ball, and surrounded
with figures of asps; and the priests likewise had the representation of
serpents upon their bonnets. Abadon, or Abaddon, mentioned in the
Revelation, ix, 11, is supposed by Mr. Bryant to have been the name of
the Ophite god, with whose worship the world had been so long infected.
This worship began among the people of Chaldea, who built the city of
Ophis upon the Tigris, and were greatly addicted to divination, and to
the worship of the serpent. From Chaldea the worship passed into Egypt,
where the serpent deity was called Canoph, Can-eph, and C’neph; it also
had the name of Ob, or Oub, and was the same as the Basiliscus, or royal
serpent, the same as the Thermuthis, and made use of by way of ornament
to the statues of their gods. The chief deity of Egypt is said to have
been Vulcan, who was styled Opas; he was the same as Osiris, the sun,
and hence was often called Ob-el, or Pytho, _sol_; and there were
pillars sacred to him, with curious hieroglyphical inscriptions bearing
the same name, whence among the Greeks, who copied from the Egyptians,
every thing gradually tapering to a point was styled _obelos_, or
_obeliscus_. As the worship of the serpent began among the sons of Chus,
Mr. Bryant conjectures that from thence they were denominated Ethiopians
and Aithiopians, from Ath-ope, or Ath-opes, the god whom they
worshipped, and not from their complexion: the Ethiopes brought these
rites into Greece, and called the island where they first established
them, Ellopia, _Solis Serpentis insula_, the same with Eubœa, or
Oubaia, that is, the Serpent Island. The same learned writer discovers
traces of the serpent worship among the Hyperboreans, at Rhodes, named
Ophiusa, in Phrygia, and upon the Hellespont, in the island Cyprus, in
Crete, among the Athenians, in the name of Cecrops, among the natives of
Thebes in Bœotia, among the Lacedæmonians, in Italy, in Syria, &c,
and in the names of many places, as well as the people where the Ophites
settled. One of the most early heresies introduced into the Christian
church was that of the Ophitæ, who introduced serpents emblematically
among their rites. This is seen in many of the medals, the relics of
Gnosticism which are still preserved.
The form assumed by the tempter when he seduced our first parents, has
been handed down in the traditions of most ancient nations; and, though
animals of the serpent tribe were very generally worshipped by the
Pagans, as symbols of the Agathodemon; they were likewise viewed as
types or figures of the evil principle. 1. One of the most remarkable
accounts of the primeval tempter under the shape of a serpent occurs in
the Zend-Avesta of the ancient Persians. 2. To the dracontian Ahriman of
the Persians, the malignant serpent caliya of Hindoo theology appears to
be very closely allied. He is represented, at least, as the decided
enemy of the mediatorial god; whom he persecutes with the utmost
virulence, though he is finally vanquished by his celestial adversary.
3. The serpent typhon of the Egyptians, who is sometimes identified with
the ocean, because the deluge was esteemed the work of the evil
principle; and the serpent python of the Greeks, who is evidently the
same as the monster typhon; appear to have similarly originated, in the
first instance, from some remembrance of the form which Satan assumed
when in paradise. Perhaps also the notion, that python was oracular,--a
notion which caused the so frequent use of serpents in the rites of
divination, may have sprung from a recollection of the vocal responses
which the tempter gave to Eve under the borrowed figure of that reptile.
4. We may still ascribe to the same source that rebellious serpent whose
treason seems to have been so well remembered among the inhabitants of
Syria. Pherecydes, a native of that country, bestows upon him the Greek
name of _ophioneus_, or the “serpent god;” which, in fact, is a mere
translation of the Syriac or Chaldaic _nachash_. He represents him as
being the prince of those evil spirits who contended with the supreme
god Cronus, and who in consequence were ejected from heaven. Their
happiness being thus justly forfeited, they were henceforth plunged in
the depths of Tartarus, hateful and mutually hating each other. From
Syria and the east the legend passed into Greece, mingled, however, with
allusions to the deluge. 5. The same evil being, in the same form,
appears again in the mythology of the Goths or Scythians. We are told by
the ancient Scalds, that the bad principle, whom they denominate _loke_,
unites great personal beauty with a malignant and inconstant nature: and
he is described as surpassing all creatures in the depth of his cunning
and the artfulness of his perfidy. Here the pristine glory and majesty
of Satan, before the lineaments of celestial beauty were defaced by his
rebellious apostasy, seem not obscurely to be alluded to; while the
craft and malevolence, which mark his character as a fallen angel, are
depicted with sufficient accuracy.
