Rejoice not thou, whole Palestina, because the rod of him that smote thee is broken: for out of the serpent's root shall come forth a cockatrice, and his fruit shall be a fiery flying serpent.
The fiery flying serpent (Hebrew: שָׂרָף מְעוֹפֵף sārāf mə‘ōfēf; Greek: ἔκγονα αὐτῶν ἐξελεύσονται; Latin: Absorbens volucrem) is a creature mentioned in the Book of Isaiah in the Tanakh.
The term translated as "fiery serpent", saraph, appears elsewhere in the Book of Isaiah to signify the seraphim, the singular form of which is also saraph.
in Hebrew, the word saraph means "burning", and is used seven times throughout the text of the Hebrew Bible as a noun, usually to denote "serpent",[4] twice in the Book of Numbers, once in the Book of Deuteronomy, and four times in the Book of Isaiah.[5][6][7] The reason why the word for "burning" was also used to denote a serpent is not universally agreed upon; it may be due to a certain snake species' fiery colors, or perhaps the burning sensation left by its venomous bite. Regardless, its plural form, seraphim, occurs in both Numbers and Isaiah, but only in Isaiah is it used to denote an angelic being; likewise, these angels are referred to only as the plural seraphim – Isaiah later uses the singular saraph to describe a "fiery flying serpent", in line with the other uses of the term throughout the Tanakh.
The vision in Isaiah Chapter 6 of seraphim in an idealized version of Solomon's Temple represents the sole instance in the Hebrew Bible of this word being used to describe celestial beings.[10] "... I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple. Above it stood the seraphim: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly." (Isaiah 6:1–3)[11] And one cried to another, "Holy, holy, holy, is YHWH of hosts: the whole earth is full of His glory." (verses 2–3)[12] One seraph carries out an act of ritual purification for the prophet by touching his lips with a live coal from the altar (verses 6–7)[13] "And he laid it upon my mouth, and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged."
In the Second Book of Enoch, two classes of celestial beings are mentioned alongside the seraphim and cherubim, known as the phoenixes and the chalkydri (Ancient Greek: χαλκύδραι khalkýdrai, compound of χαλκός khalkós "brass, copper" + ὕδρα hýdra "hydra", "water-serpent"—lit. "brazen hydras", "copper serpents"). Both are described as "flying elements of the sun" that reside in either the 4th or 6th heaven, who have twelve wings and burst into song at sunrise.[20][21]
In the Book of Revelation (4:4–8), the beasts are described as being forever in God's presence and praising him: "[A]nd they rest not day and night, saying, 'Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come.'" This account differs slightly from the account of Isaiah, stating in the eighth verse, "And the four beasts had each of them six wings about him; and they were full of eyes within". They appear also in the Gnostic text, On the Origin of the World.[22]
"O Shining One, son of Dawn!" (Hebrew: הֵילֵל בֶּן־שָׁחַר, romanized: Hēlēl ben Shāḥar, lit. 'exalted one, son of Shāḥar'
Isaiah 14:12–15 has been the origin of the belief that Satan was a fallen angel, who could also be referred to as Lucifer.[7] It refers to the rise and disappearance of the morning star Venus, translated as Lucifer (Latin: Lucem Ferre, lit. "light bringer") in the Vulgate and preserved in the early English translations of the Bible.)[7]
12 How art thou fallen from heaven, O Hēlēl ben Shāḥar {Lucifer, son of the morning}! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!
