Revelation 20 - In Depth Bible Commentaries

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serpent, places it on a pole, and those looking on it are healed of the snake-bite); Deuteronomy
8:15 (the Lord led Israel through the wilderness with its poisonous snakes); 2 Kings 18:4
(the bronze snake that Moses made is cut into pieces by Hezekiah, since it had become an
object of worship);
Job 20:16 (the wicked rich man’s wealth will become a snake’s poison in his stomach,
says Zophar); Psalms 57:5 (58:5 in Hebrew, 58:4 in English; the wicked person’s words are
like a snake’s poison) 139:4 (140:4 in Hebrew; 140:3 in English; same as 58:4); Proverbs 23:
32 (in the end, wine bites like a poisonous snake); 30:19 (the wise teacher does not understand
the way of a snake’s movement on a rock); Ecclesiastes 10:8 (one who breaks through
a wall [to steal] will be bitten by a snake), 11 (if the charmer’s snake bites before it is charmed,
what profit for the charmer?);
Isaiah 14:29, 29 (Philistia is warned that though the rod that struck them is broken,
from the “root of the snake” [its offspring] will come a poisonous snake to bite them); 27:1, 1
(“in that day,” the Lord will use His great sword to kill Leviathan, a x:rIêB' vx'än"‘, “fleeing
snake”); 65:25 (in the good times coming, when all the former enemy-animals are at peace,
the snake’s food will only be dust; compare Isaiah 11:8); Jeremiah 8:17 (Jeremiah warns
Judah that the Lord will send poisonous snakes that cannot be charmed to bite them); 26:22
(46:22 in Hebrew and English; Egypt will hiss like a fleeing snake when her enemies come
against her); Amos 5:19 (a man rests his hand on the interior wall of his house, only to have a
snake bite him, on the “day of the Lord”); Micah 7:17 (when the nations see Israel’s resurrection,
they will lick dust like snakes);
4 Maccabees 18:8 (the mother of the seven brothers / martyrs tells her sons that the
“seducing and defiling serpent” did not defile her, causing her to lose her virginity; obviously a
reference to Genesis 2-3); Sirach 21:2 (“Flee from sin as from a snake; if you approach sin, it
will bite you; its teeth are lion’s teeth, and destroy the innermost being of people”); 25:15 (no
venom worse than a snake’s venom); Psalms of Solomon 4:9 (a snake destroys the wisdom
of others by deceitful words; allusion to Genesis 3); Wisdom 16:5 (reference to Numbers
21);
Matthew 7:10 (Jesus asks, Which of you, if his son asks for a fish, will give him a
snake?); 10:16 (Jesus instructs His followers to be “as shrewd as snakes, but harmless as
doves”); 23:33 (Jesus accuses the Jewish leaders of being “snakes”!); Mark 16:18 (long
ending; Jesus followers will be able to pick up snakes in their hands); Luke 10:19 (Jesus has
given His representatives authority to tread upon snakes); 11:11 (same as Matthew 7:10);
John 3:14 (reference to Moses’ lifting up the bronze snake in the wilderness in Numbers 21;
compared to the Son of the Person’s being lifted up on the wooden post); 1 Corinthians 10:9
(warning based on Numbers 21); 2 Corinthians 11:3 (like Eve’s being deceived by the snake
in Genesis 3, Paul is afraid that the Corinthians will be deceived.
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