Topical Encyclopedia
In the Bible, the concept of poison is often used metaphorically to describe the destructive power of sin, false teachings, and the wickedness of the human heart. The imagery of poison serves to illustrate the insidious and harmful effects that these elements can have on individuals and communities.
Old Testament References1.
Deuteronomy 32:33 · In the Song of Moses, the venom of serpents is used to describe the corrupt and rebellious nature of Israel's enemies: "Their wine is the venom of serpents, the deadly poison of cobras." This passage highlights the lethal and corrupting influence of those who oppose God's people.
2.
Job 6:4 · Job, in his suffering, uses the imagery of poison to describe the severity of his afflictions: "For the arrows of the Almighty are within me; my spirit drinks their poison; the terrors of God are arrayed against me." Here, poison symbolizes the intense and overwhelming nature of his trials.
3.
Psalm 58:4 · The wicked are compared to venomous serpents: "Their venom is like the poison of a serpent, like a cobra that shuts its ears." This metaphor emphasizes the danger and deceitfulness of those who act against righteousness.
New Testament References1.
Romans 3:13 · The Apostle Paul, quoting from the Psalms, describes the sinful nature of humanity: "Their throats are open graves; their tongues practice deceit. The poison of vipers is on their lips." This passage underscores the destructive power of sinful speech and deceit.
2.
James 3:8 · James warns about the untamable nature of the tongue: "But no man can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison." The tongue's potential to cause harm and spread falsehood is likened to poison, highlighting the need for self-control and godly speech.
Symbolism and Themes·
Sin and Corruption: Poison is frequently used as a metaphor for sin and moral corruption. Just as poison can destroy the body, sin can corrupt the soul and lead to spiritual death.
·
False Teachings: The imagery of poison is also applied to false teachings and heresies that can infiltrate the church and lead believers astray. The Apostle Paul and other New Testament writers often warned against such dangers.
·
Judgment and Consequences: The use of poison in biblical texts often carries a connotation of divine judgment. Those who engage in wickedness and deceit are warned of the inevitable consequences of their actions.
Practical ImplicationsFor believers, the biblical references to poison serve as a caution against the dangers of sin, false teachings, and harmful speech. Christians are called to pursue righteousness, guard their hearts and minds, and speak truthfully and lovingly. The imagery of poison reminds the faithful of the importance of spiritual vigilance and the need to rely on God's wisdom and guidance to avoid the destructive influences of the world.
Easton's Bible Dictionary
(1.) Hebrews hemah, "heat," the poison of certain venomous reptiles (Deuteronomy 32:24, 33;Job 6:4;Psalm 58:4), causing inflammation.
(2.) Hebrews rosh, "a head," a poisonous plant (Deuteronomy 29:18), growing luxuriantly (Hosea 10:4), of a bitter taste (Psalm 69:21;Lamentations 3:5), and coupled with wormwood; probably the poppy. This word is rendered "gall", q.v., (Deuteronomy 29:18;32:33;Psalm 69:21;Jeremiah 8:14, etc.), "hemlock" (Hosea 10:4;Amos 6:12), and "poison" (Job 20:16), "the poison of asps," showing that the rosh was not exclusively a vegetable poison.
(3.) InRomans 3:13 (Comp.Job 20:16;Psalm 140:3),James 3:8, as the rendering of the Greek ios.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary
1. (
n.) Any agent which, when introduced into the animal organism, is capable of producing a morbid, noxious, or deadly effect upon it; as, morphine is a deadly poison; the poison of pestilential diseases.
2. (n.) That which taints or destroys moral purity or health; as, the poison of evil example; the poison of sin.
3. (n.) To put poison upon or into; to infect with poison; as, to poison an arrow; to poison food or drink.
4. (n.) To injure or kill by poison; to administer poison to.
5. (n.) To taint; to corrupt; to vitiate; as, vice poisons happiness; slander poisoned his mind.
6. (v. i.) To act as, or convey, a poison.
