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.

Footnote 350:

_Psal._ lxxviii. 23-25.

Footnote 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.

Footnote 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_.

Footnote 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].

Footnote 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].

Footnote 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].

Footnote 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].

Footnote 357:

_Exod._ xii. 37, 38.