CHAPTER II.
Contents. Of the fiery Serpents that annoy’d the Camp of Israel: The Reason of that judicial Stroke, i.e. Murmuring under a Dispensation of Miracles. Why punish’d by Serpents? Why called Fiery? The last Plague in the Desart. Flying Serpents.
SECTION. I.
It might be said with great Propriety of the People of Israel, that they were a Generation of Vipers. Ingratitude, Unbelief, Discontent and Murmuring, were the dominant Passions in the Wilderness; they were always quarrelling with God and Moses: never easy, no not under a Theocracy, a divine Government. No wonder that Rage and Faction haunt the Dwellings of good Princes, when we find perverse Spirits have murmur’d at a divine Administration.
A Magnificent Table was Spread for them in the Wilderness, their daily Entertainments were miraculous; they were fed by Manna, a delicious Food distilled from Heaven, admirably suited to every one’s Palate. He commanded the Clouds from above, and opened the Doors of Heaven, and rained down Manna upon them to eat, and gave them the Corn of Heaven[[350]]. Wherefore have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the Wilderness, for there is no Bread, neither is there any Water, and our Soul loatheth this light Bread[[351]]: This vain and empty Bread, say the LXX.
[350]. Psal. lxxviii. 23-25.
[351]. Numb. xxi. 5, 6.—τω αρτω τω διακενω—
They were also furnish’d with miraculous Drink, i. e. Water out of a Rock; Water that swell’d into a River, and follow’d ’em in all their Motions, till they arrived in the Land flowing with Milk and Honey; Terms, that include a Scene of Plenty and Pleasantness.
In all their Traverses through the Wilderness, they were always under the Guidance and Protection of the Shekina; by which Word the Jews understood the Presence of the Holy Spirit; of Christ, say the Christians. The Shekina was the most sensible Mark of the Presence of God among them, which rested over the Propitiatory, or the golden Cherubims, which adher’d to the Propitiatory or Covering of the Ark; there the Shekina abode in the Shape of a Cloud. The Rabbins tell us, that it first resided in the Tabernacle, and descended into it in the Figure of a Cloud, on the Day of Consecration. It past from thence into the Sanctuary of Solomon’s Temple, on the Day of its Dedication by that Prince[[352]]; where it continued to the Destruction of Jerusalem by the Chaldeans, and was not afterwards to be seen there.
[352]. Calmet from Basnage, History of the Jews.
Thus were they conducted and entertain’d by an unintermitted Train of Miracles. Now to fret and repine in such a Situation, was a Crime of a high and heinous Nature, no less than impeaching infinite Wisdom, and taxing it with erroneous Conduct: If Difficulties occurred in the way, their Duty was Resignation, a Temper obvious in Pagans, whose Religion forbid all indecorous Sallies of the Passions.
SOCRATES, a Philosopher of Athens, was a Philosopher in Prison, as well as in the Museum: When bound in Fetters, and he had nothing but Death before his Face, he then conversed with his Friends with perfect Equanimity, and without the least Reflexion upon Fate, upon God, and his Judges, notwithstanding his base Treatment, and the notorious Injustice of his Sentence. The Scripture represents Job as a Champion in Affliction, who by his passive Fortitude under it, became the proper Hero of an Heroic-Poem.
SECT. II.
WHY were they punish’d by Serpents?
Perhaps it might be to put them in remembrance of the first Sin, that was introduced into Paradise by the old Serpent: This kind of Punishment could not but bring to their Mind that gloomy Moment in which the human Nature was morally and mortally wounded by that evil Spirit, in the Form of a Serpent. This being allow’d, we may infer, that Man’s Memory stands in need of a Remembrancer, even of Paradise lost. And oh! who can think of that inexpressible Loss, without dropping a silent and solemn Tear?
Some Learned Jews themselves, speaking upon this Subject, say, the Reason why they were chastised by Serpents, was because they had done the Actions of the old Serpent, in using an ill Tongue against God, against Moses, and Manna, the Bread of Heaven.
SECT. III.
WHY called Fiery Serpents?
A natural and a moral Reason may be assigned for it.
1. The sacred Volume seems to account for the natural Reason, when it says, God sent fiery Serpents. The Hebrew word is Seraphim, that is Burners, because they appeared in the form of a Flame. The LXX calls them Serpents of Death[[353]], because their Wounds proved mortal.
[353]. Οφεις θαναουνται.
