Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Psalms 58:4
Their poison [is] like the poison of a serpent: [they are] like the deaf adder [that] stoppeth her ear;
4, 5. They are not only insidious and venomous as serpents, but obstinately oppose all attempts to control them; like the deaf adder or asp, most venomous of all serpents, which resists all the arts of the charmer. The Arabs distinguish the ‘deaf’ serpent from that which answers the call of the charmer by hissing. Snake charming is alluded to in Ecc 10:11; Jer 8:17; Sir 12:13 , and is still practised in Africa and the East. As the asp is deaf to the voice of the enchanter, so these men shut their ears to the warnings and exhortations of the prophets.
Experience confirms the teaching of the Psalmist that among the endless varieties of human character, there are some which exhibit a diabolical aptitude for evil and opposition to good. In the light of God’s infinite love, none are outside the pale of His mercy; yet it lies in the power of man to defeat the operations of His grace (Mat 12:31).
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Their poison – Their malignity; their bad spirit; that which they utter or throw out of their mouth. The reference here is to what they speak or utter Psa 58:3, and the idea is, that it is penetrating and deadly.
Like the poison of a serpent – Margin, as in Hebrew, according to the likeness. In this expression no particular class of serpents is referred to except those which are poisonous.
Like the deaf adder – Margin, asp. The word may refer either to the viper, the asp, or the adder. See the notes at Isa 11:8. The particular idea here is, that the serpent referred to was as it were deaf; it could not be tamed or charmed; it seemed to stop its own ears, so that there was no means of rendering it a safe thing to approach it. The supposition is that there were serpents which, though deadly in their poison, might be charmed or tamed, but that this species of serpent could not. The sense, as applied to the wicked, is, that there was no way of overcoming their evil propensities – of preventing them from giving utterance to words that were like poison, or from doing mischief to all with whom they came in contact. They were malignant, and there was no power of checking their malignity. Their poison was deadly, and there was no possibility of restraining them from doing evil.
That stoppeth her ear – Which seems to stop her ear; which refuses to hear the words and incantations by which other serpents are subdued and tamed. Others, however, refer this to the man himself, meaning, like the deaf adder he stops his ear; that is, he voluntarily makes himself like the adder that does not hear, and that will not be tamed. The former interpretation, however, is to be preferred.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Psa 58:4
Their poison is like the poison of a serpent: like the deaf adder that stoppeth her ear.
A generation of serpents
This verse spends itself on a double comparison; of persons and conditions. The persons compared are men and serpents; the conditions or qualities upon which the similitude stands are poison and deafness. The former whereof is indefinite: Their poison is as the poison of a serpent, any serpent. The latter is restrictive: Their deafness is like the adder, one kind of serpents.
I. Poison–there is such a thing as poison; but where to be found? Wheresoever it is, in man who would look for it? God made mans body of the dust; he mingled no poison with it. He inspired his soul from heaven; he breathes no poison with it. He feeds him with bread; he conveys no poison with it. Whence is this poison? (Mat 13:27). That great serpent, the red dragon, hath poured into wicked hearts this poison. In this poison there is a double pestilent effect. It is to themselves death; to others a contagious sickness.
1. To themselves. It is an epidemical corruption, dispersing the venom over all parts of body and soul. It poisons the heart with falsehood, the head with lightness, the eyes with adultery, the tongue with blasphemy, the hands with oppression, the whole body with intemperance. It poisons beauty with wantonness, strength with violence, wit with wilfulness, learning with dissension, devotion with superstition. And in all this observe the effect of this poison in themselves. For it doth not only annoy others, but mostly destroy themselves. But the poison of the wicked, whilst it infects others, kills themselves. His own iniquities shall take the wicked himself (Pro 5:22). Their own wickedness, like poison, hath in themselves these three direful effects.
(1) It makes them swell with pride, and blows up the heart as a bladder with a quill. Who is David? and who is the son of Jesse? (1Sa 25:10). Who is the Almighty, that we should serve Him? (Job 21:15). Thus the spider, the poisonous vermin, climbs up to the roof of the kings palace (Pro 30:28).
(2) It makes them swill; the poison of sin is such a burning heat within them, that they must still be drinking.
(3) It makes them burst (Act 1:18). This is the catastrophe of a wicked life. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin; and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death (Jam 1:15).
2. To others. You see how fatal the poison of the wicked is to themselves. The hurt it doth to others consists in outward harming, in inward defiling them. Outwardly.
