son ask for bread, will give him a stone ? or if lie ask for fish, will give him a serpent ? ' Here fish and bread are the subject of joint reference, as in the narratives of the feeding of the five and four thousands. Bread and fish are clearly the custo- mary diet of the common people of Galilee, and in the 'form of these questions, as in so many other details, the teaching of Je.sus closely reUects the daily life of His countrymen.
In the Catacombs the figure of a fish was often used as a symbol of Christ. The letters which make up ixSvi form the initial letters of 'IijffoSs Xpia-Tos Qeov Tids 'S.ij)Trip, so that the word served as a summary of the faith. See art. Chkist IN ART.
i. The general word for serpent (6i/iis) occurs 7 times in the Gospels. No human fatlier will give his son a serpent as a substitute for fish (Mt 7'", Lk 11"). Some small reptile as common as the scorpion must be meant, as Luke twice (10'" 11'-) couples scorpions and serpents (60eis). The dis- ciples are to lie as wise as serpents [or ' as the serpent,' reading 6 50is for oi «0«s : the sense is the same in either case] (Mt 10"). The ideal of discipleship is a combination of the prudence of the serpent with the guilelessness of doves. As in the saying about not casting one's pearls before swine, our Lord here condemns recklessness and tactless- ness in religious work. ' Religion without policy is too simple to be safe : Policy without religion is too subtle to be good ' (Trapp). In JIt 23^3 the word ' serpents ' is applied to the Pharisees.
In the later appendix to Mark's Gospel, power to take up
I have given you power to tread upon serpents and J and upon all the might of the evil one." WH here note a refer- ence to Ps 9113 * Thou shalt tread upon the lion and the adder.* Possibly the passage is to be interpreted metaphorically, and the 'serpents' are to be explained by the might of the Evil One. The words, however, find a more literal fulfilment in St. Paul's experience at Melita (Ac 283- 6).
The viper (^X'*"*) is referred to only in the XiWcusQ yevvrip.a.Ta ixiSvCiv, 'offspring of vipers,' and the phrase is applied only to scribes and Pharisees. John the Baptist thus addressed the Pharisees that came to his baptism, ' O ott'spring of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come 1 ' (Mt 3', Lk 3'). According to Mt., our Lord on two occasions adopted the same mode of addre.ss (Mt 123*23"). Sand-vipers about 1 foot long are common in Palestine. The young are said to feed upon the mother. But the force of the phrase, Bochart observes, is not to be derived from any such special characteristic ; the sense implied is simply 'bad sons of bad fathers.' This comment satisfactorily interprets Mt 23'=' : but perhaps we may read a little more into the phrase. The words of John the Baptist suggest the familiar picture of vipers roused from torpor into actiiity by the ap- proach of heat (cf. Ac 28^). In Mt l'^'^ the phrase receives added point from the fact tliat the Phari- .sees have just beenuttiMuiitiiit; to puisoii the popular mind against Christ l.y Miv^.-tin- tliat the miracles were the work of lii rl/iliuK ; ihi'ie is something spiteful and venomous alicut tht-ir attacks on our Lord.
5. Scorpions {aKopwios), which we are told may be found under every tliird stone in Palestine, are twice mentioned in Luke. The disci|)les are to tread on scorpions with impunity (Lk 10"). How- ever we interpret the passage, the addition of ' scorpion ' seems to imply that the disciples are to be protected against some small, frequent, and at the same time serious danger. The other refer- ence is in Lk 11'-. If a son asks for an egg, the father will not give him a scorpion. In both passages the scorpion and the serpent are men- tioned together, being common objects of the country in Palestine. The scorpion at rest is said closely to resemble an egg in appearance.
ANIMALS
ANIMALS
6. The worm ((TKu>\i]i) is mentioned only in Mk 9^^ in the phrase ' wliere their worm dieth not,' a description of Gehenna based on the last verse of Isaiah {&&-■>).
In the TR the verse appears 3 times, Mk 9-"- ■**>• ^, and there is something impressive in the repetition : WH, however, retain only 9-18, Whether literally or metaphorically understood, the
phrase must not be tak *•'" u„^:^ „c „ r.i,_;„t: — ^ — ►_; — „«
future retribution. Th
his life : the part lias to be sacrificed to save the whole. The same law of sacrifice, says Christ, holds good in the spiritual
7. Of insects the bee is indirectly referred to, while the gnat, the locust, and the moth are all mentioned. In Lk 24''-, the Western Text says the disciples gave our Lord part of a bees' honeycomb (d7r6 /xeXiiririou Kripiou), i.r. the jn'oduct of hived bees. John the Uapti.st, on the other hand, lived on wild rock honey, i.e. honey deposited in clefts of the rock by wild bees ; this honey was often very difficult to o'et.