The fiery flying serpent (Hebrew: sārāf mə‘ōfēf; ; ) is a creature mentioned in the Book of Isaiah in the Tanakh. The term translated as "fiery serpent", , appears elsewhere in the Book of Isaiah to signify the seraphim, the singular form of which is also saraph.

Biblical accounts

Book of Isaiah

Other sources

References to "fiery serpents" lacking a mention of flight can be found in several places in the Hebrew Bible.

Identification

Ancient Israelite seals often co-opted symbology from neighbouring ancient Egypt, and as such, archaeologists have discovered numerous seals which show a uraeus cobra with 4 wings. This, coupled with the fact that these cobras diverge from the typical Egyptian iconography which depicted them with only 2 wings, have been connected by some to the "fiery flying serpents" mentioned in Isaiah, or even to the more specific seraphim seen elsewhere in the text. This identification, however, is not universally accepted. Assuming the fiery flying serpent to have a biological identification, Ronald Millett and John Pratt identify it with the Israeli saw-scale viper or carpet viper (Echis coloratus) based on several clues from the written sources, such as that the serpents inhabit the Arava Valley, prefer rocky terrain, and are deadly venomous. A Roman account dated 22 AD about the deserts of Arabia indicates the presence of the saw-scale viper, reporting that "there are snakes also of a dark red color, a span in length, which spring up as high as a man's waist, and whose bite is incurable." Other candidates include desert horned viper (and close relatives), the desert black snake or black desert cobra, and the nematode Dracunculus medinensis.