Genesis Snake
(Genesis 3)
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Animals as moral and spiritual beings
Psalm 24:1
The earth is the LORD’s and all that is in it,
the world, and those who live in it.
Snakes have much more reason to fear humankind than humankind has to fear snakes, yet snakes suffer tremendously because humans fear them. Many people kill even the most harmless snakes as a matter of habit. As a result, more than half of the world’s snakes are either threatened or near threatened, while we lack data in many cases to know which creatures are at risk of extinction. We do know that God is sole proprietor of creation, and that we do not have license to harm or destroy anything that has been made; we are tasked with serving God by protecting and tending what God has made.
For no legitimate reason, many human beings feel a visceral dislike for snakes, and hastily destroy even non-venomous species, such as this little grass snake. (Wikimedia Commons)
What do scriptures say about snakes that might help us to rethink our unjustified dislike, harm, and destruction of these slender citizens of the Earth? A close look at the snake narrative in Genesis 3 seems a good place to start.
The story of the snake in Genesis 3 has long been interpreted from a reptile-averse point of view, accusing the snake of deliberately and deceitfully convincing the first human beings to disobey God, bringing about the Fall, which caused humankind to be cast from the Garden of Eden. A fresh read, free of conventional, cultural distaste for reptiles, questions this traditional interpretation.
Those who interpret scriptures tend to associate the snake with evil and with the Fall.. In this Rembrandt image, the snake is depicted as a powerful dragon, hovering over the first human beings, who look unintelligent and disoriented.
(“The Fall of Man,” Rembrandt Van Rijn, Holland, c. 1510, 1st Art Gallery)
Genesis 3:1
Now the serpent was more crafty than any other wild animal that the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God say, ‘You shall not eat from any tree in the garden’?”
Genesis 3 tells of neighbors, a snake and a human being, who pause to chat in the Garden of Eden. The snake is described as “crafty,” a translation of the Hebrew word, ’arum, which appears elsewhere in Scriptures. For example, ’arum describes the intelligence of David (1 Samuel 23:22), where the same word is translated with positive connotations, as “cunning.” ’Arum also appears in the Book of Job, translated with positive connotations as “crafty,” reminding humankind to be humble before God, no matter how intelligent we might think ourselves to be—an important lesson where anymals are concerned. ’Arum also shows up eight times in Proverbs (12:16, 12:23, 13:16, 14:8, 14:15, 14:18, 22:3, 27:12), where the word, always with strongly positive connotations, is translated as “prudent” or “clever.” Here are three examples:
Proverbs 12:16
Fools show their anger at once,
but the prudent ignore an insult.Proverbs 13:16
The clever do all things intelligently,
but the fool displays folly.Proverbs 22:3 and 27:12
The clever see danger and hide;
but the simple go on, and suffer for it.
’Arum, tells readers that the snake was exceptionally intelligent. In Scriptures, ‘arum is a positive attribute.
As the conversation unfolds between the woman and the snake (who is male in the Hebrew writing), the snake asks if God has told humans that they may not eat from a particular tree. The first woman replies that God has prohibited the consumption of fruit from a specific tree, lest they die (Genesis 3:3). The snake corrects her: “You will not die; for God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil” (Genesis 3:4–5). Apparently, the woman desires to know good and evil because she eats fruit from the forbidden tree.
Genesis 3:6
So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate; and she also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate.
The snake in this image is portrayed in a conventional fashion, as aggressive and sly, slithering across a naked (vulnerable) woman to whisper evil into her ear—information that will cause the Fall. While a common take on Genesis 3, this is not true to the narrative.
(“Eve Taking the Forbidden Fruit,” unknown artist, Paris Iconographic Collections, no date, Wikimedia Commons.)
Genesis 3:10-11
He said, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.” He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?”
Obviously, the first woman understands the snake to be a good source of information—and she is right. The snake had more knowledge and spoke the truth: After eating the forbidden fruit, the “eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked” (Genesis 3:7). The Creator, of course, is displeased that the two humans have disobeyed. When questioned, the man blames both God for providing a woman, and the woman for sharing the fruit: “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit from the tree, and I ate” (Genesis 3:12). The woman blames the snake: “The serpent tricked me, and I ate” (Genesis 3:13). It is a poor showing for humankind.
