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"The Serpent Of Genesis 3:1"
In (Genesis the 3rd chapter) we have neither allegory, myth, legend, nor fable, but literal historical facts set forth, and emphasized by the use of certain Figures of speech.
All the confusion of thought and conflicting explanations have arisen from taking literally what is expressed by Figures of speech, or from taking figuratively what is literal. A Figure of speech is never used except for the purpose of calling attention to, emphasizing, and intensifying, the reality of the literal sense, and the truth of the historical facts: so that, while the words employed may not be so strictly true to the letter, they are all the more true to the truth conveyed by them, and to the historical events connected with them.
But for the figurative language of (Genesis 3:14
And the LORD God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life:) And, (Genesis 3:15 And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel), no one would have thought of referring the third chapter of Genesis to a snake: no more than he does when reading the third chapter from the end of Revelation. (Revelation 20:2 And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years). Indeed, the explanation added there, that the “old serpent” is the Devil and Satan, would immediately lead one to connect the word “old” with the earlier and former mention of the serpent in Genesis the 3rd chapter: and the fact that it was Satan himself who tempted “the second man,” “the last Adam,” would force the conclusion that no other than the personal Satan could have been the tempter of “the first man, Adam.”The Hebrew word rendered “serpent” in Genesis the 3:1 is (Nachash) from the root (Nachash), to shine, and means a shining one. Hence in the Chaldee it means brass or copper, because of its shining. Hence also, the word Nehushtan, a piece of brass, in (2 Kings 18:4
He removed the high places, and brake the images, and cut down the groves, and brake in pieces the brazen serpent that Moses had made: for unto those days the children of Israel did burn incense to it: and he called it Nehushtan).In the same way Saraph, in (Isaiah 6:2
Above it stood the seraphims: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly. And, Isaiah 6:6 Then flew one of the seraphims unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar:), means a burning one, and, because the serpents mention in (Numbers 21:6 And the LORD sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and much people of Israel died.), were burning, in the poison of their bite, they were called Saraphim, or Seraphs.But when the Lord said unto Moses, “Make thee a fiery serpent” (Numbers 21:8
And the LORD said unto Moses, Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole: and it shall come to pass, that every one that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live.), He said, “Make thee a “Saraph,” and, in obeying this command, we read in (Numbers 21:9 And Moses made a serpent of brass, and put it upon a pole, and it came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived.), “Moses made a Nachash of brass.” Nachash is thus used as being interchangeable with Saraph.Now, if Saraph is used of a serpent because its bite was burning, and is also used of a celestial or spirit being (a burning one), why should not Nachash be used of a serpent because its appearance was shining, and be also used of a celestial or spirit being (a shinning one)?
Indeed, a reference to the structure of Genesis the 3rd chapter will show that the Cherubim (which are similar celestial or spirit beings), of (Genesis 3:24
So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.), require a similar spirit being to correspond with them, (Genesis 3:1 Now the serpent was more subtlef than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?). The Nachash, or serpent, who beguiled Eve (2 Corinthians 11:3 But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.), is spoken of as “an angel of light” in, (2 Corinthians 11:14 And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.). Have we not, in this, a clear intimation that it was not a snake, but a glorious shining being, apparently an angel, to whom Eve paid such great deference, acknowledging him as one who seemed to possess superior knowledge, and who was evidently a being of a superior (not of an inferior) order? Moreover in the description of Satan as “the king of Tyre” it is distinctly implied that the latter being was of a supernatural order when he is called “a cherub” (Ezekiel 28:11-19 Moreover the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, Son of man, take up a lamentation upon the king of Tyrus, and say unto him, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Thou sealest up the sum, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty. Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God; every precious stone was thy covering, the sardius, topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold: the workmanship of thy tabrets and of thy pipes was prepared in thee in the day that thou wast created. Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth; and I have set thee so: thou wast upon the holy mountain of God; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire. Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee. By the multitude of thy merchandise they have filled the midst of thee with violence, and thou hast sinned: therefore I will cast thee as profane out of the mountain of God: and I will destroy thee, O covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire. Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness: I will cast thee to the ground, I will lay thee before kings, that they may behold thee. Thou hast defiled thy sanctuaries by the multitude of thine iniquities, by the iniquity of thy traffic; therefore will I bring forth a fire from the midst of thee, it shall devour thee, and I will bring thee to ashes upon the earth in the sight of all them that behold thee. All they that know thee among the people shall be astonished at thee: thou shalt be a terror, and never shalt thou be any more.). His presence “in Eden, the garden of Elohim” (Ezekiel 28:13 Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God; every precious stone was thy covering, the sardius, topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold: the workmanship of thy tabrets and of thy pipes was prepared in thee in the day that thou wast created.), is also clearly stated, as well as his being “perfect in beauty” (Ezekiel 28:12 Son of man, take up a lamentation upon the king of Tyrus, and say unto him, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Thou sealest up the sum, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty.), his being “perfect in his ways from the day he was created till iniquity was found in him” (Ezekiel 28:15 Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee.), and as being “lifted up because of his beauty” (Ezekiel 28:17 Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness: I will cast thee to the ground, I will lay thee before kings, that they may behold thee.).These all compel the belief that Satan was the shining one (Nachash) in Genesis the 3rd chapter, and especially because the following words could be addressed only to him: (Ezekiel 28:17
Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness: I will cast thee to the ground, I will lay thee before kings, that they may behold thee.).Even supposing that these things were spoken to, and of, an exalted human being in later days in (Ezekiel the 28th chapter), still “the king of Tyre” is not compared to a being who was non-existent: and facts and circumstances which never happened are not introduced into the comparison.