Their poison breaks forth in the injuries of all about them. They spare neither foreigner nor neighhour. There be little snakes in Babylon, that bite only foreigners, and not inhabitants. Pliny writes of scorpions in the hill Carla, that when they sting only wound the natural-born people of the country; but bite strangers gently or not at all. These, like fools, not only strike them that are nearest, but beteem their poison to the overthrow of all. Such a one cannot sleep except he have done mischief; nay, he dies, if others do not die by him. Inwardly.–Their poison doth most hurt by infection. Their poison is got by touching–he that toucheth pitch shall be defiled: by companying with them (Pro 1:14); by confederacy; by sight–the very beholding of their wickedness causes it in others.
II. Their persons–We have spoken of their poison. They are said to be as serpents (Mat 23:33; Eze 2:6).
1. There are mystical serpents.
2. There are the dart-like serpents (Act 28:1-31.). He is the angry man, the hasty, furious one, who flies upon another with a sudden blow.
3. The great serpent of all, the devil (Rev 12:3). Faith in Christ can alone put him to flight. For the remedy of this poison (see Joh 3:14), and further let there be repentance. (Thomas Adams.)
The deafness of sinners
We do not know what revelations have been made. We do not know but the air is full of messengers and messages. If a million bands were playing near a man and he was stone deaf, he would not hear the music. A blind man might stand amidst uncounted myriads of flowers on the Grand Prairie in Illinois, and not know that there was a flower there. And you may be utterly blind and deaf to the messengers and messages of the higher life, because you are not in that state of development by which you may perceive them. (Henry Ward Beecher.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 4. Their poison is like the poison of a serpent] When they bite, they convey poison into the wound, as the serpent does. They not only injure you by outward acts, but by their malevolence they poison your reputation. They do you as much evil as they can, and propagate the worst reports that others may have you in abhorrence, treat you as a bad and dangerous man; and thus, as the poison from the bite of the serpent is conveyed into the whole mass of blood, and circulates with it through all the system, carrying death every where; so they injurious speeches and vile insinuations circulate through society, and poison and blast your reputation in every place. Such is the slanderer, and such his influence in society. From such no reputation is safe; with such no character is sacred; and against such there is no defence. God alone can shield the innocent from the envenomed tongue and lying lips of such inward monsters in the shape of men.
Like the deaf adder that stoppeth her ear] It is a fact that cannot be disputed with any show of reason, that in ancient times there were persons that charmed, lulled to inactivity, or professed to charm, serpents, so as to prevent them from biting. See Ec 10:11; Jer 8:17. The prince of Roman poets states the fact, VIRG. Ecl. viii., ver. 71.
Frigidus in prati cantando rumpitur anguis.
“In the meadows the cold snake is burst by incantation.”
The same author, AEn. vii., ver. 750, gives us the following account of the skill of Umbro, a priest of the Marrubians: –
Quin et Marrubia venit de gente sacerdos,
Fronde super galeam, et felici comptus oliva,
Archippi regis missu, fortissimus Umbro;
Vipereo generi, et graviter spirantibus hydris,
Spargere qui somnos cantuque manuque solebat,
Mulcebatque iras, et morsus arte levabat.
“Umbro, the brave Marubian priest, was there,
Sent by the Marsian monarch to the war.
The smiling olive with her verdant boughs
Shades his bright helmet, and adorns his brows.
His charms in peace the furious serpent keep,
And lull the envenomed viper’s race to sleep:
His healing hand allayed the raging pain;
And at his touch the poisons fled again.”
PITT.
There is a particular sect of the Hindoos who profess to bring serpents into subjection, and deprive them of their poison, by incantation. See at the end of this Psalm. See Clarke on Ps 58:11.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Their poison, their virulent and malicious disposition, is like the poison of a serpent; partly in itself, being natural, and inveterate, and incurable; and partly in its most pernicious effects.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
4. stoppeth herliterally,”his.”