The most remarkable corroboration, however, of the Mosaic history is to
be found in those fables which involve the mythological serpent, and in
the worship which was so generally offered to him throughout the world.
The worship of the serpent may be traced in almost every religion
through ancient Asia, Europe, Africa, America. But how an object of
abhorrence could have been exalted into an object of veneration, must be
referred to the subtlety of the arch enemy himself, whose constant
endeavour has been rather to corrupt than obliterate the true faith,
that, in the perpetual conflict between truth and error, the mind of man
might be more surely confounded and debased. Among other devices, that
of elevating himself into an object of adoration, has ever been the most
cherished. It was that which he proposed to our Lord: “All these things
will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me.” We cannot,
therefore, wonder that the same being who had the presumption to make
this proposal to the Son of God, should have had the address to
insinuate himself into the worship of the children of men. In this he
was unhappily but too well seconded by the natural tendency of human
corruption. The unenlightened Heathen, in obedience to the voice of
nature, acknowledged his dependence upon a superior being. His reason
assured him that there must be a God; his conscience assured him that
God was good; but he felt and acknowledged the prevalence of evil, and
attributed it, naturally to an evil agent. But as the evil spirit, to
his unillumined mind, seemed as omnipotent as the good agent, he
worshipped both; the one, that he might propitiate his kindness; the
other that he might avert his displeasure. The great point of devil
worship being gained, namely, the acknowledgment of the evil spirit as
God, the transition to idolatry became easy. The mind, once darkened by
the admission of an allegiance divided between God and Satan, became
gradually more feeble and superstitious, until at length sensible
objects were called in to aid the weakness of degraded intellect; and
from their first form as symbols, passed rapidly through the successive
stages of apotheosis, until they were elevated into gods. Of these the
most remarkable was the serpent; upon the basis of tradition, regarded,
first as the symbol of the malignant being; subsequently considered
talismanic and oracular; and lastly, venerated and worshipped as divine.
symbol of a powerful monarch; it was embroidered on the robes of
princes, and blazoned on their diadem, to signify their absolute power
and invincible might, and that, as the wound inflicted by the basilisk
is incurable, so the fatal effects of their displeasure were neither to
be avoided nor endured. These are the allusions involved in the address
of the prophet, to the irreconcilable enemies of his nation: “Rejoice
not thou, whole Palestina, because the rod of him that smote thee is
broken; for out of the serpent’s roots shall come forth a cockatrice,
and his fruit shall be a fiery flying serpent,” Isaiah xiv, 29. Uzziah,
the king of Judah, had subdued the Philistines; but taking advantage of
the weak reign of Ahaz, they again invaded the kingdom of Judea, and
reduced some cities in the southern part of the country under their
dominion. On the death of Ahaz, Isaiah delivers this prophecy,
threatening them with a more severe chastisement from the hand of
Hezekiah, the grandson of Uzziah, by whose victorious arms they had been
reduced to sue for peace; which he accomplished, when “he smote the
Philistines, even unto Gaza and the borders thereof,” 2 Kings xviii, 8.
Uzziah, therefore, must be meant by the rod that smote them, and by the
serpent from whom should spring the fiery flying serpent, that is,
Hezekiah, a much more terrible enemy than even Uzziah had been. But the
symbol of regal power which the oriental kings preferred to all others,
was the basilisk. This fact is attested by its Arabian name _melecha_,
from the Hebrew verb _malach_, “to reign;” from its Greek name
ϐασιλίσκος, and its Latin name _regulus_: all of which, it is asserted,
referred to the conspicuous place it occupied among the regal ornaments
of the east. The basilisk is of a reddish colour, and its head is
decorated with a crest in the form of a crown; it is not entirely
prostrate, like other serpents, but moves along with its head and half
the body erect; the other parts sweep the ground behind,
And wind its spacious back in rolling spires.
