The basilisk (adder)

(Ps. 91 [90]:13) (in Hebrew: pethen, shephiphon, tsepha, tsiphoni) — a reptile, of the serpent kind, and moreover among the most venomous. Anyone can recognize it by its hiss. It does not bend its body when it crawls, but moves straight forward. Its native land is Upper Egypt, but it is also found in Palestine. The eggs of the basilisk are likewise venomous and cause death to anyone who eats them. The basilisk usually hides in the sand, from which it is little distinguished by its brownish color, and is noticeable only by its protruding little horns.

At the slightest touch, the basilisk springs up and quickly seizes its prey. In the Bible, the death of Ahaz is compared, for the Philistines, to the basilisk (asp), so that they should not rejoice over it, since, by the word of the prophet Isaiah, “out of the serpent’s root shall come forth a cockatrice, and his fruit shall be a fiery flying serpent” (Isa. 14:29). Hezekiah indeed drove out the Philistines. In the same way, the hatching of serpents’ eggs is likened to the wicked deeds of the Jews, which would bring them great harm.

“They (that is, the Jews) hatch cockatrice’ eggs, and weave the spider’s web,” says the prophet Isaiah; “he that eateth of their eggs dieth, and that which is crushed breaketh out into a viper” (Isa. 59:5). The prophet Jeremiah likens to basilisks the Chaldeans sent by God to punish the unrepentant Jews for their impiety (8:17).