There is more about “the king of Tyre” in Ezekiel 28:11-19, than was literally true of “the prince of Tyre” (Ezekiel 28:1-10). The words can be understood only of the mightiest and most exalted supernatural being that God ever created: and this for the purpose of showing how great would be his fall. The history must be true to
make the prophecy of any weight.Again, the word rendered “subtle” in (Genesis 3:1
Now the serpent was more subtlef than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?), means wise, in a good sense as well as in a bad sense. In (Ezekiel 28:12 Son of man, take up a lamentation upon the king of Tyrus, and say unto him, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Thou sealest up the sum, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty.), we have the good sense: and the bad sense in (Ezekiel 28:17 Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness: I will cast thee to the ground, I will lay thee before kings, that they may behold thee.), referring, of course, to his fall. So the rendered “subtle” is rendered “prudent” in (Proverbs 1:4 To give subtlety to the simple, to the young man knowledge and discretion. Proverbs 8:12 I wisdom dwell with prudence, and find out knowledge of witty inventions. Proverbs 12:23 A prudent man concealeth knowledge: but the heart of fools proclaimeth foolishness. Proverbs 14:8 The wisdom of the prudent is to understand his way: but the folly of fools is deceit.), and is a bad sense in (Job 15:5 For thy mouth uttereth thine iniquity, and thou choosest the tongue of the crafty. 1 Samuel 23:22 Go, I pray you, prepare yet, and know and see his place where his haunt is, and who hath seen him there: for it is told me that he dealeth very subtly. Psalm 83:3 They have taken crafty counsel against thy people, and consulted against thy hidden ones.).The word “beast” also in (Genesis 3:1
Now the serpent was more subtlef than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?), “chay,” denotes a living being, and it is translate “zoa,” “beasts” in Revelation the 4th chapter, as it is translate chay “beast” in Genesis the 3rd chapter. Both mean living creature. Satan is thus spoken of as being “more wise” than any other living creature which God “Elohim” had made.” Even if the word “beast” be retained, it does not say that either a serpent or Satan was a “beast,” but only that he was “more wise” than any other living being.We cannot conceive Eve as holding conversation with a snake, but we understand her being fascinated by one, apparently “an angel of light” (a glorious angel), possessing superior and supernatural knowledge.
When Satan is spoken of as a “serpent,” it is the figure of speech (Hypocatastasis), or “Implication:” it no more means a snake than it does when Dan is so called in (Genesis 49:17
Dan shall be a serpent by the way, an adder in the path, that biteth the horse heels, so that his rider shall fall backward.): or an animal when Nero is called a “loin” (2 Timothy 4:17 Notwithstanding the Lord stood with me, and strengthened me; that by me the preaching might be fully known, and that all the Gentiles might hear: and I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion.), or when Herod is called a “fox” (Luke 13:32 And he said unto them, Go ye, and tell that fox, Behold, I cast out devils, and I do cures to day and to morrow, and the third day I shall be perfected.): or when Judah is called “a loin`s whelp.” It is the same figure of speech when “doctrine” is called “leaven” in (Matthew 16:6 Then Jesus said unto them, Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees.). It shows that something much more real and truer to truth is intended. If a Figure of speech is thus employed, it is for the purpose of expressing the truth more impressively: and is intended to be a figure of something much more real than the letter of the word.Other Figures of speech are used in (Genesis 3:14-15
And the LORD God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life: And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel), but only for the same purpose of emphasizing the truth and reality of what is said.When it is said in (Genesis 3:15
And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.), “thou shall bruise His heel,” it cannot mean His literal heel of flesh and blood, but suffering, more temporary in character. When it is said, “He shall crush thy head,” it means something more than a skull of bone, and brain, and hair. It means that all Satan`s plans and plots, policy and purposes, will one day be finally crushed and ended, never more to mar or hinder the purposes of God. This will be effected when Satan shall be bruised under our feet (Romans 16:20 And the God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen.). This, again, will not be our literal feet, but something much more real.The bruising of Christ`s heel is the most eloquent and impressive way of foretelling the most solemn events: and to point out that the effort made by Satan to evade his doom, then threaten, would become the very means of insuring its accomplishment: for it was through the death of Christ that he who had the power of death would be destroyed: and all Satan`s power and policy brought to an end, and all his works destroyed (Hebrew 2:14
Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; 1 John 3:8 He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil. Revelation 20:1-3 And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years, And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season. Revelation 20:10 And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.). What literal words could portray thee literal facts so wonderfully as these expressive Figures of speech?It is the same with the other Figures of speech used in, (Genesis 3:14
And the LORD God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life:), “on thy belly shall thou go.” This Figure of speech means infinitely more than the literal belly of flesh and blood: just as the words “heel” and “head” do in Genesis 3:15. It paints for the eyes of our mind the picture of Satan`s ultimate humiliation: for prostration was ever the most eloquent sign of subjection. When it is said “our belly cleaveth unto the ground” (Psalm 44:25 For our soul is bowed down to the dust: our belly cleaveth unto the earth.), it denotes such a prolonged prostration and such a depth of submission as could never be conveyed or expressed in literal words.So with the other prophecy, “Dust shalt thou eat.” This is not true to the letter, or to fact, but it is all the more true to truth. It tells of constant, continuous disappointment, failure, and mortification: as when deceitful ways are spoken of as feeding on deceitful food, which is “sweet to a man, but afterward his mouth shall be filled with gravel” (Proverbs 20:17
