Seraph/Seraphim - Hebrew for the burning ones. The name derives from the verb to burn, sarap. The theological significance may be that these highest angels are the creatures most burning with love for God and dedication to His will. The same root is probably the origin of the name for the poisonous serpent of the desert, the saraph serpent, whose burning bite brought death to so many Israelites in the desert (Nu 21:6). It thus provides a fitting symbol of the fallen seraph whose "poison of error and malice" brought sin and death to mankind through his temptation of Adam and Eve. Of this poison Christ´s passion, death and resurrection are the remedy, and so the seraph on the pole (Nu 21:9, Jn 12:32)  foreshadowed the healing of the wound produced by Satan´s poison.

Isaiah 6:1-8
    [1] In the year King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a high and lofty throne, with the train of his garment filling the temple. [2] Seraphim were stationed above; each of them had six wings: with two they veiled their faces, with two they veiled their feet, and with two they hovered aloft.
    [3]  "Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts!" they cried one to the other. "All the earth is filled with his glory!" [4] At the sound of that cry, the frame of the door shook and the house was filled with smoke.
    [5] Then I said, "Woe is me, I am doomed! For I am a man of unclean lips, living among a people of unclean lips; yet my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!" [6] Then one of the seraphim flew to me, holding an ember which he had taken with tongs from the altar.
    [7] He touched my mouth with it. "See," he said, "now that this has touched your lips, your wickedness is removed, your sin purged."
    [8] Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send? Who will go for us?" "Here I am," I said; "send me!"

Ezekiel 1:1-28
    [1] In the thirtieth year, on the fifth day of the fourth month, while I was among the exiles by the river Chebar, the heavens opened, and I saw divine visions.-- [2] On the fifth day of the month, the fifth year, that is, of King Jehoiachin's exile, [3] the word of the LORD came to the priest Ezekiel, the son of Buzi, in the land of the Chaldeans by the river Chebar.--There the hand of the LORD came upon me.
    [4] As I looked, a stormwind came from the North, a huge cloud with flashing fire (enveloped in brightness), from the midst of which (the midst of the fire) something gleamed like electrum. [5] Within it were figures resembling four living creatures that looked like this: their form was human, [6] but each had four faces and four wings, [7] and their legs went straight down; the soles of their feet were round. They sparkled with a gleam like burnished bronze. [8] 
    [9] [10] Their faces were like this: each of the four had the face of a man, but on the right side was the face of a lion, and on the left side the face of an ox, and finally each had the face of an eagle.[9] Their faces (and their wings) looked out on all their four sides; they did not turn when they moved, but each went straight forward. [10]  [11]  [12] [Each went straight forward; wherever the spirit wished to go, there they went; they did not turn when they moved.]
    [8] Human hands were under their wings, and the wings of one touched those of another. [11] Each had two wings spread out above so that they touched one another's, while the other two wings of each covered his body. [13] In among the living creatures something like burning coals of fire could be seen; they seemed like torches, moving to and fro among the living creatures. The fire gleamed, and from it came forth flashes of lightning. [14] 
    [15] As I looked at the living creatures, I saw wheels on the ground, one beside each of the four living creatures. [16] The wheels had the sparkling appearance of chrysolite, and all four of them looked the same: they were constructed as though one wheel were within another. [17] They could move in any of the four directions they faced, without veering as they moved. [18] The four of them had rims, and I saw that their rims were full of eyes all around. [19] When the living creatures moved, the wheels moved with them; and when the living creatures were raised from the ground, the wheels also were raised. [20] Wherever the spirit wished to go, there the wheels went, and they were raised together with the living creatures; for the spirit of the living creatures was in the wheels. [21] 
    [22] Over the heads of the living creatures, something like a firmament could be seen, seeming like glittering crystal, stretched straight out above their heads. [23] Beneath the firmament their wings were stretched out, one toward the other. (Each of them had two covering his body.) [24] Then I heard the sound of their wings, like the roaring of mighty waters, like the voice of the Almighty. When they moved, the sound of the tumult was like the din of an army. (And when they stood still, they lowered their wings.)  [25] 
    [26] Above the firmament over their heads something like a throne could be seen, looking like sapphire. Upon it was seated, up above, one who had the appearance of a man. [27] Upward from what resembled his waist I saw what gleamed like electrum; downward from what resembled his waist I saw what looked like fire; he was surrounded with splendor. [28] Like the bow which appears in the clouds on a rainy day was the splendor that surrounded him. Such was the vision of the likeness of the glory of the LORD.

