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THE SERPENT OF EDEN

THE

SERPENT OF EDEN
A PHILOLOGICAL

AND
ON
'I

CRITICAL ESSAY

HI.

TEXT OF GENESIS
AND

III.,

ITS

VARIOUS INTERPRETATIONS.

I;',

J.

P.

VAL d'EREMAO,
Tin: H"i
"i
'.

D.D,
BASINGSTOKE,

MEMBER OF THE ANJUH1

LATE KECTOR OF
CHOS1
I

K-I-Pl -JAB; HI Rl
ii,

now OP
ami CHANCELLOR

st.

mary's, DERBY, TH1 mocBSE OF NOTTINGHAM.

LO
I

NDON
CO.,
1888.
i,

\n PA1

N(

II

&

PATERNOSTER SQUAR]

'

'

'

...
I

<

'

'
.

{The rights of translation and of reproduction are reserTcd.)

-^3 5

TO

THE

REV. SIR W. H. COPE, BART.

)i.\k

Sir William,

To no one
little

can

more

fitly

dedicate this

book than

to you,

who have

so kindly allowed

me

free access to your magnificent library at Bramshill Park,

I

have aided

me

with

many

a valuable suggestion.
for

Without, therefore, making you responsible

here put forth,
friendship, and
I

any view

offer
in

it

to

you as a token of our mutual

grateful

acknowledgment of much

kindness from you.

Believe

me

always, yours very faithfully,

[OSE
r;,\

I".

VAL

REMAO.

PREFACE.
COMMENTATORS
in

have always found great

iii.
;

difficulty

interpreting Gen.

and the

difficulty

has
i

not diminished with time. of

long-felt need e x

an

interpretation
reason.

satisfactory to science

and

human

Such an interpretation
nsideration of
at
least
all
r<

now beg

to offer for tin

classes of Christians, for hen

A

the

into

of

all
Is

shades of belief an
to

identical.

My

ole

object

defend the truth

scienci

Holy Scripture against objections from

and reason.
It is

neither

my

object nor

my

wish to prove that

in

the received interpretations, given

either false or absolutely untenable.
:d

the past,
\\

an

here

hav<

such words as "untenable"

wish to be undei

\i li

PREFACE.

stood, not as absolutely

condemning the theory

I

or

interpretation to which
it

apply
I

it,

or as declaring
to say only that
it

to

be utterly incorrect.

mean

the difficulties and objections raised against

to

are,

my

mind and from

my

point of view, so strong

and cogent as to render that theory or interpretation

utterly untenable to

my reason.
mind

Those

difficulties,

during years of reading and

kept increasing to

reflection,
;

have always

my

and the explanations

difficulties

given to obviate or meet those

tinually

have con-

become

less

and
felt

less satisfactory.

Many

others, doubtless,
I

have

and

feel as I do.

have

tried to state these difficulties fairly

and

fully,

yet moderately.
is

The

chief

among them, from

my

point of view,
It is

common
all

to every past interpre-

tation.

that they

deal largely in gratuitous

suppositions,

which

are

absolutely without

any

foundation
as given in

in

the letter of the sacred narrative,

iii.

Gen.

Those who

find

no

difficulty in that narrative,

and those whose minds are

satisfied

with any of

the interpretations hitherto given, are welcome to

hold such interpretations, and to defend them to

PREFACE.
the best of their ability.
felt

IX

Those, however,

who have

the force of the man)- and serious difficulties

attending

Gen.

iii.

are

invited

to

consider the

interpretation

now

offered.
J.

P.

VAL d'EREMAO.

Basingstoke,
Feast of St. Hilary,

January

14, 1887.

CONTENTS.
i'a<;e
I.

Object stated

...

II.

The Sacred Narrative

Various
i
i

...

...

...

III.

Theories on
by

the Manner of the

... ...

mm a iion
ai.

"the Serpent"

15

IV.

Difficulties
Bi si
1.
1

attending
...

Temptation
...

by
...

a
32
...

Serpent
A>
1

I.,

\.
\
,

in';

"i

-1

...

32

II.,

POSSES 5ED BY Sa
\r.
-1

w
\

...

66
72
77

V.
.

<);

PROPOSING

NEW THEORY
...

i.

Tin

Nkv.
1

Theory
n "

...

VII.

Tm

mi

Si

in
i

97

.111.(1
IAI

,1

mi-

ommoni
...

Received [ntei

pri

...

"7
' i-

i\.

Conni

now

Dl
...

iv.

(
1 1

'i

tl.

AN"

SEl

11

Wok, nil'
Wiia
Si
1 1 1

...

..

A.RG1 Ml '
...
1

...

'27

in
1

Wi

I'. 11

"i

in

ROM
13

Mi-.

WOR

HIP?

XI

CONTENTS.
J'

CHAPTER XI. Was Serpent- Worship

XII.

AGE
135
151

Universal?

...

...

Origin of Serpent- Worship

...

XIII.

Conclusion

...

...

...

...

...

^Q

Appendix. Hekrew and Greek Texts ok the Sacred

Narrative
...
...

...

...

THE SERPENT OF EDEN,

CHAPTER
I.

OBJECT STATED.

THE
on

temptation of Eve by

"

the Serpent " has been,

as a matter full of
satisfactorily

all

hands and always, viewed

This mystery
is

mystery.

by no means

plained by the various interpretations given

by
an

mmentators
i)

to

its

attendant circumstances, as
narrative.
It

in

the

acred

contains

nowledged

difficulty,
'

and

a great one.

To
faith.

both

J<

and Chri tians

fall ol

alike, the narrative

is

of the temptation anil

It

man
of
tin-

an article of

i^

tin-

very foundation of the edifice of

faith

the very

groundwork
It is

whole scheme

of redemption.

an article of faith that Eve

i;

THE SERPENT OF EDEN.

"

was tempted by
in

the Serpent," and

fell

that she,
;

her turn, tempted

that

and Adam, who also fell Adam, Eve, and this " Serpent " were sub-

jected each to a special condemnation

by God,

in

punishment of the sin which each had committed.

But who or what that

"
;

Serpent" was

and

in

what
his
it

way he tempted Eve

worked
in

condemnation consisted

and and
;

in

what precisely
in

what manner

him

these are details which have never

articles of faith.

been defined as
fore, that

Provided, there-

we do not

violate the laws of scriptural

interpretation,

we

are free to choose such explana-

tions of these details as

may

suit

our individual

reason.

The manner and means

still

of the temptation

have been and arc

which, sacred
if

matters of discussion, in
literal

the substantial and

truth of the
inviolate,
free.

narrative

be held intact

and
left

opinions on

details
;

may

well

be

In

necessariis unitas

in dubiis libertas.
faithful,

Now, while the

attendant

holding fast to the facts

seek to explain their
best

of the temptation and

fall,

circumstances

as

they may, to

unbelievers the whole narrative has long been a

choice object of ridicule and a rich source of amuse-

ment.

They

assert that here, in the very beginning

of the scriptural history of the

human

race, the

OBJECT STATED.
narrative lays before us a

mass of glaring absurdities

declare that a bestial

and improbabilities.

They

serpent could not possibly tempt

Eve

that

Eve

would certainly have been surprised and startled

.ind

alarmed

at hearing a
;

dumb
is
;

animal speak with

real curse
it is

human

voice

that
its

it

no

for the

serpent to go on
it

belly

that

not a fact that

striven to

eats dust at

all.

Commentators have
and

reply to these and other important objections with

more or

less ability

learning.

But we must

candidly acknowledge that they have not been so

successful as

we could wish them

to be, in so imto believe

portant an encounter.

With every wish

and

to accepl
still

any reasonable interpretation, even

find the difficulty unsolved,

the faithful

though
But

they believe simply because

it

God

so teaches.

is

not at

all

likely that
faith

such explanations will

i.

tisfy

those whose

anything but strong

and deep.

Under

th<

in

umstani
ulties

es,

and considering the

<

many

unsolved

diflfii

attending the
ly

ommonly
whi< h

received opinion,
iry

think thai

any apolo

for

ol

an interpretation

ry lull
.ill

and complete solution to

tonit

tho

diffii ult

B<

proce< ding,
will

howe^

to give this interpretation,

add

to

the clear

THE SERPENT OF EDEN.

understanding of the whole question regarding the

serpent of Gen.
tive itself,
ill.,

if

I first

give the sacred narratill

with the various interpretations

its details,
it.

now-

advanced to explain
that are

and the objections

made

against

CHAPTER

II.

THE SACKKI) NARRATIVE.

I

HERE

give the sacred

narrative from the

AuLatin

thorized

English
of

Version, side by side

with the

the
I

Douay
place
at

Bible
the

from the
foot

Vulgate; and
translation as
1

as

literal

am

able to

make from

the original

hbn
Douay
I.

et 'ion.

lii.

I.

No
which
the
I

l"

nt

Gen.

iii.

i.

Now
le
1 1

the serpenl
oi

than any
1 1

the

of

thi

which the

And

he

Lord

<

iod

had made.

And

he

to

the

woman,
led

Why
thai
tr<

hath

you

you

should do) eal of every

\ii'l

the
r;

woman
ill.

an

w
of

him
of the
fruil
<<{

nni

01

fruil
>e

the

th<

,{

the

re in

Paradi

w<

do

Bui of (he

fruil ol
.

Bui of the
the
h
is

frnii

of the
of

in

(I.

Para

THE SERPENT OF EDEN.

dise,

garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat nf it, neither shall ye

God hath commanded

eat,
it,

that

we

should not

touch

it,

lest

ye die.

should not touch

and that we lest perhaps

we
4.

die.

And

the serpent said unto

shall not surely

4.

And

the serpent said to the

shall not die

the
die.
5.

woman, Ye

woman, No; you

the death.
5.

For God doth know that

in

day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.
in the
13.

For God doth know what day soever you

you
shall

that
shall

eat thereof,

your eyes shall be

opened and
gods,

be as
evil.

knowing good and

And

the

Lord God

said
this

13.

And

the Lord

God

said

unto the woman,

tliat

What is thou hast done? And n said, The serpent

to the

woman,

Why

hast thou

the
be-

done this?

And

she answered,
I

The

serpent deceived me, and

guiled me, and I did eat.

14.

did eat.
said to
14.

And

the

Lord God

And
done
all
;

the

Lord God
Because

said

unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, cursed art thou

the serpent,
this,

thou

hast

cursed art thou

and above every upon thy belly beast of tli' field shalt thou go, and dust shalt
above
all cattle,
:

among

the earth

and beasts of upon thy breast shalt thou go, and dust shall thou eat,
cattle

thou eat
15.

all

the days of thy

I

life

all

the days of thy

15.

life.

And

will

put enmity

And

will

put enmities

between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her
seed
;

it

shall

bruise thy head,

between thee and the woman, and thy seed and her seed, she shall crush thyjiead, and thou
shalt
lie in

and thou

shalt bruise his heel.

wait for her heel.

Hebrew,
Gen.
the
iii.

I.

And
:

the

serpent was intelligent

that

(beings) of the field which the

Lord God had made.

woman

Strange
!

God

has said,

among all living And he said Ye shall not eat of

the
fruit

every tree of the garden

2.

And

said the

woman

to

the serpent,

Of
in

of (each)

tree of the garden

3.

we may
fruit

eat.
(is)

but of the

of the tree which

the midst

of the

THE SACRED NARRATIVE.

garden,
lc>t

God

hath said,
die.

Ye

shall not eat of

it

and

shall not touch

it,

perhaps ye

4.
5.

And

said the serpent to the

woman, Not dying

shall

ye die.

will

For God knoweth that in the day ye eat of it, your eyes be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.

13.

And

said the

ha^t
I

done?

And
said

.said

Lord God to the woman, What (is) this thou the woman, The serpent deceived me, and
Lord God to the serpent, because thou hast thou above every beast and every living Upon thy belly thou shalt go, and dust thou
life.
I

did eat.
14.

And

the
!

\art)

ie

field.

shah

eat, all the

days of thy
will

put between thee and between the nan; and between thy seed and between her seed. He shall
niiiy

ml

thou shalt crush his heel.

Such

is

the sacred narrative, which forms the

subject of our discussion.

us
all

Well known as
it

it

is

to

from

our earliest days,

will still

repay a

nd detailed consideration.
It will

be useful

for

us to note that the

literal

translation given above differs, in

some important
in

particulars, from the existing versions

1

the

Engoi

,<-t

us

consider

each

point

variant
l.

In ver.

1,

have put the word "intelligent"

instead
(g/tnni

of

"

ubtil."

The

Hebrew word
tin-

is

c-ny

This conveys

idea of somethi
It
is

more than mere animal

lived

jubtility or cunning.
';,

from the

wad ";

11,1111

uhuh

pi

marily means "he

made naked," "he

discovered

THE SERPENT OF EDEN.

the secondary meaning of dis-

Hence proceeds
In

covery by the intellect or reason

lation.

discursive specuused
in

consequence of

this, it is

the

Holy

Scriptures to indicate the rational qualities

of prudence or wisdom.

In this sense

we
iii.

find the

very word which

is

here used in Gen.

I,

applied

repeatedly to the prudent or wise man, in contrast

with the foolish.

Thus, in Prov.

xii. 16,

"A

fool's

wrath

is

presently

known

but a prudent

man

covereth shame."

And

further on, in ver. 23, "

;

prudent

man

concealcth knowledge

but the heart

of fools proclaimcth foolishness."

to multiply instances of this

It is

unnecessary

exact meaning of this

word.
So, too, the Greek Septuagint gives the word

<f>povifiu>Tarog,

which

is

derived from

<l>povia).

To
I

this root Schrivellius gives the

cogito, sentio, judico, delibero,

meanings
" I

intclligo,

understand," "

think,"

"I perceive," "I judge," "I deliberate."

also the scriptural
x. 16,

This

is

meaning of the word.

says, "

In Matt.

where our Lord

Be ye
is

there-

fore wise as serpents," the

tive degree, of

word used Here

"

the posi-

which the superlative

is

used

in

Gen.

iii.

(ppuvifxoi /.V 01 o<j>eig.

too, then, in
is

the Septuagint,

as in the

Hebrew, a word

used
inter-

which distinctly shows us that the

Seventy

THE SACRED NARRATIVE.

pretcrs " understood the

Hebrew
you

text to indicate

the intention of the sacred writer as

the Serpent
intelligent,

meaning that
but with an
subtility.

was

subtil,

if

like,

thinking,

and

reasoning

Otherwise they would not have used the word

<jtpoVifUoTuri>i
.

The

.Ancient Arabic Version, too, uses the

signifies "wisest."

word

kakmimunh, which
In the Greek
in

and the Arabic, the expression

In the

is

the superlative degree.

Hebrew language,
for

which has no superlative form

the
superlative
all,"
(

the adjective,

sense

is

indicated
all :"

by the words
is

"above
the text,

or

"among
i.

this

also

done

in

ren.

iii.

Add
in

to all this, that

the word callidior

his

where the Latin Vulgate uses

"

more

subtil,"

St.

Augustine,
citing the

"Genesis ad
<

Literam"

(in

/or.),

u^ Itala, or

)M

Italian Bible, says in

one place,

"serpens
another p

autem

erat

prudentissimus,"

and

in

erat sapientissimus
"

omnium

besti-

arum
"in"
not
'I
t

quse sunt super terrain."

-,'.
i

Most prudent,"

e,"

urely indicate reasoning powers, and

i

mere animal
I:
i

unnin
i

Septuagint, the Vetu

all

[tala,

and

th<

An<

ienl

Ai abic

th< refore,

with

the

original

Hebrew

text,

in

giving

words

whicl

io

THE SERPENT OF EDEN.

mere animal cunning, but something
and
intelligent.

signify, not

really rational

We

must conclude,
and

therefore, that the subtility

which the text predi-

cates of this Serpent

is

an

intelligent, thinking,

reasoning subtility.
clusion
2.

The importance
first verse,

of this con-

we

shall

soon perceive.
the

In this same
versions
far

word which our

has,
It

English

render

"beasts"
sense.

in
is

the
IVn

Hebrew, a
(ehaiath),

more

general

which means any living

It is

being,

and not
" life."

merely a beast.

from the same root as

life

When God
used
is
;

breathes the breath of

soul,

into

Adam,
is

and he becomes a living

and
it

the

same word
iii.

is

used also when (Gen.

is

20)

Eve

called Chavvah, because she

all

to

be the mother
is

of

living

meaning
from

men.

This

the plain

scriptural use of the word, in confirmation of

which
It

numerous other examples could be adduced.

follows, therefore,
this usage,

and from the

original

meaning of
from

this

word, that

we

are pre-

cluded

limiting
to to

the

comparison
beasts

of

this

Serpent's

subtility

other

only.

The

comparison extends
earth ; for the

all living

beings of the

word

" field " is plainly

it

synonymous
all

with
*

"

world." *
"
is

Therefore
its

includes
is

beasts,

" field

not used in

restricted sense, as

evident, because

THE SACRED NARRATIVE.

and man himself; and possibly also some angels

who

minister on earth.
this

God
is

alone seems to be

excluded from
all
;

comparison, as the Creator of

for the

comparison

urged

in

the fullest and

widest sense, asserting that this " Serpent was the

most

intelligent

earth which the

among all living beings on Lord God has made."

ver.

the

That
is

this
is

important extension of the comparison confirmed by the wording of

chapter.
all

correct,

13

in this

same

Here the serpent

is

declared

accursed "above

beasts" fruora, behemali),

and

"above
"

all

living

beings"
as

(rvn,

c/iaiath).

Cattle

"

and
a

" beasts,"

given

in

the English

version
.

mere meaningless tautology, which

in

not exist
distinct

the original

Hebrew.

There,

two

words are used, the one applicable

;

to beasts alone

the other,

by

its

very derivation,
text, therefore,
t

including

all

"living being
rpent was
n
is

The

indicates that th
II

them'

intelligent

living bein

including

man

him-

self

v.

hi

another important

point.
3.
othi

In this

same

ver.

the Serpen!
lude
tl"
11

h
living
l

to

of

that is a lai
a

portion "f

and

it

would thus

cry

rity in subtility

which

12

THE SERPENT OF EDEN.

the
interjection,
*?"*)$

Eve opens with

This word
is

(Aph-ki).
in

not an interrogation, as rendered

the

Vulgate

"

Quare?" and the Douay

Version

"

Why ? "
after
it.

Nor

is it

a
"

mere exclamation,
Yea," with

as in the

Authorized

Version,

an interrogation

The Greek Septuagint approaches mark: T/, on, "What! that God,"
precise meaning, however, of ApJi-ki

nearer
etc.

the

The

mation of surprise

is

an excla-

"

Strange

that," or, " It is a

strange thing that."

at first sight appear,
in considering the

Slight as this difference

it

may
If
it

is

not without importance

manner of the temptation.

we put
is in

the temptation as a direct question (as

it

the English versions)

visible

may

lead the

mind

to

imagine a
plain

and audible questioner.

Strange
!

But the
that
in

Hebrew
said,

interjection, "
shall

God
the

hath

Ye

not cat of every tree

garden,"

sounds

much

more

like

an

internal

suggestion to the mind, put forth as

if it

proceeded

from Eve's own thoughts.

4.

In ver. 14 the

word "belly"

is

very correctly
Jim

translated from the

Hebrew word

(ghechon).

Yet

it

is

necessary, in order to

understand the

nature of the curse, to point out the derivation

of this word
;

because by means of
that
this

this derivation

we

shall

see

passage

becomes

more

THE SACRED NARRATIVE.

intelligibly

13

and naturally connected with

other

passages of Scripture, which will be adduced later

on to explain the nature of the curse.

then,
is

Ghechon,

derived from the root

\n\
"

(ghachan), which

originally signifies " he bent,"

"

he bowed down,"
therefore,

he was curved."

In the

word ghecJwn,

we

not only have the meaning of "belly," but, included

in

that meaning,

we have

the idea of bending or

;

bowing down
of

to the

ground

because the "bellies"

almost
;

all

animals

except

man
his

are

turned

earthwards
a superior,
the

and even man, when bowing before

necessarily

bends

belly

towards
to

ground.

This

will

have

to

be

recalled

mind when we are considering

of Scripture,
precise

parallel passages

with

the

view of ascertaining the

meaning of the

curse.
will

These four points

prove

to

have a very

important bearing on the question, What or who

is
tl

rpent?

It

is

very necessary that we

in

should keep them constantly

te

our minds, while

r<

the various th< orie

i

garding
u
i<

th<
t

temptation, and
the
I

the argun*

nl

d again
<

commonly

re<

<

ived interpretation of
il

ren. hi.

have not thought

in

expedient

to discuss

the

question whether,

ver. 15, the correel

rendering

hould

1-

"hi

lull

crush" or "she," "his heel"

14

THE SERPENT OF EDEN.

It
it

or "her."

docs not concern our present subject

and, as

has been repeatedly discussed, those

find the subject treated in

interested

may

numerous

works.

Both renderings understand and admit

in

that the agent

crushing the serpent's head

Christ.

is

the seed of the

woman, our Lord Jesus

15

CHAPTER

III.

THEO] ON THE MANNER OF THE TEMPTATION BY "THE SERPENT."

E need not waste time on Rabbinical and Kor-

anic theories of the

manner

in

which the Serpent

tempted Eve.
in

They
hand.

arc not only palpably absurd

themselves, but the)- are also quite foreign to

in

the purpose

They aggravate
we have
the
at
in

rather than
I

solve the difficulties that

to consider.

proceed,
theories

therefore,

to

state

other princip

which have
writers,

been,

various times

and
th<

by various
circumstan

upheld,

explanation of

the temptation by the Serpent.

Some Jewish and

and
fall

Christian

authors have con

<>f

tended that the whole narrative

i

the temptation
in

an allegory, written by Mose

ordei

THE SERPENT OF EDEN.

convey a deep
spiritual

to

meaning.

But

this

cannot be.
If they found their

deep meaning on the denial

a
fact)

of the historical truth (as

narrative,

of this sacred

then neither Jews

explanation.
spiritual

nor Christians

can

admit such an
admit that a deep
from
still

We may

and

do

meaning can be derived

;

this,

as

from other passages of Scripture

but

to be historical truths. as of a fact.

It so

we must and do hold the facts there stated The whole narrative speaks
interlaces the acts

and words
;

of

God, Adam, Eve,

and the Serpent

and the
fall
;

of the
if

creation, the temptation,

that

the

truth of any one part

into a

is

denied, varied, or changed

mere

allegory, then the

whole

falls to pieces,

or can be held only as a

mere

allegory.

It is

case of

all

or none.
is

But there

a further objection against this view.

is

What,

ask,

an allegory

An
and

allegory

is

spiritual interpretation,

given in addition to the

facts
;

admission

of natural

it

therefore
facts.

necessarily presupposes those natural

By
upon

an allegory, a second interpretation

is

built

the natural and literal one, as the second story of

a house
St.

is

built
iv.

upon the
21

first.

It is

thus that
alle-

Paul (Gal.

and following verses)

THEORIES ON MANNER OF TEMPTATION.

gorizes on the history of Isaac and Ishmael.

17

But
in

he holds unquestioned, nay, he presupposes,

their full integrity, the historical facts narrated in

Gen. xxi.

In truth, without the previous admission

of those facts, his allegory could have no existence,

any more than a second story of an

stand without the
of an allegory.
first.

edifice

can

Such
it

is

the very nature

When
ii.

is

stated, therefore, that

iii.

the narrative in Gen.

and

is
it

an allegory,
is

it

must

first

of

all

be admitted that

a true stateit

ment of

historical facts.

If not, then
is

must be

erted that the

whole

a mere fable or myth.

this

Tin-

latter

no one, not even the authors of

But
is

theory, can admit.

historical
difficulties,

if

we once admit
must

as an

fact

what

there narrated, then

are,
still

the

whatever they

continue to
al

notwithstanding a mythii
:planation.

or allc-

The

building up of an allegory
diffi-

upon tho
cultie
Tlii
att<
I

will

not help to remove the

thi
i

nding the circumstan< es of

facts,
;

may, therefore, be
it

al

once rejected
truth

eith(
it

denie

the

literal

of the
live

ive,
1

and

is

th< refore

subver

of

faith

<a

it

admit

the truth of that narrative, and

then

it

leavt

the difficultie

absolutely unsolved

.1

re.

THE SERPENT OF EDEN.

II.

metaphorical interpretation has been given by

in the

some,

sense that by the story of the serpent

fruit is

and the forbidden

meant the giving way by

and

Adam
This

and Eve
silly

to the pleasures of the flesh.

is

absurdity
i.

easily

briefly refuted

by

referring to Gen.

28.

There the precept to

(and in the case of
it

" increase

and multiply "

Adam

and Eve, then the only human beings,

was not

only a benediction, but also an actual command)

was given prior to the prohibition

in

Gen.

ii.

17.

The union

of

man and

wife, therefore,
;

was not only

not the subject of that prohibition

it

on the contrary,

was expressly commanded.

Hence they could

not have sinned by obeying a direct

command

of

God.
Moreover, the
forbid us to
rules

of

correct

interpretation
in

adopt a metaphorical sense

is

an

historical narrative, such as

that of the tempta-

tion

by the Serpent.
rule
in
is

It

is

also

an express and
interpretation,

acknowledged
that the
literal

scriptural

sense

not to be abandoned for

metaphorical one, without

good
reason

and
at

evident
for

reason.

Here there

is

no

all

metaphorical explanation, except

the

difficulties

THEORIES ON MANNER OF TEMPTATION.

attending the
culties,

19

common

interpretation.

Those

diffi-

however, do not furnish a sufficient reason

for

admitting a metaphorical sense, because (as we

shall see hereafter)

they can be overcome without

literal

abandoning
narrative.

the

historical

sense

of the

The

narrative,

therefore,

cannot

be

taken

in this

metaphorical sense.

III.

Among
tempter.

the theories to be at once rejected

is

that

the bestial serpent was, himself and naturally, the

If this

were ever seriously put forward

any sane man, the physical impossibility of an

irrational

animal,

unaided
with a

by any higher power,

being able to talk

human

voice
it.

and

to

would be quite

enough

to refute

IV.

imentator
100I,

e ipecially

of the Protestant
e elabi trated

headed b

Bi

hop Patrick, ha\

<f

a theory thai the temptation

lished

E\

accomp
form
tl

by

th<-

devil appearing to her as an angel

a
brilliant,

from God,

in

flying, serpentine

which they

to

be the form under which

''

aphim

in

the S<

iptui

20

THE SERPENT OF EDEN.

But the following considerations must make us

unhesitatingly reject this theory

1.

It is

a purely gratuitous supposition

is

for in the

scriptural narrative there

not a word to indicate

that the tempter

came

in the
"

form of an angel.
;

There

it

is " the is

Serpent

who tempts

and no

mention
2.

made

of any other tempter.

are not represented in Scripture

The seraphim
in Isa. vi. 2

as having serpentine forms, as these authors assert.

For

and following

verses, the

seraphim

are said to "stand," to "cover their feet,"

and

to

hold a

"

coal
feet,

of

fire

in his

hand."
in

They

have,
to

therefore,

legs,

and hands,

addition

wings.
to

In no sense, therefore, can they be said

have serpentine bodies or forms.

3.

The word
in

Ppg> (seraph, plural

seraphim) does
or
" ser-

not,

Hebrew,

mean
is

" serpent "

pentine body," as
authors.
It is

erroneously stated by these

an adjective, and not a substantive

signifies " fiery,"
"

noun.