earthat is, the wickedman (the singular used collectively), who thus becomes like the deafadder which has no ear.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Their poison [is] like the poison of a serpent,…. Either their “wrath” and fury, as the word x may be rendered, against God, his people, and even one another, is like that of a serpent when irritated and provoked; or their mischievous and devouring words are like the poison of asps under their lips, Ro 3:13; or the malignity of sin in them is here meant, which, like the poison of a serpent, is latent, hid, and lurking in them; is very infectious to all the powers and faculties of the soul, and members of the body; and is deadly and incurable, without the grace of God and blood of Christ;
[they are] like the deaf adder [that] stoppeth her ear; the adder is a kind of serpent, in Hebrew called “pethen”; hence the serpent “Python”. This is not, deaf naturally, otherwise it would have no need to stop its ear, but of choice; and naturalists y observe, that it is quicker of hearing than of sight. Jarchi indeed says, when it grows old it becomes deaf in one of its ears, and it stops its other ear with dust, that it may not hear the voice of the charmer; though others say z it stops one ear with its tail, and lays the other to the ground; but these seem fabulous. David speaks of it figuratively, that it acts as if it was deaf, regarding no enchantments, but bites notwithstanding; these having no influence on it, which, if they had any, could not be hindered by its deafness; and he compares wicked men to it, who are wilfully deaf to all good counsel and advice given them a.
x , Sept. “furor”, V. L. y Plin. Nat. Hist. l. 8. c. 23. z Isidor. Hispal. Origin. l. 12. c. 4. a Vid. Gataker. Adversaria, c. 8. p. 70, &c.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
4. Their poison is like the poison of a serpent: they are like the deaf adder (348) He prosecutes his description; and, though he might have insisted on the fierceness which characterised their opposition, he charges them more particularly, here as elsewhere, with the malicious virulence of their disposition. Some read, their fury; (349) but this does not suit the figure, by which they are here compared to serpents. No objection can be drawn to the translation we have adopted from the etymology of the word, which is derived from heat. It is well known, that while some poisons kill by cold, others consume the vital parts by a burning heat. David then asserts of his enemies, in this passage, that they were as full of deadly malice as serpents are full of poison. The more emphatically to express their consummate subtlety, he compares them to deaf serpents, which shut their ears against the voice of the charmer — not the common kind of serpents, but such as are famed for their cunning, and are upon their guard against every artifice of that description. But is there such a thing, it may be asked, as enchantment? If there were not, it might seem absurd and childish to draw a comparison from it, unless we suppose David to speak in mere accommodation to mistaken, though generally received opinion. (350) He would certainly seem, however, to insinuate that serpents can be fascinated by enchantment; and I can see no harm in granting it. The Marsi in Italy were believed by the ancients to excel in the art. Had there been no enchantments practiced, where was the necessity of their being forbidden and condemned under the Law? (Deu 18:11.) I do not mean to say that there is an actual method or art by which fascination can be effected. It was doubtless done by a mere sleight of Satan, (351) whom God has suffered to practice his delusions upon unbelieving and ignorant men, although he prevents him from deceiving those who have been enlightened by his word and Spirit. But we may avoid all occasion for such curious inquiry, by adopting the view already referred to, that David here borrows his comparison from a popular and prevailing error, and is to be merely supposed as saying, that no kind of serpent was imbued with greater craft than his enemies, not even the species (if such there were) which guards itself against enchantment.
(348) The פתן, phethen, rendered adder, is generally supposed by interpreters to be the kind of serpent called by the ancients the aspic, and to which there are frequent allusions in Scripture. Deu 32:33; Job 20:14; Isa 11:8. It is the בתם, boeten, of the Arabians, which M. Forskal ( Descript Anim p. 15) describes as spotted with black and white, about one foot in length, nearly half an inch thick, oviparous, and its bite almost instant death; and which is called “the aspic” by the literati of Cyprus, though the common people give it the name of κουφη, deaf
(349) This is the reading of the Septuagint, the Vulgate, and of Jerome. Sept. “ Θυμὸς.” Vulg. and Jeremiah “Furor.”
(350) That the serpent tribe may be charmed is a well-attested fact, and one of the most curious and interesting in natural history. It is often mentioned by the Greek and Roman classics, by Hebrew and Arabic writers; to the last of whom the different species of serpents were well known. It is also supported by the testimony of many modern travelers. Some serpents are delighted with the sounds of vocal and instrumental music, and by it may be disarmed of their fury and rendered innoxious, (Ecc 10:11.) In the East it is not uncommon to make use of pipes, flutes, whistles, or small drums, to draw them from their hiding-places and to subdue their ferocity; and when they are tame ones, the charmer makes them dance and keep time with the notes of music, twists them round his body, and handles them without any harm, although the fangs are not broken or extracted. But in some cases the charmer’s art fails; and, notwithstanding his incantations, the serpent will fasten on the arm, or some other part of the body, and inflict, with its poisoned fangs, a deadly wound, (Jer 8:17.) In this case it “will not listen to the voice of the charmer.” It is not necessary to suppose that the “deaf adder” means a species of serpent naturally deaf, and which it is impossible for the charmer ever to fascinate. Nothing more may be meant but that his incantations sometimes fail of success; that some adders are so stubborn that the sound of music makes no impression upon them; and they are like creatures who are destitute of hearing, or whose ears are stopped. The manner in which the “deaf adder stoppeth its ear” is described by Lochart to be this: — “The reptile lays one ear close to the ground, and with its tail covers the other, that it cannot hear the sound of the music; or it repels the incantation by hissing violently.” So impenetrable are the wicked here represented to be to persuasion: they will not be wrought upon to forsake their wicked courses, and gained to the ways of God, by his most persuasive entreaties.
