186 SCRIPTURE NATURAL HISTORY, 



spectacles, but behind, like the head of a cat. The eyes are fierce 

 and full of fire ; the head is small, and the nose flat, though cov- 

 ered with very large scales, of a yellowish ash color; the skin is 

 white, and the large tumor on the neck is flat, and covered with 

 oblong smooth scales. The bite of this animal is said to be incura- 

 ble, the patient dying in about an hour after the wound ; the whole 

 frame being dissolved into one putrid mass of corruption. The 

 effects here attributed to the bite of this creature answer very well 

 to what is intimated of the tzephoni in scripture. Thus, in Isaiah 

 xi. 9 : * They [the tzephoni immediately preceding] shall not hurt 

 inor destroy [corrupt] in all my holy mountain.' And Proverbs 

 xxiii. 32: 'At the last it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth [spreads, 

 diffuses its poison ; So the LXX. and Vulgate,] like a cockatrice.' 



We must not omit to notice the very powerful argument adduced 

 jn the last cited passage against the sin of immoderate drinking. 

 Like the poison of the deadly cockatrice, it paralyses the energies 

 both of mind and body, and speedily diffuses corruption through- 

 out the entire frame. ' Who hath woe ? who hath sorrow ? who 

 hath contentions ? who hath babblings ? who hath wounds without 

 cause? who hath redness of eyes? They that tarry long at the 

 wine : they that go to seek mixed wine.' ' Wine is a mocker, strong 

 drink is raging ; and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise,' 

 ch. xxiii. 29, 30 ; xx. 1, 



The unyielding cruelty of the Chaldean armies, under Nebuchad- 

 nezzar, and the appointed ministers of Jehovah's vengeance on the 

 Jewish nation, whose iniquities had made him their enemy, is ex- 

 pressively alluded to in the following passage : ' For, behold, I will 

 send serpents, cockatrices, among you, which shall not be charmed, 

 and they shall bite you, saith the Lord,' Jeremiah viii. 17. 



In Egypt, and other Oriental countries, a serpent was the com- 

 mon symbol of a powerful monarch ; it was embroidered on their 

 robes, and blazoned on their diadem, to signify their absolute pow- 

 er .and invincible might; and also, that, as the woun.d inflicted by 

 the basilisk is incurable, so the fatal effects of their displeasure were 

 neither to be avoided nor endured. These, says JPax.ton, 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 xJiee 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. U.zziah, the king of Judah, had sub- 

 dued the Philistines ; but, taking advantage of the weak reign of 

 Ahab, tuey again invaded the kingdom of Jqdea, and reduced some 

 cities in the southern part of the country under their dominion. 

 On the death of Ahab, Isaiah delivers this prophecy, threatening 

 them with a more severe chastisement from the hand of liezekiah, 

 the grandson of Josiah, 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 