This understanding of Isaiah 14:12–15 seems to be the most accepted interpretation in the New Testament, as well as among early Christians such as Origen, Eusebius, Tertullian, and Pope Gregory I.[7] It may be considered a Christian "remythologization" of Isaiah 14, as the verse originally used Canaanite religion to build its imagery of the hubris of a historical ruler, "the king of Babylon" in Isaiah 14:4.[7]
The role of Venus as the morning star was taken by ʿAṯtar, in this instance referred to as "son of Shāḥar".[8] The reference to Shāḥar remains enigmatic to scholars, who have a wide range of theories on the mythological framework and sources for the passage in Isaiah.[9]
Scholars identified Shalim as the god of the dusk and Shahar as the god of the dawn.[2] Shahar and Salim are the twin children of El. As the markers of dawn and dusk, Shahar and Shalim also represented the temporal structure of the day, and referenced the morning star and the evening star, the dual appearance of Venus.[3] Shahar "Dawn" is a god in Ugaritic and Canaanite religion first mentioned in inscriptions found in Ugarit (now Ras Shamra, Syria).[1]
In the Dictionary of Deities and Demons in the Bible, Venus is represented by Shalim as the Evening Star and Shahar as the Morning Star.[1] His name derives from the triconsonantal Semitic root Š-L-M ("whole, safe, sound, peace"). Many scholars believe that the name of Shalim is preserved in the name of the city Jeru-"Salem". The god Shalim may have been associated with dusk and the evening star in the etymological senses of a "completion" of the day, "sunset" and "peace".
An Ugaritic myth known as The Gracious and Most Beautiful Gods describes Shalim and his brother Shahar as offspring of El through two women he meets at the seashore. They are both nursed by "The Lady", and have appetites as large as "(one) lip to the earth and (one) lip to the heaven." In other Ugaritic texts, the two are associated with the sun goddess.[1]
Another inscription is a sentence repeated three times in a para-mythological text, "Let me invoke the gracious gods, the voracious gods of ym." Ym in most Semitic languages means "day," and Shalim and Shahar, twin deities of the dusk and dawn, were conceived of as its beginning and end.[4]
The Divine Twins are youthful horsemen, either gods or demigods, who serve as rescuers and healers in Proto-Indo-European mythology.[1]
Like other Proto-Indo-European divinities, the Divine Twins are not directly attested by archaeological or written materials, but scholars of comparative mythology and Indo-European studies generally agree on the motifs they have reconstructed by way of the comparative method.[2][3]
Scholar Donald Ward proposed a set of common traits that pertain to divine twin pairs of Indo-European mythologies:[4][5]
dual paternity;
mention of a female figure (their mother or their sister);
deities of fertility;
known by a single dual name or having rhymed/alliterative names;
associated with horses;
saviours at sea;
of astral nature;
protectors of oaths;
providers of divine aid in battle; and
magic healers.
Although the Proto-Indo-European (PIE) name of the Divine Twins cannot be reconstructed with certainty based on the available linguistic evidence, the most frequent epithets associated with the two brothers in liturgic and poetic traditions are the "Youthful" and the "Descendants" (sons or grandsons) of the Sky-God (Dyēus).[6][7][3]
Two well-accepted reflexes of the Divine Twins, the Vedic Aśvins and the Lithuanian Ašvieniai, are linguistic cognates ultimately deriving from the Proto-Indo-European word for the horse, *h1éḱwos. They are related to Sanskrit áśva and Avestan aspā (both from Indo-Iranian *Haćwa), and to Old Lithuanian ašva, which all share the meaning of "mare". This may point to an original PIE divine name *h1éḱw-n-, although this form could also have emerged from later contacts between Proto-Indo-Iranian and Proto-Balto-Slavic speakers, which are known to have occurred in prehistoric times.
16 - I Jesus have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things in the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, and the bright and morning star.
- Book of the Revelation, ch. 22
18 And unto the angel of the church in Thyatira write; These things saith the Son of God, who hath his eyes like unto a flame of fire, and his feet are like fine brass;
19 I know thy works, and charity, and service, and faith, and thy patience, and thy works; and the last to be more than the first.
20 Notwithstanding I have a few things against thee, because thou sufferest that woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess, to teach and to seduce my servants to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed unto idols.
21 And I gave her space to repent of her fornication; and she repented not.
22 Behold, I will cast her into a bed, and them that commit adultery with her into great tribulation, except they repent of their deeds.
23 And I will kill her children with death; and all the churches shall know that I am he which searcheth the reins and hearts: and I will give unto every one of you according to your works.
24 But unto you I say, and unto the rest in Thyatira, as many as have not this doctrine, and which have not known the depths of Satan, as they speak; I will put upon you none other burden.
25 But that which ye have already hold fast till I come.
26 And he that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations:
27 And he shall rule them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers: even as I received of my Father.
28 And I will give him the morning star.
29 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.
- Revelation, ch 2