(351) The power which charmers had over serpents was probably ascribed by them to the agency of invisible beings, although it might be the natural effect of the music which they used.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(4) Their poison . . .Better, they have a venom like, &c. The term for serpent is the generic nchash.
The most forcible images of determined wickedness, and of the destruction it entails, now follow. The first is supplied by the serpent, the more suggestive from the accumulated evil qualities of which that animal has from the first been considered the type. Here the figure is heightened, since the animal is supposed to have been first tamed, but suddenly darts forth its fangs, and shows itself not only untamed, but untameable.
Adder.Heb., pethen, translated asp in Deu. 32:33; Job. 20:14; Isa. 11:8 (and here by the LXX.) In the Bible Educator iv. 103, the pethen is identified with the Egyptian cobra, the species upon which the serpent charmers practise their peculiar science.
Deaf.So Jer. 8:17 refers to various kinds of serpents that will not be charmed. Here, however, it would seem as if the poet were thinking of some individual of a species, generally tractable, that obstinately resists the spells and incantations of the charmer.
The image of the deaf adder was a favourite with Shakespeare, who, no doubt, derived it from this psalm.
Pleasure and revenge
Have ears more deaf than adders to the voice
Of any true decision.
Troilus and Cressida, iii. 2.
(Comp. 2 Hen. VI., iii. 2.)
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
4. Their poison All sin is of the nature of poison, but the sin of these men was like the poison of a serpent, active and deadly.
The deaf adder The ( pethen) is here described as being untamable by charming, and in Psa 91:13, as dangerous to the traveller. See note on Psa 140:3. The pethen is supposed to be the same as the asp of Scripture, or Egyptian cobra. As to the deafness, all serpents of the same species do not yield alike to the charmer. “Several of the serpent tribe [of Hindostan] are believed to be either quite deaf, or very dull of hearing. I have frequently come close up to these reptiles, but they did not make any effort to move out of the way. They lurk in the path, and the victim on whom they pounce will expire within a few minutes after he is bitten.” Roberts. Serpents generally are comparatively dull of hearing, but it is the special temper of malignity in some more than others, not natural deafness, which resists the charmer, and this is the point of the metaphor.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Psa 58:4. Like the deaf adder, &c. Dr. Hammond observes from Schindler, that “the deaf viper, or adder, is so called, because, being deaf of one ear, he useth to stop the other with dust, or with his tail, to avoid the force of the charms or incantations wherewith he is wont to be caught.” And then, from Philostratus, he gives us an account of their manner of catching certain dragons or serpents in India; part of which is, that “they use certain charms to them, by which they are induced to come out of their holes, and are lulled to sleep, and then the charmers take that opportunity, and cut off their heads. For the avoiding of which danger, the deaf adder, so called because he hears but with one, is supposed to stop the other ear, and so secure himself.” Whether there be exact truth in this, is not material to the Psalmist’s use of it, or to the explaining the meaning of this allusion; which, as from a thing vulgarly believed, sets forth the matter in hand, the impersuasibleness of wicked men. Thus far the Doctor. And certain it is, says a modern writer upon the Psalms, that the common adder or viper, here in England, the bite of which too, by the way, is very venomous, if it be not wholly deaf, has the sense of hearing very imperfectly. This is evident from the danger there is of treading upon these animals, unless you happen to see them; for if they do not see you, and you do not disturb them, they never endeavour to avoid you, which when they are disturbed, and do see you, they are very solicitous of doing. Allowing, then, that there is a species of these noxious animals, which, either not having the sense of hearing at all, or having it only in a small degree, may very