Boy, was I surprised when I finally decided to look up those heavenly beings from Isaiah 6:2-6. They're snakes!
In fact, they're serpents with wings and feet. I'm pretty sure that qualifies them as dragons!
Wouldn't you agree?
I had always wondered about these strange creatures. Isaiah 6 says they have six wings. They fly with two, they cover their feet with two, and they cover their faces with two.
When Isaiah saw them, they were shouting, "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Armies; the whole earth is full of his glory." They were shouting this to one another.
I've heard it said that this is all they do, but that's not true. When Isaiah was stricken with conviction from being in the presence of the Lord, it was one of the Seraphim who touched his lips and said, "Lo, this has touched your lips. Your iniquity is taken away, and your sin is atoned for."
I finally decided to look these beings up. Here's the simple facts:
The Hebrew word "saraph" is used 7 times in the Hebrew Scriptures (Num. 21:6,8; Deut. 8:15; Is. 14:29; 30:6; and here twice)
Every timeexcept in Isaiah 6it is translated "fiery serpent" or something very close to that.
In Isaiah 6, it is simply left untranslated. Seraphim is just the plural of seraph or saraph.
The first three times it's used, the seraphim are poisonous snakes that God used to punish the Israelites.