It

simply

burning," or

"ardent."
4.

Even

if

in

any other passage of the Scripture

"

seraph were used to signify

a serpent," that would

in.

not help their argument in the case of Gen.

Here the word used

(uaehash), which
is

is

not seraph at

all,

but

B>ru

derived from quite a different

THEORIES ON MANNER OF TEMPTATION.

root,

21

and

signifies

"the

hisser,"

indicating

the

peculiar
It

sound made by

the serpent.

seems

difficult at first sight to

account for the

But, on
further

origin of so erroneous a theory.

investigation,
it

will

be found to have arisen from a

misunderstanding of Numb. xxi. 6 and following

verses.

There, the fiery serpents sent

among
is

the

lelites

for their sins are called D^SNX'Tt

Dorian
say,

mnechashim

kasseraphim)
serpents."

that

to

"burning or
1

fiery

Further on

Moses
is

irdercd
say,

to
"

make

a brazen s^b' (sarap/i), that

fiery

to

brazen

one,"

nacliasJi

(serpent)

being understood.
as also in

This, in the English versions,

the Vulgate,

has

been translated "a

rise,

brazen

rpent,"

which gave
that
in

doubtless, to the
a

erroneous

idea

Hebrew seraph meant

rpent"
that

Hence these commentators concluded

angelic

the

seraphim must be
;

angels

with
so
are

rpentine
called
"lniiii
!>

form

whereas
a
spe<

in
ial

truth

tiny arc

in

manner

they

ry,

and ardent angels."

ted

On

this light

and unstable foundation wa

tious
l>nt

tin',

preten

untenable theory.
;>t<-r

B
el.

nowhere repre

lent

him

Mi

Eve might,

to a certain

extent, have

22

THE SERrENT OF EDEN.

if

been excusable,

she had yielded to a supposed

messenger from God.

The whole

theory, therefore,

is,

from beginning

to end, a groundless supposition in every detail,

besides being opposed to the

literal

wording of the

sacred narrative

it

cannot, therefore, be admitted.

V.

few commentators have not rested content

with holding that the tempter assumed the form

and status of an angel from God.

They have gone

order to tempt

the extravagant length of holding that he " assumed

the form of the

Son of God
"

"

in

Eve.

What God " I

they mean by

the form of the

Son of

really cannot conceive.

;

For the Divinity

has no visible form

united to the

and a human form was not

till

Son of God

nearly four thousand

years afterwards, in the Incarnation, of even the

possibility of
idea.

which Eve could then have had no

they

Whatever

may mean,

it

will

be

sufficient to point out, in refutation of this (as of

the preceding) theory, that Eve's acting upon an

apparent instruction from

God Himself would

flat

not

have been a

sin at all.

But, in addition to this, the

very words of the sacred narrative give a

con-

THEORIES ON MANNER OF TEMPTATION.

tradiction

23

to

this,

as

to

the

precedingin

theory.

Reperuse the words of the tempter

4, 5.

Gen.

iii.

He

not only does not so represent himself

as either an angel

from

God

or as the

Son of
whose

God
fests

but he clearly, distinctly, and openly mania direct opposition

to God, against

command He also
The

he plainly and deliberately urges Eve.

flatly

contradicts

the

efficacy of God's

threat of death.
theory,

moreover,
clearly

is

purely gratuitous
the
letter

supposition,
Scripture.
It

and

against

of

seems

difficult to

account for the proposition

and adoption of such evidently erroneous and palpably incorrect views, by

men

of

intellect

and
difrj

learning, except on the fact of the admitted

culties

experienced

in interpreting

Gen.

iii.

Like

drowning men, they have grasped

VI.

at straws.

Another theory
wli

is

thai

tin-

tempter was Satan,

unsubstantial
just as angels

imed

tli'-

viable

but

and
have

apparitional form

"fa serpent

appear* d as men, and the

a
it

Holy Ghost,

at

one time
tongui
1

dove, .nid

at

another as "parted
that

were of

fire

"and

Satan then

24

THE SEKPENT OF EDEN.

the sound of a

human

voice to proceed from the

jaws of

this

apparition, which

Eve took

to be a

living, bestial serpent.

This theory also labours under the insurmountable objection, that

tion,
it

is

a purely gratuitous asserin

without the shadow of a foundation

the

words of the sacred narrative.

There we have not

even a hint of there having been an apparition, and

not
"

the Serpent

" in

his natural reality.

Besides, as
it

live, in this supposition,

must have taken

for a

living, bestial serpent, all the difficulties

which beset

the next following and

commonly

received theory

would, under this interpretation,

touched.
is

still

remain unit

This theory, therefore,

literal

is

as useless as
iii.

opposed to the

wording of Gen.
VII.

The

generally received theory

is

that the tempter

(Satan) entered into the body of one of the bestial

serpents then existing
in

Eden, and took possession

of

it,

as he did, in after times, of the energumeni,

or possessed

persons, mentioned in the Gospels

that he used the vocal organs of this serpent for

his purpose,

forming a human voice

in

the serpent's

mouth, and discoursing thence with Eve, as one

might through a mask, or as the

evil spirits

used

THEORIES ON MANNER OF TEMPTATION

25

to reply to our Lord, according to the Gospels, out

of the mouths of possessed persons.

That Satan

is

endowed

with,

and has been allowed to exercise,

similar powers,
selves,

we know from

the Scriptures them-

not to

mention the cases of the pagan

oracles.

This theory has been so commonly propounded

and accepted as the only one which holds steadfastly to the literal

sense of the sacred narrative,

that

most readers
it

will
is

doubtless be surprised at

my
the

saying that
tion,

also

a purely gratuitous supposiin

which has not the slightest foundation

iii.
!

words of Gen.
single

Where,

ask,

is

there on-

word indicating

to us the presence of

any
?

other being except "the Serpent," himself alone

Nowhere!

Is there

one single word anywhere

"

to

show us that the sacred writer meant that

Serpent" was possessed, or was acting under

the
th<
tl

coercion of a higher being, or was not himself

one, free, deliberate, and actual

agent?

Not one
"the
to

word!
Serpent

All through

it

is,

"the Serpent was,"

alt'
1

aid," Eve, and

;"

the Serpent

wards God, "said

"

the Serpent
it,

"

always, and not any

in

one who
pirit is

|i

ed

or acted
all.

or

by

it.

No

evil
t

mentioned at

Thereisnol the remote

trace of the presence or action of

any other

beil

26

THE SERPENT OF EDEN.

"

except
is

the Serpent."
to or

All that

is

said

and

clone,
"

said

and done
"

by

"

the Serpent," and

then,

the

Serpent

alone.

Whence,

comes

this

theory

of Satanic possession?
literal

Certainly not

from the

wording of the sacred narrative.

;

That says
and
dis-

nothing of Satanic possession

tinctly
" the

it

clearly

and simply attributes the temptation to

" alone.

Serpent

Satan's entering the serpent's

it,

body and possessing

it,

and speaking by means of

are

all

gratuitous assumptions on the part of

;

these commentators

and they are

all

directly con-

tradictory of the literal sense of the text.

first

My

objection, therefore, against

is

this

theory, as

against others,

that

it

violates this literal sense

is

of the sacred narrative, and

a mere hypothesis.
to

Besides

this,

Eve must have taken the serpent

be a mere bestial serpent, because she could not

have known that

power.

it

was possessed by any superior

She had no previous knowledge of such

its

an event or of
it

possibility.

Hence

to her

mind

would have been only a

in

bestial serpent, talking

and reasoning

a manner in which she

bestial serpents could not talk

all

knew that and reason. Hence

by an appain

the difficulties besetting temptation

ritional serpent

would

still

continue to exist

the

supposition of a Satanic possession of the serpent.

THEORIES ON MANNER OF TEMPTATION.

Nay,
this

27

would add a few more

difficulties to

those

already besetting the narrative, as

the

we

shall see in
it is

next chapter.

For the present,

this

quite

enough to say that

difficulties
is

theory does not lessen the

of interpreting

Gen.

iii.,

and that

it

a gratuitous supposition, opposed to the

text.

literal

wording of the

To
add

hold this theory

to the

we should be
text,

obliged to

words of the

and to put con-

structions

upon those words which they do not

bear.

naturally

For

instance,

we

should

be

obliged

to say,

"The

serpent was (not,

indeed,

himself the most subtil, but,

porarily

having been tem-

possessed

by the

superior

power and
for a little

intelligence of

one of the rebel angels, he

to be) the

while seemed
beasts of the

most

subtil

of

all

the

field."
is

What
this

a long and self-contra-

dictory parenthesis

which we should have to

it

insert, especially as, after all,

flatly contradii
tin-

the plain words,"

The

serpent was

most subtil"!

Again, the words

to be to
eli.;:
:

"lie said to Eve" would have

' : I

did

not
I

himself speak

'ait
1

Satan who po
id

him used

his

vocal

caused a

human speech
h,

to issue
1

from

tl

pent's jaws,
!

by whi<

not

tli<-

rpent,

but Satan, said to

And

so on.

Each

clan

2S

THE SERPENT OF EDEN.

which the sacred narrative clearly assigns to the

Serpent alone would have to be explained away,
as referring, not to the serpent, but to Satan

who
and

possessed him.

Surely this

is

doing

fearful

needless violence to the

tures
!

literal

sense of the Scrip-

How

differently the Scriptures

speak of

Satanic acts and words in the cases of real possession,

we may

easily see in

the Gospels.

There

the acts and words are clearly and unmistakably

referred to the evil spirits,

though there was the

it

less necessity for so doing, because

had already

been stated that the

devil.

men were
iii.,

possessed by the

Here,

in
is

Genesis

no such antecedent
attri-

announcement

made

the words are not

is

buted to Satan, and no indication

presence.

given of his

The usage

of Scripture, therefore, to-

gether with the absence of any hint of Satanic

possession, convinces us that this theory
to
is

opposed

the

literal

and obvious sense of the sacred

narrative.
I

have put
absolute

this

argument

at

a greater length

than

necessity

required,

because

this

theory has been most erroneously called the "only

literal

interpretation

"

of

Gen.

iii.

To
is

this

it

has not the remotest claim.

the
reverse.

The

fact

precisely

Whatever other merit

this

theory

THEORIES ON MANNER OF TEMPTATION

29

may

or

may

not have,

it

is

most evidently and

most certainly not a

narrative.

literal

interpretation of this
false

Yet under

this
in

pretence

it

has

succeeded only too long

literature a

usurping

in Christian
it

most notable

place, to

which

is

in

no way

entitled.

VIII.

One

writer only, that

to

know Cardinal
all

Cajetan

seems

have put aside

idea

of either a

Satanic apparition, or of a Satanic possession, or

of a
I

myth

and

to

have propounded a novel

idea.

le

holds that the temptation was a purely internal

;

temptation

that

it

was not an audible or

visible

temptation

that

it

did not, therefore, need eithcr In fact, he

an apparitional or a bestial serpent.

ms
This,

to dispense with

"the Serpent" altogether.

against
his

of

course,

raises

theory the

insurmountable objection that the Scripture most

distinctly

and

positively

Laches that "the Sertheory which excludes

pent

"

did tempt
is

Eve.

No

"the Serpent"
of the

consistent with the requirements

acred narrative.

THE SERPENT OF EDEN.

IX.

Our

interpretation,

which
is

(as will

be seen hereis

after) avoids all difficulty,

that

"

the Serpent "

in

in

Gen.
for

iii.

as elsewhere

only another
will

scriptural
I

name

Satan.

Of

this
it

interpretation

shall

here say no more, as

be

fully considered

Chapter VI.

Of

the preceding eight theories, none seems to

deserve

any serious

consideration
p.

except
is

that

given under No. VII.,

24,

which

the com-

monly

received one.
this

The

question, therefore,

may
"

be narrowed to

one point.

The

Scripture tells us plainly that " the Serpent

tempted Eve.
serpent, or
it

This Serpent was cither a bestial

must have been some other serpent,

one,
if

not a bestial

such a one we can find

mentioned
If
it

in the Scriptures.

was the

bestial serpent, as the

it

commonly

received theory maintains, then

either

must have acted

by

its

own

natural powers or under a higher

it

influence.

That

could have tempted Eve of

is

its

own
That

natural
it

powers

a physical

impossibility.
is

did so under a higher influence

mere by

gratuitous supposition, not only unsupported

the plain words of the sacred narrative, but positively contradicting them.

THEORIES ON MANNER OF TEMPTATION.

31

We

are,

therefore, left

under the necessity of

Scriptures
"

seeking out
there be not
one.

from the

themselves

if

some

"

Serpent

other than a bestial

us suppose, for the
is

But before we do

so, let

time being, that the bestial serpent

indicated, in order that

the one here

we may

realize

how many

and how great arc the

difficulties

attending the

commonly

received theory.


HE SERPENT OF EDEN.

CHAPTER

IV.

DIFFICULTIES ATTENDING TEMPTATION BY A

BESTIAL SERPENT.

These
as a

difficulties

may be
;

placed under two heads

(i) those

which

tell

against the serpent considered

mere

bestial serpent

and

(2) those

which

tell

against

the

serpent

as

having acted under the

coercion of a superior Satanic power.

SECTION

I.

Difficulties

attending Temptation

by

a mere Bestial Serpent.

1.

"

the Serpent
to

"

was a mere
"

bestial

serpent,

how came he
serpents in

become
?

more

subtil " than other

text,

Eden

In the

Hebrew
in

we not
"

only have the definite article before the word

pent,"
:

Ser-

L'

n$n (hannachash),

and

the Scptuagint

TEMPTATION BY A BESTIAL SERPENT.

also 6 6<pi " the Serpent
f

33

"

but the

Hebrew
"

text

also expressly inserts the substantive verb

n?D (JiayaJi)
:

was,"
"

rvn Brian

(Hannachash hayah),

the

Serpent was."

The

use of the definite article and

of the substantive verb, according to the idiom of

the

Hebrew

language, precludes the possibility

a general one,
asserted

of the proposition being

genetically of
race.

all

serpents, or of the whole serpent

In such general propositions, in the

("

Hebrew
is ") is
I

language, the substantive verb

was

"

or "

always understood, and

is

never expressed.
instances which
for

need not
find,
in

cite

the numerous

we
to

the
this

Book
fact.

of Proverbs

instance,

prove

The

text,

therefore,

cannot

mean
the

that

all

serpents, or the whole serpent race

subtil than all the beasts of

in general,
field."

were "more
It

states that
the

one particular, definite

living

"Serpent was
in

most

subtil of all

beings

the world.''
the

Even

if,

with the Darwinians, we

all

length of saying that

\\^\

the present and

past varieties of serpents

genitor, there

one
at

common
leasl

propair,
tin

must have been

in

one
all

male and
ubtil SO

female,

Eden.

Which of
became
|

serpents, or which

of the two,
to
it

llx-

most
to
all

vastly superior

mate and

other serpents

in so

unnatural a manner?
I>

And

34

THE SERPENT OF EDEN.

did
it

how
did

it

become
itself

so

Was
If

it

created so

or how-

make

such?

it

was created "most

subtil,"

while other serpents were created different

in subtility,

then the serpent race at least cannot

tells

have been created, as the Scripture expressly

us that
all

animals were,
"

" after their kind."

If

it

afterwards became the

most

subtil " of

all,

by
is

what means was

this

done?

Of

itself?

That

physically impossible.

By

God's power?

Then

God would have been working miracles, Himself to By Satanic ruin His own work, which is absurd. possession ? That, as we shall see hereafter, does
not remove
all

the difficulty (see Section

all

II., p.

66).

Besides, which of

the serpents, or which of

?

the two, became the tempter

Why
?

did that one

all,

specially undertake that office

is

Above

why
"

that one, above

"
?

all

other serpents, called

is
it

the

Serpent

and
it

why

not stated, as in this

"

hypothesis

ought to have been, that

one of the

serpents was the most subtil," instead of merely

saying

" the

Serpent

" ?

There

is

no reasonable

answer to these questions.

This special Serpent

is

said to have been " the

most

subtil of all the beasts of the field ;" or rather,

TEMPTATION BY A BESTIAL SERPENT.

as
I

35

have shown from the Hebrew

text, " the

most

intelligent of all living beings," including

men, and

perhaps some angels.

The word
in

" subtil," too,

we

have seen to mean,

the original, " intelligent,

with reasoning powers."

is

This Serpent, therefore,

declared to have of
all

been the most intelligent or

rational

living beings

on the earth

more
certain.

intelligent than

man

himself, for the text will bear

that interpretation.
intelligent

Serpents are not, of course,

is

with reasoning power; that

to
insist

But (not
peculiar

too

much on
even

the special and

is
it

meaning of Hebrew or Greek words),

in
all

at all true, that the serpent,

mere animal
the beasts of

subtility or intelligence,

is

above

the field?
celling
fact,
all

Not

in

the least true.

in

Far from exit

is,

other animals
inferior

intelligence,

in

much
is

to

many
I

of them.
in

This

is

most important point.

sense

say that

no reasonable
subtil

any

bestial serpent
field."
is

"more
: '

than

all

the beasts of the

in

Lei
crucial

examine the
statement
in

cast-

detail,

for

it

the

narrative.

Most animal, can be

trained.
nce, in
irn

tamed and taughl

or less animal

and

They

display more
calls

intelli-

answering the

made upon them,

to

something more than natural

instinct teachi

J6

THE SERPENT OF EDEN.

But neither
has
in
its

them.

natural state, nor under

domestication,

the

serpent

any,
"

even

the

slightest, claim to

being considered
field."

the most subtil

natural state
;

of
it

all
is

the beasts of the

far

In

its

surpassed by

many
it

animals

as, for

in-

stance, the ant, the beaver, the bee, the elephant.

In a domesticated state
inferior to

is

simply immeasurably
;

most other animals

as, for instance,

the

dog, the goat, the horse, the monkey, the elephant.

It
is

marvellous to see what some animals are

capable of being taught.

thing at
all
!

But the serpent?

No-

During
I

my

long sojourn of a score

of years in India,

have seen hundreds of tamed

serpents, of every variety

and

size.

The same
by them,

natives
train

who

train

them and make a

living

also other
in

animals for the same purposes.

teaching some wonderful things
:

They succeed

to these other animals

to the serpents nothing

no more.

The performances
solely in erecting

of these tamed serpents consist

and waving

their crests to the

sound of a flageolet

and
away

And

even

during this poor performance, their sole object

seems

to be to glide

to

any cover near

at

hand, that

may

suggest to them the possibility of

If there
coils

an escape, or of a hiding-place.
such cover, the serpent quietly

be no

himself up,

It**

TEMPTATION BY A BESTIAL SERPENT.

and
listens,

37

with head erect, to the music.

Among
ser-

serpents, the cobra di

capello (Naja tripudians),

which erects
pents, does

its

crest higher than

itself to

most other

wave
is,

and

fro,

and sometimes
"

execute what
It

by

courtesy, called a

dance."

advances and recedes according as the snakerecedes or advances.

this also
is

man

But close observation

shows that
instinctive

an unintelligent and purely

I

motion.

Never once have

seen or

heard of a serpent having been successfully taught

to

perform any
actions, or of

tricks,

or having learned to

do

any

having been trained to anything

passive submission (not without
in

more than
frequent
in

to a

symptoms of anger
to

each performance)
gaze,

being exposed

public

and

being

handled, and put around the person of the exhibitor.

The

so-called

"fight" of these trained

Cor newla), a

serpents with the

munghoose
ill

a kind

of weasel
in
tin< tive

common
in

India,

is

mere matter of
are of frequent

self-defence.

Such

fighl
life.

occurrence even

wild forest
in

And

besides,

both

iu

the wild and

ii'

the tamed state, the inuni

gho
not
fully

rally,

almosl invariably, gel

the better

in the fight.

The only grown mun

cases of defeat are when a

is

pitted

against
1

an
not

eptionally large or vigorous serpent.

do

99T.U

38

THE SERPENT OF EDEN.

wish to deny, nor does

my

thesis require

me

to

deny, the possibility of teaching tricks to a serpent,

at the
It is

expense of very great

for the

care, skill,

and patience.

enough

purpose of the objection which

we

are considering, that the serpent cannot be said

to be "the
field."

most

subtil of all

the beasts of the

For the ordinary

in

care, skill,

and patience,

which

India are successful in teaching the goat,

the monkey, and the elephant to do such strange

and wonderful

things, fail utterly to

do as much,
This
the

or anything like as much, with

serpents.

alone would

suffice
is

to

prove the fact

that
"

bestial serpent

not,

by any means, the

most

subtil of all the beasts of the field," as the sacred

narrative states that the Serpent-tempter was.

In order to ascertain yet further the alleged

subtility of the serpent race, I visited the

London

Zoological Gardens on purpose, and spoke to one

of the keepers at the snake-house,

who has had an

question, he

experience of over a score of years, he told me,

with serpents.

In answer to

my

em-

phatically declared that, as a class, serpents could

by no means be
intelligence

called intelligent animals.

is

What
a

they possess

of a

very low type, bare

and

is

confined

almost

exclusively to

recognition, in a very undemonstrative way, of the

TEMPTATION BY A BESTIAL SERPENT.

keepers

39

who have

for

some time attended and

fed

them.

The

facts of natural history, therefore, are con-

clusively against the bestial serpent being, in

sense, the

any
all

most

subtil, clever, or intelligent

field.

of

the beasts of the

Yet, under the erroneous

iii.
1

impression that the letter of Gen.

required

them to produce proofs of superior and surpassing

intelligence in bestial serpents, even grave authors

have not scrupled to put forward the most shallow

and absurd reasons

termed)
^ubtility.
for their

(if

by courtesy they may be so

unnatural belief in the serpent's

mere statement, however, of these

so-called reasons will suffice to

show

us that they
will excite

deserve no serious consideration, and

our wonder

how they were

ever seriously adduced,

I

discussed, and accepted.

all
I

proceed to place here

these so-called proofs of serpent-wisdom which

have been able to collect from various authors,

their prede-

most of whom go on merely repeating

ces:
1.

tatements.
it

is

given as a proof of the serpent's wisdom

or intelligence, that

when

it

is

attacked,
all

it

tries
;id<

to
ra
is

hide

its

head, and seeks, above

oth(
that,
'I

on

tions, to
air.it

keep

that

afe

knowing

if its

head

need not fear being

killed.

his

conducl

4o

THE SERPENT OF EDEN.

reminds us of the proverbial stupidity of the ostrich,

a great deal

more than

it

gives us

any

specially
is is

high idea of the serpent's intelligence.

This

the

more evident when we consider

that the head

not

the only vulnerable part of a serpent's

that, therefore,
it

body

and

is

not true that, the head of the

life

serpent being safe, the

of the animal

is

also safe.

A good
blunt,
tail,

blow with any instrument, whether sharp or

on any part of a serpent's body except the

causes a lingering but certain death, by sever-

ing or crushing the spinal vertebrae, even though

the head,

by being hidden

or kept out of harm's

So, likewise, death can

way, remains untouched.

also be easily inflicted on a serpent, without touch-

ing

its

head, by any severe cutting, ripping, or

biting open of the thorax, belly, or

is

abdomen.

It

thus that the

munghoose generally attacks and

kills

the serpent,

when

the head

is

either hidden

under the
object.

coils of the
is

body, or under some other

It

no proof, therefore, of intelligence

its

that the serpent hides

head

just the reverse.

it

For

if it

looked danger
its

in

the face and opposed

courageously,
it

deadly poison might often give

it

a victory, where

generally finds death, by hiding

its

head.
2.

Some commentators have

adduced, as a sign

TEMPTATION BY A BESTIAL SERPENT.

of the serpent's

41

superior intelligence, a silly tale

believed in former times, that

when
its

the animal

is

about to drink,

it first

lays aside

poison-bag, to

prevent the possibility of imbibing

its

own

poison

and

that, after
its

having slaked

its thirst, it

replaces

the bag in

mouth, to be ready
I

for offensive or
this

defensive purposes.
fable

suppose no one believes

it

now

yet

have found

repeated in very

modern works.
ejecting
its

The

serpent has not the power of

poison gland or bag.

so.

Nor would
It

there

be any necessity for doing

since proved,

has been long

by

actual experiments, that serpentin

;

poison

is

innocuous
it

the healthy stomach, which

can easily digest

fatal,

and that

it

does not prove

except when conveyed directly into the blood,

either

by a

bite, or

through a wound or ulceration.

if
it

This, therefore, even

were
in

true,

would be no

proof of superior intelligence

3.

the serpent

It

is

another old

fable, that the serpent

shows

its

intelligence

by attacking nude men, but flying

it

from those who are clothed, knowing thai

has a
It is

chance of
e

killing these than the others.

that
;

"me

authors pul

it

exactly the oppo

a

site

way

-that the serpent avoids

nude man, but

attacks one

who
;

lothed.

But this contradiction

talk ol wh.it has

wonder

for

when people

no

42

THE SERPENT OF EDEN.

it

foundation in truth,

is

very natural that they

should

fall

into absurd blunders.

is

So

it is

here

for

the assertion

not true, as a matter of

its

fact.

Except
in

when defending
most

young

(as all

animals do
if
it

the

ferocious way), the

serpent,

has the

possibility of an escape, invariably glides

away

at
It

the approach of man, or of any large animal.

never attacks them, except when hurt, or when

surprised without the possibility of escape.

In

countries

much uncommon event

infested with serpents,

for

it is

not an

one of these

reptiles to glide

over a limb, or over the body of a man, without

inflicting a bite, if the

But

it

is

equally a

man remains still and quiet. common event for a bite to be

it

inflicted, if

the serpent, before

has glided quite

away, be startled and frightened by any sudden,

even involuntary, movement of the man.
If such

a movement, however, occurs immediately after the

reptile has glided

even a short distance,

it

at

once
to

seeks safety in
return

flight,

and docs not attempt

of
its

and

bite the cause

terror.

Being

clothed or nude has nothing to do with the matter.

This instance also of the serpent's intelligence or

malice
4.
is

as untrue as

it is

inconclusive.
assertion
full

It is

a very

common

among com-

mentators, that the serpent,

of subtle cunning

TEMPTATION BY A BESTIAL SERPENT

and malice,
lies

43

in stealthy

ambush

for

man and

other animals, and bites

to kill them.

them unawares

in the heel

To

begin with,

we

are not concerned

this,

with malice, but with intelligence, of which

itself,

of

would be no

proof.

It

would, at most, be an

instinctive act, like that of the lion

its

watching

for

prey.

But the statement, though repeated by

is

dozens of authors,

utterly untrue

All the facts

ser-

and observations of natural history show the

stated in the preceding paragraph, No.
willingly or wilfully attacks either

pent to be a quiet, shy, retiring animal, which (as

3)

never

man

or other of

the larger animals.

It does,
it

of course, attack the

feeds, as frogs, mice,
its

smaller animals on which

small
birds,
;

etc.

These,

however, are only

is

natural food

and seeking that food

no sign or

proof of malice, cunning, or intelligence.

5.

Pliny and others give,

anion;,;

the instances

of the intelligence and cunning of the serpent, a

number

of talcs,

presenting
in

us

with
it

imaginary
its

details of the

manner

which

casts

skin.

