THE SERAPH, OR FIERY SERPENT. 187 



them, and by the serpent from whom should spring the fiery flying 

 serpent, that is, Hezekiah, a much more terrible enemy than even 

 Uzziah had been, #ut the symbol of regal power which the Ori- 

 ental kings preferred to all others, was the basilisk. 



All the other species of serpents are said to acknowledge the 

 superiority of the basilisk, by flying from its presence, and hiding 

 themselves irj the dust. It is also supposed to live longer than any 

 other serpent : the ancient heathens, therefore, pronounced it to be 

 immortal, and placed it in the number of their deties ; and because 

 it had the dangerous power, in general belief, of killing with its pes- 

 tiferous breath the strongest animals, it seemed to them invested 

 with the power of life and death. It became, therefore, the favor- 

 ite symbol of kings, and was employed by the prophet to symbolize 

 the great and good Hezekiah, with strict propriety. 



THE SERAPH, OR FIERY SERPENT. 



THIS species of serpent receives its name, seraph, from a root 

 which signifies to burn, either from its vivid fiery color, or from the 

 heat and burning pain occasioned by its bite. In Numb. xxi. 6, 

 &c. we read that these venomous creatures were employed by God 

 to chastise the unbelieving and rebellious Israelites, in consequence 

 of which many of them died, the rest being saved from the effects 

 of the calamitous visitation, through the appointed medium of the 

 brazen seraph, which Moses was enjoined to raise upon a pole in 

 the midst of the camp, and which was a striking type of the prom- 

 ised Saviour, John iii. 14, 35. 



In Isa. xiv. 29, and ch. xxx. 6, the same word, with an addition- 

 al epithet is used, and is translated in our Bible, 'fiery flying ser- 

 pents ;' and if we may rely upon the testimony of the ancients, a 

 cloud of witnesses may be produced, who speak of these flying or 

 winged serpents ; although, as Parkhurst remarks, we do not find 

 that any of them affirm they actually saw such alive and flying. 

 Michaelis, however, was so lar influenced by these testimonies, that 

 in his 83d question he recommends it to the travellers to inquire 

 after the existence and nature of flying serpents. In conformity 

 with these instructions, Niebuhr communicated the following in- 

 formation : * There is at Basna, a sort of serpents which they call 

 Htie sursurie Heie thidre. They commonly keep upon the date- 

 trees ; and, as it would be laborious for them to come down from a 

 very high tree in order to ascend another, they twist themselves by 

 the tail to a branch of the former, which making a spring by the 

 motion they give it, throw themselves to the branches of the second. 

 Hence it is that the modern Arabs call them flying serpents, Heie 