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
POISONpoi'-z'-n (chemah, ro'-sh; thumos, ios): Residents in Palestine must, from the first, have been acquainted with venomous serpents. Six species of these are widely diffused in the land, and at least three of them are fairly common in places. Besides, there are scorpions, centipedes and the large spider, which are as much dreaded by the fellahin as are the serpents, not to speak of the minor but very serious discomforts of mosquitoes, sandflies and ticks, some of which were credited with lethal powers. In The Wisdom of Solomon 16:9 the Revised Version (British and American) we read that "the bites of locusts and flies did slay, and there was not found a healing for their life." There are also many poisonous plants, such as belladonna, henbane, thorn apple, and the opium poppy. None of these is mentioned in the Bible; the only names found there are the hemlock (Conium maculatum) ofHosea 10:4, the poisonous gourd (Citrullus colocynthis) of2 Kings 4:39, and the grapes of gall, probably the fruit of Calotropis procera, the apples of Sodom of Josephus (BJ, IV, viii, 4). Some, however, believe that these are poppyheads. Poisonous waters are referred to at Marah (Exodus 15:23) and Jericho (2 Kings 2:19). There are no direct records of any person dying of poison except in 2 Maccabees 10:13, where the suicide of Ptolemy Macron is related. our Lord's promise in the appendix toMark 16:18 shows, however, that poisons were known and might be administered by way of ordeal, as was the unknown "water of jealousy" (Numbers 5:17). In this connection the story in Eusebius (Historia Ecclesiastica, III, 39) is interesting, that "Justus surnamed Barsabbas, though he drank a deadly poison, suffered no injury, through the grace of the Lord." The passages in which poisonous serpents are mentioned areDeuteronomy 32:24, where serpents (the Revised Version (British and American) "crawling things") of the dust, probably Cerastes hasselquistii, the little horned vipers, are mentioned, and inDeuteronomy 32:33: "poison of serpents, and the cruel venom of asps." The asp may be the cobra Naia haje, not uncommon on the borders of the wilderness to the South.Psalm 58:4 mentions the poison of serpents.Psalm 140:3, "They have sharpened their tongue like a serpent; adders' poison is under their lips," indicates, what is still a common belief, that the forked tongue of the snake is the poison-bearer. This is referred to inJames 3:8. That it was the fang and not the tongue which carried the poison was known to Pliny (xi.62). This verse ofPsalm 140 is given in Paul's composite quotation inRomans 3:13. There may be a reference to the giving of an intoxicant poison inHabakkuk 2:15, where the Revised Version (British and American) reads "that addest thy venom." The prophets speak in several places of God's wrath as a cup of trembling (the Revised Version (British and American) "staggering"), e.g.Isaiah 51:17, 22, probably suggested by the fact that chemah primarily means "fury" and is used in that sense in more than a hundred passages. InZechariah 12:2 Jerusalem is to be such a "cup of reeling unto all the peoples round about."
The semamith, "lizard" (the King James Version "spider"), mentioned inProverbs 30:28 Septuagint kalabotes) was formerly regarded as poisonous and it is still much disliked by the fellahin, as they believe that it makes mocking gestures mimicking them at their prayers. They are really not poisonous. It is doubtful whether the lizard mentioned by Agur is really this stellion; the description better fits the gecko.
Alexander Macalister
Greek
2447. ios -- rust,poison... rust,
poison. Part of Speech: Noun, Masculine Transliteration: ios Phonetic Spelling:
(ee-os') Short Definition:
poison, rust Definition:
poison, rust; an arrow
...5521. chole -- gall (a bitter herb)
... Feminine of an equivalent perhaps akin to the same as Chloe (from the greenish hue);
"gall" or bile, ie (by analogy)poison or an anodyne (wormwood, poppy, etc...
4088. pikria -- bitterness
... bitterness. From pikros; acridity (especiallypoison), literally or figuratively --
bitterness. see GREEK pikros. (pikria) -- 1 Occurrence....
2759. kentron -- a sharp point
... prick, sting. From kenteo (to prick); a point ("centre"), ie A sting (figuratively,
poison) or goad (figuratively, divine impulse) -- prick, sting....
Strong's Hebrew
4846. merorah -- a bitter thing, gall,poison... merorah or merorah. 4847 . a bitter thing, gall,
poison. Transliteration: merorah
or merorah Phonetic Spelling: (mer-o-raw') Short Definition: bitter.
...7219. rosh -- (bitter and poisonous herb) venom
... (bitter and poisonous herb) venom. Transliteration: rosh or rosh Phonetic Spelling:
(roshe) Short Definition:poison.... gall, hemlock,poison, venom....
2534. chemah -- heat, rage
... heat, rage NASB Word Usage anger (7), angry (1), burning anger (1), enrages (1),
fury (9), heat (2), hot displeasure (1), hot-tempered (3),poison (2), rage (3...