These taleswe need not consider minutely, b<

those of them which are not simply untrue
neither
intelligence
indii

nor

cunnii

They merely

describe a natural operation, taught to the serpent

by simple animal

instin<

44
6.

THE SERPENT OF EDEN.

Nor can
the fascination which the serpent
is

said to exercise on the small birds

and animals on
its

which

it

feeds be cited as a proof of

subtility or

intelligence.

This

is

a merely natural effect, not

depending on the intelligence of the serpent, but

proceeding from the natural instinct of the victims.
It is

merely the fascination, or rather the paralysis,

It

of fear and deadly terror. beasts of prey also.

occurs with other

in certain

Nay,

circumstances of

fear,

man himself, gives way to such

It is
is

paralysis

of the motive powers.

the gaze of the serpent

that produces this effect, which

not the result of

It
is,

any manoeuvres or plans of the serpent.

therefore,

no proof of superior intelligence, but only

of a special instinct.

These There

six points
is

exhaust the

list

absolutely nothing

more than

this put
intelli-

forward by any one, to prove the superior

gence or subtility of the serpent.

prove
utter
to
it

It

does not This

in

the

least

degree.

Nay, more.

and complete

failure

to prove the serpent

be "the most

subtil of all

the beasts of the

field,"
it

aggravates and emphasizes

to

the difficulty

was supposed

the elephant, or the

remove. Were it the dog, monkey, how easy would it

not be to prove that they possess a considerable

TEMPTATION BY A BESTIAL SERPENT.

amount of an
and
intelligence

45

which seems at times

almost superior to mere bestial cunning and subtility,

almost

approaches to reason

But
in

nothing of the kind can be brought forward

favour of the serpent.
I

unhesitatingly affirm that

the facts of natural history prove to a certainty

that there
is

no possible sense

in

which

it

can be
it is

asserted with truth of

any
all

bestial serpent, that

"the most subtil of

the beasts of the field."

Yet

such, the

Scripture

expressly

tells

us,

was

the Serpent-tempter.

Therefore he could not have

been the bestial serpent.

I

[ere

it

may

be objected by some, that our Lord

Himself praises the wisdom of the serpent (Matt.

x. 16), saying, "

Be ye therefore wise [prudent] as

serpents,

and simple as doves."

One may

easily

reply to this objection, that our

Lord spoke of these

was then His

two animals only

as of

two well-known symbols,

It

and not of their animal natures.

intention to inculcate a moral prim iple to guide

us

in

our

acts,

and nol

to teach

natural

history.

Hence
pent
th<-

M<: took, as

illustration, of His
to

meaning,
the ser-

two symbols well known

as

His hearers

the symbol of prudence, and the dove as

symbol of simplicity.

The serpent

maybe

used

and he really was

in an< ient

times) as the symbol

46

THE SERPENT OF EDEN.

of prudence without his being, therefore, actually

wise or prudent.
also used as the

Was

not the owl, Minerva's bird,

?

symbol of wisdom

But does

that prove that the Greeks considered the owl to

be the wisest of birds?

Certainly not.

Again,

take the other symbol here used by our Lord

dove.
sense.

the
any
and

The dove
It
is

is

not naturally simple in

just as wide

awake and
;

alert

watchful as any other wild bird

the most erotic of
simplicity
!

and

it is

perhaps
for its

all

animals.
is

So much

The

serpent

no more intelligent or
is

prudent by nature, than the dove

they were well-known symbols

simple.

But

in Judaea.

As such
create no
is

our Lord used them,

their natural, sense.
difficulty in the

in their

symbolic, and not in

Hence His words

of our holding, as

way

clearly
is

proved by natural history, that the serpent

not,

by any means,
the field."
If,

"

the most subtil of

all

the beasts of

therefore,

by "the Serpent"

in

Gen.

iii.

i, is

meant a

bestial serpent, the facts of natural history

in

would be

open and direct contradiction with the

It is

words of Scripture.

impossible to over-esti-

mate the trenchant

force of this objection,

which

is

absolutely fatal to the

commonly

received interpre(in

tation, that the bestial serpent

was

any way)

TEMPTATION BY A BESTIAL SERPENT.

concerned
in

47

the temptation.
in

The Serpent
"

that

was concerned
subtil " of all

the temptation
;

was the most

bestial serpent

on earth

and such the

neither

is,

nor ever was, nor naturally could be.

A bestial
a tempter as

serpent could not be, of himself, such

is

represented in Gen.

iii.,

talking and

reasoning with

Eve.
a

He

could

not, of himself,

have spoken with

human

voice.

That

is

physical impossibility.
In answer to this otherwise insurmountable
culty,
diffi-

we

are told that

"

with

God

all

things arc

possible," even

making dumb,
voice, as

irrational

animals

speak with a

human

lie actually caused

xxii. 28).

Balaam's ass to do (see

cases are not parallel
;

Numb.
forward

Hut the

and the almighty power of

for the

God cannot be brought

of Gen.
iii.

explanation

We
j

all

admit, of course, the almighty

lie could,
if

power of God

and that

lie (hose to

exercise that power, cause even a bestial serpenl

to speak

and reason

lor a

time.

This
this

He

did in

the case of

Balaam
peak,
in

Bui

animal wa

caused to

order to prevent Balaam from

oi

further resisting the will

God.

The

serpent,

in

the other case,

would have been caused

to speak,

48

THE SERPENT OF EDEN.

Eve
to sin against God's

in order directly to excite

express

command.

God would

thus

have been

working a stupendous miracle, against His own

command, and
command.

in

order to cause a breach of that

is

This

simply absurd.

He

would,

moreover, have become, in this way, the direct

author of moral
the temptation.

evil,

the direct agent Himself of

is

This

opposed
i.

to the Scripture
13).

"God tempteth no one" (James

therefore,

The

reply,

which urges the almighty power of God

fails

as the

means of the temptation,

;

to solve the

difficulty

and

it

remains

in its full force.

4-

The

sacred narrative represents

Eve
"

as entering

into a rational

conversation with

the Serpent,"

without showing any sign of surprise or alarm.

If

"the Serpent" was a bestial one, such conduct

foolish

would have been both

It is true that the

and unnatural.

world was yet young, and that

but small.

experience was

still

Adam
full

and Eve,
perfection

however, had been created in the

of

man and woman-hood, of both body and mind. They knew that they were the only two human
beings
in

Paradise

the only two rational animals

among

the innumerable species of animals, over

TEMPTATION BY A BESTIAL SERPENT.

49

which power and dominion had been given to them, by the common Creator. This is evident

from Gen.

i.

27, 28,

compared with Gen.

ii.

18-22.

The
to

other animals had even been brought by

given to each
well.
its

God

Adam, who had

All this
these

appropriate

name.
that

Eve knew

She was aware

a

animals did

not

talk with

human
much

voice, an articulate speech,

and rational arguments.

natural]}-

She would,

therefore,

have been

surprised and alarmed at such voice, speech, and

argument from

bestial

serpent.

She would
to consult

naturally have gone at once to

Adam,
her

with him on this preternatural phenomenon.

the sacred
narrative

Yet
doing

represents

as

nothing of the kind.

least

She does not manifest the

or

surprise, suspicion,

alarm.

On

the con-

trary, she

takes

it

as a

matter of course.

She

appears to have talked and argued with "the Serpent," in the most natural and unconcerned
just as
if

manner

3he had been dealingwith another rational

human

being.

This unnatural unconcern,

bestial

if

"the

Serpent" was a

serpent, can

be explained

only on the supposition of a

silliness
tin-

and

lolly in
-l

Eve, utterly incompatible with

that state
in

perfection

which the

first

pair were created

and

placed.

50

THE SERPENT OF EDEN.

In reply to this most serious objection,
it

has

been urged, that the serpent

Eve, that
it

may have

stated to

acquired

the use of speech and of

reason from having forbidden tree

with
its
;

itself

eaten of the

fruit

of that

and that

this statement, together

apparent

verification,

may have

both

conquered Eve's surprise, and prevented her having

recourse to

Adam.
at once candidly

We may
sition, if it

admit that
a.

this suppo-

could but be proved to be

fact,

might

be considered to remove

this difficulty in a plausible

way

provided

it

Were the sole

it is

difficulty

attending
;

the narrative.

But

not the sole difficulty

and

the solution does not touch any others.

Besides,

admitting that supposition,

it

would

still

seem to
naturally

most of

us,

that even then

for

Eve would

have had good grounds deep

with
reflection,

intense surprise, for

and

for

immediate

consultation
be, the great

Adam.
that

But however that

may

and

fatal flaw in this reply,

it is,

as

in all these theories

is

simply and purely, a mere gratuitous

It

supposition.
narrative.

has no foundation in the sacred

find not a single

We
a

word

in

Gen.

iii.

of such
Serpent.

statement having been made by

the

We

are not allowed, in the interpretation

of Scripture, to

make such

gratuitous suppositions

TEMPTATION EY A BESTIAL SERPENT.

without good grounds
in the text itself;

51

and here

none are to be found.

difficulty

which requires

nothing short of so groundless a supposition to

meet

it,

may

fairly

be considered a very grave,

nay, an absolutely insurmountable, difficulty.

5-

There
pent
is

is

no reasonable sense
above
all

in

which the

serall

"

cursed

cattle,

and above

beasts of the
If
it

field."

cannot compare to
nobler
its

advantage with the

it

higher and
superior, in

animals,

is

itself

greatly

natural condition, to

many

of the

lower ones.
or reptiles,
It
is

It is

but one of

many

creeping things

and by no means the

least

among them.
its

superior in the conformation of

it-

body,

in

the rapidity of
of
its

movements, and

in

the keenn

instincts,
It
is

to

many

other

similar a
its

creeping

thin

well

provided

with

means of
course as
.1

defence
a
i

in

the noiseless swiftness of

.i])';

and
it
.

in

it

deadly poison
esi

a n

of

ait.:
It
is

enemies when

ape

is

impossible.
its

equally well able to provide

the
it
j

i"i

food

and subsistence with

In all

besl favoured

animal..
tuperior to

these matters

immeasurably
;

many of its

fellow reptil<

for instance,

52

THE SERPENT OF EDEN.

earthworm, the
frog, the snail, or

to the lizard, the

the slug.

It is not, therefore,

the most cursed of

all creatures.

In reply
able to
all

we

are told, that the serpent

is

abomin-

creatures,
all
;

and

is

most detested and

way,
it is

avoided by
cursed of

and

that, in this
first

the most

all.

But, in the

place, the Scripture

is

does not say that the serpent

to be the

most

abominable and detested of

all

creatures, but the

to twist the

most cursed ; and we have no right

meaning of that word

to suit

our theories.

Being

cursed, in the scriptural sense,

means being made

This
is

despised, abject, helpless,

and miserable.
all

not verified
as

in

the serpent above

other animals,
it

we have

seen.
is

In the next place,

is

not true

that there

any

special natural abhorrence in all

creatures towards the serpent,

for instance,

more than there

the tiger, the
difficulty

is,

towards the

lion,

alli-

gator, the crocodile.

Hence the

remains

and no amount of

cavilling can be

made

to verify

this curse in the case of the bestial serpent.

6.

There

is

no special reciprocal enmity between

the serpent tribe and man.

On

the part of the serpent there

is

not found the

TEMPTATION BY A BESTIAL SERPENT.

least

DJ

appearance of an)- special enmity against

man.

As

has been already said, the serpent

is

by

nature a shy and timorous animal.

in quest of

He

never goes

man, or

lies in

wait for him, or attacks

him, or longs to
for other larger

kill

him, any more than he docs

animals

that

is

to say, not at

all.

When
fly

it

is

possible, he avoids

man and
trait
;

seeks to

from his presence, having this

in

common
tigcr^,

with
lions,

most wild animals.

Nay

wolves,

and some other animals, have a

far greater,

intenser,

and more active enmity against man

but the result of mere animal
to their nature,
stealth,

if

that can, properly speaking, be called an enmity,

which

is

instinct.

These animals, according

do attack
fight

man, either openly or by

often not unsuccessfully,

and

him
the

when hunted.
the
part
is

Hence

enmity again
is

man on
its

of the
<

serpen!

conspicuous by

absence, or

ertainly

much

less

than that which certain other animals bear to

man.
Neither can
it
I;'

truthfull)
i

ted that

man

has

any

special

enmity again
.

th
r

pent

tribe.

He

kills serp< ni

it

true, wh< rev*

a

he

an find them,
Bui this
i

because they are

no sign of any
equally, and

danger

to
;

his
for

life.

])<! ial

enmity

he does the same

to

for

the

same

reason,

many

othej

54

THE SERPENT OF EDEN.

;

animals
tiger,

for instance, to the scorpion, the lion, the

the wolf, the bear, the eagle, the alligator.

Nay, more.
against

Man shows

a far greater antagonism

against the

some other wild animals than

;

serpent

say, for instance, the larger animals of the

feline race.

For man never goes

kill
it,

in

quest of the
tries to kill
in

serpent to
it

though he invariably
it.

when he meets
them,

But he does actually go

quest of the larger animals, for the express purpose

of killing
besides
killing

them when he
countries,

happens to meet them.

In

some

man
in

has waged a war of extermination against some

specially obnoxious animals
;

as,

for

instance,

England against wolves.

But when or where has

?

such a war been ever waged against serpents

The apparent
serpents
is

hatred, therefore,
;

of
it

man
is

against

not a special enmity

merely his

common
animals.

natural enmity against

all

wild noxious

Nor, on the other hand, as

we have

shown, has the serpent any special enmity against

man.

Hence

this
is

clause also of the curse upon

"the Serpent"
of the bestial

not at
;

all

verified in

the case

serpent

and

this fact constitutes

another insuperable difficulty against the generally

received theory.

TEMPTATION BY A BESTIAL SERPENT.

55

7-

Condemning
is

a bestial serpent to "go on

in

its

belly"

not a curse or punishment,

any reasonable sense

is,

of the words.

Going on
its

its

belly

and always
always be

was, and must, of

essential nature,

the ordinary

mode

of progression of the serpent.

or were not, both before

Whether there were

having wings or
crawling serpents,

and

since the curse, other animals with serpentine bodies,

feet,
is

and hence called flying or

foreign to the question in hand.

their

Such would have retained

previous

forms.

The

text of Gen.

iii.

docs not speak of such flying

it

or crawling serpents; nor does

say that by the

curse the serpent lost

its

pristine

form and mode

feet,

of

progression, or
to

its

wings
belly.

and

and

had
be

thereafter

go on

its

This would

another of the man)- gratuitous suppositions mad.

t<>

maintain this theory, and as such

it

is

clearly
called
iii.

inadmissible.

Such animals could

not
it

Ik-

simply "tin: Serpent," as we have

'I

in

(.en.

1,'

t<xt
its

indii at'

lerically the
its

ordinary serpent,

by

own

nature a glider on

belly;

made
its

ori

nally and
tractive

meanl

to

pi

by undulatory, conspinal

and expansive movements of

by the
[1

:imn, aided

of the pectoral

and

56

THE SERPENT OF EDEN.

ribs

abdominal
created,

and

scales.

To

an animal so
sole natural
in

movement on its belly is its movement and the condemnation

;

the text

becomes simply meaningless.

as you
please,
in
is

Torture the text

is

going on

its

belly

no more a

punishment,

any reasonable

sense, to a serpent,

than walking

to a horse, flying to an eagle, or

swimming

to a shark.
is

The

reply of commentators

a hackneyed one

that this

mode of

progression, natural to the serpent

before the curse, was

by that curse made a punishis

ment.
It
is

This, however,
It

a mere play upon words.

means nothing.
natural cannot

has no definite sense.

What

become

a real curse, under the

in

circumstances
sense.

here

narrated,

any reasonable

But (the commentators reply) labour

is

man's

natural condition, and death his natural end on this

earth

yet they are part of Adam's curse.

is

Child;

bearing in pain
it is

the natural lot of

woman

yet
;

also part of Eve's curse.

The

rainbow, as a

natural phenomenon, existed before the Flood

yet with

it

was afterwards made the covenant of God

against a future deluge.

man

But these instances are only apparently, and not

really, to the point.

They

are easily disposed of.

TEMPTATIOX BY A BESTIAL SERPENT.

57

Adam
his

had been raised

to a state far

above what

mere nature demanded.

In that state he was

not required to labour, and he would have been

preserved from death.

to natural

The

curse cast
;

him back
though

labour and death

and

these,

natural to man,

became a
it.

real

evil after his sin,

it

and
loss

in

punishment of

For
once

entailed

the

of greater

excellence

enjoyed.

The
is,

same

applies to the case of Eve.

The

difference

between their cases and that of the serpent

therefore, vast.

He had

not been once raised to

back-

a higher state, from

to his lie

which a degradation

own
as
to

natural state could

belly,

be a punishment,
lie

always went on his

necessitate

was created
lie

such
not

his

doing

so.

was

first

so created, and then, after having been

cast

endowed with a higher mode of locomotion,

back
can
to be a cr<
i

ping thing.

Therefore his
\\

ohm
Adan
what
oi

in

no manner be compared
J

itli

that of
that

and
is

Eve

and

it

.till

remains

true,

natural cannot

of

itself,

and independently

past supernatural
in

favours, such as an- not clairm

ei

the case

"I

the

penl

be

.1

<

ur

i<

in an}-

reason
\\a

able sense.

For

Adam

and

Eve the curse

inded

a real

one, entailing a real degradation

am
1

punishment.

To

the serpent

it

wa

no punishnu


THE SERPENT OF EDEX.
all,

53

at
it

and no degradation.
;

It

took away nothing

changed nothing

it

lowered nothing.
of the rainbow
in
It

Nor does

the instance

any
is,

way

help the upholders of this theory.

of

course, physically certain that the rainbow existed

before the Flood.

Scriptures,

It is
it

equally certain, from the

afterwards
indicated

that

was

very appro-

priately

and
be

beautifully

by

God

to

Noah

to

His covenant

with man, that

He
;

would never again destroy the world by water

with which that rainbow has physically so intimate

and

necessary

connection

though
not.

then arid
;

for ages afterwards,

in

men knew
heavy

it

God gave

this

case,

a pre-existent
at

phenomenon, often

repeating

itself

downfalls of rain, as

the sign of His resolution for the future.

But the

condemnation of the
a different thing.
Its

serpent

is

palpably quite
belly
is

going on

its

not, in

Gen.

iii.,

to be a sign of anything else.

It is

simply

condemned

(and,

according
its

to

this

hypothesis,

not for any fault of

own, but for the fault of

quite a different being) to

go on

its belly,

for always.

Such a condemnation,
serpent,

in the

case of the bestial

if

would be as absurd as

God had

con-

demned

water, under the well-known physical cir-

cumstances, to produce a rainbow, as a punishment

TEMPTATION BY A BESTIAL SERPENT.

on the water,
for

59
in

having been God's instrument

destroying the world.

the case of the serpent,

To

establish a parallel with

the words of the covenant, and the water in

we should have to change make God address

:

some such terms

"

And

because thou
shalt be

hast but lately

drowned the world, thou

punished by having to refract the rays of the sun,

and to produce rainbows

absurd
it

till

the end of time."

!

How
reply,
after-

sounds when thus expressed

The
in

therefore, that

what was natural before was

is

wards changed into a punishment,

reality a
is

sound without any rational meaning, and

ridiculous

simply

and unworthy of serious consideration.

8.

There

is

no reasonable sense

in

which

it

is

verified of the serpent, "

Dust shalt thou cat

all

the

days of thy

life."
is

Dust neither

nor can be,

in

any reasonable

the food of the serpent, or indeed of

any other
is

animal.

That

this

is

physical

impossibility,
is
it

demonstrated by chemistry.
tive

Dusl

not
is

a nutri

substance.

Some

travellers,

true,

have

ken
of a

of the existence, in

some remote
is

countrii
is

certain kind of clay which

of

eaten, and

possessed

some

nutritive

properties.

But an

60

THE SERPENT OF EDEN.

show
it is

analysis would certainly

that this clay docs

dust,

not nourish, inasmuch as

but because

it

happens to

contain
it

some

digestible

ingredients

mixed with
purposes.

in quantities sufficient for nutritive

is

It

not of such clay

very
It

rarely

found, even
tale

if its

existence be not a mere travellers'

that

the sacred narrative speaks.

dust, as dust.

speaks
is

of

common, ordinary

This

phy-

sically indigestible,

and incapable of assimilation

with animal bodies.

are various.

The explanations attempted by commentators The older adhere to the strict letter,
in

and maintain,

spite of chemistry

and natural

history, that serpents

do feed on

dust.

The more
though

modern commentators

satisfy themselves,

not their readers, by asserting that the serpent, as

a creeping thing, having
its its

mouth

close to the

ground, off which

it

takes

food,

must necessarily
and

eat a great quantity of dust with that food,

thus verify the letter of the curse.

If this,
is

however,
verified
;

were the manner

in

which the curse

and

if

"dust"
its

were

"eaten"

by the
all

serpent

taking
(except

food off the ground, then

a few birds, and the

animals

fishes,

quadrumana)

would be equally eaters of dust with the serpent

and

this

would, therefore, be no special or peculiar

TEMPTATION BY A BESTIAL SERPENT.

curse on the serpent.

61

But

in

reality a very little

observation of the habits of animals will suffice to

show us
lips,

that,

by

instinctive

movements of

their

they succeed

naturally in keeping off dust

far greater

from their food, to a

extent than

will

be believed by the unobservant.

ing that
serpent,

But, even grant-

much

dust

is

thus swallowed

by the

wc remain

just

where we were before.

;

This also must have occurred before the curse

the serpent even then naturally crept on
its

for

belly,

with

its

mouth

close

to

the ground.

This also
;

would be a natural habit of the serpent

therefore (as seen

and

above

in

Xo. 7)
sense,

it

could not
curse
or

have

become,

in

any

true

punishment.

With regard

to the older

commentators and
"

their
I

statements that serpents do eat dust as food,

think "every schoolboy knows
anil that

that they

do nut

their food consists, as naturalist.-, tells us,

reptili
,

of insects,

and small birds and animal

anil

which they catch, swallow,

other animals
ins
for

dig

t,

much

a.

do.

Tinor

serpenl

has

no special
It
is

digesting

assimilating dust.

carnivorous and
It
is

inse< tivorous.

not, therefore, a
.w\

fad
'I

that

tin-

serpenl
is

ilu

article of food.

hat

some dusl

swal-

62

THE SERPENT OF EDEN.

its

lowed involuntarily with

food

is

common
is

to the

serpent with most other animals, and

it.

natural to

This must also have occurred before the curse.

It cannot, therefore, in

any reasonable

sense, be a

curse.
curse,

This

is,

therefore, another clause of the

which

is

absolutely inapplicable to the bestial

serpent.

9-

"

The Serpent "

is

not stated to have

come

to

Eve

or to have gone

away from

her, as should

have
seeks

been said of a corporeal being.

Again,

God

Adam
to

and Eve, corporeal beings, when

sentence upon them.

He comes
is

pass

But there

no

search for the Serpent.

Yet when God punishes

present again on
;

with His curse the violation of His commands, there

the

Serpent

is

suddenly

the

scene, in the very hiding-place of his victims

and

again he

is
it

not said to have

come

or gone away.

Now,
Eve,

is

not highly improbable that, even after

that melancholy opening of the eyes of

the
bestial

Adam

and

serpent,

if

that

had been the

tempter, would have been permitted by the guilty

pair to

accompany them
?

in

their flight,

and to

share their retreat

TEMPTATION BY A BESTIAL SERPENT.

10.

63

A bestial
its acts.

serpent, being an irrational

and therein

fore not a free agent, could incur

no moral guilt

Even

if it

could by any possibility have,

it

of

itself,

perpetrated that temptation,

so.

could not
it

sin in

doing

Therefore, in justice,

did not

deserve any punishment, and should not have been

cursed.

But "the Serpent" was cursed; hence "the Serpent was not the bestial serpent.
"
1 1.

God
of the

said to " the Serpent

" (ver.

5) that the

Seed

woman was

to bruise that Serpent's head.

;

Mark

well the words

to
to

bruise the head of that

one identical Serpent, the tempter, which was then

being cursed
that
;

not

the

head of
be

his

seed.

True

an enmity was

placed

between the

woman and
and
hi

the Serpent, as also between her Seed

1.

But her Seed, the future Redeem

to

Jesus
to bruise

Christwas
His

bruise

the head

of that

particular Serpent;heel.

and that same Serpent was

"I
will
;

place an enmity (i)

between thee and the

seed and hei

woman
(3

and

(2)

between thy

seed;

/A-

hall

bruise thy head,

and

'4

thou -halt bruise His heel."

This bruising,

64

THE SERPENT OF EDEN.

all

as

Christians believe, took place on the day of

the crucifixion and death of our Lord Jesus Christ.

That
to be

identical Serpent, therefore, the tempter,

still

was

living, to see that

day

over four thouevident that no

sand years

after the curse!

It is

bestial serpent, living in

Fall,

Eden
till

at the time of the

could continue living

the coming of the

curse

Redeemer.

The

object, therefore, of this

could not be a mere bestial serpent.

12.

Intimately connected with the foregoing objection

is

the

present

one.

Our Lord

physically

bruised the head of no bestial serpent.

the curse could not have been meant
bestial serpent.

Therefore
for

any

Nor can we admit

metaphorical
pretation

it

to be

any

sufficient reply

to this objection, that this part of the curse

;

was

because the rules of correct interus, in

literal

do not allow

the

same

sentence, to

change about from the

sense,

to the metaphorical

and back again

at will.

Besides,

what
of

is

the

meaning of a metaphorical
head
?

bruising

bestial serpent's

None
"

again words are

If
it

being used without any definite meaning.

be said

that

"

the Serpent

here (and

not

the

TEMPTATION'
bruising)
is

BY A BESTIAL SERPENT.
one,
I

65

metaphorical

say that
is

\vc

cannot admit two serpents where there

the

only
all

one

serpent

the

tempter
;

mentioned
if

through the sacred narrative

" the

and

in

this part

Serpent
all

"

is

metaphorical, metaphorical

he

must be

through.

This theory of metaphorical interpretation we

have seen to be untenable.

13.

With regard
eating of dust,

to the going on the belly

and to the
notice that
is

wc must
all

particularly

the condemnation,

through the narrative,

in

the singular number, addressed solely to that one

serpent

which tempted
belly
shalt

Eve: "Cursed
go," "dust

art

thou"

"on
eat

thy
all

thou

shalt thou

the
the

days of thy

life,"

"bruise thy head."

to the seed, all

\\'hi]<-

"enmity"

is

extended

other clan es of the curse are confined to thai

one individual
its

jerpent.
to the

What
S<

then happened to
,

mate

and

Other

I'pent

if

any, then
id?
I

in

Eden?
thi
tin
a
<

Were they

bles ed

or
If

low

did
in

What
nal ural

did they eat ?

,

they shared
I

operal ion

turro d
it

by
ju
t

hi

cut

into

puni hment, how could

in

be

to

make

them mare

the punishment, although they had

1

66

THE SERPENT OF EDEN.

in

had no share whatever

the other hand,
it

the temptation

If,

on

was no punishment

for

them,

how was it one for that serpent ? If they did not "go on their bellies" or " cat dust," then what did they do ? Would there not be a most unnatural
anomaly
life,

for
all
life
is

one serpent to be leading one kind of

others (including
?

and

its

mate) a different
\

kind of
difficulty

Whichever way we view

it,

the

insoluble.
difficulties

These are the principal

interpretation of Gen.
bestial serpent

attending the

iii.,

which holds that the

was the means of the temptation

of Eve.

