Of Tempting Christ, Section 4
SECT. IV.
Of the Puniſhment by Fiery Serpents. The Wiſdom of Providence therein. Of the Serpent in Paradiſe. Upon what Accounts Serpents have been reckon'd Sacred and Venerable by the Heathens.
III. IT was for this Sin that they were puniſhed with Fiery Serpents, which coſt many of them their Lives. There were many ſuch in that Wilderneſs, who were before reſtrained, but now let looſe: Serpents, that by their Venom fired their Blood, and heat their Bodies, ſo as to torment them with Thirſt, and that in a place where there was no Water. We read of the biting of ſome Serpents, that it affects the Patient with Madneſs. By theſe Fiery Serpents they were ſtopt in the laſt Year of their Travel, before they got into the Land of Promiſe. And on this account they murmured at Salmonah. But the Sin that was thus puniſhed, and that of their worſhipping the Golden Calf, is concealed by Philo the Jew; and Joſephus, out of more Love to his Country-men, than Fidelity to Hiſtory, doth not take notice of it.
'TIS the Conjecture of the Learned *Dr. Tenniſon of Idolatry, c. 14. p. 352, &c.Biſhop of Lincoln, that the Seraphim and Ʋrim were Images, or Symbols of Miniſtring Angels in the form of Fiery, Flying Serpents; as Cherubim were ſuch Images with the Faces of Oxen. So the word Saraph is uſed, Numb. 21.6, 8. Deut. 8.15. In Egypt, Arabia, and Lybia, and †Herodot. l. 2. Cic. de Nat. Deor. l. 1.other places, there were flying fiery Serpents. Iſaiah mentions ſuch Creatures, Iſa. 14.29. And *Vid. G. Moebium de Aeneo Serpente, Exercit. 2. c. 2. §. 11.Abarbanel ſaith of ſuch flying Serpents, that they were Reddiſh, after the Colour of Braſs: If that were their natural Colour, great Addition might be made to it by the ſwift Motion of their Wings, and the Vibration of their Tails in the bright Atmoſpheres of Arabia and Egypt. And ſo were called fiery, not only becauſe of the Heat of their Venom, cauſing extraordinary Inflammations and Thirſts in the Body bitten by them; but becauſe they appeared ſuch, when they flew in the Air.
I ſhall not ſtay to ſhew what a vile, what a painful, what an unuſual Plague, and (as to ordinary means) an incurable one, this of the Fiery Serpents was; which gave occaſion to the Erection of the Brazen Serpent, as a Figure of the Meſſiah to be lifted up upon the Croſs. But if we refuſe to look to him and believe on him, if we do not receive healing Virtue and Influence from him; the more dreadful Puniſhment which we may expect, and the ſorer Vengeance that we are to look for, is what this Plague of Fiery Serpents did but typify and repreſent. For the Puniſhment of theſe Jews, is but an Emblem of a more fearful and fiery Indignation, againſt thoſe who will not take warning, but tempt Chriſt, as ſome of them alſo did, and were deſtroyed in the Wilderneſs.
IT ſeems an excellent Inſtance of the Wiſdom of the Divine Providence, to order this Puniſhment of the Iſraelites by Serpents, and to make way thereby for a Cure by looking to the Brazen Serpent. This was proper to rivet the ſenſe of the firſt Evil done to Mankind by the Devil, when the Serpent beguiled our firſt Parents in Paradiſe; and to preſerve or recover the Memory of it; which we have no more reaſon to take to be all Allegory, than the following part of the Moſaick Hiſtory, concerning the Iſraelites March in the Wilderneſs, and their Puniſhment here by Fiery Serpents.
THE famous Origen, ſays St. Hierom, turned Paradiſe ſo into an Allegory, that he took away the Truth of the Story; and not only turned Adam out of the Garden, but the Garden out of Paradiſe.
