“You brood of vipers”

When the Pharisees and Sadducees came to John the Baptist for baptism, John said,

But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?”  (Matthew 3:7 ESV)

Jesus used the same language of the Scribes and Pharisees.

You serpents, you brood of vipers, how are you to escape being sentenced to hell? (Matthew 23:33 ESV) cf. 12:34)

The photo below shows the Palestinian Viper (behind tough plastic!) at the Hai Bar Animal and Nature Reserve, north of Eilat, Israel.

Palestinian Viper at the HaiBar Reserve near Eilat, Israel. Photo by Ferrell Jenkins.

The sign at the Reserve gives some explanation about this poisonous viper.

Description of the Palestinian Viper at HaiBar Reserve.

A visit to Hai Bar is a wonderful experience.

Update

Dr. David E. Graves left a photo and some comments to this post on Facebook. I wanted to repeat them here so more readers could see.

Palestinian Viper at Tall el-Hammam. Photo by Dr. David E. Graves.

David says, “I was sitting on a rock excavating [at Tall el-Hammam in the Jordan Valley] and the snake was hibernating (winter) under it. I stood up to take a picture of a lizard and the snake appeared out of the same hole.”

He adds, “The locals call the snake a 5 stepper!! If you get bit you get 5 steps and your down.”