SECTION

II.

Difficulties

attending

the

Bestial

Serpent having been possessed by Satan.

If to

the

serpent

having been the means of

that
it

the

fall,

we superadd

was

seized

upon and

possessed by Satan, then we superadd the following to the foregoing

difficulties
:

That Satan took possession of the serpent and

used
it

as an instrument for the temptation,

is

purely gratuitous supposition, which, as

we hav:

TEMPTATION BY A BESTIAL SERPENT.

seen, has

67

no foundation
It

in

one single word of the

therefore,

sacred

narrative.

is,

plainly

inad-

missible.

Satan

is

not even once mentioned

in

any part

of that narrative, neither explicitly nor implicitly.

There

is

only

"

the Serpent."

Supposing

a bestial

serpent to have been present, and seeing that the

sacred narrative does not
tell

us of the presence of

any
it

third party, but only of

Eve and the Serpent,

for

surely thus leaves no

supposition.

room whatsoever

Satan

in this

3-

If the

bestial serpent

was used by the superior

would
its

power of Satan without any voluntary co-operation of its

own,

for the

deception of Eve,

it

have
:i.

been so used without

Nay, withou
;

any moral

fault of

tl

any material
all
tin-

fault of its
real

for

it

was not
it

itself at

agent

but

at

most

was only
of

pa

and entirely
Is
it

innocent instrument

another's malignity.

mpatible with

tl

of

God
the
i

to

infl

heavy

a cui

on an entirely innocent instrument,

<>f

ami

t<

really guilty

ut?

The

cases

in

ev. xx.

;,

\6 are

not

t<.


THE SERTENT OF EDEN.
;

63

the point

because death

is

there decreed not so

much

as a punishment on the beast, as the

;

means

of preventing a repetition of the acts

acts the animals

and of those

had been the

real active agents,

and not merely the passive instruments.

4,

If

by "the Serpent" we are

to

understand

(according to the
bestial

commonly

received theory) the

serpent acted upon for a time

by Satan,

then the same bestial serpent must have been the

subject

of the curse.
"

Only

three

are cursed

Adam, Eve, and the Serpent." Satan, therefore, who in this theory is the most guilty of all,
escapes without any curse or punishment whatsoever, although, as the

most

guilty, his
all.

punishn w

ment should have been the heaviest of

5-

If

"the Serpent" was a

bestial

serpent tem-

porarily possessed

and used by Satan to seduce

Eve, then, the seduction having been effected, and

the sin of

Adam

and Eve having been completed

of the forbidden
fruit,
its

when both had eaten

was accomplished.

that

possession must have ceased as soon as

object

The

serpent,

therefore,

must

TEMPTATION BY A BESTIAL SERPENT.

have become
free

69

from that possession.

It

was

then no longer anything except a mere bestial serpent.

Yet God addresses, and curses the poor

even after the Satanic possession

bestial serpent,

had ceased, as

if it

had been the

real

agent of a deed,

done under entirely

different circumstances,
if it

which

had ceased, and as

were responsible
it

for that

deed, as under this hypothesis

neither

was nor

could be.

"

Because thou

[bestial serpent, accord-

ing to this theory] hast done this," said

as

God when
;

a matter of fact the poor beast had done noall,

it
it

thing at

and when the assumed connection

real agent,

between
ever.
Is

and Satan, the

had ceased

for

not the height of absurdity to represent

God

acting as this theory

makes Him?

6.

Whether we consider "the Serpent"

under Satanic coercion or by
itself,

as acting

the argument
narrative,
serpi nl

drawn from the absence

in

tin-

sacred

of any surprise on the part of Eve at

tin-

sped.
her
it

in;.;

ami reasoning,
still

still

hi

ood.

For to
irrational

would
a< tin;.;

have

been hut an

animal,
being.

pretcrnaturally as a rational

human

What
?

can

ihe

have

known

of Satani<

possession

;o

THE SERrENT OF EDEN.

These
difficulties,
in

superadded to most of those

already given

the preceding section (especially

the inapplicability of the curse), attend the theory

of a Satanic possession and coercion of a bestial

serpent for the purpose

successful

of tempting

Eve.
to

No

attempts have been

to

made

furnish

a reasonable answer

any of these

difficulties.

Every reply ever attempted has been met, as we

have seen, and refuted without much trouble or
waste of ingenuity.
All these difficulties

(each one in
form,

itself

being

of
all

much

individual

weight)

when taken

together, a cumulative

argument so strong as

to render perfectly hopeless the attempt to over-

turn
fact,

it.

lay special stress

upon the indubitable

that not a fragment of these theories can be

literal

founded on a

understanding of the sacred

in

narrative, without

bringing

the

support of a

series of suppositions,

which are purely gratuitous,

and have not the

text.

least suggestion of

them

in
"

the
the

Then-

is

not a single clause regarding

fits

Serpent" which

in

with what

we know, from
docs
its

natural history, of the nature of a bestial serpent.

There

is

not

a single

clause

which

not

furnish a special difficulty

and objection of
that
a
bestial

own,

against

the

supposition

serpent

TEMPTATION BY A BESTIAL SERPENT.

71

tempted Eve, with or without Satanic possession

and coercion.
It
is

not in

any of these
for

theories,

therefore,

that

we must seek
of

a correct and satisfactory

explanation

this

most

important
for
"

narrative.

We

must

look

elsewhere

the

Serpent

"-

tempter.

Whoever he
serpent,
as
his

was, he certainly was not

a bestial
serpent
are

nor any one using a bestial

instrument.

These suppositions
are

merely

gratuitous,

and

attended

with

insoluble difficulties

72

THE SERPENT OF EDEN.

CHAPTER
THEORY.

V.

OBJECTIONS AGAINST PROPOSING A

NEW

The

difficulties

which have been shown to attend

every one of the theories hitherto used for an

explanation of the temptation
Serpent," leave the question
still

of

Eve by

"

the

very mysterious,

and
I

still

open

for a satisfactory solution.

purpose,

without

actually

condemning the

commonly propounded
there

and, doubtless, well-meant

theories, to argue (as against unbelievers only) that

is

yet remaining a

literal

sense

and the only

man and
the

really literal sense

tive,

in

which the Scripture narrafall

of the temptation and

of

subsequent curse on the Serpent, can be rationally

held, without admitting

any unnatural apparition,

bestial serpent, or

or

any Satanic possession of a

in a

any conversation with Eve

human manner by

OBJECTIONS AGAINST
a bestial serpent.

NEW

THEORY.

73

If this can but be proved,

and

such an explanation be given, the narrative would

be at once freed
difficulties,

from

all

improbabilities

and

and be rendered impregnable against

rationalistic
still

infidel

and

attacks.

And

yet the
to choose

faithful

would

be

left at full liberty

whatever interpretation might best

suit the taste

and mind of each

1
1

individual.
I

ere,

however,

must answer,

in

anticipation,

two objections

that

may

be

raised,

with

some

plausibility, against

my

proposed undertaking.
I.

It

may

be argued that

am

needlessly abandon-

ing

the literal

and natural sense of the sacred

flying to a figurative sense.

narrative,

and
true,

This,

if

would indeed be a grave objection

but
I

it

is

not true.
this
is

might reply that

if

one of those cases

in

which,
for,
1!

even a novel figurative sense were sought

aid

could not be
one.

thai
is

uch a search wa

need

This

proved

by

the

very

existence
difficulties

of

tin-

numerous and
as

insurmountable
een,

which,

we have
in

attend
in

the

red narrative,
it

when taken

the sense

which
is

ha- been

commonly

interpn ted.

Bui that

not

74

THE SERPENT OF EDEN.

my chief reply. My principal answer to the objection

is,

that

I I

am

not at

all

abandoning the

real literal

sense.

abandon only the common interpretation

I

of the text, which

have already shown to be by

one.

no means a

literal

On

the contrary,

it

has

been shown to be a pure supposition, completely

opposed to the

letter of the sacred

narrative.

purpose to substitute
tation,

for

it

a -very literal interpreliteral sense,

I

which

shall

be a truly

instead

of being only a pretended literal one.

am

not

going to maintain that there was no serpent concerned

in

the temptation

or that " the Serpent "

is

a metaphorical, or figurative, or allegorical expression for something else.

I

shall hold that " the

for

Serpent" did tempt Eve, and was really cursed

having done
in
so.
I

shall hold all the facts as related

the sacred narrative to be literally true, as a

plain historical narrative of facts.

issue
is

The
is

point at

not whether the

literal
I

sense

not preferit

able to any figurative sense.

admit that
is

is so.

The

real question

is,

Which

the really
a
literal

literal

sense?

Who

is

this

serpent, in

sense,

without any gratuitous suppositions, inadmissible

by the sacred text

0BJECT10XS AGAINST

NEW

THEORY.

75

II.

Catholics may, moreover, urge against me, that

if I

deny that the temptation of Eve was

his taking possession

effected

by Satan, by

of a bestial

serpent, or, in other words, under the appearance

of a bestial serpent, then

shall

be going against

the

commwtem

sententiam, and consequently against

the express prohibition

of the

Holy Council

of

Trent (Sess.

IV.)I

But to

this

answer that new objections must

necessarily be

met by new

replies

that varying

circumstances, of time and of increased knowledge,

change the old grounds of polemics

theories

that

new

may, and should, be advanced (with due

to

submission

the

judgment

of

Holy

Mother

Church)
against

in

order to strengthen the cause of truth

unbelief.

modern educated

This has already been done, with

1

much advanthe
pi

The decree
>n

ol
I

forbids
el

jntei

of

[olj

&

ripture, " in rebus fidei

rtinentium."
I

morum, ad d di The manner^ how

1

forbid
niraetn

the

private

interpn

11

ion
I

><i

[oly

ripture,"
that, nnii<l
tl

consensum Patrum."
'ny oni

do not think

m
f

can be

said

to

have
lefl

in

its

favour the "uttatt

in
ll

nsen um."
the deci

We
Council
ol

therefore,
1 1

free

ttei

bj

the

in.

76

THE SERPENT OF EDEN.

success,
in

tage and

the

case

of

two

parallel
in

questions, regarding

two other narratives

I

this

very Book of Genesis.

Creation,

mean

the

Days of

and the Universality of the Deluge.

The

acknowledged and as yet unanswered

attending the narrative in Gen.
iii.

difficulties

fully

justify

me
I

in trying a

new

and, as

hope, a better solution.

This ma}' blamelessly be attempted, provided that

do not contemptuously condemn other

I

theories,
in
all

and provided

duly submit
I

my

judgment

matters of faith (as

hereby most humbly, sincerely,

to

and completely do beforehand)

authority of the

the

supreme
its

Holy Catholic Church, and of

supreme head and teacher on

our Lord Jesus Christ

earth, the Vicar of

77

CHAPTER
Till:

VI.

NEW THEORY.
at
issue,

THE
"the
course

real

question
is

as

I
iii.

have

said,

is,

What Being

indicated in Gen.

by the words
"Serpent,"
of

Serpent"?
;

certain
?

real

but what serpent

We

have already shown that we cannot reconcile

with the sacred narrative, either that the bestial

serpent was
it

itself

the tempter, or that Satan used

under
that
!

his

personal po

on for this purpose,

apparition
<>f

<>r

nned
[f,
ti'
ii,

the

one
iii.

for

thi^ end.

"tin-

Serpent"

in

Gen.
a
"

was
ed
"

not

merely

bestial

serpent,

nor

pent, nor
it
J

an appariti

rpertt,what

Serpent

The
5>ut

question may,
:

in

a differenl form, be finally

pent,
in

thus

[s there,

any

other Serpent mentioned

the Scriptures

?any


THE SERPENT OF EDEN.
is

78

other Serpent whose existence

Scriptures
related
in

proved from the

nature,
into
title
?

themselves
those

and

whose

as

very
hi.,

Scriptures,

fits

the
to

narrative

of Gen.

who

has

a just
"

being, par

excellence, called " tlie

is

Serpent

Yes

there

such a scriptural Serpent, distinct

from the bestial one.

Several passages of Scripture exhibit before us

a certain Serpent,
other
titles.

who

is

also called

by various

This Serpent, though not a bestial

a real Serpent.

serpent,

is still

He

is

described

in

the

Scriptures as

being of such a nature as to

have been most naturally the primary and sole

agent
in

the

temptation of Eve.
"

His claim to

being "the Serpent

of Gen.

iii.

can be established
fact,

without an)- unnatural circumstances of

out any insurmountable
tation,
difficulties

with-

of interpre-

especially

without any

violation

of the

natural and literal sense of Scripture, and without

the use of any gratuitous suppositions.

In

fact,

"The Serpent"

is

one of the special

scriptural titles of the great arch-rebel angel, Satan.

This

is

the key to the true interpretation of Gen.

is

iii.

This key
tion;

found

in

the Apocalypse (or Revelathis chief leader of the

xii. 7, 8,

and

9,

where

rebel angels

is

thus spoken of:

THE
" 7.

NEW
1

THEORY.
in
2

79

And

there was war

heaven

Michael and

his

angels fought against

the dragon;

and the

dragon fought and

" 8.

his angels,
;

And 3
And
9

prevailed not
in

neither

was

their place

found any more

" 9.

heaven.
4

the great dragon

5

was cast

out, that

old Serpent,

called

,;

the

Devil,
1IJ
:

and Satan, 8 which

12

deceiveth

the whole world

he was cast out into u

with him."

the earth, and his angels were cast out

This passage of holy writ pointedly refers to

Gen.
iii.

The words, "the

it,

Serpent, he of old," as
"

the Greek text has

t<>

and the words,

who

causes
infirst

go astray the whole world," both directly

the
fall

dicate

of

the

human
that
in

race
fall
xii.

in

our
the

parents.

They

attribute

to

being
is

who
I I

is

here described
r

Rev.
:

This being

loiiny V'

ion,

"

'

gTI at

battle

" x6\ipOS.

: J

D.V., "with."
I).

v.,

"and
"th
if

thi

'

D.V., "tl
D.V.,
>.\

" 6 Bp&Kwv, 6 fxtyds.

6
t

it;"

ipxoj, literally,

"tin

..I;
'
I
.

Old."

'

'

n\avu)i>,

or to

wander."
II

D.V.
I).

u/mj

&ynv, "the whole habitable

'
'-

V.,

"unto;"Wf.

D.V., thrown

So

THE SERPENT OF EDEN.

the

called

Great

Dragon, the
are

Serpent
in

of

old.

Dragon and Serpent

synonymous
mightier

Scripture

and ancient natural history; a dragon being simply

an older, greater, and
other serpents.
serpent
is

among

This same being

It is

also called

Devil and Satan.

not the Devil and Satan,

Just the reverse.

who
It is

is

also called the Serpent.

"the Serpent,"

who
is

is

also called

"Devil and

Satan."
that

We

are therefore compelled to conclude,

"

" the
;

Serpent

the primary

name

of this
his

being

and that the Devil and Satan arc only

secondary names.

Now,
Rev.

there

is

absolutely no doubt possible as

to the personality of
in
xii.

him who

is

here described

portion of the angels of God, here

fell

said to
their

have been one-third of the whole,

from
is

high estate,

headed

by

leader,

who

primarily called "the Serpent," and variously and

equally

named
being

Lucifer,
is

Satan,

and
"

the

Devil.

And

this
is

not only called

otyiq,

the Serpent,"

but he

expressly called 6

ap%mog

"the
clearly

Serpent, he of old."

This leader, therefore, of the

is

rebel angels, in this passage of Scripture

and

distinctly

and expressly

identified with that

Serpent of olden times, the deceiver of the

race from
all

human

time,

whose

first

dealings with the

THE
human
alone
is

NEW

THEORY.
in.

Si

race are recorded in Gen.

the
is

Serpent-tempter of

He and he Eve. He and

The Serpent
titles
"

he alone
is

the Serpent of Eden.

his

"

simply one of

many

scriptural

or

names.

The

true interpretation of Gen.

iii.

consequently
;

requires no aid of

any bestial serpent at all and "the Serpent," interchangeable with "Dragon" or
"

Great Serpent,"

is

only a plain

literal

scriptural

expression for the Devil, Satan, or Lucifer.

I

do not

the sole

assert positively that " the Serpent " is and individual name of precisely the

leader of the rebel

angels.

What do we

really

know
vidual

as to

whether each of the multitudinous

angels, both

good and bad, has or has not an

?

indi-

name

"

be an individual

The Serpent " may or may not name it may or may not be a
;

common
For even

or generic

name

for

many

evil
in

spirits.

This does not affect the argument

if

the least.
ric

"

the Serpent
for

"

be only
also
is

or

common
Ad
vidual
xii.
(j)

name

many, so

"Devil"
the

Au5j3oXoc, the Calumniator) and

:).

"Satan" |p#
as to

Whatever may be held

it

indi-

names,
clearly
is

is

certain

that this

text

Rev.
"

and conclusively pone, that

titles or

the
ol

Serpent"

one of the scriptural

names
<;

82

THE SERPENT OF EDEN.

leader of rebel spirits, and
is

the great

literally
"

equivalent to and
or with
"

interchangeable with

Satan,"

Devil."
xii.

But Rev.

is

by no means a
I

solitary passage

of the Scriptures

upon which

am

trying to build
iii.

up a new interpretation of Gen.

There are
In sacred
"

many

other passages to the

is

same

effect.

Scripture, in fact, Satan

repeatedly called

the

Serpent."

Take Job xxvi. The holy sufferer eloquently mentions some of the greatest phenomena of nature, and some of the mightiest works of God.
" 7.

He

stretcheth out the north over the

empty

place,

and hangeth the earth upon nothing.

"8.

He
;

bindeth up the
is

waters

in

His

thick-

clouds
"9.

and the cloud

holdcth

not rent under them.

He

back the face of His throne,

it.

and spreadeth His cloud upon

" 10.

He

hath compassed the waters with bounds,

until the

day and the night come to an end.

pillars

"11.

The

of heaven

tremble,

and

are

astonished at His reproof.

"12.

He

divideth the sea with His power; and

by His understanding He smiteth through the

proud.
" 13.

By His

Spirit

He

hath

garnished the

THE
heavens
Serpent.
" 14. little
;

NEW

THEORY.

83

and His hand hath formed

the crooked

Lo, these are parts of His ways

is

but

how

a portion

heard of

Him

but the thunder

of His power
I

who can understand ? "

in ver. 13,

hold that

by "the garniture of the

proved by a com-

heavens," are meant, not the inanimate stars, but

the angels of heaven.

This

is

Douay Bible, Ps. xxx ii.) 6, " By the word of the Lord the heavens were made and all the host of them by the breath of His mouth." The expression "breath of His
parison with Ps. xxxiii. (in the
;

mouth
hosts
;

"

indicates the creation of living

and

rational

for in

Gen.

ii.

7 also,
life,

God

"

breathed into

his nostrils the breath of

and man became a

living soul."

In this enumeration of the mighty

ver.

works of God, therefore,

13

is

devoted to a

description of the angels; and anion;.; the angels,

as another notable instance of the almighty

of God,

Job nanus one

sole brute

animal "His
"

power

hand hath formed the (rooked Serpent." "Crooked

is

not merely used to indicate the Winding of a

serpent
to

The word
pervet

i^

repeatedly used

in

Scripture
"
J,

mean

or wicked.
;

Deut
,<

xxxii.

they

are a crooked generation " P

...

Douay, cxx.),
nation
'

'crooked ways;"

Phil.

ii.

13,

"a crooked

84

THE SERPENT OF EDEN.

special

This

crooked

Serpent,

therefore,

is

specially perverse

and wicked being, called the

context,
it is

Serpent.

Now, from the

evident that

Job desired to indicate the power of God as shown

by His works.

Among

these works he mounts

from the greater physical wonders of creation (he

omits even man) to the wonderful existence of the
angels, or
(if

you do not admit the

parallel

from
;

the Psalms) to the marvels of the starry heavens

and he ends

his catalogue with the creation of the

!

crooked Serpent

Now, the

bestial serpent race

has no possible claim whatever to being ranked

among

the chief works of God,

much
is

less to

being
of
all

the apex of the whole, the most sublime

God's works.

But such precisely

Satan, the devil,

the old Serpent.

Here, therefore, Job distinctly

his scriptural title

and clearly names Satan under

of "the Serpent."

So, too, Isaiah (xxvii. i) speaks of one particular

great Serpent, which the

Lord

will

punish on the
:

day that

He

punishes the iniquity of the earth

xxvi. 21, "For, behold, the Lord

cometh out of

His place to punish the inhabitants of the earth

for their iniquity
:

the earth also shall disclose her

blood, and shall no

xxvii.
i,

more cover her

slain."

"In that day the Lord, with His

sore,

THE
and
great,

NEW

THEORY.
shall punish

85

and strong sword,

Leviathan

that piercing Serpent, even Leviathan that crooked

Serpent, and

He

shall slay the

Dragon that

is

in

the sea."

The punishment
is

of this one particular Serpent

the culminating point of the anger and justice

of God.
its

The context
any
"

precludes the possibility of

serpent.

referring to

bestial

The word

"

crooked

connects this text with the preceding

;

one given from Job

terms
it
'
I

and the juxtaposition of the

"

>ragon

"

and

Serpent

"

seems to connect

with Rev.

xii. 9.

Again,

let

us open Isa. Ixv.

Here the prophet

In
shall

typifies the greatness

ver.

and glory of the Church.

the

25

he says,

"The wolf and

lamb

feed together, and the lion shall cat straw like the

bullock

and dust
makes

shall be the Serpents meat.'*

its
it

This
to

conclusion, with
!i.

special

marked reference

iii.

i),

impossible to doubt that the

prophet was not thinking of any bestial serpent,

but of that old Serpent
the temptation
bestial serpent
.1

Satan

the sole agenl

in

of

Eve.

To

interpret this text of a

would be

to thrust the

serpent into
its

prominence now.
in

mipatible with
B<
iidi
< ,

natural
othei
tin
i

place

the creation.

when
ing
1

the

animals are repn iented

hanged

86

THE SERPEN! OF EDEN.

habits,

natural

clearly

showing the presence of

it

a metaphorical sense,

follows
is

naturally that

the serpent here indicated

serpent, but

not the mere bestial

some other Serpent.

2,

In Rev. (Apocalypse) xx.

" laid

an angel of God

hold on the dragon, that old Serpent [again

6 apxalog, 'the Serpent,

6
is

o(j>ig,

he of

old'],

which
for

the

Devil,

and Satan, and bound him

in

thousand years." And,

(xii.),

the already cited chapter

"

the words " Satan," " Devil,"

"

Serpent," and

"

Dragon

are repeatedly used, both simultaneously

for

and interchangeably,
This person
angels, and,
is

one and the same person.

identified as the leader of the rebel

the seed of the

by being indicated woman, is also

iii.

as

the

enemy

of

identified

as the

Serpent-tempter in Gen.

From

these texts,

it

is

evident that the sacred

Scripture

makes

special

and frequent mention of a

certain Serpent, also the leader of the rebel angels,

one of the chief of God's mightiest works

speaks of him
Serpent."
cases, in

and

it

under the name or

title

of "the

The his own

Yet
iii.

Scripture speaks of him, in these

individual personality, unconnected

with any apparition

Serpent.
it

or

possession
"

of

bestial

calls
It
is

him simply

the Serpent,"

as in Gen.

evident, therefore, that "the

THE
Serpent"
is

NEW

THEORY.

87

simply one of his scriptural names.

"

Satan

is

"

the Serpent," and

the Serpent

" is

Satan.
the

The words
same
I

are interchangeable.

They mean

person.

hold that, under the

iii.

name
and

of " the Serpent,"

Gen.
the

makes

as literal

direct a

mention of

same leader of
;

rebel angels, as
it

do the other

texts here cited

in

and that

mentions him equally

unassociated

his

own
It

individual

personality,

with any bestial possession or apparition, as these

texts do.

speaks of him simply under one of

scriptural titles.

his well-ascertained

In Gen.

iii.

the words "the Serpent"

" Satan,"

are literally

meant

for

and

for "

Satan

"

alone, just as they are

in Job xxvi., with no reference whatsoever to any connection with a bestial serpent. In consequence, we may, throughout the whole

scriptural

narrative of the temptation and

fall

of

man, safely substitute the word

words "the Serpent" without
to the text, or putting

" Satan " for the

1

(loin;

any violence
it

any construction upon

sense, or

opposed to

its

literal

making any
it will
;

unstill

warranted suppositions.

Literally true
"

remain thai "the

it

Si rpenl

was the tempter

only
is

will

have been proved that by " the Serpent "

in his

simply meant Satan

own

pel

Onality.

Then'

88

THE SERPENT OF EDEN.

not only thus no need for any apparition
;

is

or

possession of a bestial serpent

left

there

is

no room

for

either in the sacred

narrative, the literal

wording of which both those suppositions would

violate.
" "

The Serpent

"

is

simply equivalent to

Satan," both being

titles

of the

same

person, and

capable of being substituted for each other.

To
Gen.

see

how

completely, naturally, and perfectly

this interpretation fits into the sacred narrative of

iii.,

proceed to repeat that narrative as we

the original

found
the

it

in "

Hebrew
"

text, substituting
;

word

Satan

"

instead of

the Serpent

" just

as in algebra

we may
or a
its

substitute the
for

ascertained

value of an

x
I

or y in an equation,

without altering

value.

add a running com-

mentary.

{Satan
_

was more

subtil

the

SerpentJ

than any living being of the earth which the Lord

God had made

qualities,
still

"

because his angelic nature and

his
fall,

though dimmed and degraded by

constitute

him superior

to all animals

on earth,

including man, against

whom

principally (and not

((j>povi/xu>;

against irrational beasts) the comparison

rarog,

most

intelligent or thinking)

is

urged

for

it

was

to cope with

man

that Satan came.

THE

NEW

THEORY.

89

"And
naturally

he 'said* unto the woman," not by any-

articulate audible speech,

made

to proceed preter-

from the jaws of a possessed bestial

of an
apparitional

serpent, or internal
soul-felt
spirit

one

but by an

and inaudible, yet most

intelligible

and

communication, of mind with mind and

spirit.
I

with

Thus God speaks

inspirations,
;

to the heart

of

man

with

lis

and our guardian

and
thus, too, the

angels communicate with us

same Satan
in

daily

and hourly speaks to ourselves,

our various temptations.

Even thus

internally

and inaudibly, yet quite

to Eve's

intelligibly,

Satan spoke
serpent, or

mind and

soul.

No
at
all

bestial

appearance of one, was

needed.

Eve had

most probably often thought over and wondered

at the prohibition against the eating of that par-

ticular fruit.

Ii

She had on

this occasion, probably,

iry to point <>ul thai

"to say,"

in

Scripture,
is

when
1

the thought

by audibli

f<

w ex

pli

musl
ielvi

suffi
'],

Lai

think in youi

\\ e

1.7,

" And (Ma

lit

within

tin n

'in.

Matt,
thi
1

x \i.

25

"And
."In M

they thought within

And m

written, "
in.
I

hen

in
If,

nil th(

blood,

who
a

in

M
" F01
pturaJ
l

within
.

hei

nted
I

imply
ao

and thinkin

ire,

ordii

the

it.

