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Hebrew Word of the Day

נָחָשׁ

Meaning: Snake, serpent

Translit: na•chash

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Another biblical animal that is also a biblical character’s first name is ‘na•chash,’ snake or serpent. Regardless of the name you see in your Bible, Hebrew has only one term for it and it is ‘na•chash,’ snake. In 1833, an anonymous Anglo-Saxon linguist or author was the first to make a connection between the name ‘snake’ and the character of this deceitful creature, as we learn from the famous Biblical story, by coining the term ‘sneaky.’ The Hebrew language uses two different terms with no morphological connection between the two. Arum, which is ‘Sneaky’ in Hebrew, is not related to the name ‘na•chash.’

“Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, ‘Has God said, you shall not eat of every tree of the garden?’”

Genesis 3:1

The snake is featured in hundreds or even thousands of symbols associated with medical establishments and organizations. Wikipedia points to a mistaken use of two snakes instead of one: “The caduceus is the traditional symbol of Hermes and features two snakes winding around an often winged staff. It is often mistakenly used as a symbol of medicine instead of the Rod of Asclepius, especially in the United States. The two-snake caduceus design has ancient and consistent associations with trade, eloquence, trickery, and negotiation. Tangential association of the caduceus with medicine has occurred through the ages, where it was sometimes associated with alchemy and wisdom. The modern use of the caduceus as a symbol of medicine became established in the United States in the late 19th and early 20th century as a result of documented mistakes, misunderstandings and confusion” (“Caduceus as a symbol of medicine,” 2015)

Without getting deeper into these secondary mistakes, the real mistake is depriving the symbol from its real origin − The Old Testament − with substantiation in the New Testament:

“And the Lord sent venomous serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and many people of Israel died. Therefore the people came to Moses, and said, ‘We have sinned, for we have spoken against the Lord, and against you; pray to the Lord, that he take away the serpents from us.’ And Moses prayed for the people. And the Lord said to Moses, ‘Make a venomous serpent, and set it upon a pole; and it shall come to pass, that everyone who is bitten, when he looks upon it, shall live.’ And Moses made a serpent of bronze, and put it upon a pole, and it came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he looked at the serpent of bronze, he lived”

Numbers 21:6-9

This story is mentioned also in the New Testament:

“As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life”

John 3:14-15

‘Na•chash’ was the name of the king of the Ammonites:

“Then Nahash the Ammonite came up, and encamped against Jabesh-Gilead; and all the men of Jabesh said to Nahash, Make a covenant with us, and we will serve you”

I Samuel 11:1

Another biblical animal that is also a biblical character’s first name is ‘na•chash,’ snake or serpent. Regardless of the name you see in your Bible, Hebrew has only one term for it and it is ‘na•chash,’ snake. In 1833, an anonymous Anglo-Saxon linguist or author was the first to make a connection between the name ‘snake’ and the character of this deceitful creature, as we learn from the famous Biblical story, by coining the term ‘sneaky.’ The Hebrew language uses two different terms with no morphological connection between the two. Arum, which is ‘Sneaky’ in Hebrew, is not related to the name ‘na•chash.’

“Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, ‘Has God said, you shall not eat of every tree of the garden?’”

Genesis 3:1

The snake is featured in hundreds or even thousands of symbols associated with medical establishments and organizations. Wikipedia points to a mistaken use of two snakes instead of one: “The caduceus is the traditional symbol of Hermes and features two snakes winding around an often winged staff. It is often mistakenly used as a symbol of medicine instead of the Rod of Asclepius, especially in the United States. The two-snake caduceus design has ancient and consistent associations with trade, eloquence, trickery, and negotiation. Tangential association of the caduceus with medicine has occurred through the ages, where it was sometimes associated with alchemy and wisdom. The modern use of the caduceus as a symbol of medicine became established in the United States in the late 19th and early 20th century as a result of documented mistakes, misunderstandings and confusion” (“Caduceus as a symbol of medicine,” 2015)

Without getting deeper into these secondary mistakes, the real mistake is depriving the symbol from its real origin − The Old Testament − with substantiation in the New Testament:

“And the Lord sent venomous serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and many people of Israel died. Therefore the people came to Moses, and said, ‘We have sinned, for we have spoken against the Lord, and against you; pray to the Lord, that he take away the serpents from us.’ And Moses prayed for the people. And the Lord said to Moses, ‘Make a venomous serpent, and set it upon a pole; and it shall come to pass, that everyone who is bitten, when he looks upon it, shall live.’ And Moses made a serpent of bronze, and put it upon a pole, and it came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he looked at the serpent of bronze, he lived”

Numbers 21:6-9

This story is mentioned also in the New Testament:

“As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life”

John 3:14-15

‘Na•chash’ was the name of the king of the Ammonites:

“Then Nahash the Ammonite came up, and encamped against Jabesh-Gilead; and all the men of Jabesh said to Nahash, Make a covenant with us, and we will serve you”

I Samuel 11:1