Verse 4
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 פתן ( pethen) is here described as being untamable by charming, and in Psalms 91:13, as dangerous to the traveller. See note on Psalms 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.
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