90

THE SERPENT OF EDEN.

tree,

wandered near the

curiosity.

from motives of natural

been, perhaps,

Or she may have

moved

by previous

internal, indirect temptations of Satan,

seemingly her own thoughts, but excited by his

baleful

and powerful

influence,

prompting her to
tree.

approach and look at that wonderful

When

she arrived there and was viewing the beautiful

tree

and

fruit,

Satan (invisibly present with her

is

and

in her, for a spirit

where

it

thinks)

makes

his first direct internal suggestion or temptation.

Not through the corporeal

caused by vibrations
in

ear, or in

an audible voice

the air produced from the

jaws of any serpent body or apparition, but straight

to the soul,

by

spiritual

intercommunication.

The
unto
shall

serpent, Satan, therefore in this

manner
"
!

" said

the

woman

Strange

that

God has

said,

Ye

not eat of every tree of the garden

This intcr-

jectional form of the beginning of the temptation

is

a matter of

some importance.

The

temptation,
It

in the original, is
is

not in the interrogative form.

not

question

asked from outside

a

but the

sentence seems

veloped
tion.

in

Eve's

much more like own mind, under

;

thought de-

Satanic sugges-

Satan speaks to her soul

and

in her

mind

he causes to arise a feeling of surprise at the

restraint put

upon her

liberty.

To

this thought,

THE
raised
tion
in

NEW

THEORY.

91

her mind by Satan's insidious suggesraises

as he daily selves Eve silently

temptations.
2.

similar thoughts in ourreplies,

and mentally

as

we

ourselves daily argue with and reply to our

own

"

And

the

woman

(Satan
said to
<

>

We

(the Serpent) J

may And

eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden."

here there seems already to be a partial yield-

ing to the influence of the temptation, in the exclusion of the phrase " of every tree," used

by God

in

Gen.

ii.

16.

Eve already seems

"

to consider the

permission to eat

the fruit of every tree," except

that one, to be so limited that she leaves out the

"every."
striction,
3.

Thus she already

resents the slight re-

and despises the wide permission.

fruit

"But of the

of the tree which

is

in

the

midst of the garden,

eat of
die."
it,

God

has

said,
it,

Ye

shall

not
y<

neither shall ye touch

lesl

perhaps

The
is
ii.

addition by

Eve of the word

the original
a

" perhaps"
in

which
Gen.
ing
of
a

not

found

in

prohibition
incr<

17, is

remarkable,
the
in

ihowing the
the
tin's
fii
I

force

of

temptation
faith.
elf,
<

glimmer
Sat. in

doubl

her

M
ugj

doubt
i

adroitly avails him

and

strong and
yielding

open temptation

against

faith,

92

THE SERPENT OF EDEN.

unhesitating assent to God's teaching.

larges the doubt into a certainty
;

He
is

en-

that there
is

no

chance of their dying

in

that there
it

no certainty

God's threat

and that

proceeds only from

All this he,
to

a jealous envy on the part of God.

therefore,

again

communicates inaudibly

the

mind of Eve
4.

as before.

"

And

(Satan
<

)
>

said unto the

woman,

(the Serpent)

Ye
to

shall not surely die."

add another temptation.

And he then proceeds He appeals to her

favourite vices,

pride

and ambition,

his

own
fallen.

by
to

which he himself had

Me

suggests

Eve

a false suspicion as the reason of God's pro;

hibition

and he

finally holds out to her the false

promise, that a disobedience of so arbitrary and

interested a

command would

result in

an increase

of knowledge, and, in consequence, an enlargement of power, and an improvement of condition.

5.

"

For God knoweth that

your eyes
shall

in the

day ye eat

thereof, then
shall

be opened, and ye
evil."

be as gods, knowing good and

leads

From
from

curiosity Satan

her to unbelief, and

unbelief to pride and ambition.

Eve dwelt with pleasure on

tions.

these evil sugges-

She

offered

no resistance.

She did not

fly

THE
from the occasion of
hesitated.

NEW
sin.

THEORY.

93

She did not

the
tree

pray.

She
wellfruit.
it

She viewed

with

developed and growing desire to taste the

She gazed

long, perhaps, at
to

it,

till

her desire for

made
eyes,"

it

seem

be
tell

"

good
;

for food,"

which mere
to

sight could

not
in

her

and
is

" pleasant

the

which

Hebrew
tree to

"a

desire

unto the

eyes;"
wise,"

and "a

be desired to

make one

which also her sight could not prove, and

which she had no reason to believe, except Satan's

suggestion and her
yielded,

own longing
of
it.

thoughts.

She
was

and

cat
1

Satan's

purpose

accomplished.

[e

ceased to act further.

"

We

proceed to note that

to

the Serpent

"

Satan
fall,

is

not said

have come to Eve before her

temptation, or to have gone

away

after her

because he

is

a spirit

and

his

coming and going

fall

arc not recorded, because they did not

thi

under

Vet they would naturally have been reif

corded,

a bestial serpenl had been

in

any manner
time

the instrument of the temptation,

The Serpentall

tempter

is

represented
Ik
r.

as

being

the

present with
present,
v.

Satan had been indeed really

plot

and working out

his evil

purpose
audible.

in

Ev<

mind, though neither

to

visible nor
for

He now seems

disappear

awhile

94

THE SERPENT OF EDEN.

scene,

from the

and remains unnoticed

in

the

sacred narrative.
ever,

He

continues

still

present,

how-

though
fall,

invisible

and inaudible

gloating over

Eve's
it

while she eats of the

fruit,

and takes of
it
;

to

Adam, and coaxes him

eat,

to eat of

and he
present

does

and

falls likewise.

Still invisibly

with them, he continues to watch them, awaiting

the result of his success.
pair, after the

He

watches the guilty

opening of their eyes, while they

make aprons
and spoken

for themselves,

and hear the voice of

God, and hide, and are sought by

with.

Him and
!

found,

When

the time for issuing the

sentence of condemnation arrives, lo

unsought, unis

summoned,
not

this

same serpent

Satan

again on

the scene, invisible yet really present, and again

mentioned as having either come or gone.

perfectly does not
all

How

this coincide
" is

with the

narrative,

when

"

the Serpent

simply taken as

another

name

for

Satan

at variance with the

and how utterly it seems commonly received theories

;
!

Continuing
Serpent,"

still
still

to substitute " Satan " for " the

find

we

the rest of the narrative

proceed rationally and intelligibly as before.

13.
a "And
,

the
I

woman
did eat.

(Satan

said, <

>

be-

(the Serpent J
guiled me, and

THE

NEW

THEORY.
{Satan
,

95

_ >, Bethe SerpentJ

cause thou hast done

the curse
p. 97.

this,"

etc.

These words of

we

shall consider

separately hereafter,

When
retaining

put thus, the sacred narrative, while

its

still

literal

sense in the highest degree,

intelligible.

becomes both natural and

is

In

fact, this

the sole interpretation which retains the natural

literal sense.
it

and

It

needs no ingenious theories to

presents no physical difficulIt

make
ties

probable.
its

It

against

possibility.
fall,

holds before us the

in

temptation and
its

both as an historical fact

most

literal

sense,

and

also

as an

instructive

fact for the foundation of

any allegory which we

it.

may
who

be competent to build upon

It

maintains

a positive
is

and

real

temptation by

"

a real Serpent,"
is

Satan himself

such a temptation as
It

daily

experienced by
stroke
all

ourselves.

brushes away
nay,
all

at

one

cavils

and

sophisms,
of

those

arguments which are

some, and

perhaps of

great weight, against an audible temptation from

a visible serpent
it,

And
to

yet the narrative

(I

repeat

because

it

is

of the utmost

importance to be
its

known
sense;

continues
>ubstituting

be

held in

most

literal

no metaphor, no allegory, no

96

THE SERPENT OF EDEN.

;

myth
tures

excluding

all

figurative interpretation
fact,
"

in-

sisting solely

on the

proved from the Scrip" is

themselves,

that

the Serpent

one of

Satan's scriptural names, and that

in

by "the Serpent"
done to
adopted.

Gen.

iii.

Satan

is

meant, to the exclusion of

any

visible serpent.

Hence no

violence

is
is

the text, and no gratuitous supposition

The
"

text
"

itself

is

left

inviolate,
firstly,

by

substituting

Satan

for

"the Serpent;"
preclude

because reasons
of a

already

adduced

the

possibility

bestial serpent

having been even the instrument of

;

the temptation

and secondly, because the Scriptell

tures themselves

us that Satan

is "

the Serpent,
rrtfl*,

he of

old."

It is

like substituting Dpfy| for

Kvptoc for 6foc, Doi/iiniis for Dens, or " Lord

"

" for

God."

The meaning remains

;

the same; the sense

remains the same

same.

the person meant remains the

This

is all

that

we need do

in

Gen.

iii.

97

CHAPTER

VII.

THE CURSE ON "THE SERPENT."

I
!

'REMISE four points

for

consideration, which,

after

what

has
:

been

already seen, will easily

command
i.

assent

The words
They do

of this curse are inapplicable to the

bestial serpent.
2.

not apply to any material being, and

in a

cannot, therefore, be taken

sense.
3.

material and

literal

If

they .ne applicable only

t<>

spiritual or
in

immaterial being, they must be taken

material and spiritual
4.

an im-

Such an application, under the circumstam

no violence
to the letter ol the sacred text.

doe-,

Weli.iv no

insider the
in

words of the

cut

upon the Serpent,

advanced.
r.

the

light of the theory

now

14.

"

1'.'
I

lion nasi don,- tin

ur ed ai
11

98

THE SERPENT OF EDEN.

all living

thou above every beast and above

beings

on the earth.

Upon thy
all
I

belly shalt thou go,

life.

and

dust shalt thou eat

15.

the days of thy

"And

will

put enmity between thee and

seed.

the

woman, and between thy seed and her

It shall

bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his

heel."

Such are the words of the curse on "the Serpent."

If,

putting aside the prejudices naturally caused

in us

by the teaching of our

earliest days,

we

dis-

passionately examine the words of this curse,

shall

we
is

be compelled to acknowledge that there

in the text

not one single clause

which can

in

any

imaginable
serpent
:

way

be naturally applicable to a bestial

is,

cursing an apparition

of course, too

glaring an absurdity to need any examination.

We
the
all

have seen the ingenious theories

built up,

and the

bold assertions made, in order to show

curse could

how
They

work on a

bestial serpent.

leave untouched the question

sinless

why

at all the serpent,

by

nature, because irrational, should have

been cursed.
improbable
facts.

They
in

are

all,

besides,

more or
to

less

themselves,
theories

and opposed

real

Yet these

and assertions have been

his

copied

by one author or commentator from

till

predecessors,

quite a literature

of nonsense (I

THE CURSE ON
speak with
the subject.
all

"

THE SERPENT."

99

due reverence) has grown up around

it

But

has

all

been

in vain.

The

facts

of natural history are too stubborn to be bent to

the aid of distorted
pretations.

theories

and tortured

inter-

We

have already seen that the bestial serpent

of
;

is
all

by no manner of means the most accursed

animals.
it

It does, it is true,

go upon

its

belly

but
it

must have done so from the beginning, and

shares this natural

mode

of progression with
is

many

other animals.

Unless this

equally a curse on

them,
It

it

cannot be any special curse on the serpent.

If in taking
its

docs not eat dust as food.

it

natural

food

docs

receive

some dust
is

into

its
it,

stomach

with that food, this also

animals, and

natural to

with other

therefore cannot be a curse on the

all

serpent
;

above

other

animals.

There

is

no

enmity between the serpent and man -nay,

less

Considerably

than there

is

between man and

me other wild and savage animals.

therefi

The
when

curse,
it

ilutely

meaningless
;

is
it

applied to the bestial

serpent
tial

thus rendering

impossible that the be

the Serpent-tempter

serpent could have been

sense.

in

any

Not one

singli

I.e.

the be
if

tial

serpent.
this

But

we con

ider

cur

having been

ioo

THE SERPENT OP EDEN.

passed upon Satan

"the Serpent, he of old then

"

every clause assumes a definite and appropriate

meaning, consonant both with the nature of things,

and with numerous other passages of Holy Scripture.

Let

us consider

it

in

detail in

this

sense,
signifi-

and we
cation.

shall easily realize its full

and true

Satan

is

indeed cursed above every beast and

living beings

above

all

of the earth.

For while

they serve God, each according to his nature, and

thus
fulfil

the end of their creation, and have an

object
for their

attainable
fallen

existence,

Satan has
a useless
fire.

away
sickly

for ever

from his end.

As

branch, he has been cut off and cast into the

As

one out of the

flock,

he has been
is

sentenced to eternal death.

His punishment
all

made

greater than that of

first

others, because he
all evil.

was the
casting

originator and cause of

this

This

away,

living

death,

this

complete

degradation

and punishment, have thrown

him

down, and lowered him beneath even the beasts of

the
field.

He

has forfeited his original end; and

strives at,

the object he

now

to

resist
;

and oppose
for

God,

he

cannot possibly

obtain

God

is

Almighty.
"

On

thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou

THE CURSE ON
eat
all

"

THE SERPENT"
life."

101

the

days of thy
spirit,

Satan, being an

incorporeal

has no corporeal belly on which

;

to go, in a literal sense

and as he requires no

material sustenance, he neither eats dust nor

any

other food,

in

a literal sense.

We

find,

however,

on examination, that these two expressions have a

very definite and special sense and meaning
in

the

Holy
sible

Scriptures.

The two

clauses,

through insen-

gradations

and through various shades of

idea,

meaning, merge into the one

tural

which

in

scrip-

usage

is

most applicable
iri

to the case of Satan's

ndemnation
ling,

consequence

of his
in

evil

deed.

sitting,

lying,

and grovelling
;

dust and

ashes, or on the earth

prostrating, placing one's

to the earth
in
;

body

or putting one's

mouth

dust

and ashes; eating or licking dust and ashes

these are

all

common

scriptural expressions for misery,

helplessness,

degradation,

servitude,

humiliation,
elfol
Bible.

and

defeat.

One may
ny
a

easily convince one's

i

this,b;..

full

rdan<
,

eofthe
and
is

Let

me

cite

few notable instanci

in

con

sidering them,
pp. [4, 15, that

we mould
in

recall

what

stated at
itself

Hebrew

the derivation
ol

of

the word "belly" includes the idea

the bowii

down and

bendii

en

in thes<

ti

102

7//E

SERrENT OF EDEN.
I.

Prostration, which,

by bringing the
mouth
in

belly to the

earth and placing the

the dust, as an
is

analogous act with "going on the belly,"

the

ordinary Oriental and scriptural sign of subjection,

of veneration, and of the acknowledgment of inferiority

and submissive helplessness.

In Gen. xxxiii.
3,

need hardly
"

multiply cases.

Jacob

bowed

himself to the ground seven times, until he

came
the

near to his brother;"

brethren
"

xlii. 6,

and

xliii.

26, Joseph's

bowed
14,

themselves

to

him

to

earth;"

xliv.

"they
in

fell

before

him upon the

ground."
head, and

Balaam,
fell fiat

Numb.

xxii. 31,

"bowed
(ii.

his

on his

face."

Ruth

10) "fell

upon her
In
1

face,

and bowed herself

1

to the ground."
in his

Sam. (Douay,
fell

Kings) xx. 41, David

distress "

on his face to the ground, and bowed

himself three times" to Jonathan;

gail
" fell

xxv.

23,

Abi-

before David on her face, and

bowed

herself to the ground;"

xxviii.

14,

"Saul perceived
his face

that

it

was Samuel, and he stooped with and bowed

i.

to the ground,

himself."

In 2 Sam.

(Douay, 2 Kings)

2,

the messenger announcing

Saul's death came, " with his clothes rent,

and earth
to

upon

his

head

and so

it

was,

when he came

THE CURSE ON
David, that he
fell

"

THE SERPENT"
and did obeisance
" fell

103

to the earth,

"
;

xiv.
king;"
face,

4,

the

woman

of

Tekoah

on her face to

the ground, and did obeisance, and said, Help,

O
his

and

vcr. 22, "

Joab

fell

to the

ground on
ver. 33,

and bowed himself;" and again,

king,

Absa-

lom "came to the

to the
3

and bowed himself on

I

his face

ground before the king." In

i.

Kings (Douay,
the

Kings;

23,

Nathan

"

bowed himself before

In
2

king with his face to the ground."

Kings

Douay, 4 Kings;

ii.

15,

the sons of the prophets

"bowed themselves
In
1

to the

ground before" Elisha.

himself to

Chron. xxi. 21,

Oman "bowed
ground."

David with
\ ii.

his face to the

In 2 Chron.

3,

at the dedication of

Solomon's temple, "when

all

the children of Israel saw

how
their

the

fire

came

down, and the glory of the Lord upon the house,

they bowed

themselves

with

faces

to the

und upon
Now,

the pavement, and worshipped, and

praised the Lord."

falling prostrate

upon the ground, with the

belly

face to the earth,

to
tin
(
.

must necessarily bring the

earth also.
cited,

Thus

tin's

action, voluntary in
to

th c

corresponds
to

the

involuntary
oi

compulsion, which was

Satan.
his will,

be the punishment

Reluctantly,

in spite

of himself, and against

he would be compelled to give glory to


io 4

THE SERPENT OF EDEN.

in helplessness,

God, by being made prostrate,

and

by being forced

to submit to

His decrees.

II.

Next
of

follows

another group of phrases, which

in the

speak of dwelling, lying, or being

dust

most
the

them being so worded belly being upon the earth.

In Micah
i.

as

to include

also

9, 10,

the prophet says of Samaria

is

and Judah, "her wound

not in Gath ...
in
in

incurable

declare

it

the house of dust roll thyself

iii.

in

thy nobles shall dwell of the downfall of Assyria "Let the enemy persecute the dust."
"

the dust."

In

Nahum
vii. 6,
it

18,

the prophet speaks

Ps.

my
life

soul,

and take

yea, let

him tread down

my

upon the

earth,

and lay mine honour

14, 15,

in the

dust;" xxii.

(Douay, xxi.)
all
;

"I am poured
;

out like water, and

my
it

bones are out of joint

in

my heart is like wax my strength is dried up like a of my bowels sherd and my tongue cleaveth to my mouth
hath melted
;
;

the midst
pot-

and

Thou

hast brought
"

me

to the dust of

death;"
face,

xliv. 24, 25,

Wherefore hidest Thou thy

and
For

forgettcst our affliction

and our oppression?

to the dust
is
;

our soul

is

bowed down

our belly

cleaveth to the earth," which

an evident equiva-


THE CURSE ON
lent to the phrase, "
"

THE SERPENT."
;

105 "

on thy belly shalt thou go

cxix. (Douay, cxviii.) 25,

"My

soul cleaveth unto

(ii.

the dust: quicken

distress, "sat

Thou me."

Job
"
;

8),

in his sore
ver. 13, his
" sat

down among ashes

and

friends, sharing his affliction

and misery,

down

with him upon the ground seven days and seven

nights;"

xvi. 15,

"I have sewed sackcloth upon

my
[9,

skin,
"

and

defiled

He

hath cast
like

my me

horn
into

in

the dust
mire,
Isa.

"
;

xxx.
I

the

and
iii.

am
26,

become
"

dust

and ashes."
fall

25,

And

th)-

men

shall
;

by the sword, and thy

shall

mighty

in
;

the war

and her gates

lament and

mourn

and she being desolate

"
;

shall sit

upon the
ye that

und
dwell
in

xxvi.

19, "

Awake ye and
4,

sing,

the dust;"

xxix.

speaking of the humili"

ation of Jerusalem, Isaiah prophesies,

shalt be brought

And

thou

down, and thou shalt speak out of

shall be
.1-

the ground;
dust,

and thy speech

shall

low out of the

and thy voice

be

"I

one who hath a

spei

familiar spirit, out of the

shall

ground, and thy

t."
I

whisper out of the

fact,

du

[ere

we must note
familiar
fell

the well-known
pint
fits
,

that those
|>

who had

and those who were

ground
;

ed, often

in
fits

to the

and that similar

ol

epilepti<
.

often occurred at the delivery

Iii.

paganoraclt
t
;

[sa.

2,

"

Shake thyself from the du

ari '.sit

down,

io6

THE SERPENT OF EDEN.

Jerusalem
;

O
"

loose thyself from the bands of thy

neck,

captive

daughter of Zion."

Jer.

vi.

26,

daughter of

my

people, gird thee with sackin

cloth,

and wallow thyself

ashes

make

thee

mourning, as for an only son, most bitter lamentation ;"

xxv.

33,

"the slain of the Lord

shall
;

not be lamented, neither gathered nor buried

shall
"

they

be as dung upon the ground

;

"

and

vcr. 34,

Howl, ye shepherds, and cry

ye principal of the

wallow yourselves
;

in ashes,

flock

for the

days of

your slaughter and dispersion are accomplished,

and ye

shall fall."

Lam.

iii.

16, "

He

hath broken

my

teeth with gravel stones,

;

the dust

"

and

ver.

29, "

in the dust, if so

be that

He hath rolled me in He putteth his mouth there may be hope."

III.

We

have yet another group of passages, which

speak of being cast down, or lying down, upon the

ground, or dust, or earth, or ashes, or the dunghill
;

always
2

in the

same sense
Kings)

of defeat, misery,

and

humiliation.

Sam. (Douay,

xii.
;

16,

"David therefore
fasted,

besought

God
and

for the child

and David

and
Ps.

went
cxlvii.

in,

lay

all

night upon the earth."

(Douay,

cxliv.) 9, "

The Lord

lifteth

up the

THE CURSE ON
meek He
;

"

THE SERPENT"
down

107

casteth the wicked

to the ground."

Isa.

li.

22, 23, "

Behold,

have taken out of thine

hand the cup of trembling, even the dregs of the

cup of
But

My

fury

thou shalt no more drink

into the

it

again.
afflict

I will

put

it

hand of them that

soul,

thee,

which have said to thy

Bow down,
body
went
that

that

we may go
Lam.
sit

over; and thou hast laid thy

street, to

as the over."

ground, and as the

ii.

them

10, "

The

elders of the daughter of Zion

silence
;

upon the ground, and keep

up dust upon
their heads
;

they have

cast

they have girded

themselves with sackcloth

the virgins of Jerusalem

hang down
11,

their

heads to the ground ;"

fail
is

and
"

vcr.

"Mine eyes

with

tears,

my
my

bowels are
for

troubled,

my

liver

poured upon the earth,

people

the destruction of the daughter of

(the
in

"liver" here being an equivalent for the "belly"

Gen.

iii. y

; iv.
in

5,

"They
;

that did feed delicately are

de olate
in

the

street
tlr

they that wen- brought up

hill."

scarlet
all

embrace

l./.ek.

xxvi.

"Then

the princes

"I

the sea shall

comedown

from their throne, and lay away their robes, and

put off their broidered garments
;

they shall clothe

-hall
sit

them
upon

iv
tin-

with

trembling

they

down
ev<

ground,
b<

and

shall
al

tremble

at

moment, and

thee;"

xxviii. \7,

10S

THE SERPENT OF EDEN.

heart

'Thy

was

lifted

up because of thy beauty,

thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy

brightness
;

will cast thee to the

ground,

will

lay thee before kings, that they

may

behold thee;"

and

ver.

18,

"Thou

hast defiled thy sanctuaries

by

the multitude of thine iniquities, by the iniquity of

thy

traffic

therefore will
it

bring forth a

fire
;

from

the midst of thee, and

will

shall

devour thee

and

bring thee to ashes upon the earth, in the sight

of

all

them

that behold thee."

Obad.

3, 4,

"

The

pride of thine heart hath deceived thee, thou that

dwellest in the clefts of the rocks,
is

whose habitation
shall bring

high

that saith in his heart,

Who
set

me

down

to the

ground

Though thou

exalt thyself

as the eagle,

and though thou

I

thy nest

among

the stars, thence will

bring thee down, saith the

Lord."
IV.

We

have yet one more and

last

group of phrases,

which have a special reference to eating or licking

dust or ashes.
Ps.
in

lxxii.

(Douay,

lxxi.)

9,

"They

that
;

dwell

the wilderness shall

shall

bow

before

Him

and His

enemies

lick the dust."

Both these clauses

are equivalent to the double clause of the curse

THE CURSE ON
on the Serpent
together,
ci.)
;

"

THE SERPENT."

109

and here they actually again occur

the same sense.
Ps.
cii.

and

in
I

(Douay,

9,

"

For

have eaten ashes

;

like

bread,
ver. 10, "
:

and
Be-

mingled

my

drink with weeping

and

cause of Thine indignation and

hast lifted

Thy wrath
down."

for

Thou

me

up,

and cast

me

This, too,

has a close and evident parallel with Satan's former

state,

and

his great fall

and humiliation.
:

Isa. xliv.

20, "

He

feedeth on ashes

a deceived heart hath

turned him aside, that he cannot deliver his soul ;"

xlix. 23, "

Kings

shall

be thy nursing fathers, and

:

their

queens thy nursing mothers

to thee with
their

they shall

bow

down
and

face

towards the earth,

;

lick

up the dust of thy

I

feet

and thou shalt

also

know
the

that

am

the

Lord."

Here

we have
ground

same two

ideas of being cast to the

dust,

and of eating

which occur
in

in

the curse on

the Serpent, placed again

vii.

juxtaposition.
see

Micah
shall

[6,

17,

"The
their

nations shall

and

be

nfounded

at all their

might: they

shall lay their

shall
;

hands upon

mouth, their ears

like

be deaf

They move
fear b

shall lick the dust

a serpenl

they shall

out "f their holes like

worm,

of the earth:

they shall be afraid of the Lord our God, and shall

of
I

hee."

[ere on<
i

in

are the

very same two ideas of the

urse, in juxtaposition,

no
though
in

THE SERPENT OF EDEX.

inverted
order.

Again

\vc

have the

creeping on the ground and the licking of dust

placed side by side, as in Gen.
In the last place
I
iii.

cite

Isa. lxv., in

which

is

very striking passage indeed, having a direct reference to Gen.

iii.

It
iii.,

speaks of the punishment

that the Serpent shall eat
this

mentioned
dust.

in

Gen.

It clearly states that in

punishment had

not yet taken effect

it

the prophet's days, but that

was

still

to

be accomplished hereafter.
Gentiles
into

He
the

prophesies

the calling of the

Church, and the rejection of the Jews for their

incredulity
shall

and

sins.

Still,

he says, a remnant
;

be added to the number of the elect

the

wicked shall be punished, and the godly rewarded.

In

the last place he describes the blessings and

;

peace of the Church, or new Jerusalem

culminating point of these, he says

and, as the

(ver. 25),

"The

wolf and the lamb shall feed together, and the lion
shall eat straw like the bullock
:

and dust
literal

shall be

the Serpent's meat."

In
is

many
are,

of the foregoing texts a

meaning

excluded by the very nature of the context.

however, phrases with a very clear and

They

definite metaphorical

meaning, which

is,

indeed, the

same meaning

as the

words have

in

the natural and


THE CURSE ON "THE SERPENT."
literal

in

sense.
is

They

arc

all

very clear proofs of

what

the usage of Scriptural language in this

Prostration

matter.

on the ground, dwelling or

being on the ground, licking or eating dust and

ashes,

all

these are found to be cognate phrases,

implying punishment, defeat, degradation, humiliation

voluntary or involuntary submission to a

superior

power

overthrow,
in

and
minds,

despair.