All the other species of serpents are said to acknowledge the
superiority of the real or the fabled basilisk, by flying from its
presence, and hiding themselves in the dust. It is also supposed to live
longer than any other serpent; the ancient Heathens therefore pronounced
it immortal, and placed it in the number of their deities; and because
it had the dangerous power, in general belief, of killing with its
pestiferous breath the strongest animals, it seemed to then invested
with the power of life and death. It became, therefore, the favourite
symbol of kings; and was employed by the prophet, to symbolize the great
and good Hezekiah, with strict propriety.
2. The cerastes, or horned snake. The only allusion to this species of
serpent in the sacred volume occurs in the valedictory predictions of
Jacob, where he describes the character and actions of Dan and his
posterity: “Dan shall be a serpent by the way, an adder, שפיפון, in the
path, that biteth the horse’s heels, so that his rider shall fall
backward,” Gen. xlix, 17. It is indisputably clear, that the patriarch
intended some kind of serpent; for the circumstances will not apply to a
freebooter watching for his prey. It only remains to investigate the
species to which it belongs. The principal care of the Jewish writers is
to ascertain the etymology of the name, about which their sentiments are
much divided. The Arabian authors quoted by Bochart inform us, that the
_sephiphon_ is a most pernicious reptile, and very dangerous to man. It
is of a sandy colour, variegated with black and white spots. The
particulars in the character of Dan, however, agree better with the
cerastes, or horned snake, than with any other species of serpent. It
lies in wait for passengers in the sand, or in the rut of the wheels on
the highway. From its lurking place it treacherously bites the horse’s
heels, so that the rider falls backward, in consequence of the animal’s
hinder legs becoming almost immediately torpid by the dreadful activity
of the poison. The cerastes is equally formidable to man and the lower
animals; and the more dangerous, because it is not easy to distinguish
him from the sand in which he lies; and he never spares the helpless
traveller who unwarily comes within his reach. Like the cerastes, Dan
was to excel in cunning and artifice, to prevail against his enemies
rather by his policy in the cabinet than by his valour in the field.
3. The seraph, or fiery flying serpent, to a Biblical student, is one of
the most interesting creatures that has yet been mentioned. It bears the
name of an order among the hosts of heaven, whom Isaiah beheld in
vision, placed above the throne of Jehovah in the temple; the brazen
figure of this serpent is supposed to be a type of our blessed Redeemer,
who was for our salvation lifted up upon the cross, as the serpent was
elevated in the camp of Israel, for the preservation of that people. It
is the only species of serpent which the almighty Creator has provided
with wings, by means of which, instead of creeping or leaping, it rises
from the ground, and leaning upon the extremity of its tail, moves with
great velocity. It is a native of Egypt, and the deserts of Arabia; and
receives its name from the Hebrew verb _seraph_, which signifies to
burn, in allusion to the violent inflammation which its poison produces,
or rather to its fiery colour, which the brazen serpent was intended to
represent. Bochart is of opinion, that the seraph is the same as the
hydrus, or, as Cicero calls it, the serpent of the waters. For, in the
book of Isaiah, the land of Egypt is called the region from whence come
the viper and flying seraph, or burning serpent. Ælian says, they come
from the deserts of Libya and Arabia, to inhabit the streams of the
Nile; and that they have the form of the hydrus.
