Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

VIPER

Among the approximately 35 species of snakes in Israel, seven are venomous and can inflict a fatal bite. Six of these venomous snakes are vipers: the Palestinian viper, Burton’s carpet viper, Field’s horned viper, the lesser cerastes viper, the greater cerastes viper, and the Engedi mole viper. The Palestinian viper inhabits the Huleh Basin, Galilee, the Jezreel Plain, the Coastal Plain, the central mountains, and the Shephelah. The others live in the desert and semi-arid regions.

Zophar speaks of wicked persons figuratively as “the tongue of a viper” (Job 20:16). In his warning to Judah concerning an Egyptian alliance, Isaiah mentions the viper as one of several dangerous animals which inhabit the Negeb, a land of “distress and anguish” (Isa. 30:6). Isaiah also depicts the iniquity of God’s people, who “hatch out vipers” (Isa. 59:5). Heb. ʿaḵšûḇ may be translated “adder,” “viper,” or possibly “spider” (Ps. 140:3[MT 4]).

John the Baptist calls the Pharisees and Sadducees who came to watch him a “brood of vipers” (Gk. échidna; Matt. 3:7; at Luke 3:7 he addresses the multitudes). Jesus likewise condemns the Pharisees as a “brood of vipers” (Matt. 12:34; 23:33), indicating their hypocrisy and wickedness. Only in Acts 28:3, where a viper latches onto Paul’s hand, is the viper mentioned literally.

Bibliography. Atlas of Israel, 3rd ed. (Tel Aviv, 1985); E. Orni and E. Elisha, Geography of Israel, 4th rev. ed. (Jerusalem, 1980).

Alan Ray Buescher

Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

VIPER

Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible (2000)