WHO WAS THE
SERPENT THAT SPOKE TO EVE?
There are many ideas of who was the animal that spoke
to Eve, according to the narrative of Genesis 3, who induced her to eat from
the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, which ended up in the fall of
humanity into sin and the loss of Eden (Genesis 3:23-24).
Throughout history, theories have come from saying
that it was a smart snake, through a mythical representation of evil, to say
that it was Satan himself in an open pseudo-human form, according to the implications
of a superficial meaning of the word נָחָשׁ (Nachash).
These theories have been born from ideas each theological
school had about Genesis.
Since the enlightenment era, the idea that Genesis has
no divine origin but that is a Jewish priestly adaptation from Babylonian
legends, has given foot to consider the similitude of the biblical characters
and story line to the old Mesopotamian legends, and then to compare the serpent
of Genesis to the reptile figures of the Babylonian mythology, thus coming to
the conclusion that it was an angelic being in human appearance who tempted Eve,
to even suggest by the most extreme, that to ‘eat’ from the fruit was to have
sex, which it was what Eva had with the demon, to then go and seduce Adam.
It would be unnecessarily extensive to describe in
detail each extravagant idea that the fantasy of men have created in their
imaginations about this biblical reptile, but we will explain here the only
theory from those who consider the biblical narrative to be literal and
infallible.
THE NACHASH OF GENESIS
The Hebrew word נָחָשׁ (Nachash), as in many
other old eastern languages, like Chinese, Japanese or Arabic, and sometimes in
modern western languages, forms also part of other words which change meaning
by the addition of one or two more letters to the front or end, or both parts
of the נָחָשׁ word.
One of these, is that Nachash is the root word for ‘Shining
One’ נחשת , word that by
the addition of the letter ת,
it becomes a different word altogether, that even to say in modern
language ‘shinning one’ is not enough, but more likely ‘copper’ or ‘brass’ and
the shinning constitution of those metals, which is a generic derivative from
the quality of the subject, in this case the capacity to reflect light on those
polished metals. If this term is used in
the case of serpents, it is not to say that they are something else than
animals, but that their skin has a shiny appearance.
A similar word is the term שָׂרָף (Saraph) usually
translated as ‘fiery serpent’, as it is used in Numbers 21:8, when in reality
the word itself means ‘Fiery’, or ‘Burning’ or ‘Flaming’, and it is related to
the burning sensation of the inoculation of poison from snakes, spiders, or scorpions
(Compare with Deuteronomy 8:15). However, a type of angels is also called ‘Seraphim’
and have that name because of their great power, which the easter mind associated
with the power of fire (Compare with Hebrews 1:7 ‘his servants flames of fire’).
Even though the term fiery is used as a root to compose the word Seraphim
(Flaming one), this does not mean angels are unconscious flames of fire, but
only that they are beings of high power, invincible like fire.
A modern example can be seen in the word ‘strong’.
‘Strong’ is an adjective that described the attribute
of a noun. The faculty that gives power to move heavy weights, endure pressure
or stress, or having an intense faculty, like smell or voice volume.
As such, this word can be used as a root to build other
words with different specific meanings. We could say, ‘There is a strong smell’
or ‘He is a strong man’ or ‘He is strong enough to endure adversity’. Even when
the same word ‘strong’ is used, none of these cases are the same. They all have
in common the affinity of hardness, but one is an element, the other one is a
physical faculty, and the last one is a mental capacity. In the same way, in
many cases like when we say ‘There comes the strong man’, we could only say ‘There
comes the strong’
THE CONTEXT OF THE WORD
The way the word Nachash is used in Genesis also give
us the surest way to interpret the meaning of that word in that specific case.
Genesis 3:1 says:
“Now the (Nachash) was more crafty
than any other beast of the field that the GOD YHWH had made.”
The context uses the word חַי
(Living), which the text
translates as ‘beast’, and the word שָׂדֶה (Sadeh) as Field; then translating literally Genesis 3:1,
it should say:
“Now the (Nachash) was more crafty than any other ‘Living’
of the land that the GOD YHWH had made.”
As Genesis uses the same term חַי (Chay) for all the animals that God made,
apart from Adam and Eve in this world, it is clear that this subject we
translate as ‘snake’ was a material created animal, not an angel from the
spiritual realm. Thus, the Jewish translators of the Septuagint (Greek version
of the Torah), used the word ὄφις (Snake),
because it was this subject they knew Genesis was referring to, and not some
other creature.
WHO SPOKE TO EVE
Judging by the root of the word, the context of the
phrase, and the testimony of the translators of the Septuagint, we know that it
was the first reptile of a kind who spoke to Eve, who showed no surprise since
she must have had the faculty to speak or communicate somehow with all animals
on a regular basis (Genesis 3:1).
We also know that most probably it must have had legs
or so, since his punishment was to move on his belly, becoming legless (Genesis
3:14).
We know it was an animal, with shiny skin, and Eve and
Adam saw it as such (Genesis 3:14).
BUT why would a snake would like to see Adam and Eve disobeying
God?
Revelation 12:9 relates this reptile with Satan, a
demon. Since Revelation calls him Satan, and Genesis calls him an animal, we
can safely conclude that Satan possessed the first serpent or snake, and induced
Eve to disobey God, and thus, try to destroy God’s creation. The serpent received
the curse from God as it fell from his own free will, and inherited the consequences
of his curse on his descendants, the same way we humans did. The male snake
from the specie.
Omar Flores.
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