Both Jesus (Matthew 12,23) and John the Baptist (Matthew 3) referred to Pharisees, Sadducees and Scribes - who were supposed to be the most pious and best Jews - as a brood of vipers.
Matthew 12:34, 36: “Brood ( generation/offspring) of vipers! How can you, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks..
The word translated as "viper" is the Greek word “echidna”.
If you are a nature geek like I am, you know that echidnas are spiny anteaters that live in Australia. So how did they get that name?
Scientists who discovered decided to call it an "echidna", because the animal seemed to be a combination of both a mammal and a reptile, since it was warm-blooded BUT also lay eggs like reptiles, referencing the half human/ half reptile creature in Greek mythology known as “Echidna”.
In Greek mythology, Echidna (who's name means "poisonous viper”) was a half human, half snake monster. Above the waist, she was a beautiful woman with long hair - but the rest of her body was a snake's body. She used her beautiful face to lure human men into her cave and then she would eat them.
Ophis (Greek) was the general word for snakes or serpents, but echidna (vipers) could also be referring to small poisonous snakes that live primarily in the desert regions of the middle east and other parts of the eastern Mediterranean. Because they could look like a dried twig when still, a person collecting wood for a fire would often pick one up inadvertently and be bitten, as happened to Paul on the island of Malta. This particular viper is deadly and when Paul suffered no harm from the bite, the superstitious islanders thought he was a god (Acts 28:3, 6).
Vipers - whether the Greek mythological monster Echidna or the actual vipers that lived in the area - had the understandable reputation for being both deceitful and deadly
So Jesus calling the pharisees the offspring of snakes would be offensive, yes, but calling them the offspring of monstrous, evil, half human, half snake creatures OR deceitful and deadly vipers, either way, it makes sense.
Jesus was condemning them for pretending to be something they were not, saying one thing and doing something else, like whitewashed tombs, clean on the outside dirty on the inside. Pretending to be upright and tithing everything they had, even down to mint and spices, but neglecting justice, mercy and faith.
Matthew 23 is a whole chapter of Jesus condemning the scribes and pharisees and exposing them for what they really were - hypocrites and evil men - instead of what they were pretending to be. It's toward the end of the chapter when he calls them "snakes (ophis), offspring of vipers (echidna)", and I hope this will bring a better understanding of just why he called them echidnas.
Comments