With
fail

these
to

expressions

our

we cannot
on

perceive plainly and

curse
inflicted,

distinctly the
iii.

nature of

the

in

Gen.

14,

15,

"the

Serpent"
It

may
to

be

paraphrased, as

if
is

God had

thus

spoken
Satan
:

"the Serpent," who

no other than

For having caused

op:

the

fall

of

man, and
above

for
all
In-

My
and
fulfil

will,

"thou

art

cursed
for

rational

irrational

beings;"

they shall

able to

their end,

and

to attain to the happiis

ness of which their nature

shalt
f.iil

capable.

But thou
thy end;

to be happy, having forfeited

and thou halt thus be more mi erableand wretched

than they.
en,

Immortal and
art

spiritual

as thou

and

by nature, and must always be, thy

(hall

punishment
like that of

not be m< rely a temporary one,

Adam

and Eve and

their deseeiidan!

112

THE SERPENT OF EDEN.

if

They,

they choose,
still

shall, after their short lives

on
the

this earth,

be able, through the grace of

I

Redemption which

shall presently

announce,

to rest for ever in heaven,

and

to enjoy an eternal
for
all

happiness.
forfeited

Thy

chance has been once

possibility

without the

of

any

further
in

hope.

Thou

hast exalted thyself against Me,

the

trying to
cast thee

ruin

work of

My
" all

hands

shall

down and humble

and lower than
shall
in

thee lower than thy

the beasts of
;

victim

yea,
I

the

field."

cast thee

down

to the earth

thou shalt grovel

the dust.

Degraded from thy

art,

former high estate as thou

further lowered

thou shalt be yet

and humbled.

Every action thou

dost shall add to thy condemnation and humiliation.

Always thus

grovelling on

the earth,
to
rise,

"on
and
on

thy belly shalt thou go."

Unable

powerless to exalt thyself, thou

defeat, rage,

shalt

feed

and despair, and torture thyself with

"

thy own feelings.

Dust

shalt thou eat

all

the

days of thy

life."
is

This curse, therefore,

simply,

in

Scriptural

language, a strong and clear expression for humiliation, defeat, rage,

and despair.

Satan was to be

humbled most completely.

His schemes were to

;

be defeated, his power overthrown

and the ruin

THE CURSE ON "THE SERPENT."

113

he had wrought was to be repaired by the Redeemer, promised

in the

next following verse. from

Isaiah,

The

last-quoted

text

moreover,

proves that the curse was not considered by the

prophet to have been accomplished

after
it

immediately

had been pronounced.

as

It

was not conthe days

sidered

quite accomplished even in

of the prophet.
it

This would not be the case had

referred to a bestial serpent,

its

and

to a corporeal

going on
For
the
all

belly,

to

a material eating of dust.

these should have been accomplished (in

commonly

received theory) immediately after

the condemnation.
<>f
it

Yet the prophet

It

still

speaks

in

the future tense.

was, therefore, understill

od and proclaimed by the prophet as

ing accomplishment.
perfect
It

await-

awaited

its full,

entire,

and

realization

till

the time should come, not

thi

only for the death-blow to Satan's power by

ith

of oui

Lord Jesus Christ, bul even

laini
I

for thai

further time-, wli

triumph nf the
t'

Church,

t\

of the

Lamb, was destined

put the fmal seal on the

work of the redemption

rminated, and eternal

Then, when
peai e

all

evil

hall

1"'

the Serpent'

meat."
<

then
i

hall
'

be the

omplete triumph of

<><!,

the

rthrow and defeat of Satan

i

ii4

THE SERPENT OF EDEN.

is

This

to be the culminating

climax of the Ser-

pent's curse

his seeing the salvation of the human

and appropriate.

race on the last day.

In this sense the condemnation at once becomes

intelligible, reasonable,

No mere
But the

instrument

is

unnecessarily condemned.
"

surpassing iniquity of

the Serpent," Satan, causes

"

him, as he deserved, to be

cursed above

beings"

both
;

men and

beasts

"on

all living

the earth."

He
rise

is

sentenced to eternal humiliation, defeat, and

cast fiat to the earth, ever powerless to

despair
;

feeding on what cannot sustain, nourish, or

;

please
defeat

planning schemes destined beforehand to

opposing when he knows and

;

feels

that

he must always be conquered

defeated

the abject, helpless,

Power and
Infinite
iii.

enemy

of Almighty

Goodness.

The next
will

verse also (15,) of Gen.

assumes,
" I

in this interpretation,

an appropriate meaning.

place enmity between thee and the

seed."

woman,
It

and between thy seed and her

refers to the

partly

antagonism between Satan and maneternal ruin in the individual he

still

kind,

whose

ever continues to try to accomplish, as he then tried

to

do

in its entire

mass

in

the
:

first pair.

But the

words arc

in the future tense

" I will put."

They

THE CURSE ON "THE SERPENT."

are, therefore,

115

perfectly verified

only

in

the

an-

tagonism between our blessed Saviour

of the of

the
sin

Seed

woman, then promised

sin,

as the future

Avenger

man and

the seed of "the Serpent," which

our Lord came to destroy.

Satan and

the
war,

Serpent and his seed

against
entire
tion
;

have warred, and

;

still

woman and her Seed against the human race against the plan of the redempthe
;

against our Lord and

last
till

His Church.

This

warfare will

the end of time.

In this war,

the end will be that

He
it

shall crush the Serpent's

head.

Crushing a serpent's head means a complete

;

victory over him

for

signifies

death

in

the bestial,

and

utter overthrow in the Satanic, Serpent.

will

That

crushing

be completed
shall

in

the

day of general
and

judgment.

Then

there be a complete and

most unmistakable
clared
in

victory,

manifested

de-

the united presence of God, the angels,

the devils,

and the entire human

workin
;

rare.

All shall

see the wonderful

1.

ol

the

Providence of
ad-

All shall

iee

how His glory has been

for a

vanced by everything that had occurred on earth,

even when Satan appeared
time to conquei

"Th
race shall
b<-

:i

lor the

ruin of the

human
ov<

shown

to

have been completely

be bruised
in

turned.

His head

-hall

eternal d< .ah.

n6
But
in

THE SERPENT OF EDEN.

obtaining this victory,
it

was

foretold that

the conquered should, to a certain extent, injure

the Conqueror
heel."

Thou shalt bruise or attack '] His Whether we consider the sufferings of our
:

"

['

blessed

Lord and

all

that the

Redemption

cost

Him, or whether we look

at the loss, notwithstand-

ing that Redemption, of so

for

many

individual souls

whom He

died,

we

see clearly verified

both

clauses of this portion of the curse of the Serpent.

If,

therefore, to the admitted

and glaring

diffi-

culties

against the applicability of the clauses of

this curse to the bestial serpent,

we add
in
it

the evident

appropriateness

of every clause
I

under the

interpretation which

have here ventured to give

fail to

to

it,

we cannot
lies.

surely

see in which direction

the truth
is

Nor

the less apparent and evident

the utter absence of any difficulty, and the com-

plete disappearance of every improbability, from

the narrative of the temptation and condemnation,

when thus

interpreted.

CHAPTER

VIII.

ORIGIN OF THE COMMONLY RECEIVED

INTERPRETATION,

AMONG

the few points that

first
is,

still

remain for exthe

planation, the

How came

commonly
a

received opinion to be so generally adopted in the

Church, that Satan tempted Eve by means of

bestial serpent
I

venture to give what

trust will

be found an

y and sufficient explanation.

The Church

received

thi

Old Testament from

hi

the Jewish synagogue.

This narrative of Gen.

was not one of the controverted points between the

old and the

new dispensations. The

and undei tood
in
I

early

Ihristians
it,

read Gen.

iii.,

it,

and taughl
which
it

and

wrote Upon
taught
in

it,

ise

in

had been

the Jewish syi

le.

Thai teachin
to

however, had long before ceased

be the

men

nS
literal

THE SERPENT OF EDEN.

teaching of what the sacred narrative really

declared.

There had gradually got mixed with

it

the eccentric and pretentious ideas of the Rabbis.

The Talmud,
more

the Mishna, and in general the writ-

ings of the Jewish Rabbis, are responsible for almost

absurdities than

any other

class of writings
errors,

on earth.

From them have proceeded many

and much defacement of the pure Judaism of the

Holy

Scriptures.
suffice,

One
it

instance of their teachings

to our
point.

may

for

is

One Rabbi

teaches us (as Kircher relates) that, for the purpose of tempting Eve, a devil, whose

name was Samael,

which was
After that,

came

into Paradise riding on a camel,

in

made

the shape of a serpent

we

need not be surprised that the generally received

opinion was that Satan took possession of a bestial
serpent to work out the
fall

of man.

From Judaism
early Christian

this

teaching

passed into the

Church, as an unquestioned and

belief,

undenied and uncriticized point of

never an Article of Faith.

though

Hence

it

continued to

be taught

in

the

same

sense.

There was then no

criticism of passages of Scripture in the

modern

sense

no dissection of texts with reference to

cither philology or to rationalistic objections.

sole

The
was

aim of commentators on

this

narrative

ORIGIN OF RECEIVED INTERPRETATION.

to

no
did

explain

preconceived

opinion

"

How

the serpent tempt

Eve

"

And

their explanation

was what they had learned

entered
into

before,

that

Satan
its

bestial

serpent
It

and

used

organs for that purpose.

to

never struck them

inquire

who was

meant

by "the

Serpent."

Not one of the

detailed, entered

difficulties

which we have above

in

for

moment
no such

their

minds.
could
a

From
exist.

their point of view

difficulties

They

read

the
in

Holy
a

Scriptures

with

different

object,
different

and

different

manner, and

with a
present.

disposition,
all

from those used at

in

They were

engaged

making up an
theory,

interpretation
in

to suit a preconceived

and

answering, with more

or less

ingenuity, those

objections

against their theory which were

then
the

advanced.
replies

They were
wrote,

easily

satisfied

with

they

and

did

not

even

take the
facts,

trouble to

verify
<>{

what they stated as

their

on
<>i

the authority

predecessors.
to find

Not one
for

them

'ems

t<.

have

tried

out

himself
t<>

the real sen e "f the sacred

its

narrative according

literal

up

.mill

Not

one

'em

tO

have

in\

the

in. -.miii';

of obviously analogous
"f difficulty,
,

phi

.'no-.
it

Some,
fi

held

myth, or

and not

120

THE SERPENT OF EDEN.

fact.

an historical
on, in the

But nearly

all

the others went

name

of the literal sense, to do violence

to the literal sense of the sacred narrative, over-

loading

it
it

with gratuitous suppositions, and surwith incorrect statements.

rounding

They seem
distinct

never to have considered the existence of that real

scriptural Serpent

Satan as a being quite

further question
:

from the bestial serpent, and utterly unconnected

with

Much less did But now arises the

it.

their readers or hearers.

Whence

came

the Rabbinical fable, introducing this sup?

posed possession of a bestial serpent by Satan

I

think that

we can

trace

it

back to that intense

is,

fear

and hatred of serpents which

in

and has
to their

always been, prevalent

being there so

the East,

owing

common and
Orientals,
all
;

terrible a

danger to

human

life.

To

serpents are an object

for in the
is

of the intensest detestation

East the

deadly venom of the serpent

a standing menace,

and a continual danger

to

man.

Few,
;

if

any,
are

innocuous serpents are there to be found

all

very formidable to man, with either poisonous bite

or ponderous crushing
in fact, are
coil.

All creeping things,

an abomination to the Oriental mind.

in

We
"

have a significant proof

Lev.

xi.

41,

42

And

every creeping thing that crecpeth upon the

ORIGIN OF RECEIVED INTERPRETATION.

earth
eaten.
shall

\i\

be an abomination

it

shall not
belly,

be

Whatsoever goeth upon the

and

whatsoever goeth
hath more feet

upon

all
all

four,

or

whatsoever

among

creeping things that

;

creep upon the earth, them ye shall not eat

for

they are an abomination."

this

One would
mark
But
in

think that

was quite
animals

sufficient to
for

the rejection of

such

food.

no!

With an

emphasis altogether wanting

the rejection of

other unclean animals, the sacred Lawgiver goes

on,
in

vers.

43,

44:

"Ye

shall

not

make your-

selves

abominable with any creeping thing that

creepeth, neither shall ye

make

yourselves unclean

with

them, that ye
I

should

be defiled thereby.
shall therefore

For

am

the Lord .your

God: ye
ye shall

sanctify
I

yourselves,

and

be holy; for

am

1ml}-: neither shall

ye defile yourselves with

any maimer of creeping thin- that creepeth upon

earth."

Why

this reiterated

condemnation

ol

articles of food, with the extr.

ordinary assertion of God's

altogether omitted
I'

power and
imil.n'
is

holine

in

othei

prohibitions?

maybe
trumental

aid

that

the emphasis
tin

due
had

to this
1

very

supposition,
in

that
fill.

rpent

the

But this cannot

limited
i"
th'

be.

tli'-

prohibit!

not

122

THE SERPENT OF EDEN.

it

things which go on the belly, but

to
all

is

extended

reptiles

even
feet,

to those which, like lizards,

to those, like spiders

crawl on four

and

and

centipedes, which crawl on

entirely
different
in

many

feet.

These are
habit,

form,

nature,

and

anatomy, from the serpent.

specifically but
is

They
distinct.

are

not only

generically
;

The reason
writer,
is

simply a general reason

Orientals,
all

it

is

the antipathy of

all

and

of

the

sacred

Moses
nothing

himself, to

creeping things.

There

more

horrible, abominable,

and detestable to the

;

Oriental mind than creeping things

but

among
Moses

these the quick-gliding, silent, and deadly serpent

is

the climax
iv.

of his

hatred

and

terror.
is

(Exod.

3) flies in

terror

when

his rod

changed

into a serpent,

though immediately afterwards the

appearance of even the loathly leprosy on his hand

does not seem to disquiet him much.

The forked
(Ps. cxl.
its

tongue and deadly venom of the serpent

3,

and

lviii.

Douay, exxxix. and

lvii.)

un-

certain

and unasccrtainable course (Prov. xxx. 19);

;

its

treacherous bite (Prov. xxiii. 32)

all

exhibit

the serpent as being to the Oriental mind the very

type and symbol of whatever

deceitful,

is

most malignant,
dreadful

and

evil.

The numerous and

deaths

in

the desert from the bites of the fiery

ORIGIN OF RECEIVED INTERPRETATION.

serpents

123

(Numb.

xxi. 6

and following verses) must

in

have been quite fresh

writer of Gen.
iii.

the

mind of the sacred

That remembrance must have

carefully kept, as

been perpetuated by the preservation of the brazen

serpent, which

had been very

is

evident from 2 Kings (Douay, 4 Kings)

xviii., etc.

Those who have never been

not lived
in

in

the East, or have

are

other countries where serpents

many and

deadly,

may
is

think that

am

exaggerat-

ing this terror and abomination, in order to prove

my
said

point
all
I

But

it

quite the reverse.

But,
lest

have not
I

that could be said.

will

be too

prolix,

add

but

one more

proof.
(viii.

God,
17),

by the mouth of the Prophet Jeremiah

after

mentioning

numerous

other

punishments,

including war and the devastation of their country,

in

punishment of the crimes of His people, holds

in

out against them

terrible of all
"1<],
[
1 1

the last place, and as the most

i

is

punishments, a plague
send serpent
\n
,

if

serpents

will

cockatrices,
;

among
shall

you, which shall not

bite you, saith

charmed

and they
I

the
t

Lord."
that

How
be,

truly
is

to

their

minds

mu
e\

not

which

considered

worse than
All
this
.

horrors of war
that to

proves
there

the Jews,

.1

to

other

Oriental

was nothing on earth worse, or

124

THE SERPENT OF EDEN.

terrifying,

more

serpent.

or more antagonistic than the With such impressions in their minds

and such

feelings in their hearts,

what wonder that

"

they gave the

name

of " the

Serpent

most odious and

terrible of all things

to them the to Satan,

ills
!

the arch-enemy of the

human
is

race, the subtil de-

ceiver of Eve, the cause of all

is

human

"

He

an Arab to

my

sight,"

the Turk's expression

Similarly Orientals

for

any person he
a

dislikes.

express their detestation and horror of a thing by

calling
(itself "
it

" serpent."
"

Hence they gave

Adversary
")

to Satan

meaning

the
It

the

name

of

The Serpent."

was not because they

origi-

nally believed that he had entered into, or used the

bestial serpent, in
It

any way while tempting Eve.

dealing with the

was because
in the

in his

human

race,

both

case of
it

Eve and ever

afterwards, he

had acted towards

with a

as a deadly serpent might

;

do
un-

human
tongue

individual
it
;

creeping upon
it

it

awares to deceive
forked
;

beguiling
its

with false and

infecting
;

very nature

with
bite.

venomous poison
For
this

killing

it

with death-giving

reason Satan was justly abominable to

man, and came by him to be called "the Serpent."

For
Gen.

this
iii.,

same

reason, also, the sacred writer of

wishing to represent Satan to his people

'

125 "

ORIGIX OF RECEIVED INTERPRETATION.

as their worst
to

enemy, called him

"

the Serpent

them the most

terrible of all animals.

For the

same
which

reason, further on in the curse, he uses

still

words

compare Satan

to a serpent,

making

him metaphorically a "creeping

thing," an object

of utter abomination to his people.

Most probably

Satan had, long before the time of Moses, been

commonly
Serpent."

referred

to

under the name of "the

wrote of him by that
title,

When Moses

he was doubtless clearly and distinctly understood

by

his

people to mean Satan, and no bestial ser-

pent.

An

expression well understood at one time,

set of

and under one

circumstances might easily

cir-

become ambiguous and doubtful under other

cumstances of time, place, or persons.
here an instance
of a
In
I

may

give

somewhat
India,

similar

phi,
durii

regarding serpents.

especially

the hours of darkness, the Hindoos will not speak

of a serpent without an absolute

n<

But
at

if

they an- compelled to

peak of the animal

th
il

all,

they

will not

call

it

by

names of sanp or
il

uch times they always speak of

russy, a rope.
pr<

Vet,

v.

of,

every one
ti

rly

and
for

at
ii

once understands the

:i

when,

,,f

a
in

mpany

in

ide a

hut

ays that

h<

n ;

126

THE SERPENT OF EDEN.

garden."

the

To

a stranger, or under other

cir-

cumstances, the expression might suggest a doubt

of a
for
literal

meaning, and

start

him on the search

it is

some

figurative sense.

But
to

clear

and

in-

tclligible

enough to those

whom

it is

addressed.
it

So the sacred
written,
for

narrative, at the time that

was

was doubtless perfectly

it

intelligible to all
"

whom
to

was meant, that

Gradually
in
it

" the Serpent

meant
It

Satan himself.

was

allegorized.
;

began

be taken

various

senses

much

as

some

texts are used

by preachers

at all times in

a very different sense from the original meaning.

Then new and strange

put upon
it,

constructions began to be
stories built

and quaint

upon

it,

by

the rabbinical writers

and commentators, one of

cited.

which

have already

In

course of time
fable,

the original meaning was overlaid with a

and the teaching

received

settled

down
that

to the

commonly
used a

interpretation,

Satan had

bestial serpent as his instrument in tempting Eve.

This

will

furnish

us

with a very probable and

sufficient origin for the

is

common

belief, till

a better

found.

1^7

CHAPTER
CONNECTION BETWEEN GEN.
WORSHIP.

IX.

III.

AND SERPENT-

ANOTHER
answered.

very important
difficulty

matter remains to be
it

examined, and the

offers

remains to be

Numerous authors have been

to

at very great pains

show

that serpent-worship has been

r

most widely

diffused ov<

the earth.
there

The)- say that wherever

\.

there
ship.

was

idolatry,

also

serpent-wor
il

This would, of course, simply mean that

the whole

tended
idolatry not
plain
this

globe;

for

where ha

prevailed

at

ome time?
having
t,

They exth.

universality

rpent-worship by
ruined
i

upposition

that
i

Satan,
a

human
the tra

nature by

mean of
ruin

and w

hing to p
alive

petuate thai
dition

by

idolatry, kepi

that through the serpenl

came knowledge;

128

THE SERPENT OF EDEN.

and thus induced men to worship him under that

very form
ruin.
in

which he had

first

effected

man's

Or the argument may be

stated

under a

second form.
tation

The
of
;

original tradition of the

temp-

and

fall

man must be
human
race.

coextensive with
also
is

the

human

race

and serpent-worship

co-

extensive with the

This points to

the truth of the belief that

Eve must have been

;

tempted by Satan under the form of a serpent

and that afterwards he so

far

succeeded

in further

seducing man, as to get himself worshipped universally under the form of a serpent, as the great

benefactor of the

human

race, to

which under that

gifts of
evil.

form he had communicated the godlike

wisdom and of the knowledge of good and

Thus, for instance, argues Mr. Bathurst

Deane,

"

among others, in his learned and erudite work on The Worship of the Serpent." I may candidly admit that, if all that has been
and written of serpent- worship were
strictly

said

correct, this

might prove an argument of some weight

I

against the conclusion which

to
establish.

have endeavoured
if

True serpent-worship,
in

universal,

might perhaps,
of a
universal

some way, be used

of

as a proof

tradition
;

temptation under
I

the form of a serpent

whereas

have

tried

to

GENESIS

III.

AND SERPENT- WORSHIP.

129

prove that the temptation must have been effected

directly,

and without the aid of any serpent except

title

Satan himself, spoken of under his scriptural

"

of

the Serpent."

In dealing with
it

this

matter,
:

shall

examine

under three distinct heads

in

1.

What

weight has

it

determining that serpent-worship proves the

theory of Satan's having used the bestial serpent

as
his

instrument in

tempting Eve

2.

Was
repre-

serpent-worship really so universal as

sented
?

is

3.

What
?

is

the real origin and

meaning

of serpent-worship
I

shall discuss

each point

in

a separate chapter.

txo

THE SERPENT OF EDEN.

CHAPTER
WHAT
IS

X.

THE WEIGHT OF THE ARGUMENT FROM SERPENT-WORSHIP?

show us that the arguis

Two

considerations will

ment from serpent-worship

in itself.
It

not a strong one

would be a very strong one

if

there were

no other hypothesis
worship than
its

for the existence of serpent-

supposed derivation

from

the
I

incidents of the temptation of Eve.

shall

But, as

show

in

Chapter XII., the

rise

and progress

of serpent-worship can be satisfactorily explained

by a

rival
it

and better theory.

were a
fact) that

Hence the mere

fact (if

serpent-worship be-

came

prevalent, to a certain or to a great extent,

itself,

throughout the world, would not of

prove the

conclusion sought to be deduced from

there
is

it.

For

if

a second hypothesis, as

good

at least as

ARGUMENT FROM SERPENT-WORSHIP.

the
first,

131

the conclusion would at best be a very

doubtful one.

There

is

another point of great weakness in this

If,

hypothesis.

as assumed, the serpent

to
it

was known

and acknowledged
the
fall

have been the instrument of

of

man,

would very naturally have

become the object of detestation and abomination

to

man, rather than the object of his love and

It is

worship.

easy to attribute this supposed, but

result
I

most unnatural,
deceiver,

to the

wiles of the archhis

Satan.

rather

think he showed

wilincss in

getting himself worshipped under in-

direct forms.

No amount

of wilincss could possibly

a tradition of the serpent

make mankind, with such

alive

among them,

love and reverence

and worship
suppose the

the very instrument of their ruin.

sibility of this,
is

To

to

suppose a most irrational

disposition in

man.
be said,
in

Nor may

it

reply, that the serpent

was worshipped as the cause of the knowled

of good and evil to man.

For

it

is

a very evident

thing that

Satan and the serpent could

a
fact,

not be,
the

and were not as

either the canst- or

ol

occasion of the knowledgt

good and
is

evil.

This
to

knowledge
nature
ol

"I

good
a. a

and

evil

essential

the

man.

rational animal,

endowed with

132

THE SERPENT OF EDEN.

intellect

an

and a

will,

and capable of knowing and

This knowledge must

serving God, his Creator.

have been possessed by

very
first

Adam

and Eve
;

at the

instant of their creation

otherwise they

could not have been real and perfect

human
in

beings.

This knowledge must have existed

fore,

them, there-

even before the suggestion of Satan, and before

fruit.

the eating of the forbidden

If

Adam

and

Eve had not already possessed

this

knowledge of
they would

discriminating between good and

evil,

have been utterly incapable of receiving a precept

or

command.

It

would have been quite useless

for

the Lord

God
;

to order

them not

to eat of

any

particular fruit

because, in the absence of

knowwhich
in-

ledge, they could not

have any

free choice,

presupposes knowledge.

Nor could they have

curred any responsibility in disobeying that com-

mand.
act.

Nor could they have committed any

for their deed.

sinful

Nor could they have deserved any punishAll these things necessarily
evil,

ment

presuppose the knowledge of good and

is

which

essential to all rational beings.

There cannot,
that

therefore, be the slightest

doubt

Adam
;

and

Eve, even in the

first

moment

of their existence,

possessed the use of intellect and free-will

and
the

consequently the

knowledge, together with

ARGUMENT FROM SERPENT- WORSHIP.

choice, of

133

good and
1

evil.

These are

essential to

human
1

nature.

It

may be

asked, What, then, are

we

to understand

by the

fact

mentioned in Gen. ii. 9, that God planted in the garden of Eden " the tree of life, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil " ?

Whatever meaning we may seek

thing
is

to find

in

this passage,

certain,

namely, that

it

cannot

mean

that

Adam

one and Eve

could,

did not

know

right

from wrong, and good from

evil, till

they eat of

the fruit of that particular tree.

We

readily admit that

God

by His almighty power, create a

tree the fruit of

which could have

the power of conferring a knowledge of good and

evil, where such knowledge did not naturally exist. But this was not at all necessary in the case of Adam and Eve, who naturally possessed that knowThis is simply a plain and ledge as part of their human nature.

admitted point.

What is really meant by that tree being called "the tree of the knowledge of good and evil," is generally ami rightly explained of experimental knowledge, which Adam and Eve acquired by sin of I am inclined their change from a good to an evil moral condition. to add, that the word " knowledge " here may mean " test." Then'

110

prohibition against the eating of the

tree of

fruit

of the tree of

life.
ii.

There was only one

17
;

iii.

3).

which the fruit was forbidden (den. That Was the one tree for causing a certain knowli

of

good and

evil.

Nol

in

Adam and
Not

Eve.

Nol

thai

they did nol

already

know good and

evil.

that the use of the fruit

of thai
I.

would confei on them tint knowh would be acquired by Adam and Eve.

Nol thai the know

I'm
thai
ii

was the testby

ot,

which God was

evil

to

.ii

criminate

tin'I

io.ni
hit

the

mong mankind.
no inten

he

kit

from
those

who

eal

of

it;

but

il

wa

tie
I

live knowledge in the oul knowledge of them, tint

.a
.

of

bad, that
in

ii

produi ed.

I'

Adam and led from that i>, of tie- i^mmI bein knowledge mad. known who were good and who weir evil, ei [I
tii

II
!

nt, in

ai.

produi

in;;

knowledge
tin

in

evil.

ing the

purpo

"l

tt

on

tie
1

,.|.

