The Serpent

  but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.” (Genesis 2:17) 

The man said, “The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.”

Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?”

 but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.” (Genesis 2:17)

 

The man said, “The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.”

Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?”

The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”

So the Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this,

“Cursed are you above all livestock
    and all wild animals!
You will crawl on your belly
    and you will eat dust
    all the days of your life.
 And I will put enmity
    between you and the woman,
    and between your offspring  and hers;
he will crush your head,
    and you will strike his heel.”(Genesis 3:12-15)

 

The serpent tempted. Adam and Eve ate. God knew but made it a teachable moment. But first, He gave second word of prophecy. The first was that when – not if – they ate of the tree of the knowledge of Good and Evil, they would die. Words matter. But the interesting thing about the second was to whom it was given. It seems to me that people have said it was to Eve, but it was to the serpent.

I have also heard comments about how silly it is that God would curse the serpent by saying that it would crawl on its belly, since that’s what snakes do! Here’s the problem. Those people, who would say that evolution is true (rather than the Biblical account) haven’t studied their evolutionary history. According to the scientists, those creatures of the order Serpentes evolved from lizards that had legs. So, either the Bible is referring to a fact, and snakes once had legs (AKA dragons?) or the scientists and the Bible are inaccurate. I’ll continue in the belief that the Bible is accurate rather than the scientists, and especially rather than those who love science but don’t bother to learn it.

The second issue with this complaint is that it is -at best- temporal or cultural snobbery. The Linnaeus Taxonomic system was developed during the eighteenth century. We can hardly fault someone for not using a system that had not been developed. The taxonomic system in the Bible was developed in another part of the world and over two thousand years earlier and seems to be more functional. Given the time period included in the Bible, it’s possible that several taxonomic systems may have been developed.  But in the system described in the Bible, whales are fish, bats are birds, and it’s possible that at least some lizards were considered serpents (especially since “lizard” is only mentioned three times while serpents and snakes are mentioned more than fifty times.

But, getting back to the prophecy. In Revelation, Satan is described as the ancient serpent who leads the whole world astray. Did he take the form of a serpent? Did he speak through a serpent? We aren’t told. Was God speaking to the serpent, or to the Serpent? I suspect that it was the Serpent, because God’s prophecy says that the serpent would bruise the heel of and have his head crushed by Eve’s descendant – who did not do that for thousands of years. In between Eden and the Resurrection, there was a worldwide flood. What are the chances that a 1656-year-old serpent responsible for the death of man would have been one of the serpents chosen to go on the ark? That seems to make it clear that God was talking to the Serpent, not a snake.   

In that case, crawling on one’s belly and eating dust must be a metaphorical description of extreme humiliation rather than a “Just So” story about how the serpent lost its legs.The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”

So the Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this,

“Cursed are you above all livestock
    and all wild animals!
You will crawl on your belly
    and you will eat dust
    all the days of your life.
 And I will put enmity
    between you and the woman,
    and between your offspring  and hers;
he will crush your head,
    and you will strike his heel.”(Genesis 3:12-15)

 

The serpent tempted. Adam and Eve ate. God knew but made it a teachable moment. But first, He gave second word of prophecy. The first was that when – not if – they ate of the tree of the knowledge of Good and Evil, they would die. Words matter. But the interesting thing about the second was to whom it was given. It seems to me that people have said it was to Eve, but it was to the serpent.

I have also heard comments about how silly it is that God would curse the serpent by saying that it would crawl on its belly, since that’s what snakes do! Here’s the problem. Those people, who would say that evolution is true (rather than the Biblical account) haven’t studied their evolutionary history. According to the scientists, those creatures of the order Serpentes evolved from lizards that had legs. So, either the Bible is referring to a fact, and snakes once had legs (AKA dragons?) or the scientists and the Bible are inaccurate. I’ll continue in the belief that the Bible is accurate rather than the scientists, and especially rather than those who love science but don’t bother to learn it.

The second issue with this complaint is that it is -at best- temporal or cultural snobbery. The Linnaeus Taxonomic system was developed during the eighteenth century. We can hardly fault someone for not using a system that had not been developed. The taxonomic system in the Bible was developed in another part of the world and over two thousand years earlier and seems to be more functional. Given the time period included in the Bible, it’s possible that several taxonomic systems may have been developed.  But in the system described in the Bible, whales are fish, bats are birds, and it’s possible that at least some lizards were considered serpents (especially since “lizard” is only mentioned three times while serpents and snakes are mentioned more than fifty times.

But, getting back to the prophecy. In Revelation, Satan is described as the ancient serpent who leads the whole world astray. Did he take the form of a serpent? Did he speak through a serpent? We aren’t told. Was God speaking to the serpent, or to the Serpent? I suspect that it was the Serpent, because God’s prophecy says that the serpent would bruise the heel of and have his head crushed by Eve’s descendant – who did not do that for thousands of years. In between Eden and the Resurrection, there was a worldwide flood. What are the chances that a 1656-year-old serpent responsible for the death of man would have been one of the serpents chosen to go on the ark? That seems to make it clear that God was talking to the Serpent, not a snake.   

In that case, crawling on one’s belly and eating dust must be a metaphorical description of extreme humiliation rather than a “Just So” story about how the serpent lost its legs.