Don't Mess with God!

  

  They have venom like the venom of a serpent,
        like the deaf adder that stops its ear,
    so that it does not hear the voice of charmers
        or of the cunning enchanter.

Psalm 58:4-5 

I must say that I have a difficult time relating sometimes to David's railings against his enemies and his pleas to God to destroy them.  Of course, I'm not in David's situation, either, hiding in caves and constantly fleeing for my own life.

I did become interested in the deaf adder, though, and began to look up some information on it.  First of all, aren't all snakes deaf? This passage implies that some snakes can hear.  And as is always true in the Bible, sooner or later God, who made the creatures to begin with, is found to be right.  Does that come as a surprise?  It is often argued that snakes do not eat dust, or dirt, but there is evidence that in actuality, dirt does play an important role:

Genesis 3:14. And the Lord God said unto the serpent, Because you have done this, you are cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; on your belly you shall go, and you will eat dust all the days of your life.

 

"While it's true that they don't eat dirt in order to gain nourishment, they do take dirt into their mouths as a necessary part of survival.  Inside the roof of their mouths are two cavities known as Jacobson's organ.  As they crawl, they take in dirt with their tongue and put it in this cavity in order to smell their surroundings.

It also should be noted that 'eating dirt' is used elsewhere in the Bible to represent humiliation such as in Psalms 72:9." (http://www.kingdavid8.com/FAQs/SnakesEatDirt.html)

Now, back to the deaf adder.  It appears that although they do not have an external ear, they can hear certain sounds.  

"Cartoonists often show a monstrous reptile weaving to and fro in front of a snake charmer who is fingering a musical instrument.  Zoologists have scoffed. Snakes do not have a highly developed sense of hearing, some said. Others have maintained that snakes are stone deaf. How could serpents be "charmed" by music, they ask.  Support for the effectiveness of snake charming, and the auditory acuteness of serpents in general, appeared last week, in, of all places, the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Dr. David I. Macht, research pharmacologist of the Mount Sinai Hospital in Baltimore, is one of the world's leading authorities on cobra snake venom. (Cobra venom is an accepted medication, in blood disorders for instance.)

Dr. Macht reported that in working with cobras and cobra venom he became acquainted with a number of Hindu physicians, well educated, and from different parts of India. All agreed that cobras respond to some musical tones,from musical pipes or fifes.  Some forms of music excite the animals more than other forms, the physicians reported. Indian children, playing in the dark in the countryside, are even warned not to sing lest their sounds attract cobras, he said.

Contrary to the claims of some naturalists, Dr. Macht said, snakes are "Charmed" by sounds, not by movements of the charmer.  http://ed5015.tripod.com/BCobra94.htm

All that to say, don't mess with God!

In awe of Him,

Gloria