The Good and Evil Serpent (89 page)

MATTHEW 3:7 AND THE DEAD SEA SCROLLS

Three times Matthew uses a rare expression: “you brood (offspring) of vipers”
; 3:7, 12:34, and 23:33); the reference is clearly to a dangerous and poisonous snake.
¹⁷
This odd expression is first attributed to John the Baptizer, who according to John 3:7 calls the Pharisees and Sadducees a “brood of vipers.” The expression is clearly negative, but its exact meaning is opaque. Perhaps it denoted that these Jewish leaders were Bearers of Corruptible Knowledge (Neg. 4). In Matthew 12:34 the selfsame expression is attributed to Jesus, perhaps mirroring the fact that Jesus had begun his public career as a disciple of John the Baptizer (cf. John 1:29–42, 3:22–30). According to Matthew 12, Jesus calls his opponents, most likely the Pharisees mentioned in verse 24, a “brood of vipers.” That epithet is directed against Jesus’ opponents because they do not speak the truth. They are evil (verse 34). In this passage, the serpent, the viper, symbolizes the Liar (Neg. 5) and Evil (Neg. 13).

In Matthew 23:33, Jesus again calls his opponents a “brood of vipers.” The noun “serpent” appears before the formula found in Matthew. That is, Jesus addresses his opponents, now clearly the scribes and Pharisees (23:29), with ophidian symbolism: “you serpents, you brood of vipers.” The meaning of the symbolism is clear. Matthew, through Jesus, portrays the scribes and Pharisees as “hypocrites,” which is a Matthean theme. The Pharisees claim to honor the prophets, but are exposed to be the sons of those who murdered the prophets (23:30–31). Thus, the scribes and Pharisees are a brood of vipers. That expression may also imply that they are children of the Devil (Neg. 12). The expression “brood of vipers” in Matthew 23 symbolizes the Bearer of Corruptible Knowledge (Neg. 4) and the Liar (Neg. 5). They oppose Jesus, who is God’s son. A study of ophidian symbology suggests that they are therefore God’s Antagonist (Neg. 11).

This expression, “brood” or “offspring” of vipers, appears not only in Jewish texts; it is also found in Greek and Latin literature. For example, the expression appears in Ovid’s
Metamorphoses
. When Pentheus sees a reveling mob rush out of a city to celebrate some new religious rites, he shouts against them these words: “ ‘You sons of the serpent, you offspring of Mars, what madness has dulled your reason?’ Pentheus cries”
(“Quis furor, anguigenae, proles Mavortia, vestras attonuit mentes?” Pentheus ait).
¹⁸
Thus, the expression—brood of vipers—known to be typical of John the Baptizer’s language was an expression known elsewhere in the Hellenistic world. It may have been common coin in the Mediterranean world, thus signifying the prevalence of serpent imagery.

The same Greek noun that denotes “viper” in Acts 28:1–6 and in Matthew 12:34 and 23:33 appears also in Matthew 3:7 and Luke 3:7 (it is
). In the 1950s, O. Betz argued that a phrase in the
Thanksgiving Hymns
reappears in the New Testament and links John the Baptizer with Qumran.
¹⁹
Betz argued that the Hebrew phrase meant “creatures of the viper” and that this same phrase appears on the lips of John the Baptizer, according to Matthew 3:7: “You brood of vipers [
]! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?” During some discussions in Germany, the late Professor Betz reiterated to me this equation and interpretation. Earlier I thought it was stretching the point because the Hebrew phrase usually means “works of the asp,” but some newly published Dead Sea Scroll fragments strengthen and tend to support Betz’s interpretation.

In this hymnbook (1QH
^a
), in column 11 (= old 3) an author, surely not the Righteous Teacher, predicts the punishment to come to “the works of the sand viper” (literal rendering). What does “the works of the sand viper” (
) mean in 1QH
^a
11.17? Note the final lines of this section of the
Thanksgiving Hymns:

And they shall open the gates of […] the works of the sand viper. (18)

    And they shall close the doors of the pit

        upon the one who is pregnant with perversity

        and the bars of eternity upon all the spirits of the sand viper.

Although we do not now know what was on the torn leather before “the works of the sand viper,” it must be parallel to “the doors of the pit” in the following line; hence the line may have read as: “shall open the gates of [Sheol before] the works of the sand viper.” The “works” are clearly the products of the sand viper. They are to be punished, and that means “works” most likely means “creatures” or “children.” The children of the sand viper are thus synonymous with the “Sons of Darkness”—that is, all those on the earth who are not “Sons of Light” (or Essenes).

This derived meaning of “works”—children or brood—is now found in a recently published Dead Sea Scroll. In
4QMysteries
(4Q299 Frg. 3a ii-b) we find the expression “every [or all] work,” which in context idiomatically means “every creature” (
).
²⁰
The author intends to denote active beings. The full phrase appears in line 10, “the devices (or schemes) of every creature” and in line 15, “the destructions (or tribulations) of every creature.” It makes no sense to translate the Hebrew as “the devices of every work.” Hence, Betz’s argument that the selfsame phrase appears in the Dead Sea Scrolls and in the New Testament is strengthened and should be sustained.

Clarification of what “vipers” might denote among the Qumran Scrolls may be provided by a passage in the
Damascus Document
. In the copies of the
Damascus Document
found at Qumran we find a reference to those who are like “[vip]ers”
;
²¹
4Q266 Frg. 3.2.2). The context refers to those who lack understanding and trespass God’s commandments. The author of this passage chose “vipers” as a pejorative term to denote sinners.

Something further may be added. The author of the
Thanksgiving Hymns
probably was calling the Pharisees and Sadducees “creatures of the sand viper.” It is thus significant that Matthew has John the Baptizer call Pharisees and Sadducees “creatures of vipers.” Second, the final lines of the psalm in the
Thanksgiving Hymns
envision the punishment of these creatures at the end of time. The words attributed to John the Baptizer ring with this same accent: “You creatures of the viper! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath?”

MARK 16:9–20

The appendix to Mark, 16:9–20, has a famous reference to serpents that has been taken literally by some fundamentalists in southern sections of the United States. In “the longer ending of Mark,” the resurrected Jesus tells his eleven disciples that “the one who believes and is baptized” will be able to “pick up serpents” and not be harmed (16:18). It is interesting to observe that poisonous snakes are denoted by “serpent” (
) and not by “asp” (
as in Rom 3:13) or “viper” (
as in Mt 3:7; 12:34; 23:33; Luke 3:7; Acts 28:3).