The snake has enough integrity to hold silence before God, despite false accusations. According to the Genesis narrative, the snake did not trick the first human beings. Nor did the snake tell the first woman to eat the forbidden fruit. The snake knows and speaks the truth: By eating the forbidden fruit, humankind would not die but would gain knowledge, becoming a little more like God (Genesis 3:5).
Rather than place responsibility where it belongs, squarely on the shoulders of the first human beings, each of whom chose to taste the forbidden fruit, those interpreting this text have preferred to rest blame primarily on the snake, and secondarily on the woman—as if the first man were a lifeless pawn, unable to think or act for himself. In any event, God is displeased with what has transpired, and all are punished.
Bush Vipers are venomous, but they are also shy and reclusive, hiding in the tropical rainforests of Africa. (Save the Snakes)
Genesis 3:14-19
God said to the serpent,
“Because you have done this,
cursed are you among all animals
and among all wild creatures;
upon your belly you shall go,
and dust you shall eat
all the days of your life.
I will put enmity between you and the woman
and between your offspring and hers;
he will strike your head,
and you will strike his heel.”To the woman he said,
“I will make your pangs in childbirth exceedingly great;
in pain you shall bring forth children,
yet your desire shall be for your husband,
and he shall rule over you.”And to the man he said,
“Because you have listened to the voice of your wife
and have eaten of the tree
about which I commanded you,
‘You shall not eat of it,’
cursed is the ground because of you;
in toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life;
thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you;
and you shall eat the plants of the field.
By the sweat of your face
you shall eat bread
until you return to the ground,
for out of it you were taken;
you are dust,
and to dust you shall return.”
The most severe punishment falls on all life—death: “you are dust, and to dust you shall return” (Genesis 3:19), and the snake has traditionally been blamed. But one might reasonably wonder why God even punishes the snake, who merely spoke the truth: Eve would not die from eating the fruit, but her eyes would “be opened” (Genesis 3:5).
The most reasonable answer seems to be that, In the eye of God, the first human beings were akin to ignorant and gullible children in comparison with the highly intelligent snake. Moreover, this narrative indicates that God intended human beings to remain in their initial state of comparative ignorance. Through God’s punishment, the snake is held accountable for providing human beings with a taste of knowledge, indicating that God is displeased with this turn of events. Considering what humankind has done with intelligence—weaponry of mass destruction, climate change, species extinctions, vivisection, and cloning—the wisdom of the Creator is everywhere apparent.
Earthly creatures together in the Garden of Eden, with the first humans choosing to disobey God by eating the forbidden fruit. (“The Fall of Man,” Peter Paul Rubens and Jan Brueghel the Elder, Belgium, c. 1615, Wikimedia Commons)
Deuteronomy 28:15
But if you will not obey the LORD your God… all these curses shall come upon you.
Most fundamentally, Genesis 3 reminds humankind of the importance of obedience and the ill effects of disobedience. Regarding human-anymal relations, Genesis 3 also reminds humankind that snakes are intelligent and thinking individuals, they are our neighbors, and enmity between human beings and snakes is contrary to the Creator’s original intent. Enmity between human beings and snakes is not what God prefers: God established a world of perfect peace, a world of interspecies kinship, where snakes and anymals shared company as amiable neighbors in the Garden of Eden. This, then, is the ideal world created by God, which Christians are called to help restore.
God’s punishment does not require enmity between snakes and humankind any more than men are required to toil amid thorns. But it is our Christian duty to avoid harming anymals and to be kind to anymals. We are to make choices that reduce anymal suffering. We can begin by relocating snakes as needed, instead of killing them, or let these graceful, intelligent creatures of God go their way. Genesis 3 provides key pointers on rightful relations with snakes, and on rightful relations with all of creation.
Micah 6:8
He has told you, O mortal, what is good,
and what does the LORD require of you
but to do justice and to love kindness
and to walk humbly with your God?
A snake expert pauses to enjoy the majesty of a wolf snake. (Save the Snakes)