The Snake

I won’t insult your intelligence. By now you should have figured out what the snake actually is: It’s the other way. In other words, it’s the way that is not God’s way. You were probably waiting for me to say the snake is the devil and Satan, weren’t you? Well, we’ll get to that later. The word used to describe the serpent is the word arum, which is translated as shrewd, subtil, or cunning (depending on your particular version of the bible) in the 3rd chapter of Genesis. The word arum also appears in other places in the bible, but is translated as prudent or sensible (Proverbs 12:23, Proverbs 22:3, Proverbs 13:16, and Proverbs 27:12). It may be that the choice to translate the word as cunning or shrewd in chapter 3 is due to how the attribute is being used. However, it seems to me that discerning or the ability to put 2 and 2 together might be better ways to define or describe arum. I say this only because the other verses seem to imply that the one possessing arum is able to foresee evil, act with knowledge, and “understand”. This ability would suggest to me that the serpent already had the knowledge of good and evil, but chose evil instead. I’ll get back to why this is important later. However, one thing is sure: Our gifts and attributes (which come to us from God) can always be used for good or evil. I find that if you continually acknowledge that your gifts come from God, it keeps you humble and makes it harder to boast about yourself or use your gifts for evil.

Let’s make a non-diabolical argument for the snake being simply a snake, talking and walking aside. Since the serpent was more arum than all the beast of the field, it might have been able to discern through observation the limits that had been put on humanity. If that were the case, then it would have noticed that humanity did not touch the tree of good and evil. It might also have realized that it, as a beast of the filed, was on the lowest rung of creation, being subject to humanity, and humanity being subject to God (as are all things) and lower than the elohim. Remember when I mentioned domains in a previous post? Lets change that to the word lane instead. Domain seems like such a fancy word. I’m sure we’ve all heard the expression “stay in your lane”. It applies in this situation. The snake’s lane does not include authority over humanity. Humanity’s lane dictates that it should have authority over the snake and the earth. Humanity’s lane was an earthly one. The spiritual lane (or domain) was reserved for spiritual beings. However, often times as human beings, we overreach. Ever meet the person in your church who thinks they’re the pastor, when they clearly don’t have a pastoral calling? God has an order to His creation. If we work together to fulfill our roles and parts in God’s greater plan, the results will be mind blowing. However, being human, we often think that we know better than God. So often, disaster, disappointment, and destruction are the result when we act outside of God’s will for us.

Okay, maybe you’re asking yourself, why can’t I strive for more? Before I answer that question, let me ask you a question: Did you finish the original work that God called you to do? Jesus did not skirt the cross and ascend without completing the work that was set before him. He finished the work that was appointed for him. Can we do less? Should we do less? If you want more, then act like it! Humanity never completed God’s original assignment for them. Overall, it was a pretty sweet deal: God provides all of the capital (planet, animals, authority, etc.), humanity runs it and keeps pretty much all of the gain. And by the way, throw in free business advice from God whenever needed. If Warren Buffet were to come to me today and offered me a deal like that, I’d take it (after praying and receiving guidance from God, or course). The fact is that anyone on Wall Street world would have recognized it as a deal like no other deal.

Okay, let’s deal with it: Is the snake the devil? While it’s clear that later writers definitely assigned a more diabolical nature to the snake, it’s not clear that early writers considered the snake to be the devil. In fact, the concept of a devil within Judaism didn’t exist at the time Genesis was written. But, here is the case for the snake being Satan or inhabited by Satan. Remember what I said earlier about the snake seeming to already have knowledge of good and evil? Well, according to the evidence, there were only two ways to gain that knowledge. One way was by eating the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil or by being one of the elohim. But is that really the take away from this chapter? Does it matter if the snake was Satan or just a walking, talking snake that abused its gift? I don’t think so. The fact is it doesn’t matter whether you feel that Satan tricked you, your neighbor, the guy on TV, or the pornography on the internet. What’s important is that you are the one making the choice to go God’s way or the other way. Satan’s offer to you is the other way, the way that requires disobedience and leads to death. Satan doesn’t care what keeps you from the kingdom of God. All he cares about is that you spend eternity outside of God’s presence like he will.