Genesis 3 – The Serpent
Genesis 3
Study partners, there are questions about the serpent discussed in Genesis 3, like is the serpent, also known as Satan, Lucifer, or the Devil? Is the serpent a cunning, conniving, evil, fearful, scary adversary? Is the serpent supernatural or a fallen angel? We will consider human interaction with the serpent beginning with Adam and Chavah.
Genesis 2.24 – 25
Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall CLEAVE to his wife, and they shall be one flesh. AND they were both naked, the man and his wife, AND THEY were not ashamed.
Genesis 3.1
AND the serpent וְהַנָּחָשׁ was subtle עָרוּם from every life of the field הַשָּׂדֶה which The Lord God had Made…
In Genesis 2.24 – 25, Adam and Chavah, i.e., Eve, were in the familiar act of clinging to each other. They were having sex. The serpent was lustfully watching.
Genesis 2.25
And the two of them [Adam and Chavah] Her were both naked, עֲרוּמִּים Ah Roo Meem the man and his wife, and they were not ashamed. Rashi sees a continuity between Genesis 2.25 and Genesis 3.1. The earlier Scripture discusses the nakedness of Adam and Chavah. The latter Scripture tells the story of the serpent’s seductive council. Rashi Notes the serpent’s lustful desires were aroused when he watched them engaging openly in sex. Rabbi Meir Zlotowitz and Rabbi Nosson Scherman, The Artscroll Tanach Series – Bereishis Vol. I(a) (Brooklyn, New York: Mesorah Publications, Ltd. 3rd Impression, 1989), p 112. We focus on how the Letter ו Vav that connects the two Scriptures and how the Word עֲרוּמִּים Ah Roo Meem also connects them.
The word beast/animal is an incredibly important detail because that form of life was created from the field, from the soil. Adam and Chavah were created from the dust in front of The Holy Altar near The Holy Temple in Jerusalem. Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan, Jerusalem the Eye of the Universe, {New York, N.Y. Publishers: National Conference of Synagogue Youth / Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America, 2002} pp. 7; 13,14
Genesis 1.24 – 25
And God Said, ‘Let the earth bring forth all kinds of living creatures, cattle, and creeping things, and beasts of the earth after their kind; and it was so.’ And God made the beasts of the earth after their kind, and cattle after their kind and everything that creeps upon the earth after its kind; and God saw that it was good.
According to Genesis 1.24 – 25, the serpent was NOT created as a supernatural being. The serpent was NOT a fallen angel? The serpent was created as a beast of the field.
How does Holy Scripture present the serpent?
Genesis 3.1
וְהַנָּחָשׁ [Vih Hah Naw Chaws] And the serpent was more עָרוּם Aw Room subtle than any beast of the field which The Lord God had made. וַתֹּאמֶר [Vah Toh Mehr] And he said to the woman, Has God Said, you shall not eat of every tree of the garden?
The Word עָרוּם Aw Room, the singular meaning is ‘subtle,’ עֲרוּמִּים Ah Roo Meem is plural. עֲרוּמִּים Ah Roo Meem is also the spelling for naked. Who was naked? Adam and Chavah were both naked. They were transparent. What is the point? Because עֲרוּמִּים means naked and subtle, we see a connection between Adam and Chavah. The Letter ו Vav connects the nakedness of Adam and Eve with the subtle serpent! The ו Vav is a connector. The ו Vav joins Words, Phrases, Sentences, Scriptures, and Chapters. The ו Vav means ‘and’ when it is attached to the beginning of a Word.
Genesis 3.2
וַתֹּאמֶר [Vah Toh Mehr] And he said to the woman, Has God Said, you shall not eat of every tree of the garden?
The serpent communicated in Hebrew, reasoned, listened, walked, et cetera. The serpent was considerably more sophisticated than other animals. Yet after beguiling, charming mesmerizing, and attempting to seduce Chavah, he was punished by The Lord God. All of his superior designs from creation were removed.
Genesis 3.14 – 15
And The Lord God Said to the serpent, ‘Because you have done this, you are cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon your belly shall you go, and dust shall you eat all the days of your life, And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; it shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.’
The serpent was reduced from being the highest animal species created to being the lowest of the animal species. The serpent could no longer communicate or reason or walk. That being the situation, the serpent in its present life is no longer cunning, conniving, evil, fearful, scary, or an adversary, as previously noted. The serpent was sinful. He introduced sin to Chavah and Adam. Genesis 3 Teaches sin entered the world through the serpent.
In Genesis 2.15, Adam and Chavah were supposed to be guarding/protecting Gan Eden from the sinful serpent.
Genesis 2.15
And The Lord God took the man and put him into The Garden of Eden to cultivate it and guard it. The serpent sinned in advance of Adam and Eve. Sin did not enter this world by one man, i.e., Adam. Sin was already here.
Best wishes for an excellent pleasant happy Sabbath Observance.
Dr. Akiva Gamliel Belk