well be said to be deaf; this may help to explain the present poetical passage of the Psalmist. He very elegantly compares the pernicious and destructive practices of wicked men, to the venom of a serpent; and his mentioning the species of animals seems to have brought to his mind another property of at least one sort of them, in which they likewise resembled perverse and obstinate sinners, who are deaf to all advice, utterly irreclaimable, and not to be persuaded. This the adder finely resembled, which is a very venomous animal, and moreover is deaf, or very near it. And perhaps his saying that she stoppeth her ears, may be no more than a poetical expression for deafness: just as the mole, which, in common speech, is said to be blind, might in a poetical phrase, be said to shut her eyes; as in fact she does when you expose her to the light. The next clause, Which refuseth to hear, &c. is another poetical expression for the same thing; and it may not be amiss to add here, that there certainly were people in former times, who made it their business, or at least pretended to have some power over these animals, by virtue of musical sounds, or the repetition of sundry verses. Neither is it at all improbable, that music should have a considerable and surprising effect over them. That it really had, appears from several other passages of Scripture. In Ecc 10:11. Solomon says, Surely the serpent will bite without enchantment; and God himself declares, by the prophet Jeremiah, Jer 8:17. Behold, I will send serpents which will not be charmed: Agreeable to which, the author of Sir 12:13 asks, Who will pity a charmer that is bitten with a serpent? The heathen poets also frequently allude to the same thing. Virgil does it more than once:
Strains, in the meadow, or the secret brake, Can the deaf adder split, and venom’d snake. Ecl. 8:71 and in the 7th Eneid, ver. 753 speaking of Umbro, the priest of Marruvia, he has this remarkable passage:
His charms in peace the furious serpent keep, And lull th’ envenom’d viper’s race to sleep, His healing hand allay’d the raging pain; And at his touch the poisons fled again.
The 5th verse is a poetical application of this allusion to the Psalmist’s purpose; viz. to shew, that the obstinate and perverse sinner is wilfully deaf to the best advice, though given by the most able person, and in the most judicious manner. To speak a little physically in this matter: As these animals, by the natural imperfection of that sense, are unaccustomed to hear common noises, may they not be more likely to be affected by such sounds as may be more particularly adapted to make an impression upon their organs of hearing?They who would know more of the subject, may consult Scheuchzer, and Calmet’s dissertation upon the place. For my own part, I cannot help conceiving, that the Psalmist does not allude to any natural deafness of the adder, (which appears to be a very disputable point,) but to an artificial deafness, arising from its fury, its unwillingness to hear and to regard any of the usual methods of taming it, when irritated, and in a rage; and, indeed, this seems to be most applicable to the point in comparison. Accordingly, the French version renders it in this sense; Their fury is like that of the serpent, and asp, which makes herself deaf, by stopping her ears: Psa 58:5. And which hears not the voice, &c.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Psa 58:4 Their poison [is] like the poison of a serpent: [they are] like the deaf adder [that] stoppeth her ear;
Ver. 4. Their poison is like the poison of a serpent ] Their inbred corruption (the spawn of that old serpent, Gen 3:1-14 ) is strong, and full of infection, able to kill both the party in whom it is and the other also upon whom it is cast. Malice drinketh up the most part of its own venom, but some it spitteth out upon others; for it is not like the maid whom Avicen mentioneth, who, feeding upon poison, was herself healthy, yet infected others with her venomous breath, Deu 32:33 . Hot poison have they, like as the hot poison of a serpent (so some render it), yea, of the worst sort of serpents, the asp (for serpentum quot colores tot dolores, saith Isidore), the venom whereof is incurable, saith Pliny, lib. viii. c. 3; unless the members touched therewith be immediately cut off.