The existence of winged serpents is attested by many writers of modern
times. A kind of snakes were discovered among the Pyrenees, from whose
sides proceeded cartilages in the form of wings; and Scaliger mentions a
peasant who killed a serpent of the same species which attacked him, and
presented it to the king of France. Le Blanc, as quoted by Bochart,
says, at the head of lake Chiamay are extensive woods and vast marshes,
which it is very dangerous to approach, because they are infested with
very large serpents, which, raised from the ground on wings resembling
those of bats, and leaning on the extremity of their tails, move with
great rapidity. They exist, it is reported, about these places in so
great numbers, that they have almost laid waste the neighbouring
province. And, in the same work, Le Blanc affirms that he had seen some
of them of immense size, which, when hungry, rushed impetuously on sheep
and other tame animals. But the original term מעופף does not always
signify flying with wings; it often expresses vibration, swinging
backward and forward, a tremulous motion, a fluttering; and this is
precisely the motion of a serpent, when he springs from one tree to
another. Niebuhr mentions a sort of serpent at Bassorah, which they call
_heie thiare_. “They commonly keep upon the date trees; and as it would
be laborious for them to come down from a very high tree, in order to
ascend another, they twist themselves by the tail to a branch of the
former, which, making a spring by the motion they give it, throws them
to the branches of the second. Hence it is that the modern Arabs call
them flying serpents, _heie thiare_. Admiral Anson also speaks of the
flying serpents that he met with at the island of Quibo, but which were
without wings.” From this account it may be inferred, that the flying
serpent mentioned in the prophet was of that species of serpents which,
from their swift darting motion, the Greeks call _aconitias_, and the
Romans, _jaculus_. The original phrase will bear another interpretation,
which, perhaps, approaches still nearer the truth. The verb עופ
sometimes means to sparkle, to emit coruscations of light. In this
sense, the noun תעפה frequently occurs in the sacred volume; thus Zophar
says: “The coruscation, תעפה, shall be as the morning.” The word in the
verse under consideration may therefore refer to the ruddy colour of
that serpent, and express the sparkling of the blazing sunbeams upon its
scales, which are extremely brilliant.
4. The dragon. In Hebrew, the word תנין signifies either a dragon or a
whale. As the name of a serpent, it frequently denotes one of any
species; as when the rod of Moses is said to have been turned into a
serpent, לתנין. But, in its more strict and appropriate application, it
is the proper name of the dragon, which differs from the serpent chiefly
in its size. “Three kinds of dragons were formerly distinguished in
India. 1. Those of the hills and mountains. 2. Those of the valleys and
caves. 3. Those of the fens and marshes. The first is the largest, and
covered with scales resplendent as burnished gold. They have a kind of
beard hanging from their lower jaw, their aspect is frightful, their cry
loud and shrill, their crest bright yellow, and they have a protuberance
on their heads, as the colour of a burning coal. Those of the flat
country are of a silver colour, and frequent rivers, to which the former
never come. Those of the marshes are black, slow, and have no crest.
Their bite is not venomous, though the creatures be dreadful.” This
description agrees in every particular with the boa, which is justly
considered as the proper dragon. But so great is the inconsistency of
the human mind, that the creature which is now an object of universal
dislike was, in early times, honoured with religious worship by every
nation of the earth. Rites were devised and temples built to its honour;
and priests were appointed to conduct the ceremonies. These miserable
idolaters appeared before the altars of their contemptible deity in
gorgeous vestments, their heads adorned with serpents, or with the
figures of serpents embroidered on their tiaras, when the creatures
themselves were not to be had; and in their frantic exclamations cried
out, in evident allusion to the triumph which the old serpent obtained
over our first mother, Eva, Eva. So completely was Satan permitted to
insult our fallen race, that the serpent, his chosen agent in
accomplishing our ruin, was actually raised to the first place among the
deities of the Heathen world, and reverenced by the most solemn acts of
worship. The figure of the serpent adorned the portals of the proudest
temples in the east.
