And the LORD God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou [art] cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life:
Ver. 14. And the Lord said to the serpent.] The serpent was not examined, because God would show no mercy to him; but presently doomed, because of mere malice he had offended. The heathens a called certain devils, Kοβαλοι, quasi χαχοβοθλοι ,
η δε κακη βουλη παρ βουλευσαντι κυκιστη
Evil befell him that evil bethought him. As Balaam, that advised evil against Israel, was slain by the sword of Israel. The serpent also hath his part in the punishment, because instrumental to the devil. Both authors, actors, and abettors of evil shall rue it together. The serpent here is first cut shorter by the feet, and made to wriggle upon his belly; secondly, confined to the dust for his diet; which is also, saith an ancient, χαταβρωμα του εχθρου, the devil's diet: for your adversary the devil - that "ruler of the darkness of this world" Eph 6:6 as he dwells in dark hearts, as so many holes and caverns - so, Behemoth-like, "he eats grass as an ox"; Job 40:10 yea, dust as a serpent, continually "seeking whom he may devour"; 1Pe 5:7 and is therefore cursed above all creatures. He hath swallowed down souls, "and he shall vomit them up again: God shall cast them out of his belly." Job 20:15 He sinneth every day the sin against the Holy Ghost, and shall lie lowest in hell. Every soul that he drew thither by his temptation shall be as a millstone hanged about his neck, to hold him down in the bottomless lake.
a Hesiod.