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Message: <blockquote data-quote="ValamirCleaver" data-source="post: 9588429" data-attributes="member: 703">[URL unfurl="true"]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiery_flying_serpent[/URL]The term translated as "fiery serpent", <a href="https://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?strongs=H8314" target="_blank">saraph</a>, appears elsewhere in the Book of Isaiah to signify the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seraphim" target="_blank">seraphim</a>, the singular form of which is also saraph.[URL unfurl="true"]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nehushtan[/URL]In the biblical <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Books_of_Kings" target="_blank">Books of Kings</a> (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2_Kings_18:4" target="_blank">2 Kings 18:4</a>; written c. 550 BC), the Nehushtan (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:IPA/English" target="_blank">/nəˈhʊʃtən/</a>; <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hebrew_language" target="_blank">Hebrew</a>: נְחֻשְׁתָּן, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romanization_of_Hebrew" target="_blank">romanized</a>: Nəḥuštān <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:IPA/Hebrew" target="_blank">[nəħuʃtaːn]</a>) is the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bronze" target="_blank">bronze</a> image of a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snake" target="_blank">serpent</a> on a pole. The image is described in the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_of_Numbers" target="_blank">Book of Numbers</a>, where <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yahweh" target="_blank">Yahweh</a> instructed <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moses" target="_blank">Moses</a> to erect it so that the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israelites" target="_blank">Israelites</a> who saw it would be cured and be protected from dying from the bites of the "<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiery_flying_serpent" target="_blank">fiery serpents</a>", which Yahweh had sent to punish them for speaking against Him and Moses (<a href="https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Bible_(King_James)/Numbers#21:4" target="_blank">Numbers 21:4–9</a>).[URL unfurl="true"]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seraph#Origins_and_development[/URL]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 "<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serpents_in_the_Bible" target="_blank">serpent</a>", twice in the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_of_Numbers" target="_blank">Book of Numbers</a>,once in the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_of_Deuteronomy" target="_blank">Book of Deuteronomy</a>, and four times in the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_of_Isaiah" target="_blank">Book of Isaiah</a>. 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 "<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiery_flying_serpent" target="_blank">fiery flying serpent</a>", in line with the other uses of the term throughout the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hebrew_Bible" target="_blank">Tanakh</a>.There is emerging consensus that the motifs used to display seraphs in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyksos_period" target="_blank">Hyksos</a>-era <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caanan" target="_blank">Canaan</a> had their original sources in Egyptian <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uraeus" target="_blank">uraeus</a> iconography. In Egyptian iconography, the uraeus was used as a symbol of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sovereignty" target="_blank">sovereignty</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_family" target="_blank">royalty</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Divinity" target="_blank">divinity</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Divine_right_of_kings" target="_blank">divine authority</a>, and later iconography often showed uraei with wings. In the early monarchic period of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingdom_of_Israel_(Samaria)" target="_blank">Israel</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingdom_of_Judah" target="_blank">Judah</a>, Egyptian motifs were evidently borrowed by the Israelites en masse, as a plethora of personal <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seal_(emblem)" target="_blank">seals</a> belonging to classes ranging from commonfolk to royalty have been discovered, which incorporate several pieces of ancient Egyptian iconography, including the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winged_sun" target="_blank">winged sun</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ankh" target="_blank">ankh</a>, the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hedjet" target="_blank">hedjet</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deshret" target="_blank">deshret</a> crowns of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Upper_Egypt" target="_blank">Upper</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lower_Egypt" target="_blank">Lower Egypt</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scarab_(artifact)" target="_blank">scarabs</a>, and the uraeus cobra. These uraei often had four wings, as opposed to the Egyptian standard which only gave them two. These images have been connected with the seraphim angels associated with Isaiah's visions, or perhaps more directly to the aforementioned "fiery flying serpent", but this continues to be debated – and an image of serpentine seraphim clashes with Isaiah's own vision, which clearly envisioned seraphim with heads, legs, and arms –</blockquote>

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