The serpent was a very common symbol of the sun; and he is represented
biting his tail, and with his body formed into a circle, in order to
indicate the ordinary course of this luminary; and under this form it
was an emblem of time and eternity. The serpent was also the symbol of
medicine, and of the gods which presided over it, as of Apollo and
Æsculapius. In most of the ancient rites we find some allusion to the
serpent, under the several titles of Ob, Ops, Python, &c. This idolatry
is alluded to by Moses, Lev. xx, 27. The woman of Endor, who had a
familiar spirit, is called Oub, or Ob, and it is interpreted Pythonissa:
the place where she resided, says the learned Mr. Bryant, seems to have
been named from the worship then instituted; for Endor is compounded of
En-ador, and signifies _fons pithonis_, the “fountain of light,” the
oracle of the god Ador; which oracle was probably founded by the
Canaanites, and had never been totally suppressed. His pillar was also
called Abbadir, or Abadir, compounded of _ab_ and _adir_, and meaning
the serpent deity Addir, the same as Adorus. In the orgies of Bacchus,
the persons who partook of the ceremony, used to carry serpents in their
hands, and with horrid screams call upon Eva! Eva! Eva being, according
to the writer just mentioned, the same as epha, or opha, which the
Greeks rendered _ophis_, and by it denoted a serpent, and containing no
allusion to Eve, as above conjectured. These ceremonies, and this
symbolic worship, began among the magi, who were the sons of Chus; and
by them they were propagated in various parts. Wherever the Ammonians
founded any places of worship, and introduced their rites, there was
generally some story of a serpent. There was a legend about a serpent at
Colchis, at Thebes, and at Delphi; and likewise in other places. The
Greeks called Apollo himself Python, which is the same as Oupis, Opis,
or Oub. In Egypt there was a serpent named Thermuthis, which was looked
upon as very sacred; and the natives are said to have made use of it as
a royal tiara, with which they ornamented the statues of Isis. The kings
of Egypt wore high bonnets, terminating in a round ball, and surrounded
with figures of asps; and the priests likewise had the representation of
serpents upon their bonnets. Abadon, or Abaddon, mentioned in the
Revelation, ix, 11, is supposed by Mr. Bryant to have been the name of
the Ophite god, with whose worship the world had been so long infected.
This worship began among the people of Chaldea, who built the city of
Ophis upon the Tigris, and were greatly addicted to divination, and to
the worship of the serpent. From Chaldea the worship passed into Egypt,
where the serpent deity was called Canoph, Can-eph, and C’neph; it also
had the name of Ob, or Oub, and was the same as the Basiliscus, or royal
serpent, the same as the Thermuthis, and made use of by way of ornament
to the statues of their gods. The chief deity of Egypt is said to have
been Vulcan, who was styled Opas; he was the same as Osiris, the sun,
and hence was often called Ob-el, or Pytho, _sol_; and there were
pillars sacred to him, with curious hieroglyphical inscriptions bearing
the same name, whence among the Greeks, who copied from the Egyptians,
every thing gradually tapering to a point was styled _obelos_, or
_obeliscus_. As the worship of the serpent began among the sons of Chus,
Mr. Bryant conjectures that from thence they were denominated Ethiopians
and Aithiopians, from Ath-ope, or Ath-opes, the god whom they
worshipped, and not from their complexion: the Ethiopes brought these
rites into Greece, and called the island where they first established
them, Ellopia, _Solis Serpentis insula_, the same with Eubœa, or
Oubaia, that is, the Serpent Island. The same learned writer discovers
traces of the serpent worship among the Hyperboreans, at Rhodes, named
Ophiusa, in Phrygia, and upon the Hellespont, in the island Cyprus, in
Crete, among the Athenians, in the name of Cecrops, among the natives of
Thebes in Bœotia, among the Lacedæmonians, in Italy, in Syria, &c,
and in the names of many places, as well as the people where the Ophites
settled. One of the most early heresies introduced into the Christian
church was that of the Ophitæ, who introduced serpents emblematically
among their rites. This is seen in many of the medals, the relics of
Gnosticism which are still preserved.
