And the LORD sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and much people of Israel died.
The Lord sent fiery serpents, х hanªchaashiym (H5175) hasªraapiym (H8314); Septuagint, tous opheis tous thanatountas] - deadly serpents. That part of the desert where the Israelites now were-near the head of the gulf of Akaba-is greatly infested with venomous reptiles of various kinds, particularly lizards and scorpions, which, being in the habit of lying among long grass, are particularly dangerous to the barelegged sandalled people of the East. The only known remedy consists in sucking the wound, or, in the case of cattle, in the application of ammonia.
The species of serpents that caused so great mortality among the Israelites cannot be ascertained. They are said to have been "fiery,"' an epithet applied to them either from their bright, vivid colour, or the violent inflammation their poisonous bite occasioned (see Septuagint, Deuteronomy 8:15). Bochart and others think it was the venomous serpent called Hydrus, or Chersydrus [Greek, dipsas], whose sting inflames and produces a fiery eruption, intolerable thirst, and a swelling of the whole body, terminating in death (see a description of it Lucan, 'Phar.,' 9:, 791; AElian, 'Hist. Animals,' 6:, 51). Others, that as the venomous serpents found in the Peninsula of Sinai are few in species, a cobra may be intended.
Isaiah mentions (Isaiah 14:29) х saaraap (H8314) mª`owpeep (H5774); Septuagint, opheis petamenoi] flying serpents (cf. Isaiah 30:6). Herodotus speaks of 'winged serpents,' which in the spring came flying from Arabia, and were destroyed by the Ibises (Rawlinson's 'Herodotus,' lib. 2:, cap. 75; 3:, 107; AElian, 'Hist. Animals,' lib. 2:, cap. 28: cf. Josephus, 'Antiq.,' b. 2:, ch. 10:, sec. 2; Burckhardt's 'Syria,' p. 499). Although there is no species of winged serpents now known as existing, it does seem probable, from the numerous references by ancient authors, that there must have been some reptiles of this description, which are now extinct; or we must suppose that what are called flying serpents are those which swing themselves from branches, and to which the modern Arabs give the name of 'flying serpents' (Niebuhr's 'Description de l'Arabie; Bunsen's 'Egypt,' vol 4:, p. 204).