134

THE SERPENT OF EDEN.

is

This truth
to

so self-evident, that

it

is

an insult

human

nature to suppose that mankind could

have ever been induced to believe universally that

the
serpent,

by causing

sin,

communicated the
to

knowledge of good and

evil

man.

The

ser-

pent, therefore, could never have been considered

the cause or the occasion of the bestowal of reason

upon man.

Therefore, supposing the existence of

such a tradition, namely, that the serpent was the

instrument of the temptation and
fall

of man,

it

would naturally have been associated with

ideas of sin,
in
evil,

the

and ruin

to

man.

It

could not

any way have been looked upon as the bestower

It
it
is,

of reason.

therefore, utterly unnatural

to

suppose that

could ever, with such a tradition,

have become the object of human worship.

tradition, therefore, fails

The

to explain the origin [of

serpent-worship

and, consequently, that tradition

can receive no strength or support from serpentworship, local or universal.

fails signally,

This proof, therefore,

little

and

is

of but

weight.

But

if

this

argument from the universality of

is
it

serpent-worship

so

weak and unnatural

ground
is

as
is

have just shown

to be, the very

cut

away entirely from under it such as it we come to examine the next question.

when

135

CHAPTER

XI.

WAS SERPENT-WORSHIP UNIVERSAL?

'0<f>io\aTptia,

or

serpent-worship,

is

study of

such great extent, so vast

varied in
its

in its literature
it

and so

details, that

would require a bold

like a

man
it.

to say that he

had anything

mastery of
written

Nearly

all

the authors also

who have

on the subject have

between

tried to establish a connection

erpent-worship and the generally received

fall

opinion of the

of man, through the instrumen

serpent, and have declared and
it

tality of a bestial

maintained

that
to

was
I

universal.

Vet, with

all

due deference

them,

venture openly and boldly

to contradict the universality of serpent-worship in

If.
I

do not speak diffidently on

ol
<<f

this

matter,

in

the learning and the

f

erudition,

and

tin

numbers
opinion.

authors
think

wh<>
that
I

hold

the

opposite
in

For

have succeeded

136

THE SERPENT OF EDEN.

all their

detecting an important fallacy, pervading

arguments and
their

all

the facts
It
is

by which they support

that

assertions.

not because of any overI

weening self-confidence, but because

I

feel

should otherwise be wanting

in

the interests of

truth, that I

purpose here to show how very slight

(as

consideration

natural and

necessary as
is

it

has simply been absolutely wanting)

sufficient

to overturn the entire edifice of serpent-worship,

with

its

superstructure of a supposed primaeval

tradition, in the

commonly received sense. Has serpent-worship really been universal

?

or

even almost universal

All writers on
has."

serpent-worship say " Yes

into

it

They go
it

minute details of
practised,
for

all

the

countries where

was

and

all

the places

where temples were erected

India,

it.

Assyria, Arabia,
all

China, Palestine
;

Egypt, and

the

rest

of Africa
Britain
;

Greece and

Rome
;

Scandinavia and

North and South America, and many

islands of the Pacific

say, the

Ocean

all these,

that

is

to

whole world, are stated to have been given

Anterior authors are cited
; ;

to serpent-worship.

hundreds of
dicated,
obelisks,

facts are given

monuments
rings,

are in-

including temples,

statues,

gems,

and

tablets.

All these are, with

much


WAS SERPENT-WORSHIP UNIVERSAL?
labour,
137

and ingenuity, and research, and erudition,

to

marshalled

prove

that

serpent-worship was
race.

universal with the

human

But, the wish of

being able to prove this having been the father

to

the thought, the

usual results have followed.

Statements have been accepted without examination.

Suppositions have been

largely
all,

dealt

in,

where proofs were wanting.

distinction has

Above

a certain
it

not been made, where

is

most

imperatively required.
facts

Even admitting

all their

and assertions and suppositions,

once made,
is

this

dis-

tinction,

fatal to

the assertion of the

It
is

universality of serpent-worship.
distinction

a simple
to use

one that they have

whom
I

all failed

and yet

it is

one which both can be and ought to

be made.
All the writers
Milt

have been able to cona

and

have consulted

very great

number
scrtin

have confused two entirely different kinds of

pent-worship, which,
truth in the
if

we
it

arc

to
I

arrive at

matter, must

ily

be carefully

kept separate and examined apart.

of

these two things, one

is

serpent-worship, proa
is

perly so railed the worship of the serpenl as

god, in himself and for Ids

direct serpent-worship.

own
other

sake.
is

This

The

serpent-wor

138

THE SERPENT OF EDEN.

improperly so called
;

ship,

that

is,

the use and

veneration of the serpent not for himself but merely

as the symbol or emblem of

some one or more of

This
is

the

gods of different nations.

worship. 1

indirect serpent-

The mere statement

That there
.two kinds,
I
is

of this distinction

will,

am

certain, suffice to gain the assent of all

my

readers.

an essential difference between the

It is so self-

think needs no proof.

irresistible

evident as to have an

claim on our

minds as the voice of

truth.

It is these

two enall

tirely different kinds of serpent-worship

which

authors on this subject confuse and blend into one,

and
and

treat

of as one

as

if

there were no radical

I

essential difference

between them.

take

my

stand by this distinction.

Now, even the most

superficial

glance at the

works on serpent-worship
1

will suffice to

convince

One

very important fact

may

here be noted with reference to

it more prevalent than in Yet among the objects of Egyptian worship was the ibis. And why? Because of its deadly hatred to serpents, which it instinctively sought out and killed The serpent itself, therefore, could not have been the direct object of worship, for the Egyptians would not then have worshipped an animal for killing their god. The serpent, in itself, therefore was to them an object of fear and hatred, which they rejoiced to see killed. When they worshipped it, it was, and could only be, as the symbol of some other

^crpc-nt-worship.

In no country was

Egypt.

deity.

WAS SERPENT-WORSHIP UNIVERSAL?

us,

139

that nearly all that

is

there adduced regards

serpent-worship of the second kind

that

is,

indirect

serpent-worship

not

for its

own
is

sake, but as

symbol of other gods. and

real

This

by no means true
is,

serpent-worship.

It

indeed,

still

certain veneration of the serpent.

But when that

veneration

is

paid to

it

as the

symbol of another,

and solely
its

for the

sake of that other, and not for

it

own

sake, then
itself,

is

no longer directed to the

Therefore
indirect
all,
it is

serpent
really

but to that other.

all.

not

serpent-worship at

serpent-

worship can have no connection at

not even

an apparent one, with the history of the temptation as

represented

by the commonly received

theory.
fore,

All those facts of serpent-worship, there-

which regard indirect serpent-worship as a

in

symbol, are quite foreign to the question

hand.

They have nothing to do of E\ Tiny ma)- and

quietly and

with

the

temptation
be

should,

therefore,

.imply put

aside, as not

being to the

purp

Simple and necessary as

it

this operation

evidently

is

surprising
it

t<

see what

terrible

havoc and

devastation

doe

to tin

fabric of serpent-worship.
all

Down
the

at

one blow goes

of

that

is

piled

up from
Babylon,

serpent-worship

China,

India,

140

THE SERPENT OF EDEN.

Rome,
Palestine,

Greece,

Arabia,
;

Egypt,
is

Scan-

dinavia, Britain,

and America
of

that

to say, the

so-called

serpent-worship

nearly

the

whole

world

All this was only indirect serpent-worship.

all

In

these

countries

the

serpent was simply the

symbol or emblem of some god, with

whom

he had

some

either real or

supposed connection.

This god

(and not the serpent) was the direct and sole object
of the worship paid.
It

was a veneration extended god

its

to the serpent for the sake of this

to

one
sake,

thing for the sake of another

not for

own

but simply and solely with reference to that other.

It is like

the veneration paid by Christians to the

cross

not for the sake of the

wood

or image, but
it,

solely for the sake of

Him who upon

and by

means of
slavery of

it,

vouchsafed to redeem us from the

It is like
;

sin.

the reverence and honour

its

paid to a flag
its

not for the sake of

design or

material, but solely for the sake of the country

it is

of which

the symbol.

After eliminating from the mass of what has

been written regarding serpent-worship

parts which
treat

all

those

of indirect

serpent-worship as
little

above described, we find very

our consideration.

indeed

left for

The

effect has been like that

WAS SERPENT- WORSHIP UNIVERSAL

of sticking a knife into an inflated balloon.

141

What

remains

is

but as very

little

compared with what

in

appeared before.

And

even

what

little

remains,

we can

still

find place for a further reduction.

For, in examining even those cases in which

we

are told that living serpents were kept and fed in

certain

temples,

and
still

there

venerated and wor-

shipped,

we

shall

find that,

even

in these cases,
still

not

many,

after all

the

great majority arc

found to be nothing but instances of mere symbolic

worship of the living serpent for
connection with some god.
that in such cases a living
its

real or

supposed
is

The only

difference

and moving symbol was

used instead of an engraved, carved, or sculptured

one.

The adoration

is still

indirect serpent-worship.
it

In none of these cases, therefore, can

be said

that real, direct serpent-worship, properly so called,

existed.
as a real
In other cases the serpent

was kept, not

for the

god or object of worship, but

a

sake

of beii

mean of taking
i

auguries,

by the

method known

to

the ancients as 6<piofiavreia, or

In these
<

divination by the serpent.

ictity

!<

no

pedal

would attach to the serpent, any more than

and herd
,

bred

lor

.,i<

h'Im

i.il

purposes,

or the birds

employed by aug
these

between

two

objects

for

which

living

142

THE SERPENT OF EDEN.

by the
ancients,

serpents were used

we

fully cover

nearly

all

the cases adduced of the veneration paid

to the living animal,

and (according to undiscrimiliving

self.

nating writers), for

I

its

have refrained from quoting each particular

;

case

both because

it

would swell these pages to an

I

undesired extent, and because

am

not ex professo

engaged
worship.

in

combating these works on serpent-

But a very elementary knowledge of

mythology will enable even the moderately educated

to supply his

own

facts.
is

In each system of mythology the serpent

to be the

found

symbol of several gods.

In Greece, for

instance, he

was the symbol of Apollo, of Minerva,

of Juno, of Truth, etc.

the symbol of a god.
self

Yet everywhere he was but

Nowhere

is

he the god him-

the direct object of worship. A mere worship

is

of the symbol

not sufficient to constitute real

Real,
direct

serpent-worship.

serpent-worship,

therefore, in its true sense, never

was universally
never existed

prevalent.
universally.

It

does not exist

it

Symbolical serpent-worship did, but

that does not help our opponents.

itself,

The

serpent

as such, never

was worshipped, even geneas

rally,

much

less

universally, led

the

superficial

reader

may have been

to believe, from

the

WAS SERPENT-WORSHIP UNIVERSAL*

accounts furnished by writers,

143

who have

failed to

make
and
But,

this

fundamental distinction between direct

indirect serpent-worship.

even

after

eliminating

all
still

this

mass of

supposed serpent-worship, there

remain a few

very
for its

few

cases,
sake.

adduced by professed writers

on serpent-worship, of the adoration of the serpent

own

These form the supposed cases

of direct and

properly so-called serpent-worship.

briefly,

These we are bound to examine

explain.
1.

and to

There

is

the living serpent worshipped

by the
and

Ophites, a sect of ancient Gnostic heretics, which

was kept,

fed,

and venerated

in their temples,

which at their meetings was allowed, or rather

invited, to

wind amid the bread and wine of

But as they openly professed that

their
this

Kucharist.

serpent was venerated as the symbol of our Lord,

we may

at

once relegate this case to the class of

symbolic adoration.
2.

There

is

the history

<>f

Bel

and the Dra|

"

("dragon"

in

Scripture simply meaning

in

a gnat

serpent"; narrated

the Book of Daniel,

in a part

which

the

Protestant

Churche

have
lint,

relegated

among
seems

the Apocryphal writings,

l<>

this draj

have been only a

living

symbol of Bel

44

THE SERPENT OF EDEN.

had no separate temple or
priests

himself, for he

of his own, as each ancient god had.

He
;

was,

it

appears, kept in or near the temple of Bel

after the destruction of Bel,
it is

because,
there

said, "

And

was a great dragon

nians worshipped

in that place,
" (ch. xv.).

and the Babylo-

him

And

he seems

to have been ministered to

for
it is

by the

priests of Bel

said further on, "

He

hath destroyed Bel,

"

he hath killed the dragon, and slain the priests

mentioning only one set of priests

for both.

Daniel

was not

at first

asked to worship

this

dragon or

serpent, but to worship Bel.

to

When

Daniel objected

do so on the ground that Bel was only an

inanimate object of brass and clay, and furthermore,

when he had proved

Turning then

Bel's inability to

do

anything, even to eat, the king bethought him of

the dragon.
to Daniel,

he said to

him, that as this dragon was at least a living god,

Daniel could not object to worshipping him.

too,
is

This,

therefore only another instance of venera-

tion paid to a serpent, as

the living symbol

of Greek

of

deity,

as

in

the

cases

and

Roman
living

paganism.
3.

The
is

veneration

of the

Hindoos

for

serpents

easily explained

by

their belief in the

transmigration of souls, coupled on the one side

WAS SERPENT- WORSHIP UNIVERSAL

by
their fear of the death-giving reptiles,
is,

145

and on
in their

the other with the fact that the serpent

mythology, the symbol of Shiva, the Destroyer,

the third god of their trinity, and the most powerful

and dreaded of all

4.

their deities.

The only real cases of serpent-worship, direct own sake, are found in a few tribes, among the most degraded, of Africa. This, howand
for its

ever,

is

too small and insignificant a portion of the

race to adduce for so mighty a statement as
universality

human
sides,

the alleged

of serpent-worship.

Be-

even

among
lizard,

these tribes,
instead of

some
the

substitute an

iguana, or

serpent.

This

shows us clearly that we must look

for the origin

in

of this local and degrading superstition

some-

thing very different from the ancient tradition of

the
fall

of man, corrupted
literally
t

by human weakness.
met with even
this subject.

There are
of real din-'
in

no other authenticated casus

l><:

serpent-worship to

the work-, of profes ed

writers

Oil

And
A

be

it

remembered

tint

they are by no means

thi n
1

particular or critical in the selection "I

l

an instance of
'

this,

following.

Mr.

Bathui

I'

.UK-, in

his justly

admired and learned

cites

work"The Worship

of the Serpent,"

Bishop
real

Pococke as furnishing us with an instance of

1.

146

THE SERPENT OF EDEN.

;

serpent-worship in modern Egypt ceeds at once to adduce

it

and he pro-

in

support of his theory

Yet, on examining

the commonly received one.

the case, what do

we

find

Simply a mass of

contradiction, and supposition.

Pococke

is

told that
:

in

a certain
so, said

place there
;

dwells a holy serpent

are two of them.

not
It

others

there
it,

No

one present had seen

varieties of

or

could

tell
it

to

which of the

Egyptian

serpents

belonged.

had

been there, said

:

some, from the time of

said others
;

Mohammed

not

at

all,

the angel
All this

it has been there since the day when who accompanied Tobias bound Satan. might have convinced most men that this

serpent was

merely a legendary one.

Not
visit.

so

Bishop Pococke.
is

He

goes to pay
is

it

He
a

taken to the place, and

told that the serpent

dwells under the dome-covered

mausoleum of
clefts
built,

Mohammedan
certain

saint,

in

one of the

of the

rock on which that

angels

mausoleum was
devils

while
in

and

and jinns dwelt

the neighbouring clefts.

Most of

us would have

been

fully

convinced that the serpent was quite

as mythical as the presence of those spirits.

But

not

Bishop Pococke.

He

finds

people bowing

down and praying and

kissing the ground, accord-

WAS SERPENT-WORSHIP UNIVERSAL*

ing to

147

Mohammedan

fashion, before a saint's

tomb

and he concludes that they are worshipping

serpent.

this

He sees

signs of blood

and

entrails at the

entrance of the mausoleum.

The

people, on being

questioned, deny that sacrifices are offered to the

serpent.

Bishop Pococke
certain
feasts,

forgets
sacrifice

that

MohamIn

medans, on

animals.

spite of everything,

he jumps to the conclusion,

is

that divine worship, in this case, really

this living serpent

paid to

which no one has seen, and

!

which
I

all

deny

to be a god
tale
! !

And

Mr. Bathurst

>

ane adopts the

give this merely for the

purpose of showing, by one instance, the uncriticizing

and

uncritical

mode

in

which cases of so-called

travellers,

serpent-worship are related by

doubtless
in
;

honest

purpose, and otherwise

men

of learning

and

ability

and how they arc blindly accepted by

a

authors

who have
matter

theory to
to

maintain,
.1

in

aid
rted

of which they arc ready

facts,

accept any

no

how

inconsequential

to

their

purpose, or

how

self-contradictory in their details.

ide all
in

Having thu
.'nt,

direct
in
ilical

worship of
Africa,
I

th<

except
of

a few
the

shall

ak

briefly

worship of the

pent
'I'll-

nt

was

ti

ibol of

various

clc.it

14S
It

THE SERPENT OF EDEN.

represented

among

Greeks, the god of wisdom,

of healing, of chastity, of agriculture, of war, of

sensuality, of drunkenness.
If,

as asserted, serpent-

worship
favourite

was

simply

Satan-worship,

under

his

symbol of the animal by means of which

he had achieved his greatest triumph,

how came

the serpent to represent agriculture (Cybe/e), chastity

(Piidicitia), truth
(

Veritas),

and healing (/Esculaof

self-

pius)?

The

arts

of peace, the glories

light

mortification,

the

of truth,

the benefits of

healing, are

all diametrically opposed to what we know and can guess of the desires and wishes of Satan. The serpent could not, therefore, have been

worshipped as the direct symbol of Satan himself.

This
also clearly

proves that the

serpent was
deities
;

regarded

merely as a symbol of those

in

because he has not

himself any of the qualifica-

tions necessary to indicate those virtuous offices.

He

has not a multiplicity of attributes, powers, or

influences, so as to

have become the original object

of worship, and to have been afterwards deified,

under these various

titles,

into various gods.

His

worship began after he had been made the symbol.

lie
is,

therefore,

simply a symbol, under various

shapes and under diverse circumstances, of different

gods, that had already been deified and worshipped

WAS SERPENT-WORSHIP UNIVERSAL]

for various reasons.

149

Even when

the serpent Python

representing
is

Satan, or the Principle of Evil

is

being slain by the Principle of Good, the serpent

shown

as

the symbol of the

Good

Principle,

even during the actual destruction of the

Principle.

Evil

A striking

instance of this multifarious

symbolic use of the serpent

may

be seen

in the

world-renowned statue known as the Belvedere

Apollo.
" Or view the lord of the unerring bow, The god of Life, of Poetry, and Light

The Sun The

in

human form

arrayed, ami brow

All radiant from his triumph in the fight;

shaft has just

been shot

the arrow
;

bright

With an immortal's vengeance

trils

in his

eye

beautiful disdain, ami might,

full

And
I

majesty flash their

in

lightnings by,

'

veloping

that

one glance the Deity."

(<
It

hiide Harold.")

represents

him,

then,

as

having

just

dis-

charged the holt of death against

handle of the DOW
right
-)f

Python.

Th<

is

shown
are

in his left

hand, while the

in

arm and hand

h<
1

thrown back
in

the attitude
of his aim.
in

an an

i"

exulting
h<i .

the
r<

a<

ura< y

V<

while

thus

pre -in. d

the very

of triumphing over the

Principle of
Evil,
<n

Pythonic serpent, the

then, to his right and behind

of a
tree,
is

him, coiled
pent, the

the trunk
<>f

again the
(

symbol

Apollo

himself, the

iood

150

THE SERTENT OF EDEN.

This multifarious use of the serpent
such varied deities
a
is

Principle. 1
for so

many and

a very strong

proof that he
deity.
1

is

mere symbol

himself,

and no

There

is

a cast of this statue in the Crystal Palace, in the of the

room as the models The original, as all Rome.

same Forum, the Pantheon, and the Colosseum.

is

the world knows,

in the

Vatican

Museum

in

i5i

CHAPTER

XII.

ORIGIN OF SERPENT-WORSHIP.
It
is,

of course, quite foreign to the purpose of this

to indicate

work

an alternate hypothesis, different

for the origin of the use

from that generally given,

of the serpent as a symbol of divinity, and for the

consequent veneration of
I

this

symbol.

Yet, lest

be accused of being one

to destroy,

who can only

briefly

rashly

attacl;
I

and

is

impotent to build up,

to

may
me

be

allowed
an

here

sketch

the

skeleton
allow

of such
i"

hypothesis.

My
of
I

limits will

do no mor

God, the purest

ha

and simplest
fi

all

spiritual

no shape or

>rm of

lis

own

and

He
the

could not, therefore,

lighl

in

the

beginning,

while

of

true

tradition

remained

undimmed
of time

among men,
image or
r<

be

worshipped
itation,

under any material

in
i

Bui

our

ie

152

THE SERPENT OF EDEN.

human
itself

corrupt

nature hastened to represent the

Deity to

under sensible forms and images,

chosen from the objects around them.

these images and representations

At

first

may have been

course of time

used merely as symbols

but

in

they became the objects themselves of idolatrous

worship.

Among

such objects, the sun, the most

of
all

impressive to

man

God's material works,

and the most universally known, would certainly

become the
a matter of

first,

both

in

time and

in

rank, of

all

the subsequent objects of idolatry.

fact, is

The

sun, as

directly

and

in

himself the chief

god, or at

least

one of the chief gods, of every

all

system of idolatry, absolutely

over the world.

Wherever

his enlightening

beams penetrated and

felt,

his vivifying influence

was
the

there he was
object
universal
of

made
real

god,

and

became

direct

idolatrous

worship.

With the

spread

of this idolatry of the sun,

came the

necessity of
it,

adopting some object as a symbol to represent

when

its

own

form, or the

human form

of the

sun-god, could not, for any special reason, be used.

Such reasons might be the want of space, the

maintenance of the secrets of mysteries, and others.
]

fence a symbol was adopted for the representation

of this god, even as he had most probably been

ORIGIN OF SERPENT- WORSHIP.

himself, in the beginning, the

153

symbol of the one

first

true
in

and

living

God.

That symbol was

is

found

the circle, because the sun

in that

apparent to

man

always
the

shape or form.

In course of time

plain

circle

was

improved upon, and was

changed into the serpent-circle

a serpent depicted
in its

that

is

to
its

say,
tail

in a circular form,

with

mouth.

Various reasons

may

be suggested

for the adoption of the serpent, especially for the

symbol of the
i.

sun.
its

Because of

apparent connection with the

it

movements
and
grows

of the sun, with which

torpid
in

hybernates
with

winter,

reappearing
the

renewed

life

and vigour when

sun

returns

northward with vernal heat rekindled.

2.

Because each year, after winter,

it

renews

its

skin and apparent youth, as the sun seems to

1)

do

sprin

Becau
sun.
.).

it

loves to bask in tin

rays

<>f

the

Be< an

of

it,
is

disc-like "i
its

<

ir<

ular shape

when

coiled

up,

which

favourite po ition while at

Whether
the
right

th<

ic
it

and
is

ither

are or are nol that

in

ones,
of

quite certain

every
of

country

the

earth,

and

in

every

system

154

THE SERPENT OF EDEN.

mythology, wherever sun-worship has prevailed

all

over the world,

in

fact

the

serpent

is

always

the sure and inseparable symbol

of the various

sun-gods.
logical

There

is,

literally,

no variety of mythois

worship

in

which the serpent

not the

chief

symbol of the sun.

In process of time, the

many

qualities, real or

supposed, of the sun came to be deified, each into

a separate god.

An

analysis of

mythology would

prove this beyond a doubt.

ever,

All these gods, howin origin,

having been but one

continued to

retain the original distinctive sun-symbol, the ser-

pent.

Once

started

on the downward path

of
to

idolatry, all nations

went on adding gradually

the numbers of their gods.

cation of attributes,

Then, by a communi-

privileges,

and

qualities,

all

these gods, sharing

sun,

in

the idolatrous worship of the

came

also to

share with him the honour of

having the serpent as their symbol.

From

this

it

followed that the serpent, become the symbol of

numerous other

deities,

in

time was adopted as

divinity.

the generic symbol of

divinity

ALL

Wherever a
its

was worshipped, the serpent,

constant
use

symbol,
this

was

in

and veneration.
it,

Yet

veneration was given to

not for

itself,

but merely
I

as the symbol of the divinity.

This,

am

con-

ORIG IX OF SERPENT-WORSHIP.
vinced,
is

155

one source of the origin and universality

of the fact that the serpent has been chosen for

veneration

as

the

symbol and

emblem

of the

divinity in every system of false worship.

There

is

yet a second source to point out.

is

The

greatest of all mysteries in the world

the exist-

ence and permission of

"

evil.

Its

complete incominto

prehensibility

led

mankind very early

the

Good and the Evil Principles. The Good Principle, however, was supposed, of His own nature, to be inclined to do good to all, and
dual worship of the

consequently to need

no

conciliation.

On

this

account

Ic

was both
forgotten,

less

thought of and almost

commonly
ciple

and His worship very genethe contrary, the Evil Prin-

rally neglected.

On

became the
caused

chief,

almost the

sole, object

of

the

worship of the
it

ignorant,

owing

to the fear
tin
bi

which
that
it

in

them, and owing to

was always meditating and contriving

inflict
it
'1

evil,

and would certainly

with worship and
the symbol
<>i

unless

deprecated

sacrifice.

he serpent becani'

the

Evil

Principle,

owing
ever)-

t.>

In

being a deadly terror t"

man
the1

in

country

which was early peopled by

qui<
1:

human
e,

race,
blai
I-,

The
pro

and
hii

oui

its

minent, and unflini

w ift-darting

and

156

THE SERPENT OF EDEN.

and,

forked tongue,

above
it

all,

its

death-giving

poisonous

bite,

constitute

a most malignant and

fittest

terrible animal.

Hence

it

was deemed the

to

become the symbol of the Evil

Principle.

As

the Evil Principle succeeded in drawing to itself

all

worship, to the almost utter exclusion

Principle,
it

of the

Good
looked

came,
the

in course of time, to
if

be

upon
;

as
in

principal,
its

not the

sole
ser-

divinity
pent,

and

consequence

symbol, the

came

to be regarded as the generic

symbol
worship

of

all divinity.

Of

this retirement of the

of the

Good

before that of the Evil Principle,

we

have two clear proofs, among the

be adduced,
in

many

that might

the deposition of Saturn, followed

reign of Jupiter, Neptune,

by

the tripartite
;

and

Pluto

and

in the

absorbed self-contemplation of
reign

Bruhm, followed by the

trinity,

of the

Hindoo

Brahma, Vaishnu, and Shiva.

serpent, originally the

The

symbol of the Evil

the
generic

Principle,

having

in

time

become

symbol of

all divinity,

came

to be used also as the

it

symbol of the Good Principle whenever

necessary to
represent

became
well-

Him.

Hence

the

known hieroglyph
the egg, that
is

of the two serpents striving for

the

Good and

Evil Principles

sharing the dominion of the earth.

ORIGIN OF SERPENT-WORSHIP.

157

These two sources of the origin of the symbol of

the serpent for the Divinity,

seem to account pretty

satisfactorily for the universality,

among

the hea-

thens, of symbolic or indirect serpent-worship.