891. beushim -- stinking or worthless (things), wild grapes
... ones (2). wild grapes. Plural of b'osh;poison-berries -- wild grapes. see
HEBREW b'osh. 890, 891. beushim. 892 . Strong's Numbers.
Library
Poison-Labels
...POISON-LABELS. You have all seen bottles ofpoison, and you know when your
father or mother buyspoison from the druggist there is...
ThePoison and the Antidote
... THE BOOK OF NUMBERS THEPOISON AND THE ANTIDOTE.... Serpents had bitten the wounded.
Here was one like them, but withoutpoison, hanging harmless on the pole....
July the Thirtieth Sin asPoison
... JULY The Thirtieth SIN ASPOISON. NUMBERS xxi.4-9. And this is the familiar
teaching, that sin is a serpent. It possesses a deadlypoison....
Abstain from thePoison of Heretics.
... Chapter VI."Abstain from thepoison of heretics. I therefore, yet not
I, but the love of Jesus Christ, entreat you that ye use...
Pheroras's Wife is Accused by his Freedmen, as Guilty of Poisoning...
... 4. Pheroras's Wife Is Accused By His Freedmen, As Guilty Of Poisoning Him; And How
Herod, Upon Examining; Of The Matter By Torture Found ThePoison; But So...
Herod is Made Procurator of all Syria; Malichus is Afraid of Him...
... Herod Is Made Procurator Of All Syria; Malichus Is Afraid Of Him, And Takes Antipater
Off ByPoison; Whereupon The Tribunes Of The Soldiers Are Prevailed With...
Tobacco.
... "Poison" is commonly defined as "any... But the fact is thatpoison does not act at
all upon the human system, but the human system acts upon thepoison....
The Anti-Missionary Agitation.
... last inflammatory placards were extensively posted throughout the region about Canton,
stating that foreigners had imported a large quantity ofpoison and had...
To Gregory xi
... craftily wrought, purporting to come from a man of God, working on his well-known
love for his family and timidity of nature, warning him ofpoison should he...
God's Cup of Myrrh
... fear nothing from such as I am, but my comrade, he is a wise man with all his wits
about him, and the Order have given him a little bag ofpoison, with which...
Thesaurus
Poison (17 Occurrences)... (1.) Hebrews hemah, "heat," the
poison of certain venomous reptiles (Deuteronomy
32:24, 33; Job 6:4; Psalm 58:4), causing inflammation.
...Poison-snake (4 Occurrences)
Poison-snake. Poisons,Poison-snake.Poison-snakes . Multi-Version
ConcordancePoison-snake (4 Occurrences). Proverbs...
Poison-snakes (3 Occurrences)
Poison-snakes.Poison-snake,Poison-snakes. Pokereth-hazzebaim .
Multi-Version ConcordancePoison-snakes (3 Occurrences)....
Poison-plant (1 Occurrence)
Poison-plant. Poisonous,Poison-plant. Poisons . Multi-Version
ConcordancePoison-plant (1 Occurrence). Hosea 10:4 Their...
Snakes (25 Occurrences)
... (BBE NIV). Mark 16:18 They shall take up venomous snakes, and if they drink
any deadlypoison it shall do them no harm whatever....
Venom (8 Occurrences)
... Chaucer. 3. (n.) To infect with venom; to envenom; topoison.... Deuteronomy 32:33
Their wine is thepoison of serpents, The cruel venom of asps....
Gall (17 Occurrences)
... the liver. This word is also used of thepoison of asps (20:14), and of
the vitals, the seat of life (25). (2.) Hebrews rosh. In...
Deadly (31 Occurrences)
... wound" (Greek thanatos), better "death-stroke," as in the Revised Version (British
and American), and the phrases "deadly thing," iepoison (thanasimon ti...
Snake (43 Occurrences)
... (BBE NIV). Job 20:16 He takes thepoison of snakes into his mouth, the tongue
of the snake is the cause of his death. (Root in BBE)....
Venomous (4 Occurrences)
... be venomous. 2. (a.) Having apoison gland or glands for the secretion
of venom, as certain serpents and insects. 3. (a.) Noxious...
Resources
What is a root of bitterness? | GotQuestions.orgWhat does the Bible say about snakes? Are snakes evil? | GotQuestions.orgWhat does the Bible say about toxic relationships? | GotQuestions.orgPoison: Dictionary and Thesaurus | Clyx.comBible Concordance •
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