The form assumed by the tempter when he seduced our first parents, has
been handed down in the traditions of most ancient nations; and, though
animals of the serpent tribe were very generally worshipped by the
Pagans, as symbols of the Agathodemon; they were likewise viewed as
types or figures of the evil principle. 1. One of the most remarkable
accounts of the primeval tempter under the shape of a serpent occurs in
the Zend-Avesta of the ancient Persians. 2. To the dracontian Ahriman of
the Persians, the malignant serpent caliya of Hindoo theology appears to
be very closely allied. He is represented, at least, as the decided
enemy of the mediatorial god; whom he persecutes with the utmost
virulence, though he is finally vanquished by his celestial adversary.
3. The serpent typhon of the Egyptians, who is sometimes identified with
the ocean, because the deluge was esteemed the work of the evil
principle; and the serpent python of the Greeks, who is evidently the
same as the monster typhon; appear to have similarly originated, in the
first instance, from some remembrance of the form which Satan assumed
when in paradise. Perhaps also the notion, that python was oracular,--a
notion which caused the so frequent use of serpents in the rites of
divination, may have sprung from a recollection of the vocal responses
which the tempter gave to Eve under the borrowed figure of that reptile.
4. We may still ascribe to the same source that rebellious serpent whose
treason seems to have been so well remembered among the inhabitants of
Syria. Pherecydes, a native of that country, bestows upon him the Greek
name of _ophioneus_, or the “serpent god;” which, in fact, is a mere
translation of the Syriac or Chaldaic _nachash_. He represents him as
being the prince of those evil spirits who contended with the supreme
god Cronus, and who in consequence were ejected from heaven. Their
happiness being thus justly forfeited, they were henceforth plunged in
the depths of Tartarus, hateful and mutually hating each other. From
Syria and the east the legend passed into Greece, mingled, however, with
allusions to the deluge. 5. The same evil being, in the same form,
appears again in the mythology of the Goths or Scythians. We are told by
the ancient Scalds, that the bad principle, whom they denominate _loke_,
unites great personal beauty with a malignant and inconstant nature: and
he is described as surpassing all creatures in the depth of his cunning
and the artfulness of his perfidy. Here the pristine glory and majesty
of Satan, before the lineaments of celestial beauty were defaced by his
rebellious apostasy, seem not obscurely to be alluded to; while the
craft and malevolence, which mark his character as a fallen angel, are
depicted with sufficient accuracy.
The most remarkable corroboration, however, of the Mosaic history is to
be found in those fables which involve the mythological serpent, and in
the worship which was so generally offered to him throughout the world.
The worship of the serpent may be traced in almost every religion
through ancient Asia, Europe, Africa, America. But how an object of
abhorrence could have been exalted into an object of veneration, must be
referred to the subtlety of the arch enemy himself, whose constant
endeavour has been rather to corrupt than obliterate the true faith,
that, in the perpetual conflict between truth and error, the mind of man
might be more surely confounded and debased. Among other devices, that
of elevating himself into an object of adoration, has ever been the most
cherished. It was that which he proposed to our Lord: “All these things
will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me.” We cannot,
therefore, wonder that the same being who had the presumption to make
this proposal to the Son of God, should have had the address to
insinuate himself into the worship of the children of men. In this he
was unhappily but too well seconded by the natural tendency of human
corruption. The unenlightened Heathen, in obedience to the voice of
nature, acknowledged his dependence upon a superior being. His reason
assured him that there must be a God; his conscience assured him that
God was good; but he felt and acknowledged the prevalence of evil, and
attributed it, naturally to an evil agent. But as the evil spirit, to
his unillumined mind, seemed as omnipotent as the good agent, he
worshipped both; the one, that he might propitiate his kindness; the
other that he might avert his displeasure. The great point of devil
worship being gained, namely, the acknowledgment of the evil spirit as
God, the transition to idolatry became easy. The mind, once darkened by
the admission of an allegiance divided between God and Satan, became
gradually more feeble and superstitious, until at length sensible
objects were called in to aid the weakness of degraded intellect; and
from their first form as symbols, passed rapidly through the successive
stages of apotheosis, until they were elevated into gods. Of these the
most remarkable was the serpent; upon the basis of tradition, regarded,
first as the symbol of the malignant being; subsequently considered
talismanic and oracular; and lastly, venerated and worshipped as divine.