Genesis 3:1-19
   [1]  Now the serpent was the most cunning of all the animals that the LORD God had made. The serpent asked the woman, "Did God really tell you not to eat from any of the trees in the garden?" [2] The woman answered the serpent: "We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden; [3] it is only about the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden that God said, 'You shall not eat it or even touch it, lest you die.' " [4] But the serpent said to the woman: "You certainly will not die! [5] No, God knows well that the moment you eat of it your eyes will be opened and you will be like gods who know what is good and what is bad." [6] The woman saw that the tree was good for food, pleasing to the eyes, and desirable for gaining wisdom. So she took some of its fruit and ate it; and she also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. [7] Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized that they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made loincloths for themselves.
    [8] When they heard the sound of the LORD God moving about in the garden at the breezy time of the day, the man and his wife hid themselves from the LORD God among the trees of the garden. [9] The LORD God then called to the man and asked him, "Where are you?" [10] He answered, "I heard you in the garden; but I was afraid, because I was naked, so I hid myself." [11] Then he asked, "Who told you that you were naked? You have eaten, then, from the tree of which I had forbidden you to eat!" [12] The man replied, "The woman whom you put here with me--she gave me fruit from the tree, so I ate it." [13] The LORD God then asked the woman, "Why did you do such a thing?" The woman answered, "The serpent tricked me into it, so I ate it."
    [14] Then the LORD God said to the serpent:
    "Because you have done this, you shall be banned
        from all the animals
        and from all the wild creatures;
    On your belly shall you crawl,
        and dirt shall you eat
        all the days of your life.
    [15] I will put enmity between you and the woman,
        and between your offspring and hers;
    He will strike at your head,
        while you strike at his heel."
[16] To the woman he said:
    "I will intensify the pangs of your childbearing;
        in pain shall you bring forth children.
    Yet your urge shall be for your husband,
        and he shall be your master."
[17] To the man he said: "Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree of which I had forbidden you to eat,
    "Cursed be the ground because of you!
    In toil shall you eat its yield
    all the days of your life.
    [18] Thorns and thistles shall it bring forth to you,
        as you eat of the plants of the field.
    [19] By the sweat of your face
        shall you get bread to eat,
    Until you return to the ground,
        from which you were taken;
    For you are dirt,
        and to dirt you shall return."

Rev. 12:1-17
    [1] A great sign appeared in the sky, a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars. [2] She was with child and wailed aloud in pain as she labored to give birth. [3] Then another sign appeared in the sky; it was a huge red dragon, with seven heads and ten horns, and on its heads were seven diadems. [4] Its tail swept away a third of the stars in the sky and hurled them down to the earth. Then the dragon stood before the woman about to give birth, to devour her child when she gave birth. [5] She gave birth to a son, a male child, destined to rule all the nations with an iron rod. Her child was caught up to God and his throne. [6] The woman herself fled into the desert where she had a place prepared by God, that there she might be taken care of for twelve hundred and sixty days.
   [7] Then war broke out in heaven; Michael and his angels battled against the dragon. The dragon and its angels fought back, [8] but they did not prevail and there was no longer any place for them in heaven. [9] The huge dragon, the ancient serpent, who is called the Devil and Satan, who deceived the whole world, was thrown down to earth, and its angels were thrown down with it. [10] Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say:
    "Now have salvation and power come,
        and the kingdom of our God
        and the authority of his Anointed.
    For the accuser of our brothers is cast out,
        who accuses them before our God day and night.
    [11] They conquered him by the blood of the Lamb
        and by the word of their testimony;
        love for life did not deter them from death.
   [12] Therefore, rejoice, you heavens,
        and you who dwell in them.
    But woe to you, earth and sea,
        for the Devil has come down to you in great fury,
        for he knows he has but a short time."
[13] When the dragon saw that it had been thrown down to the earth, it pursued the woman who had given birth to the male child. [14] But the woman was given the two wings of the great eagle, so that she could fly to her place in the desert, where, far from the serpent, she was taken care of for a year, two years, and a half-year. [15] The serpent, however, spewed a torrent of water out of his mouth after the woman to sweep her away with the current. [16] But the earth helped the woman and opened its mouth and swallowed the flood that the dragon spewed out of its mouth. [17] Then the dragon became angry with the woman and went off to wage war against the rest of her offspring, those who keep God's commandments and bear witness to Jesus. [18] It took its position on the sand of the sea.

Rev. 20:1-3
    Then I saw an angel come down from heaven, holding in his hand the key to the abyss and a heavy chain. [2] He seized the dragon, the ancient serpent, which is the Devil or Satan, and tied it up for a thousand years [3] and threw it into the abyss, which he locked over it and sealed, so that it could no longer lead the nations astray until the thousand years are completed. After this, it is to be released for a short time.

Reference Texts

Numbers 21:4-9
    From Mount Hor they set out on the Red Sea road, to by-pass the land of Edom. But with their patience worn out by the journey, [5] the people complained against God and Moses, "Why have you brought us up from Egypt to die in this desert, where there is no food or water? We are disgusted with this wretched food!"
    [6] In punishment the LORD sent among the people saraph serpents, which bit the people so that many of them died. [7] Then the people came to Moses and said, "We have sinned in complaining against the LORD and you. Pray the LORD to take the serpents from us." So Moses prayed for the people, [8] and the LORD said to Moses, "Make a saraph and mount it on a pole, and if anyone who has been bitten looks at it, he will recover." [9] Moses accordingly made a bronze serpent and mounted it on a pole, and whenever anyone who had been bitten by a serpent looked at the bronze serpent, he recovered.                 Back