אפעה, Job xx, 16; Isaiah xxx, 6; lix, 5; ἔχιδνα, Matt. iii, 7;
xii, 34; xxiii, 33; Luke iii, 7; Acts xxviii, 3; a serpent famed for the
venomousness of its bite, which is one of the most dangerous poisons in
the animal kingdom. So remarkable, says Dr. Mead, has the viper been for
its venom, that the remotest antiquity made it an emblem of what is
hurtful and destructive. Nay, so terrible was the nature of these
creatures, that they were very commonly thought to be sent as
executioners of divine vengeance upon mankind, for enormous crimes which
had escaped the course of justice. An instance of such an opinion as
this we have in the history of St. Paul, Acts xxviii, whom the people of
Melita, when they saw the viper leap upon his hand, presently concluded
to be a murderer; and as readily made a god of him when, instead of
having his hand inflamed, or falling down dead, one or other of which is
usually the effect of these bites, he without any harm shook the reptile
into the fire: it being obvious enough to imagine that he must stand in
a near relation at least to the gods themselves, who could thus command
the messengers of their vengeance, and counterwork the effects of such
powerful agents.
xii, 34; xxiii, 33; Luke iii, 7; Acts xxviii, 3; a serpent famed for the
venomousness of its bite, which is one of the most dangerous poisons in
the animal kingdom. So remarkable, says Dr. Mead, has the viper been for
its venom, that the remotest antiquity made it an emblem of what is
hurtful and destructive. Nay, so terrible was the nature of these
creatures, that they were very commonly thought to be sent as
executioners of divine vengeance upon mankind, for enormous crimes which
had escaped the course of justice. An instance of such an opinion as
this we have in the history of St. Paul, Acts xxviii, whom the people of
Melita, when they saw the viper leap upon his hand, presently concluded
to be a murderer; and as readily made a god of him when, instead of
having his hand inflamed, or falling down dead, one or other of which is
usually the effect of these bites, he without any harm shook the reptile
into the fire: it being obvious enough to imagine that he must stand in
a near relation at least to the gods themselves, who could thus command
the messengers of their vengeance, and counterwork the effects of such
powerful agents.