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| My latest reading through the bible caused me pause as we get into the portion where God confronts the serpent and Eve. I always wanted to know exactly the context around the curses God gave the serpent. |
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| Below is a detailed account proposed by one scholar, I hope you find these explanations of the bible useful! |
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| http://www.xenos.org/teachings/ot/genesis/gary/gen3-2.htm |
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| First of all, the passage itself seems to distinguish the Serpent from normal animals. The definite article ("the") is used throughout, suggesting this is his title. The grammar of 3:1 (partitive) indicates that the Serpent was qualitatively different from the animals rather than simply the smartest of the animals. |
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| Third, the judgment of 3:14 is "because you have done this." Since animals are not freely choosing, morally responsible agents, it doesn't make sense that God would specifically blame a snake for what happened.
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| Fourth, Gen. 1:24 suggests that snakes ("creeping things") were already legless, and that God viewed this as "good" rather than as a curse. 1 Lastly, the language in 3:14 seems to be figurative rather than literal. This is Hebrew poetry, which employs conceptual parallelism. Therefore, if we take "on your belly you shall go" literally, we must also take "dust you shall eat" literally. But as we all know, while snakes move about on their bellies, they do not have a dirt diet. Therefore, it is preferable to take both phrases figuratively, meaning "you will be totally defeated." Other Old Testament passages use this phrase in just this way (see Ps. 72:9; Isa. 49:23) to describe the fate of God's enemies. |
| Therefore, God declares in this verse the certain doom of Satan because he tempted Adam and Eve. Although Satan was gloating over the victory he had just won, God says the day will surely come when he will be completely and eternally ("all the days of your life") defeated. Though he is the highest created being, he will be sentenced to a fate far worse than the most common field animals.2 The beasts' curse (living in an abnormal nature) is nothing compared to the Serpent's curse. |
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| Enmity #1 |
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| Read 3:15a: " . . . and I will put enmity between you and the woman . . ." This is not saying that women from now on will be snake-phobic. Women don't hate snakes any more than men do; and some women (just like some men) hate spiders but love to work with snakes. |
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| Rather, the "you" refers in context to Satan, and "the woman" refers in context to Eve. There weren't too many other women running around at this point. |
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| Eve regarded Satan as a morally neutral creature up to this point-she took him seriously and had no inclination to be suspicious of him. This would change from this point on. No longer would she be an unwitting pawn in his hands. From now on, she would cooperate with the Lord in opposing the Serpent. The little that we know about Eve from this point on seems to indicate that she quit listening to the Serpent and returned to listening to the Lord. |
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| This enmity between humans and Satan, which began with Eve, was to continue and branch out. Read 3:15b: " . . . and between your seed and her seed . . ." It seems obvious that God is not referring to Satan's biological children locked in mortal combat with all of Eve's descendants (i.e., all humans). Angels do not procreate (Matt. 22:30?). Rather, God predicts a great division within humanity into two camps: those who follow Satan in his rebellion against God ("your seed"), and those who follow Eve in her return to and trust in God ("her seed"). |
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