It is now usual to bring the prophet's conception into relation with popular Hebrew mythology The sarCtph of Nu 21«, Dt 8"> is a 'hery,' i.e. venomous, serpent, which bites the Israelites in the desert (see Sebpent). In Is 14** 30« allusion is made to a ' flying fiery serpent ' {adrdph), which hns its home in the desert between Palestine and
SERAE
SERPENT
459
Egypt. The latter is certainly a creation of popu- lar imajrinution. As the analogous cherub was primarily a person ilication of the thundercloud, so the ser!i])h waa of the serpent-like lightning. Now- just as a psalmist represents J" as making the flaming fire His ministers (Ps 104''), so the prophet seize.', the popular notion of tlie seraph and trans- fers il to tue realm of pure spiritual ideas. Not a trace of the serpentine form is left in his conception. His sera])him are the guardians of J'"8 holiness, who kcej) the profane and unclean at a distance,
■ nd purge from dehlement that which is to be taken into J"'s service. Bj- means of this splendid Bvmbolism the prophet \-ividly expresses the truth tliat ' J" is a consuming fire ' (Dt 4-^ He 12-"5).
Another view has been started by Dillm.-Kittel and Marti owing to the discovery in an Egyptian tomb of the 12tli dynasty at Beni-Hassan, of two winged griffin figures placed as guardians at the entrance. The griffin is represented in Demotic bj- the word sere/, and Marti suggests that the seraphim in Isaiah's vision are to oe thought of as guarding the threshold of the temple.*
The 'living creatures' of Rev 4'"', which are partly like Ezekiel's cherubim, resemble Isaiah's seraphim in possessing six wings and in proclaiming the Trisa-'ion. But Cheyne has remarked that ' the popular notion of the seraphim as angels is, of course, to be rejected. They are, indeed, more like Titans than placid Gabriels or Raphaels' {Prophecies of Isaiah, i. 32).
The similarity of the word seraph to the Egyp- tian Serapis led Hifzig and others to identify the two. Tliis idea has found little acceptance (cf., against it, Dillm.-Kittel, Jes. ad loc), and still less has Knobel's suggestion that seraphim is a false reading for crn.v'i an imaginary Heb. word meaning 'ministers.'
LnF.RATURE. — See art. Cherubim, and cf. the Coram, on Isaiah, eep. Cht-yne, DiUm.-Ki5^l, and Marti. J. STRACHAN.
SERAR {-Zipip, AV Aserer), 1 Es 5»2 = Sisera, Ezr 2», Neh 7».
SERED (-110).— A son of Zebuhin, Gn 46" (A S(?pf 5, />"Ej/)€0), Nu 2«2«i-i (B.V Sdpeo).
SERGIUS PAULUS.— See Paclus (Seroius).
SERJEANTS is used in Ac 16'^'-»« as an approxi- mate English rendering of fta!i5ovxoi ( = ' rod- bearers'), which represents in Greek the Latin liitores, officials whose duty it was to attend the Roman magistrates, to execute their orders, and especially to administer the punishments of scourg- ing or beheading. For this purpose they carried, as their mark of office, the fasces, a bundle of rods with an axe inserted. At Philippi they were attached to the arparriyoi, i.e. the duvinviri, or prmtores, who administered justice in that Roman colony (Marquart, i. 47511'.); but who found on this occasion that by summarily inflicting stripes and imprisonnunt, without due trial, they had violated the rights of Roman citizens, and so had to undo, as be.-^t they might, the effects of the rash action for which they, rather than their instruments the lictors, were responsible.
William P. Dickson.
SERON (2i)/)wi').— 'The commander of the host of Syria' (4 ipxi^v rijt Jwd/ifojj 'Lvpias), who was de- feated by Judas Maccabieus at Beth-horon, 1 Mac S**-"'-; Jos. Ant. XH. vii. 1.
SERPENT. — Eight Heb. words are used for
• On the E(tjT>tian ciiatom of Iteeplng a live snake In the laiTjcr lenip'.cs as the representative of the tutelary demon, see Chevne's
■ Isaiah ' in FB u. Vi'J. when the (uuoiu Bla«k Omiite Serpent of Atbribitis is flared.
serpent. One Gr. word only (Ix^Sva, 'the viper'), which is not used in the L.XX, occurs in the NT.
1. e'.7J ndhdsh, is supposed by some (identifying roots cm and erni) to mean ' the hisser.' It is generic for a serpent or snake. The Arab, equivalent luinash is clearly the same word, with a trans- position of the first two radicals. Its meaning is, however, far more general than that of tlie Heb. term. The root signifies 'to hunt or capture.' Hanash is defined 'anything that is hunted or caught or captured, of birds or flying things, or venomous or noxious reptiles, such as scorpions and serpents, or vermin, such as hedgehogs and lizards, and the rat and mouse, and any animal the head of which resembles that of a serpent.' It even includes the common fly. But, in popular usage at the present day, it is applied to serpents only.
2. I'ii? taymin, plur. D'j'jn tannintm. This, which is usually tr. 'dragon,' sometimes otherwise (see Dragon, 4), is tr. ' serpent ' in AV and RV of Ex -9. 10. 13 [y 10 jjVm ' Heb. tan>}in, any large reptile '], and in RV of Ps 91" (AV ' dragon '). It is inter- esting to note that while P in the above passages of Exodus uses tannin for the creature into which Moses' rod was changed, E in ch. 4^ (cf. 7" [? R]) uses ndhdsh. The LXX tr. tanntn by opdKuu and ndhdsh by di^is. It would have been better if our versions had preserved a similar distinction in terms.