Catastrophe In The Garden (3:1-24).
‘Now the snake was wiser than any creature that the Lord God had made.'
The word for snake always refers to ordinary snakes in the Old Testament, with the exception of Isaiah 27:1 and possibly Amos 9:3. However these exceptions do show that the Israelites were familiar with the myths of surrounding peoples relating to ‘snakes' and ‘serpents', which were often looked on as semi-divine creatures involved in evil, although also often in good. It is the behaviour of this snake that reveals its innate evil. The fact that the writer also calls him ‘wiser', (a word usually translated ‘more prudent'), ‘than any creature that the Lord God had made' demonstrates that he is indicating that this snake is unusual. Given the fact that the root of the word used for snake (nachash) is also used for ‘enchantment', it is difficult to avoid the thought that the writer intends it to be seen as somehow endowed with some sinister power. But he does not dwell on the question because he does not want to be seen to take away the responsibility for failure from the man and woman.
The word for ‘wiser' comes from the same root as the word for ‘naked' in the previous verse. This is written in a way that shows that there is an intentional connection. There is an ironic contrast between their nakedness, a proof of their innocence and what they are revealed to be, and his ‘wisdom' which is the proof of his devilishness and what he is revealed to be, which will later result in their ‘nakedness' being revealed.
‘And he said to the woman, “Yes. Has God said that you shall not eat of any tree of the garden?” '
This immediately raises the question as to how the snake was able to speak. Does the author really see it as chatting with the woman, or are we to see the conversation as going on in her mind? Or was there a Satanic voice which spoke through it? The sinuous beauty of the snake, curled round a branch of the tree, (possibly the very tree itself, with its fruit clearly visible), and gazing at her with an hypnotic stare, might certainly have an hypnotic effect, on a hot day, on a languid and slightly resentful woman. Possibly what happened was the result of the woman's reverie combined with a growing sense of unhappiness and discontent which had arisen within her, influenced by suggestions placed in her mind by the one behind ‘the snake'. The writer may well have imagined such a scene.
In other words did the snake in fact ‘speak' through his silent gaze? Did the woman look at the fruit and think of that fruit which was forbidden, and then sense words which she felt came from the hypnotic influence of the snake? The Bible is full of places where we are told that ‘God said' when that word was probably expressed in other ways, for example through use of the Urim and Thummim. Indeed the usage is common today when we say, ‘God told me to ---' or ‘the Devil persuaded me ---'. Such anthropomorphic language has been common in all ages. Thus we might be justified in seeing here a conversation going on in her mind, induced by some evil power, for which the snake takes the blame! It may be significant that later, while God questions Adam and Eve, He does not question the snake. Was it becaise He knew that the snake could give no reply?
If we ask, why then would God blame the snake, we must recognise that it is not really the snake that God is blaming, but the shadowy figure behind the snake. Just as Jesus would curse a fig tree to teach a lesson about a nation (Mark 11:14; Mark 11:21), so God ‘curses' a snake to teach a lesson about this shadowy figure from the spiritual realm.
Otherwise we are left with a choice between a talking snake and a demon possessed one. Or rather not a choice, for while we may see the latter, the woman sees the former. She sees only a creature who comes below her in the order of things, one who is not to be feared, unaware of dangerous undercurrents. The reader, on the other hand, is aware of a power at work that is both subtle and dangerous. To her a talking snake is an interesting phenomenon. To the reader it is indicative of sinister undertones. Suddenly into this idealistic world something ‘foreign' has introduced itself. Elsewhere God will speak through an ass (Numbers 22:28). Here some evil presence could well literally speak through the snake.
Whatever way it was the idea sown by the snake was effective. The question was ambiguous, suggesting a God Who somehow was a little unreasonable without actually saying so. The implication was, was God really being behaving as He should?