Among
religion

the Jews, however, the author of

all evil

was not regarded as one of two equal gods. was a

pure

Their

Monotheism.
all

They were

taught that the author of

evil

was Satan, the

chief of the angelic powers which rebelled against

God.

They found
them

that the Principle of Evil

all

around
I

was symbolized by

the

serpent.
"

[ence they also gave the

name

of

"

The Serpent

to Satan, the Principle, in their system, of

all Evil.

Thus

this rebel angel-chief

came

to be indiscrimi-

nately called
ually
titles,

Satan and

"

the Serpent," and

was

well

understood and known under both

by the Jews.

Summary
1

<>i

Si iii vi

-WORSHIP,

may now
this

briefly
lion

sum up

the results obtained

in

discu

on serpent-worship.
:

We
to

have

drawn the following conclusions

1.

Real

serpent-worship,
its

directly

paid

the
local

serpent for
t<>

own

sal,'-,

is

too limited and

;

merit any special

attention

and as

it

occur*

158

THE SERPENT OF EDEN.

among the most degraded specimens of human race, we conclude that it is not a relic
tradition,

precisely

the

preserved from the deposit of ancient, pure, and

primaeval

but merely a case of local

human
2.

degeneration.
the very few cases of apparently direct

Even

serpent-worship given by writers on this subject,

are found,

on closer examination, to

be

easily

resolved into cases of symbolic worship, as above.

3.

In

all

other cases serpent-worship

is

found to

be merely an indirect veneration of the serpent, as

the symbol,

emblem,

sign,

or

representation
;

of

some other god, notably the sun

not the serpent
4.
itself, is

which god, and

the real object of worship.

In course of time the serpent was adopted as

all

the generic symbol of

as the

divinity,

and was used

the Evil

emblem

of both the
specially

Good and

Principle, but
latter.

more

and frequently of the

Hence among the Jews it became both the emblem and the name of Satan. 5. The asserted universality of serpent-worship,
therefore,
is

not a

fact.

The statements made

still

{bond fide,
truth) are

no doubt, but

without objective
dis-

due solely to the uncritical want of

real

tinguishing between
worship.

and symbolic serpentis

This distinction

both essential

in itself,

0RIG1X OF SERPENT-WORSHIP.
and necessary
matter.
6.

159

for the

full

understanding of the

Not being

universal

in

fact,

not being even

common

no

argument can be drawn

that
it

from soindicates

called serpent-worship to prove

any ancient and

universal

tradition

of

Satan's

having seduced Eve by means of a serpent.

7.

The
by

details

and

facts,

therefore, of serpent-

worship, so laboriously, laudably, and usefully collected

writers like Mr. Bathurst Deanc, Bryant,
I

and Faber, cannot be said to oppose what

pent was used by Satan
8.

am

trying to maintain, namely, that no material serin

tempting Eve.
a
clear
in

Lastly,

we have obtained

and sub-

ntial

indication of the
not
in

manner

which Satan

came,
Moses,

only to

be called "the Serpent"

by

Gen.

iii.,

but also commonly, both before

and

after his time.

i6o

THE SERPENT OF EDEN.

CHAPTER

XIII.

CONCLUSION.
It
will

be a useful thing to conclude with a brief

of what has been

summary

shown

in these pages.
iii.

We
the

have seen that the interpretation of Gen.

difficulties,

presents serious

which render untenable

received
;

explanation

commonly

and that

the other theories are absolutely undeserving of

serious consideration.
use, in
its

The
many.

objections against the

any way,

of a bestial serpent
are
is

by Satan or

acting of
1.

itself,

The
It

serpent

by no means the most

and

subtil

of

all
2.

living beings.

could

not
it

naturally

talk

Satan's

talking through
of his scheme,
3.
4.

would have ensured the defeat

suspicions.

by exciting Eve's
all

It is

not cursed above

its

animals.
bestial serpent

Going on

belly

is

to the

CONCLUSION. no
curse, but

161

only

its

natural

mode

of progres-

sion.
5.

It

does not and cannot feed on dust.

is

6.

There

no special enmity between

it

and man,

above other animals.

7.

God's justice would not allow

Him

to curse

the innocent and irrational instrument of Satan's

malice.
8.

The Redeemer

did not, in any sense, crush

the head of any bestial serpent.

9.
till

No

particular bestial serpent could have lived

"

the
10.
lie,

coming of

the Seed."
is

The
the

serpent

not

said to

have come or

either at the time

and place of the temptation,

or
v
i

at

time and place of the condemnation.

serpent, under the

et

the presence of a bestial

circumstances, would not have been tolerated by

Adam
[I.

and Kvc, even

in their

hiding-place.
serpent,

As
is

the text

ipeaks of one special

there

no rational explanation which of the

it

many
to
its

was the tempter, and how

became superior

mat
1

Making

this

one

terpen!

to

be different
ontradicl

in

wisdom and nature from

Scripture, that
all
"

the other.,

the

animals, male and female, were

created

ill

their kind.''

62

THE SERPENT OF EDEN.

13.

If

by "the Serpent"
admit,

is

meant the

bestial

instrument of Satan, then Satan himself, the real

tempter as

all

is

nowhere

at all

mentioned

in the sacred narrative.

14.
evil, is

One

serpent alone, as the sole cause of the

cursed.
lived,

Hence,
till its

if it

were a bestial one,

it

must have
serpents,

death, differently from other

which would be anomalous.

its

Or they

must have shared

curse, without
evil.

having had
This would

any, even material, part in the

be unjust and absurd.

15.

This serpent

is

represented as acting of his

is

own

natural powers, for there

it.

no statement of a

superior being in

These powers, however, of the

bestial serpent are incompatible with such acts as

are related in Gen.

16.
It is

iii.

not stated to have been possessed, or

guided, or aided, or used

by any one
own.

else,

for a

purpose that was not

a bestial serpent
assertion,
is,

its

That Satan used

therefore, a purely gratuitous

in

unfounded

the

narrative.

The

text

speaks of

ONE BEING
literal

only as tempting, that

is "

the

Serpent," and not of

17.

two, Satan and the

serpent.
is

The

sense of the sacred narrative

violated

by introducing Satan
it

as possessing the

serpent and using

for his purpose.

COXCLUSIOX.
18.

163

Satan, the author of

all

all this evil,

would thus

escape

condemnation
this

for

only three are cursed

Adam, Eve, and

19.
still

one serpent.

The Prophet

Isaiah represents the curse as

remaining to be accomplished, and that only

at the
20.

end of the world.

If

going on
in

its

belly

and eating dust were

verified

the bestial serpent that tempted Eve,

in

and the crushing of the head

pent, Satan, then

the Satanic Ser-

there

follows the absurdity of

one curse being directed partly against one and

partly against the other, without any sign furnished

being

by the sacred writer as

to the

change

thus made.
21.

Moreover, the
in

first

part of the
sense,

same curse

would be taken
part

a literal
in

and the second

the bruising
There
tinis

a metaphorical sense.

Now,
in

two such senses arc absolutely inadmissible

one

and the mhih: sentence.

22.

no possible metaphorical sense

in

which
23.

bestial serpent could "cat du

No

bestial

erpenl that
"i"

we know

bruised oui

blessed
as
it

Lord's heel,

injured

Him

in

any way,
iii.

was foretold that the

Serpent of Gen.

should do.
24.

Ni

mi

has ever been given

why

this "in

64

THE SERPENT OF EDEN.

is

particular bestial serpent

called,
is

par
in

excellence,

" the Serpent," as he expressly

text.

the

Hebrew

These objections seem

theories

to render untenable all

involving any part taken

by a

bestial

serpent in the temptation.

us to seek for

This failure authorizes

any

further explanation that

we may

be able to draw, from the words of the Holy Scriptures themselves.

justifies

The

necessity for that search

us

in

quitting

the

assumed commnnem

sententiam of Fathers and commentators, as has

been done

in

some

similar cases, with advantage.

In the very beginning of such a search,

we

find,

on careful consideration of the Hebrew

text, that

our translations are by no means strictly accurate,

though

they

are,

to

all

intents

and
the
:

purposes,

sufficiently

correct.

We

find that

accurate
certain

meaning would run precisely thus

Serpent was more intelligent than
beings of the earth that the
.
.

"

all

the living

Lord God had made.

all

Cursed

art

thou above

beasts and above

all

living beings

on the earth."
these

We
sense.

find

that

words are absolutely

in-

applicable to the bestial serpent, in any reasonable

We

find,

on further examination of the

is

Holy

Scriptures, that there

a certain Serpent

CONCLUSION.
repeatedly mentioned in them, which
tinct
is

165

quite dis-

from

the bestial serpent, and which ranks

among
held

the chief works of God, and which formerly-

a very high

and

exalted

position

in

the
is

universe.

We

find,
"

moreover, that this Serpent

Serpent, he of old
"
;

expressly called
that he
is is
is

The

and

to cat dust at the

end of the world.

He

thus clearly designated as the

same being who

mentioned
is

in

Gen.

iii.

We
"

learn, moreover, that

he

expressly mentioned as the same being

is

who

under one name

other

called

the Serpent;"

and under

names
Satan."

is

called "the Dragon," " the Devil,"

and

"

We

therefore conclude that

in

by the

words, "the Serpent,"

Gen.

iii.,

the sacred writer

serpent, cither

meant no
working of
superior

bestial
itself
;

or apparitional

or working under external

and
this

agency

but that

he there meant
in his

ne Serpent, Satan, acting

individuality.

own person and

We
"The

find

that,

only one Tempter

being mentioned, and

Satan, called
left

that

one, as shown, being

Serpent,"
pr<

there

is

no room

for

supp
itial

the

ence or act of any othei

pent, be

or apparitionaL

On

further

continuing our examination

iii.,

"i
it

the

sacred narrative of Gen.

parallel

ami comparing
Scripture,

with
that

pas.

.1

Holy

we

find

66

THE SERPENT OF EDEN.

the narrative Satan,
"

in

the Serpent,"

fits

in

as

appropriately and naturally, as the bestial serpent

had been completely out of place and impossible.

We

conclude, therefore,
" is literally

that

in

Gen.

iii.

"

the

Serpent

name

of Satan, to the ex-

clusion of

any other

serpent, as
excellence,

he

is

himself a

real serpent, nay,

par

"the Serpent."
"

Many
i.

reasons urge us to hold that " the Serpent

himself.
all,

means Satan alone and by

Satan was,
it

is

admitted by

the

real
iii.,

agent

in the temptation.

Yet, throughout Gen.

at,

he

is

neither mentioned nor hinted

title

unless

it

be

done under the

therefore,

of

"

the Serpent."
;

Either,

Satan did nothing

is

or he did everything,

and then he alone

2.

himself " the Serpent."

certainly
subtil
is

Satan,

"the
is

Serpent,"
not) the
;

(as

the
ajl

bestial serpent
living beings

most
for

among

on the earth

he had been once

a leader

among even
startling

the greatest angels, and he has

not lost his natural faculties and powers

3.

by

his

fall.

preternatural

phenomenon,

like

the talking of a bestial serpent with a

human

voice,

would have been no proof of

reverse
;

subtility,

but just the

its

for

it

would have been calculated, of

purpose which
"

very nature, to defeat the

the

Serpent

"

had

in view.

CONCLUSION.
4.

167

On

the other hand, a very seridus and real

temptation, unaccompanied with any preternatural

circumstances, could be

caused

by the Serpent,

Satan

for,

by the

spiritual

intercommunication of

thoughts, he could cause thoughts and desires to

arise in

Eve under

the appearance of being

soul.

the

spontaneous acts of her own

This would

indeed be a very master-stroke of subtility.

this
is

That

what

really took place

is

suggested by the
said."

interjection, "
5.

Strange
of

that
all

God hath

The omission

mention of the coming

and going of the serpent, which has already been

thrice dwelt upon,
is

perfectly right

and appropriate,
is

when we hold
perfectly

that the sacred narrative

speaking
coincides

of an incorporeal and spiritual being.

It

with

the

nature and

doings of Satan,
lion

who, we are
seeking

told,

"as a roaring

walketh about,
(1

whom

he

may devour"

Pet

v.

though always invisible and inaudible.

After the curse, "the Serpent"
is

not again

mentioned,
to d< icribe

though the sacred narrative proceeds

how

the curse
I

operated on the other

two.

Adam
tilled

and

expulsion
as also

from

Eden
facts

is

expressly mentioned,

are the

thai
forth

Adam

the

ground, and
Ol

Eve

broii; hi

children.

The working

their curS(

material

68

THE SERPENT OF EDEN.

punishments
once.

is

recorded, because they began at

is

The

Serpent's curse

not related as having

us that
its

begun.
tion

Another Scripture
to

tells

opera-

was not

be completed

for ages to
it

come.

This confirms the impression that

was a
iii.

spiritual,

and not a material,

describe
7.
it

curse.

Hence Gen.

does not

as even beginning to operate.

" the

Each clause of the curse on

in

Serpent,"

which makes absolute nonsense

of a bestial serpent,
definite
is

the supposition

appropriately verified, in a
in

scriptural
"

sense,

the

supposition

of

Satan being
8.

the Serpent."

If

Satan was
all

not

himself

"the Serpent,"
fall,

then he alone, of

those concerned in the

would escape without any punishment whatsoever,

although he was really the most guilty of
in
fact,
all,

and,
the

the prime

mover and cause of

all

evil.
9.

Satan

did,

and no other then

till

living serpent

could, continue to live

"the Seed of the

woman"

came,

in

the Person of our Lord Jesus Christ, to

;

crush his head

of the
10.
fall.

that

is

to say, to repair the effects

With the
"
all

substitution
difficulties,

of

Satan

as

"the

Serpent

those

which unquestioniii.,

ably attend the sacred narrative in Gen.

vanish

CONCLUSION.
at once,

169

and

it

becomes perfectly

intelligible

and

reasonable.
11.

This

interpretation
all

makes

no

gratuitous

suppositions, on which

others are

manifestly

grounded.
12.

Satan

is

expressly called "the Serpent"

in

several passages of

Holy

Scripture,

and
iii.

in

many

of

them with
13.

special allusions to Gen.

This

is,

therefore, a perfectly literal, nay, the

only really

literal,

interpretation of Gen.

iii.,

with-

out suppositions, allegories,

impossibilitii
14.

myths, metaphors, or

Satan's head was bruised by the death of

;

our Lord
I

and Satan did metaphorically bruise

I

lis

heel, in

lis

Passion.
sense,

These two clauses cannot,

be

in

any possible
tial
I

made

applicable to

serpent.

have, moreover, considered the sacn d narrative

itI

in

supposed connection with serpent-worship

have,
I

and
be

trust,

proved that no argument can

interol

drawn from serpen t-worship against the

I

pretation which

hav- advocated, or
I

in

favour
furnish
1

the past theories.

satisfactory
to be railed

hi

tried to

and

sufficient reason why Satan The Serpent " by Mose

.

ame

Having now reached the end of

my

task,

170

THE SERPENT OF EDEN.

a

but

few more words to add.

have

tried not

to be

unduly severe or harsh

in criticizing
I

other

theories

and

interpretations.
;

have

tried to give
diffi-

a clear view of each

culties in its
its

to state succinctly the

fully

way, to put

what

is

advanced
I

in

defence,
defects.

and to
I

state plainly

what

considered

its

have ventured to advance another

theory and interpretation, taking

Rev. (Apocalypse)
interpretation
it
is

my

key from
this

xii.

wished to show that

;

the only strictly literal one

that

makes no gratuitous
;

suppositions, unfounded in
perfectly and
;

Holy Writ
suits

that

it

fits

naturally

into the sacred

narrative

that
;

it

appropriately
it

every clause of the text

that

obviates

all

the difficulties attending the other interpretations

that that
it

has the usage of Scripture

presents
the

in its

favour

and
,us,

it

sacred

narrative

before
it

not

only as a possible occurrence, but

a
probable,
natural,
consistent,

also

furnishes
priate,

approin

and rational explanation of the manner

"

which

the Serpent

"

Satan

tempted Eve, and

is

was punished
to
I

for his crime.

This

what

wished

do

it

is

for others to

judge with what success

have

tried.

I'PENDIX
according
ro

Genesis

III.,

the Hebrew Text. any

T

nrriwi V T field-the-ol

jvn J- (beings)-living

5p
all-among

rpn JT T
was

intelligent

Serpen)

Briani t TT"! *' Vh

.

nM '-*
range
:

-.
t

xnpx jt
'

yon'i
v
-

a^x
.God

::

rrtrv j
:

niry r t
*.

tj
t :

woman

iid-he-And

Lord-thi

made-had

which

d]

qoi

God

i.l-h.i

-t ii.ii

--;*y
n-the-of-ti

nr:

r-:-r^x

nr'-xn -vrx'ni

Vnd

the -in

(i

}-whi<

I,

I,.

Bui

>-l]l

001

172
priori

APPENDIX.
:

niKrt6
dying-Not

rtffflfa
,woman-the-to

^n?n
Serpent-the

i&n';_

4.

.die-ye-shall

said-And

inp23i *.':::
opened-bc-\vill

D3^3K me> t -: v iv
:

bin
:

D*r6 v:

mv
-J

7> <

e.

,it-of

eat-ye

day-the-in

that

God

knoweth

For

:mi
.evil-and

310
good

nrr
knowing

D'lfota
,gods-as

iag*m
be-shall-ye-and

oa^y
,eyes-your

:b?'j IT
I*-

3K*0n "V-

c'nun /ITT"

ntsten T *|T

ionwi V
said-And

i*. \J

.eat-did-I-and

,me-deceived Serpent-The ,woman-the

ntw
,this

rrtw t j t

a
i

ipnarr^N t t v

Dri^ nin* t 1 v:
:

*iki

i T^

done-hast-thou

Because ,Serpent-the-to

God

Lord-the

said-And

miwi AVT .field-the-of

nn j-(being)-Iiving

"?bo-i
>.

nonan-^so t t

nnx t thou

thx ^t
(a^Vcursed

every-and

beast-every-above

.life-thy-of days-the-all ,eat-shalt-thou

dust-and ,go-shak-thou belly-thy-Upon

ntrxn t t
*i ;

P3-1 j-*
1

?p3 :
1

nw

rnw iT

k. j'
*

woman-the

between-and

thee-between

put-will-I

enmity-And

trxi
,head-thy

flE^
crush-shall

wn
He

wit
.seed-her

pm
between-and

sprit

raw
between-and

seed-thy

ipv Vt

-i3Q-ic
/

n
:

nnxi vt ;

.heel-his

crush-shalt

thou-and

APPENDIX.

173

(^exesis

iii.,

from the greek septuagint

(Tischendorf's Edition of the Codex Vaticaxus).

1.

\J Ci OtjtbQ

T]V

(f)pOVt/XlvTO.TOQ TTtlVTUV TUiV

Ol]pll,)V

tiri

tt)q

yr$ wv
I

eVoujcrf o Qeog.

Kcii pi)

ttirev o

o^ic ru
Trai'tof,"

yvvtUKt,

'in uirev o
TTItpilCtlfTOU
,'

Otoq,

Ov

(puyifn

awh

suAou TOV
2.

Ki

tiTTtv

>i

yni'i)

of/K/,

Attu napirov tov v\ov

rou Tupactinov (paytwpiQa'

3.

A.WO 01 row tcapiTOV tov (>\ov o itrnv

fli(T(^

TOV

7rapuctirrov, tlirtv
////

Qe6g, Oil tftayeadt air avrov ov Se

in)

''ii/a-Ot
4.

avrov, tva
ttirev

airoQawirz.
rl\

Km)

o'l)tr

ywatxl, Ov Savory airo-

Oavuov
5.

'\\cu ya

>

'

o<

'in

//I-

av

fifiipq <puyi\Ti air

tea)

avrov
(hi, I,

omvotxvjjffovrw

im/mi- oJ

6<ft9aXfi6l,

'imnlh

<'<

yiVUMJKOVTIQ KaXbv Mii TT0VT}p6v.

6.

Kal
art

i]

'i</

'

koaov r& vAov

lottv,
ica)

tig

Qouhtiv,

Km

apiarbv rim
ica)

6<f>0a\[i6i{

u>pa?6v

inn

mil Karavorjacu,
',('

Xapovaa
7<,p

<'-

run koottou
hit

avroS
Ka]

KH'

kni

mi,,!

it\>Ti\i

uvrfjg,

E^ayov.

174

APPENDIX.
Kat hits Kvpiog o Oebg
;

13-

t?)

yvvaiKi, Ti
rjirariiat

tovto
pe, ku)

iwouiaag
ttyayov.
I4

kol

tlirev

jj

yvvrj,

otyiq

Kai

tiTrtv

Kvpiog b Qtbg
ai)

ti?>

b<pti,

'\_)n

tiroh]aac
na)

tovto,

twiKaTupuTog

airb iravrwv

tmv
7Ti t^>

KTrfVtov
aTijOti

airb ttuvtCjv tujv Or)pia>v twl rrig ytjg'

Kai
~)j

aov

KoiXla Tropsvay, Kai yT)v (jtayy iraaag rag i)ppag

rijg Z,u)i)g aoi).

I5
Trig

Kai t^Opav
v

Brjaio
1

ava piaov aov

Kai

ava peaov
Kai

yvvaiKog,

Kai

ava ptaov tov airtpparog aov

ava piaov tov airtppaTog avr^g.

tcetpaXi'iv, koi

Avrog aov

Trjpijaa

av

rripi'iattg

avrov Trrtpvav.

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for Boys.

6 Illustrations.

Crown

Svo,

3*. 6d.

MA LET,
to

Lucas.

Little Peter.
With numerous

Christmas Morality
5-r.

for

Children of

any Age.

Illustrations.

REANEY, Mrs.

G. S. Waking and Working or, From Girlhood Womanhood. New and Cheaper Edition. With a Frontispiece. Crown Svo, 31. 6d. Blessing and Blessed a Sketch of Girl Life. New and Cheaper Edition. Crown 8vo, 3^. 6d. Rose Gurney's Discovery. A Story for Girls. Dedicati their Mothers. Crown Svo, 35. Gd. English Girls: Their Place and Power, With Preface by the Fifth Edition. Rev. R. W. Dale. Ecap. Svo, 2s. 6d. Just Anyone, and othei Stories. Three Illustrations. Royal
;
:

i6mo,
[6mo,
i6mOj

is. (>l.

Sunbeam
is.
1

Willie, and oth

dd. othei

rhree Illustrations,

Sunshine Jenny, and

Three

Illustrations.

STORK,

Francis,

and

TURNER, Hawes.Canterbury Chlmei

told

to

<

hildren.

With

<>

1
>

tration

from

the Ellcsmti

cript.

Third Edition.
I

Pcap. 8vo,

STRETTON,He
'
:

tii

David Lloyd .Royal [6mo,

Chrl

will.
1

With 4
L

111

WHITAKER,

Florence.
I

Illustrati

1,1.

[nheritani

don Story,

PRINTF.D BY WILLIAM CLOWES

AND SONS. LONDON AND BECCLES.

LI.VITED,

MESSRS.

REGAN PAUL, TRENCH &

EDITIONS OF

CO.'S

SHAKSPERE'S WORKS.
THE PARCHMENT LIBRARY EDITION.
THE AVON EDITION

The Text of

these Editions is
is

mainly that of Delias.

Wher-

ever a variant reading

adopted, some good

and

recognized

Shaksperian Critic has been followed.

rendering of the
eessan
te.xt

In no
it

ease is a

new

proposed; nor has

been thought nt-

io distract

the reader's attention by notes or comments.

i,

PATKk.Vj.STER

SQUARE
1 1
.

i.o.

SHAKSPERE'S WORKS.
THE AVON EDITION.
Printed on thin opaque paper, and forming 12 handy volumes, cloth, 185-., or bound in 6 volumes, 15^. The set of 1 2 volumes may also be had in a cloth box, price 2157, or bound in Roan, Persian, Crushed Persian Levant, Calf, or Morocco, and enclosed in an attractive leather box at prices from ,315-. dd. upwards.

SOME PRESS NOTICES.

"This edition will be useful to those who want a good text, well and clearly printed, in convenient little volumes that will slip easily into an overcoat pocket or a travelling-bag." St. James's Gazette.
prettier edition ofShaks] ere for the price. "Academy. refreshing to meet with an edition of Shakspere of convenient price, without either notes or introductions of any sort to distract the attention of the reader. "^Saturday Review. " It is exquisite. Each volume is handy, is beautifully printed, and
It is

" "

We know no

size

and low

in every

way

lend

elf to

the taste of the cultivated student of Shak-

spere.

'

Scotsman.

K'kgan Paul,

Trench &

Co.,

1,

Paternoster Square.

SHAKSPERE'S WORKS.
THE PARCHMENT LIBRARY EDITION.
In 1 2 volumes Elzevir 8vo., choicely printed on hand-made paper, and bound in parchment or cloth, price \2S., or in vellum, price 10s. The set of 1 2 volumes may also be had in a strong cloth box, price lys., or with an oak hanging shelf, 18s.

^3

SOME PRESS NOTICES.

".
.
.

Thei
in

edition in
it.

which the wi
tinction of
ttte.
1

can be read

such luxury of type and q

and we warmly recommend

Shakspere form as this,

/<///

"F01
Edition.' type
i

elegance

<>f
.

form and
publi

beauty

TaP n y> u " edition of Parchmi nt Library

'

...

'1

pockel \<>hmics, yel the

ind-maae pap
notes
ry edition
: .

being

li<

whole will be com]

i!.

/
"
1

\\liic

li

;..
;

to the

si

'1
;
I
1 I

Shaks]

r n

'-

,/.

Price 5*.

AN

IND]

ro

'I

III.

works OF SHAKSPERE.
I
;

Applicabl
the
t

lions

of

all

By
Loni

EVANGELINE
1

M.

O'CONNOR.
'

\r.r.

SHAKSPERE'S WORKS.
SPECIMEN OF TYPE.
4

THE MERCHANT OF VEX ICE

Salar.

Act
broth,

My

wind, cooling

my

Would Mow me to an ague, when I thought What harm a wind too great might do at sea.
I

should not see the sandy hour-glass run

I

But

should think of shallows and of

flats,

And

see

my

wealthy Andrew, dock'd in sand,

lower than her ribs

Y.iiling her high-top

To kiss her burial. Should I go to church And see the holy edifice of stone, And not bethink me straight of dangerous rocks, Which touching but my gentle vessel's side, Would scatter all her spices on the stream,
Enrobe the roaring waters with my silks, And, in a word, but even now worth this,

And now worth nothing? To think on this, and shall

:

Shall
I

have the thought

lack the thought

That such a thing bechane'd would make me sad ? But tell not me I know Antonio Is sad to think upon his merchandise. Ant. P.elieve me, no I thank my fortune for it, My ventures are not in one bottom trusted, Nor to one place nor is my whole estate
: ;

Upon

the fortune of this present year

Therefore

merchandise makes me not sad. Salar. Why, then you are in love. Ant. Fie, fie

my

Salar.

Not

in love neither ?

Then

let

us say

you

are sad,

Because you are not merry and 'twere as easy For you to laugh, and leap, and say you are merry, Because you are not sad. Now, by two-headed
;

Janus,

Nature hath fram'd strange fellows in her time Some that will evermore peep through their eyes
:

And And

laugh like parrots

at

a bag-piper

other of such vinegar aspect

London

J.3CEG an. Pauli

Trench &

Co.,

i,

Paternoster Squa-ke.

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