SERAPHIM

7. A priestly clan (Neh 10^ 11" 12!- '2, 1 Es 58 = 1 Ch 9" Azariah). 8. One of those sent to apprehend Jeremiah and Baruoh (Jer 36"). 9. Son of Neriah and brother of Baruch (Jer 51"-"). He held the office of sar menOchSh (AV 'a quiet prince,' mg. 'or prince of Me- nucha or chief chamberlain'; RV 'chief chamberlain,' mg. 'or quartermaster').

SEBAFHIM. — The seraphim are mentioned only in a single passage of Scripture (Is &"■). In his inaugural vision, Isaiah sees these supernatural creatures grouped about Jehovah's throne in His heavenly palace. The prophet furnishes no elaborate description of the form of these beings, and apparently assumes that his readers will be able to fill in what he omits; but he does make clear that they are six-winged creatures. With one pair of wings they hover around Jehovah's throne; and with the other two they cover their faces and their feet, — actions symbolical of hmnillty and adoration. The seraphim are arranged in an antiphonal choir, singing the Trisagion, and their chorus is of such volume that the sound shakes the foundations of the palace. In the prophet's vision they have human voices and hands (v."), but it cannot be asserted with equal certainty that they possess human bodies. The prophet leaves us in no doubt about the function of these creatures. They are ministers of Jehovah, occupied in singing the praises of their Sovereign, and in protecting Him from the approach of sin and evil. The seraphim may be traced in the imagery and sym-bolism of the NT Apocalypse, where the four living creatures, in both their function and their form, are a combination of the seraphim with the cheruljim of Ezekiel's vision (cf. Is 6^-, Ezk 1. 2, and Rev 48).

It was customary with the prophets to transform and purify popular conceptions, by bringing them into relation with their ethical idea of God. The seraphim are an illustration of this process. The popular mythical seraphim were a personification of the serpent-like flash of lightning. The usage and meaning of the singular sdrdph (= 'fiery serpent,' Nu 21«, Is 14"), as well as the etymology of the word, suggest this view of the origin of the seraphim. The later Jewish tra-dition, according to which they are serpents, points in the same direction (Enoch 20' 61'" et al.). The brazen serpent, Nehushtan, which was removed from the Temple by Hezekiah, was a relic probably coimected with the popular mythical conception, and it may have suggested the seraphim of the heavenly palace to Isaiah's mind. _ Two other theories of the origin of the prophetic concep-tion have been advanced, but there is little that can be said in their favour. , Some woul d derive the name from the Babylonian Sharrapu, a name for Nergal the &re-god, and consequentlj^ would regard the seraphim as the flames that enveloped this deity. Others have endeavoured to associate them with the Egyptian griffins (seref), half-lion and half- eagle, which are represented as guardians of graves. Accord-ing to the latter view, the duty of guarding the threshold of the Temple would be the function that must be^ assigned to the seraphim of Isaiah's vision. In criticism, it maybe remarked that the Egyptian griffin is more alcin to the Hebrew cherub, and the latter should be sharply distinguished from the seraph (cf. art. Cherdb). James A. Kblso.

SERAR (1 Es S») =Sisera, Ezr 2", Neh 7".

SERED.— A son of Zebulun (Gn 46", Nu 26" W [gentilic name Seredites]).

SERGIUS PATJLUS.— See Paulus (Sebqius).

SERJEANTS.— EV tr. in Ac 16'». " of Gr. rhab-douchoi ( = 'rod-bearers'), which represents the Lat. lictores (RVm Uctors), officials whose duty it was to attend the Roman magistrates, to execute their orders, and especially to administer the punishments of scourg-ing or beheading. For this purpose they carried, as their mark of office, the fasces, a bundle of rods with an axe inserted. Ct. art. Philippi.

SERON. — A Syrian commander defeated by Judas Maccabaeus at Beth-horon (1 Mac 3"- "'■).

SERPENT, BRAZEN

SERPENT.—

1. nachash, generic name (cf. Arab, chanash), Gn3'' 'etc.; the most^commonly used word, occurs frequently.