As soon as the People were wounded, their Blood was inflamed, and according to some Jewish Authors, they were scorch’d with insatiable Thirst. Of the Hebrew word Saraph, the Greeks, by changing the Position and Order of Letters, have borrowed the Name Prester, which is a kind of fiery venemous Serpent, called also Dipsas and Causon, whose Wound is accompanied with a most vehement Heat and Thirst, and generally incurable, as some have formerly said. They may be properly called Fiery, as their Colour was glowing, a proper Representative of Fire. In the West-Indies are Adders, red as Blood, about seven or eight Foot long, and appear by Night as a burning Coal[[354]].
[354]. Atl. America, 179.
2. They might be called Fiery also, from a moral Consideration; for, that raging Heat in the Body might represent the outragious Disorders of the Mind, flowing from conscious Guilt, neither of which were the Attendants of an original State. Hence, perhaps, it is that Satan’s Temptations are styled fiery Darts, because when complied with, they kindle a Fire in the Conscience, a Prognostick, and Taste of the Unquenchable[[355]].
[355]. Eph. vi 16. βελη—πεπυρωμηνα.
And indeed, what are all uneasy Sensations, but the Venom of the old Serpent? thence, that long Train of Complaints and Groans. Remember from whence thou art fallen, is the Language of every Calamity, but no calamitous Impression so terrible, as that which alarms the Mind about the awful Futurity. Of Sin it is said, that at last, it will bite like a Serpent, and sting like an Adder[[356]].
[356]. Prov. xxiii. 32.
What fill’d Adam’s Mind with Horror and Consternation? What made him run with wild Confusion among the Trees to hide himself? What was he afraid of? He, who was Lord of the Earth, and Image of the Almighty? Was not he in Paradise, the Garden of God; whence then this sudden and mighty Panick? What produced this great and astonishing Change in one who had a friendly Intercourse with God a little before? Oh! ’twas Guilt, Guilt, Guilt. A Consciousness of his iniquitous Compliance with the Serpent. What were those anxious disquieting Thoughts that kindled the Fire in his Breast, but the venemous, fiery Darts of Satan?
JUDAS is another Example; a Person highly honour’d by Christ, who made him his Ambassador Extraordinary to the House of Israel, and Treasurer of his House and Privy Counsellor, on a sudden falls into Extremity of Anguish; and why? Guilt, Guilt ... struck with Horror of Mind for the Effusion of innocent Blood; was arraign’d, and sentenced by his own Conscience, and became his own Executioner: His Guilt was the Wound that bled within, and what Words can describe the Agony that made that wretched Man throw himself into Hell for Ease.
SECT. IV.
This gloomy Occurrence fell out in the last Year of their Pilgrimage. The Wilderness thro’ which they had travelled abounded with these venemous Creatures, but were under the Restraint of a kind Providence, and not suffer’d to distress the Camp of Israel till now. Deut. viii. 15. Who led thee through the great Wilderness, wherein were fiery Serpents and Scorpions.
Thus, for their repeated Provocations, they were pursued by divine Vengeance to the very Borders of Canaan.
Just as they were congratulating one another upon the glorious Prospect before them, an Army of venemous Serpents invade their Camp, and made a terrible Slaughter among them. Little did our first Parents suspect a Serpent in Paradise, nor Israel such a Visit from fiery Serpents upon the Confines of the holy Land, the western Border of Paradise.
This Plague in the Camp, was the last Punishment inflicted upon the House of Israel in the Wilderness. When they came out of Egypt, it appeared they were about six hundred thousand Men, besides Women and Children, and a mixt Multitude: Of that mighty Number, none but two, viz. Josua and Caleb enter’d into the promised Land; the rest, for their Unbelief and reiterated Offences, perish’d by the way[[357]].
[357]. Exod. xii. 37, 38.
CHAPTER III.
Contents.
The flying and fiery Serpents. Ungrateful Israel wounded by them, and healed by the Figure of a Serpent. God hears the Intercession of Moses, when deaf to the Cries of that rebellious People. Conjectures why healed by a Machine in the Form of a Serpent. Sin in all its Appearances, the Venom of the old Serpent. The brazen Serpent a Representation of the Messiah. The Cures wrought by both were by very unlikely Means. The Wonders of Salvation. Why Israel was healed by a Serpent made of Brass; Opinions about it. The brazen Serpent was no Talisman, or a magical Image. The fatal Catastrophe of the brazen Serpent. Destroyed, when abused to Idolatry. The Serpent shewed in St. Ambrose’s Church at Milan, for that of Moses, a Cheat. Martyrs from the Catacombs of St. Sebastian. Divine Institution necessary to acceptable Worship. May the Destruction of the brazen Serpent, when abused to Idolatry, warrant us to guess at the Fate of a Cross abused to Idolatry!