Is the Biblical Serpent Satan?
Is The Biblical Serpent Satan?
by Reginald Finley Sr
Is the Serpent in the Garden according to the Bible Satan?
Short Answer: NO! The Long Answer may shock you!
Here's a few things to consider:
In Genesis 3:14 we read:
"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:"
As you can see, the Serpent is cursed for his trickery and has to crawl on it's belly forever and "eat dust". Metaphorically of course.. that is, his proximity is so close to the ground that dirt cannot help but get into his mouth. I think it's fair to call this one a metaphor. So.. what we have hear is a pretty good description of a snake. Serpents are snakes, in fact, the Hebrew word for snake IS "nachash" which is a snake. This word is found all throughout the Bible to refer to snakes. But has Satan been stricken with such a punishment? This is what we will find out in a moment.
One big problem is that, if Satan was the serpent, why is God punishing him to be a snake.. and why would the Serpent be called a "nachash" a snake, if he wasn't one yet? The Serpent is called a Serpeant long before he actually became one. One is led to accept then that at one point snakes could walk around and had limbs. Yes.. I know it's getting a bit muddled already. This sounds very much like mythological retelling. Someone trying to explain why a certain animal has a particular attribute. Now, is Satan... a snake... that's slithering around? Or much more than that? If Satan is now just a snake.. then how is he able to tempt man and just so happens to be everywhere in the world? A single slithering serpent crawling on the ground is ubiquitious? Something is wrong here.
"Satan is a spiritual being", some may say. If Satan is a spritual being and not a physical one, what does it mean to be "turned into a snake" anyway? How could he "eat dust"? Isn't dust physical as well? So, even using such a term as "eat dust" metaphorically still wouldn't make any sense if a "spirtual" Satan were truly the culprit.
Some will retort, that the snake itself was metaphor for his sneakiness and crafty ways. Okay.. I would go with that except for a few problems. Is it metaphor to go "upon your belly"? Is "the Serpent" (many who believe is Satan) crawling around on it's belly forever or did the Bible make a mistake?
We read in Job 1:7:"
"And the LORD said unto Satan, Whence comest thou? Then Satan answered the LORD, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it."
Satan was walking?! Did God's curse wear off over time? Did Elohim punish the Serpent, or did he not? Walking in this context is from the Hebrew word, Halak. Halak is used mostly to denote traveling with feet in the Hebrew. However.. even if not literally walking. Is Satan slithering to and fro? Again, what are you saying here? A spiritual being that needs to slither to move? If he's spiritual, why travel to and fro, up and down. Can't he go through the mountains? If this being was just a snake, that makes more sense as snakes do travel here as described. In that case, we can make the serpent's walking metaphor. However, how can this be Satan?
Some at this point may try to argue that I'm picking and choosing. That I'm being inconsistent. That I'm chosing literal meanings arbitrarily. Those that say so miss the point of this inquiry. That's exactly the point! In fact, I am analyzing what many believers think about this Serpent's nature and who or what it is. These questions must be answered by the Biblical literalist. What's metaphor.. what's literal.. and how do you know it?
Again, what does it mean to metaphorically state that the Serpent is crawling on it's belly? Isn't it obvious that this is just another myth? A Pandora's box story where ancient man is simply trying to explain how evil arose and how it was caused?
Let's be clear here. I don't believe in a literal Satan. But I think the evidence is overwhelming that the Serpent in the Garden could not have been Satan. However, in the Bible there are quite a number of places that associate the snake (serpent) in the Garden as Satan. We do know however that when the new testament came along. The writers injected their own ideas about what they thought they were reading. Many followers of Christ assume that the Serpent is Satan without much investigation. It truly doesn't add up.I challenge those that are skeptical. DON'T take my word for it. Visit blueletterbible.org and look up these words yourself. I challenge you to also copy and paste the Hebrew words into google. It will simply blow you away at how much the church simply isn't telling you. In fact, they can't. They don't know either.
In closing. It's obvious that something is not right here. Could it simply be that man's fear of this creature generated such a fairy tale? Thousands of years ago a snake bite would have been even more fatal than it is today. Makes sense to base such a story on such a slithery (crafty) creature that can end lives with a single bite. Truly sounds like a mythological story bred from fear and ignorance. Amazing how such a story could be believed by even some the most intelligent people. Wake up people, mythology has you!
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A reader added this commentary:
As you´re probably already aware of, the snake was significant in egyptian mythology as Apophis. The chaos snake Apophis lurked in the underworld and was called the dissatisfied servant. He, and his "evil" followers, tried to overthrow God, Ra, every night when he travelled through the underworld.
According to egyptian mythology Apophis tried this to send the world into darkness and chaos.
The snake also was a symbol of the Zoroastrian religions "evil one", Ahriman.
In the "Gilgamesh epic" a snake also stole the plant of life from king Gilgamesh. - Kent
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