EXPOSITION. THE FIERY SERPENTS (ve:rs. 4-9). Ver. ,~~- Septue.gint, Euulv,.,. They meant to 4..-They journeyed from '.ltount :Hor. It say, as their fathers had (eh. xi. 6), that it appears from comparison of eh. xx:riii. 38 was uus11.voury 11.nd unsubstantial in com- and eh. :u:. 29 that their depa.rtu:re was not parison with the heavy and succulent diet of earlier than the beginning of the sixth month Egypt (see note on eh. :u. 3). . . of tlie fortieth year. This sea.son would be Ver. 6.-Fiery serpents. C•E;i)r Cl•~~. one of the hottest and most tcying for march- Nruhash is the ordinary word for serpent. ing. :By the way of the :B.ed Sea, i. e. The word saraph,, which seems to mean do'll'll the Ara.bah, towards Ezion-geber, at the " burning one," stands (by itself) for a ser• head of the Elanitic Gul.£ Septuagint, Mov pent in ver. 8, and also in Isa. xiv. 29; xxx. i1ri .Mlaatrav ipv~pa.v. Not far from this 6. In Isa.. vi. 2, 6 it stands for one of the pla.ce they would reach the end of the Edomit• symbolic beings (seraphim) of the prophet's ish territory, a.nd tom eastwards and north• vision. The only idea common to the two wards up the Wady el Ithm towards the meanings {otherwise so distinct) mllllt be IJteppes of Moo.b. Di.aeouraged. Literally, that of brillie.nce and metallic lustre. It is "shortened" or "stnitened," as in Exod. commonly a.ssumbd that the "fiery" serpents vi 9. Septuagint, ~l,yo,l,vxq11Ev O lao,. were so called because of the b,µrning pain and Beeaue of the way. The .Ara.bah is a stony, inflammation caused by the bite, after the sa.ndy, almost barren plain shut in by moun- analogy of the 1rpq11rijp1r; and icai111w111, of tain walls on either side, and subject to Dioscorus and lElia.n. But is hardly possible sand-storms. It was not only, however, that Isaiah should have used the same word merely the heat and drought and rugged- in such wholly dissimilar senses, e.nd it is ness of the route which depressed them, but clear from comparison with Ezekiel's vision the fa.et that they were marching directly of the cherubim (Ezek. i. 7) that the sa'fa/11,, away from Canaan, a.nd knew not how tljey of Isa. vi. 2 wa.e so ea.lied from the burnished were ever to reach it. lustre of his appearance. Even our Lo1-d Ver. 6.-There is no bread, neither i.a himself is described in the A_pocalypse wt there any water. The one of these sta.le- having in the highest d~gree t~~s appearnn<;e ment8 was no doubt as much and as little of glowing brass (Rev. 1. 16; u. 18). It 1s true a.e the other. There was no ordin11.1 Y further clear that the s111rapn, we.s so named supply of either ; but a.e they had bread given from his colour, not his venom, bece.usu to them from heaven, BO tliey had water from when Moses was ordered to make 11. saraph the rock, otherwise they could not possibly he made a serpent otbmss (orre.thercopper), have exirtqd. Our 10ul loatheth t\dl light with the evident intent of imitating as closely bre&d. '>R>P,, e. stronger form the.n ',P-, from e.s possible the appee.nmce of the venomous OH, XXI, 4-9,] THE BOOK OF NUMBERS. 273
reptile, We may conclude then with some such a.a Ps. Ix. 4 ; "standard " in such as con.ficlonce that these serpents were of a fiery Jer. Ii 27. The "pole" may have been the red colour, resembling in this respect certain tallest and most conspicuous of those military very deadly snakes in Australia, which a.re standards which were planted (probably on known a.a "copper snakes." Travellers speak some elevation) as rallying points for the of some such pests a.s still abounding in the various camps ; or it may have been one region of the Ara.bah, but it is quite uncertain loftier still, ma.de for the occa.sion. whether the fiery se~ents of that BJ18Cia.l .Ver. 9.-When he beheld the serpent visitation ca.n be identified with any eX1Sting (~Q~ in a.ll three places of this verse) of species. braBB, he lived. The record is brief and Ver. 7.-Pray unto the Lord. This is the simple in the extreme, and tells nothing but first and only (recorded) occasion on which the bare facts. The author of the Book of the people directly asked for the intercession Wisdom understood the true bearing of those of Moses (cf., however, eh. xi. 2), although facts when he ca.lled the brazen serpent a Pharaoh had done so several times, and never ai,µ/30">,,.ov awn1piac (eh. xvi 6), and when he in vain. wrote o hr,arpatf>,lr; ob 811! r/J ~,wpovµEvov Ver. 8.-Make thee a fiery serpent. • A (the thing he looked at) iaw{,ro, aHa o,a saraph. The Septuagint, not understand- aA rov ,ravrwv awrijpa. At an earlier day ing the meaning of aaraph, has simply 0<1>1v Hezekiah had estimated the avµ{3o">,,.ov awTf/• (cf. John iii. 14). Set it upon a pole. Ct piac at its true value, as being in itself Septuagint, a,jµuov. Vnlgate, 1rig111um. The worthless, and under certain circumstances same word is better translated " ensign" in mischievous (see on 2 Kings xviii 4). BUch passages a.s Isa. xi 10; "banner" in