Serpent: Snake or Talking Reptile

In this post, I will discuss the Fall of Man as seen in Genesis 3. I will concentrate strictly in this post on a small theme of the serpant.

1Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, "Indeed, has God said, 'You shall not eat from any tree of the garden'?"
2The woman said to the serpent, "From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat;
3but from the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, 'You shall not eat from it or touch it, or you will die.'"
4The serpent said to the woman, "You surely will not die!
5"For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil."
6When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate.

Here we have the serpent, the craftiest of the wild animals tempting Eve. Now, I was taught from a very young age (I cannot remember exactly when), that the serpent was actually Satan. If the serpent was indeed Satan, then that would show that Satan existed right from the very beginning, not to mention explain away a rather unusual talking reptile which is very difficult to believe in seeing as how no one has had a conversation with a snake lately (except maybe Harry Potter). However, I would propose, that the writer of Genesis intended exactly what he said: A talking snake. I believe this is what the writer intended, again under the presupposition that this story is not an historical event. Rather, it is a story designed to reveal something of God, ourselves, and our relationship to him.

The serpent talking and causing trouble in the Ancient Near East is not limitted to this account in Genesis chapter 3. There seems to be a general dislike for the slimy slitherer amongst the other cultures of the time as well. The first example we will look at is in the Epic of Gilgamesh. To summarize, Gilgamesh, who is seeking eternal life, goes to visit the one man who has ever attained it; Utnapishtim. Utnapishtim then tells him a long story about a torrential flood and how the gods then granted him eternal life (more about the flood to follow in a later post). Thus, Utnapishtim was a special case, and Gilgamesh can not gain eternal life the way he did. However, Utnapishtim tells him of a plant.

Utanapishtim spoke to Gilgamesh, saying: "Gilgamesh, you came here exhausted and worn out. What can I give you so you can return to your land?I will disclose to you a thing that is hidden, Gilgamesh, a... I will tell you. There is a plant... like a boxthorn, whose thorns will prick your hand like a rose. If your hands reach that plant you will become a young man again."

Gilgamesh, then proceeds to become the very first breath hold diver recorded in history.

Hearing this, Gilgamesh opened a conduit (to the Apsu) and attached heavy stones to his feet.They dragged him down, to the Apsu they pulled him. He took the plant, though it pricked his hand,and cut the heavy stones from his feet,letting the waves throw him onto its shores.Gilgamesh spoke to Urshanabi, the ferryman, saying: "Urshanabi, this plant is a plant against decay by which a man can attain his survival. I will bring it to Uruk-Haven, and have an old man eat the plant to test it. The plant's name is 'The Old Man Becomes a Young Man.'" Then I will eat it and return to the condition of my youth."

Gilgamesh, having obtained the plant, goes to have a bath (undoubtedly to rinse off the salt water), and lo and behold, our long, slinking friend makes his appearance.

Gilgamesh went down and was bathing in the water.A snake smelled the fragrance of the plant,silently came up and carried off the plant.While going back it sloughed off its casing.'At that point Gilgamesh sat down, weeping,his tears streaming over the side of his nose.

So here, the snake steals the plant of life, and then sheds its skin, thus depriving Gilgamesh of eternal life. This parallels the Genesis account in that it is a snake that prevents the human from obtaining eternal life. The snake isn't portrayed as a talking, crafty animal, but it does interfere with Gilgamesh obtaining eternal life.

Another snake appears in the Etana Epic. In this story, an eagle and a snake both reside in a poplar tree; the serpant at its roots, and the eagle has a nest in the crown of the tree. After some time, they come to a pact and swear an oath of friendship to take care of each other's young by taking the responsibility of feeding them. However, one day, after the eagle's young have grown up, the eagle plots to devour the snake's offspring. The eagle then dives down and destroys the serpents nest and devours his young. Naturally, the snake is upset that the eagle has done this. The snake then implores the god Shamash to help him to avenge his offspring. Shamash then kills a wild ox and tells the serpent to hide inside the organs of the carcass and wait. When the eagle comes to eat the ox, the serpent lunges out, seizes him, plucks out his feathers, clips his wings, and casts him into a deep pit to die from starvation and dehydration. The story continues on from there with other happenings, including Etana, the king of Kish, taking a ride on the eagle. But we will not get into that. What we saw here was a snake planning and talking and being quite a clever animal. It simply demonstrates again that the serpant was used in these stories as a talking, thinking creature.

In conclusion, I believe that the author intended that the snake in the Genesis story was indeed a snake. Not Satan in a snake suit. Serpants talking and interacting with humanity is a common occurance amongst the ancient near eastern texts. Thus, I believe, under the presupposition that this is not an historical document, that the snake is a snake.

In the next post, we'll move on to what I believe was the point of Genesis 3 as a whole, with reference to other Ancient Near Eastern texts.