Positive and Negative Symbolisms. The complex symbolic nature of the serpent merits consideration: While it represented terrifying destruction, its presence also signified healing. In response to the wilderness complaints of the Israelites, God sent נְחָשִׁים שְׂרָפִים (nechashim seraphim) (nechashim seraphim, “burning serpents”) that bit the people, who then died (Num 21:4–6). Immediately after this, when Moses prayed that the נָחָשׁ (nachash) (nachash, “serpent”) be removed, God told him to make for himself a שָׂרָף (saraph) (saraph, “burning one”) and put it on a standard. Moses made a נְחַשׁ נְחֹשֶׁת (nechash nechosheth) (nechash nechosheth, “bronze serpent”) and set it on a standard, and all who looked at it lived (Num 21:7–9). Here, within a span of four verses, the meaning associated with the serpent shifts from death to restoration, a connection that pervaded the ancient Near Eastern cultural contexts as well. Centuries later, Hezekiah determined that the bronze serpent had become a snare for Israel and ordered it to be destroyed (2 Kgs 18:4), reversing once again the sense of what was good and what was not. In the material realm, the “good snake” became a static idol (נָחָשׁ נְחשֶׁת, nachash nechsheth, nechash nechosheth, “bronze serpent”) that was “evil,” and therefore was broken (compare Gen 3:15). The serpent in the garden had been cursed to slither in the dust; God’s enemies in the future would “lick dust” as the serpent did (Isa 65:25; Mic 7:17).

Isaiah also included these wilderness creatures as he represented the continuous presence of hostile forces in an oracle directed against the Philistines: “From the root of the נָחָשׁ (nachash) (nachash, “serpent”) will come out a צֶפַע (tsepha') (tsepha’, “viper”), and its fruit will be a שָׂרָף מְעֹפֵף (saraph me'opheph) (saraph me’opheph, “darting, burning [serpent]”)” (Isa 14:29). This connection between nachash and saraph further develops a matrix of profound cosmic identities, not least among them the mighty seraphim of Isa 6:2. While the saraph of the wilderness may have “darted” (Isa 14:29) rather than flown and may have been known to emit venom, Isaiah’s superlative experience of burning creatures (שְׂרָפִים, seraphim, seraphim) indicated that:

• they were well-prepared to fly (having been endowed with six wings);

• they voiced continually the praises of the Lord;

• one of them transported a live coal to cleanse Isaiah’s lips (Isa 6:2–7).

Thus, they were properly described as “burning ones.”