IT might withal be of uſe to rectify the Error of ſome of the Jews, derived from the Heathen Idolaters, of the Gods appearing in the form of Serpents: For we read of the *See more Bochurti Opera, vol. 1. de Serpente Tentatore, p. 842.Babylonians, that they worſhipped a great Dragon, a Creature of a Serpentine Kind: and that in Egypt, and in Phoenicia, they ſacrificed unto Dragons, and called them foreign, their good Genius's. Eſculapius, the God of the Phyſicians, was worſhipped under the ſame Form: A Dragon is uſually annex'd to his Statue. The ſuperſtitious Romans placed the Head of a Dragon at the Entrance into their Houſes, imagining thereby to conciliate the Favour of the Gods. And Alexander the Great is repreſented as begotten by a Serpent with his Mother. The like is feigned of the Birth of other Great Men amongſt the Gentiles.
IN the earlieſt Ages (ſaith Dr. Tenniſon) and inhabited Countries of the World, the Creatures on Earth principally reverenced were Oxen and Serpents. Serpents were lately worſhipped in America, as appears from Acoſta, and others. And of old they were ſacred in Egypt. We ſee no Table of Iſis, or Oſiris, or Bacchu… without a Serpent. Among how many other Nations, it hath been accounted ſacred, may *Citing Pignorius de Mensâ Iſiacâ, p. 23, 24.there b… read at large. The Reaſons why Serpents were thus honoured might be, partly becauſe they could twine themſelves into all Figures; becauſe of the mighty Energy of their Venom, and becauſe of their mighty Bulk, and becauſe they live to a great Age, are of quick and piercing Sight, and renew their Youth by putting off their Skin: Laſtly, by reaſon that the Heathen were over-powered by the Craft, Malice and Pride of the Devil, who deluded Man in that Shape, and would as it were redeem the Loſs he ſuſtain'd in the Curſe of that Creature, by turning it into a venerable Idol.
If the Seraphim (or good Angels miniſtring in the World) had not appeared in ſome ſuch Form, *Dr. Tenniſon, Ib. p. 245.it would be difficult to give an account of the Temptation of Adam and Eve, by a Daemon in the ſhape of a Serpent. That Serpent is ridiculouſly painted in the form of a creeping one before the Fall: It is impoſſible to conceive our firſt Parents ſo ſtupid, as to have entred into a Dialogue with ſuch a Creature, without any Aſtoniſhment. But being uſed to the Shecinah of the Logos, and to the Appearance of miniſtring Angels, ſhewing themſelves in ſome ſuch winged form, it is eaſy to conceive, upon that Suppoſition, how they might entertain ſome familiar Diſcourſe with a Creature aſſuming that Image in a very ſpendid and glorious manner. The Text aſſures us the Form is now changed by God's Curſe, moſt probably from that of a ſplendid fiery Saraph, to that of a mean creeping Serpent, not moving aloft in the Air, but licking the Duſt. And a part of the Puniſhment of Adam and Eve may confirm this. For it is ſaid, God guarded Paradiſe againſt them by a Cherub and a Flaming Sword, which was eſteem'd by the Jews a ſecond Angel; and may be aptly imagin'd a Saraph, or flaming Angel, in the form of a fiery flying Serpent, whoſe Body vibrated in the Air with Luſtre, and may be fitly deſcribed by the Image of ſuch a Sword. Tertullian ſaith, that the Serpent from the beginning was one that ſacrilegiouſly uſurped the Divine Image. This ſoundeth as if the Devil in Serpentine-Form had repreſented part of the Shecinah of the Logos, and that Eve conceived him to have been an Angel appertaining to his glorious Preſence, and a Miniſter of his Pleaſure; and was come forth from him.
NOW the Puniſhment of the Jews by theſe fiery flying Serpents, may be a means to revive the Memory of the Paradiſical Serpent, and to prevent or cure ſuch Fancies amongſt them, of their Divinity, as the Heathens entertain'd.