They are like the deaf adder (or asp) that stoppeth her ear] So that their naughtiness is not natural only, but habitual, acquired, wilful; they refuse to be reformed, they hate to be healed, and must, therefore, be turned over to God with a Noluerunt incantari, they would not be reclaimed, they are uncounselable, unpersuasible. The adder or asp here hath her name Pethen, from persuasibleness, but it is by antiphrasis. Wicked men are likewise said to be , unpersuaded, or disobedient, Tit 1:16 , and children of disobedience, Eph 2:2 , such as whom Non persuadebis etiamsi persuaseris, speak you never so persuasively, ye shall never persuade. Nay, but we will have a king, said they of old, when they had nothing else to say. So Pharaoh, when clearly convinced, sent for the sorcerers.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
poison: Psa 140:3, Ecc 10:11, Rom 3:13, Jam 3:8
like: Heb. according to the likeness of
serpent: Mat 3:7, Mat 23:33
the deaf: Jer 8:17, adder or asp, Pethen, is no doubt the boeten of the Arabians, which M. Forskal describes as spotted with black and white, about one foot in length, nearly half an inch thick, oviparous, and its bite almost instant death. It is the aspic of the ancients, and is so called the literati of Cyprus, though the common people call it , deaf. Job 20:14, Job 20:16, Isa 11:8
Reciprocal: Gen 3:2 – serpent Deu 32:33 – the poison Psa 91:13 – adder Pro 21:13 – stoppeth Zec 7:11 – stopped Mat 15:11 – but Luk 3:7 – O generation Act 7:57 – stopped
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Psa 58:4-5. Their poison Their malicious disposition; is like the poison of a serpent Both in itself, being natural, inveterate, and incurable; and also in its effects, which are most pernicious. They are like the deaf adder that stoppeth her ear, &c. They are like that particular species of serpents which suffer not themselves to be charmed from their mischief by any methods whatever: for no arguments, persuasions, or efforts that can be used, can mollify the envenomed malice, or change the disposition of these men. They are deaf to all my counsels, to the dictates of their own consciences, and to the voice of Gods law: nor will they hearken to any instructions, remonstrances, cautions, or advices, however reasonable and proper, excellent or necessary they may be. The psalmist here alludes to a prevailing notion in those countries, that all serpents, except one particular species, might be so influenced by some sort of music or verse as to be disarmed of their rage and power of doing mischief, and rendered gentle and innocent. As to what Dr. Hammond observes from Schindler, that the deaf adder, or viper, here mentioned, is so called, because, being deaf of one ear, it uses to stop the other with dust, or with its tail, to avoid the force of charms or incantations wherewith some species of them were wont to be caught; it seems so improbable as to be hardly worth noticing. For why should the God of nature give any species of creatures two ears, and yet design one of them to be always deaf? To say, as some have done, that it lays one ear upon the ground, and stops the other with dust, or with its tail, would appear more credible. But it seems much more reasonable to suppose, with Dr. Horne, that either a serpent deaf by accident is here intended by the deaf adder, or one of a species naturally deaf; for several such kinds are mentioned by Avicenne, as quoted by Bochart: and a modern writer on the Psalms, cited by Dr. Dodd, asserts that the common adder, or viper here in England, the bite of which is very venomous, is either wholly deaf, or has the sense of hearing very imperfectly; and gives good reasons for his assertion. But, for my part, adds Dr. Dodd, I cannot help conceiving, that the psalmist does not allude to any natural deafness of the adder, (which appears to be a very disputable point,) but to an artificial deafness, arising from its fury; its unwillingness to hear, and to regard any of the usual methods of taming it, when irritated, and in a rage: and, indeed, this seems to be most applicable to the point in comparison. Certainly, in any of these cases, the adder might be said, in the language of poetry, to stop her ear from being proof to all the efforts of the charmer. Of the charming of serpents, says Poole, mention is made both in other places of Scripture, and in all sorts of authors, ancient and modern, Hebrew and Arabic, and Greek and Latin. And particularly the Arabic writers (to whom these creatures were best known) name some sorts of serpents, among which the adder is one which they call deaf, not because they are dull of hearing, but, as one of them expressly says, because they will not be charmed. The version of the Seventy here is, which will not hear, , the voice of those that sing. And certainly musical sounds were anciently supposed to have the effect of charming or disarming the rage of some kinds of serpents. Bochart quotes several authors to this purpose, and, among the rest, Virgil, (see neid, 7. 5:753,) and the elder Scaliger. And Mr. Boyle gives us the following passage from Sir H. Blunts Voyage to the Levant: Many rarities of living creatures I saw in Grand Cairo; but the most ingenious was a nest of four- legged serpents, of two feet long, black and ugly, kept by a Frenchman, which, when he came to handle them, would not endure him, but ran and hid themselves in their hole; but, when he took out his cittern and played upon it, they, hearing his music, came all crawling to his feet, and began to climb up to him, till he gave over playing, then away they ran.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
58:4 Their poison [is] like the poison of a serpent: [they are] like the deaf {d} adder [that] stoppeth her ear;
(d) They pass in malice and subtilty the crafty serpent who could preserve himself by stopping his ears from the enchanter.