Viper
“From a root meaning to hiss”
Summary
The viper is a venomous serpent mentioned in Scripture, used both literally for dangerous snakes and figuratively by John the Baptist and Jesus to characterize hypocritical religious leaders.
☩Hebrew and Greek Terms
The Hebrew word eph'eh, probably meaning 'to hiss,' is rendered 'viper' in Job 20:16, Isaiah 30:6, and 59:5. The Greek echidna appears in Matthew 3:7, 12:34, 23:33, Luke 3:7, and Acts 28:3. In all instances a venomous serpent is denoted, though the particular species, if anything more specific than a generic term, cannot be determined. The viper that fastened on Paul's hand at Malta was probably the Vipera aspis, common on Mediterranean islands but now extinct in Malta due to deforestation.
☩Characteristics
The name 'viper' derives from Latin vivipara, meaning 'bringing forth young alive,' though the young are first formed in eggs within the parent. Isaiah's allusion to hatching vipers is thus physiologically accurate. The viper's poison is among the most active and dangerous in the animal kingdom, making it dreaded from earliest ages as an emblem of everything harmful and destructive. The Eastern viper called leffah is described as about two feet long, thick as a man's arm, beautifully spotted with yellow and brown, with a wide mouth for inhaling air that it ejects forcibly with audible sound.
☩Figurative Usage
The viper became a powerful metaphor for deceit, hypocrisy, and malignity. John the Baptist addressed the multitudes coming for baptism, particularly the Pharisees and Sadducees, as a 'brood of vipers,' questioning who warned them to flee from coming wrath. Jesus applied the same term to the scribes and Pharisees, showing the deadly character of their opposition to truth. The imagery suggests not merely danger but deceptive evil—those who appear harmless but harbor lethal venom within.
Related Verses8 mentions
References
- 1.John McClintock and James Strong, "Viper," in Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature, vol. X (Harper & Brothers, 1867–1887).
- 2.James Orr (ed.), "Viper," in International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, vol. V (Howard-Severance Company, 1915).
- 3.James Hastings (ed.), "Viper," in Dictionary of the Apostolic Church, vol. II (T. & T. Clark, 1915–1918).
- 4.George Morrish, "Viper," in Morrish's Concise Bible Dictionary (George Morrish, 1898).