2. 'eph'eh (root to 'groan' or 'hiss,' of. Arab, af'a) is applied to the vjper (Job 20", Is 30« 695 .

3. 'o*;8Ata),Ps 1408 'adder.' The root meaning (cf. Arab. 'akasa) seems to be ' bending back,' as a serpent does before striking.

4. pethen, tr. 'asp,' Dt 32», Job 20", Is IIS; tr. 'adder,' Ps 58*, where it is referred to as the favourite of the serpent- charmer.

5. sMphlphon Gn 49", tr. 'adder,' AVm 'arrowsnake,' RVm 'horned snake* (cf. Arab, aheffnn).

6. tsepha'. Is 14«'>, AV 'cockatrice,' E.V 'basilisk,' EVm

7. Uipho'nl, Pr 238Z 'adder'; Is 11* 69', Jer 8", 'cocka-trice,' RV 'basilisk,* mg. 'or adder.'

8. qippoz. Is 34"', AV ' great owl,' RV ' arrowsnake.' See Owl.

9. saraph, Is 142» 30* 'fiery serpent,' coupled with nachash in Nu 21" Dt 8".

10. zochtile 'aphar, Dt 322<; zochile 'erets Mio 7"; some creature that gUdes on or into the earth, probably therefore a serpent. Cf . Worm, 5.

11. tannin, tr. 'serpent,' Ex 7»- >". ", RVm 'any large reptile'; Ps 9V^, AV and EV 'dragon.' See Dhagon.

12. (Gr.) echidTia — ^any poisonous serpent (Mt 3' 12" 2388, Lk 3', Ac 288).

Serpents are very common in the Holy Land and in the wilderness to the south. Over 30 species are known. Though the great majority are really harmless, all are dreaded by the natives, and several kinds are most deadly. Fatal snake bites are by no means uncommon; the writer knows of seven cases at first hand. The Egyptian cobra (.Naja haji) is found, but fortunately is not common. It is the favourite with snake-charmers, and is very probably the pethen, tr. 'asp' in OT. It was held in much veneration by the ancient Egyptians, and a little bronze serpent recently found in the ex-cavations of ancient Gezer — probably an object of worship in pre-Israelite times — was of this form. Another very dangerous snake is the horned sandsnake (Cerastes hasselguistii), supposed to be the 'asp of Cleopatra.' It lies in ambush (Gn 49") in depressions of the road and bites the passer-by. It is called by the Arabs shiffUn, which corresponds to the Heb. shephlphdn. Other poisonous Palestine snakes belonging, like the last mentioned, to the viper family are Vipera euphratica, V. ammodytes, Ddboia xanthina — a large, nocturnal species — and the small Echis arenicola which haunts sandy deserts. These vipers are all included under the Heb. 'eph'eh (Arab. af'a). The viper of Ac 288 ^as prob-ably Vipera aspis, which is common on most of the larger isles of the Mediterranean, though extinct in Malta. The expression 'fiery serpent' probably refers to the burning sensation produced by the bite; in Ps 1408 their poison is supposed to reside in their tongues.

Some of the references to serpents do not apparently refer to any natural object. This view is taken in the translation in Is 14^8 of tsepha', and in Is 11* 59', Jer 8" of tsiph'BM, where 'cockatrice' occurs in AV and ' basilisk ' in RV. The former was, among early English writers, a creature with a head and body like a cock, but the tail of a serpent, with a sting at its ex-tremity. The basUiskos of the LXX was probably the golden urosus, the ornament of the royal headdress among the Egyptians. There is no clear reason why in the passages quoted the references should not be to an actual species of snake. The reference in Am 98 to the serpent (nachash) at the bottom of the sea may have some reference to the Babylonian myth of Tiamat. See also Dragon and Leviathan. For the serpent of Gn 3 see Fall (4), and Satan, p. 829'> f.

E. W. G. Mastebman.

SERPENT, BRAZEN.- Nu 21«-» relates that Moses was commanded by God to make a serpent of brass (or rather, of bronze) and to set it upon a standard (RV), that those who had been bitten by the serpents might look on it and be healed. This was in harmony with

837