FIERY SERPENT. English term (e.g. RSV and KJV) for the desert vipers which attacked the Hebrews in the wilderness as they journeyed around Moab (Num 21:4-9). Their bite was cured miraculously when the victim looked at the Bronze Serpent (q.v.) made by Moses on that occasion. The phrase trs. two Heb. terms: שָׂרָפ֒, H8597, (v. 8) and נָחָ֤שׁ׃׀ שָׂרָפ׃֙ (v. 6). These same snakes also are referred to simply as “serpents” (נָחָשׁ֒, H5729, v. 7).

The Numbers context seems to refer to a poisonous viper living in the desert regions around Biblical Moab. It has been identified tentatively with Heb. אֶפְעֶה, H704, which is, in turn, identified with Echis carinatus, “a viper living in sandy plains” (“Serpent,” IDB).

In other usages, the term saraf refers to legendary creatures (e.g. the flying serpents of Isa 14:29; 30:6) or supernatural angelic beings (e.g. seraphim of Isa 6). This raises the possibility that saraf is used in Numbers 21:6 not because the term normally designated a particular kind of snake, but rather to emphasize the supernatural, miraculous character of the plague. See Brazen Serpent.

Bibliography G. E. Post, “Serpent,” HDB (1905); F. S. Bodenheimer, “Serpent,” IDB (1962).