Bread of deceit is sweet to a man; but afterwards his mouth shall be filled with gravel.). This does not mean literal “gravel,” but something far more disagreeable. It means disappointment so great that it would gladly be exchanged for the literal “gravel.” So when Christians are rebuked for “biting and devouring one another” (Galatians 3:14-15 That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. Brethren, I speak after the manner of men; Though it be but a man’s covenant, yet if it be confirmed, no man disannulleth, or addeth thereto.), something more heart breaking is meant than the literal words used in the Figure of speech.When “His enemies shall lick the dust” (Psalm 72:9
They that dwell in the wilderness shall bow before him; and his enemies shall lick the dust.), they will not do it on their knees with their literal tongues: but they will be so prostrated and so utterly defeated, that no words could literally depict their overthrow and subjugation.If a serpent was afterward called a nachash because it was more shining than any other creature: and if it became known as “wise,” it was not because of its own innate positive knowledge, but of its wisdom in hiding away from observation: and because of its association with one of the names of Satan (that old serpent) who “beguiled Eve” (2 Corinthians 11:3
But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. 2 Corinthians 11:14 And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.).It is wonderful how a snake could ever be supposed to speak without organs of speech, or that Satan should be supposed able to accomplish so great a miracle.
It only shows the power of tradition, which has, from the infancy of each one of us, put before our eyes and written on our minds the picture of a “snake” and an “apple:” the former based on a wrong interpretation, and the latter being a pure invention, about which there is not one word said in Holy Scripture.
Never was Satan`s wisdom so craftily used as when he secured universal acceptance of this traditional belief: for it has succeeded in fixing the attention of mankind on the letter and the means, and thus blinding the eyes to the solemn fact that the Fall of man had to do solely with the Word of God, and is centred in the sin of believing Satan`s lie instead of God`s truth.
The temptation of “the first man Adam” began with the question “Hath God said?” The temptation of “the second man, the Lord from heaven” began with the similar question “If Thou be the Son of God,” when the voice of the Father had scarcely died away, which said “This Is My beloved Son.”
All turned on the truth of what God had said.
The word of God being questioned, led Eve, in her reply, (1). to omit the word “freely” (Genesis 3:2
And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden:). Compare what God had said, (Genesis 2:16 And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat:). (2). to add the words “neither shalt thou touch it” (Genesis 3:3 But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.). Compare what God had said, (Genesis 2:17 But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.): and finally (3). to alter a certainty into a contingency by changing “thou Shalt Surely die” (Genesis 2:17 But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.) into “Least ye die” (Genesis 3:3 But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.).It is not without significance that the first Ministerial words of “the second Man” were “It is written,” three times repeated: and that His last Ministerial words contained a similar threefold reference to the written Word of God (John 17:8
For I have given unto them the words which thou gavest me; and they have received them, and have known surely that I came out from thee, and they have believed that thou didst send me. John 17:14 I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. John 17:17 Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.).The former temptation succeeded because the Word of God was three times misrepresented: the latter temptation was successfully defeated because the same Word was faithfully repeated.
The history of Genesis the 3rd chapter is intended to teach us the fact that Satan`s sphere of activities is in the religious sphere, and not the spheres of crime or immorality: that his battlefield is not the sins arising from human depravity, but the unbelief of the human heart. We are not to look for Satan`s activities today in the newspaper press, or the police courts: but in the pulpit and in professors chairs. Wherever the Word of God is called in question, there we see the trail of “that old serpent, which is the Devil and Satan.” This is why anything against the true interests of the Word of God (as being such) finds a ready admission into the newspapers of the world, and is treated as “general literature.” This is why anything in favor of its inspiration and Divine origin and its spiritual truth is rigidly excluded as being “controversial.”
This is why Satan is quite content that the letter of Scripture should be accepted in Genesis the 3rd chapter, as he himself accepted the letter of (Psalm 91:11
For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways.). He himself could say “It is written (Matthew 4:6 And saith unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone.), so long as the letter of what is “written” could be put instead of the truth that is conveyed by it: and so long as it is misquoted or misapplied.This is his object in perpetuating the traditions of the “snake” and the “apple,” because it ministers to the acceptance of his lie, the hiding of God`s truth, the support of tradition, the jeers of the infidel, the opposition of the critics, and the stumbling of the weak in faith.
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