Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?
The serpent, х hanaachaash (H5175) is the generic name of a serpent; `aaruwm (H6175), subtle.] This word is used sometimes in a good sense (Proverbs 12:23; Proverbs 13:16; Proverbs 14:8; Proverbs 14:15; Proverbs 14:18), and as synonymous with wisdom, prudence, and particularly shrewdness in adopting the means of self-preservation-an attribute which is declared to be characteristic of the reptile brood (Matthew 10:16); and taking the word here in this view, the Septuagint has rendered it by phronimootatos, the wisest of any beast of the field. But it is obvious from the whole tenor of this context that the term is employed in a bad sense, implying craft, cunning, guile (cf. Job 5:12; Job 15:5); and, accordingly, others have more appropriately translated it by panourgos (G3835), skilled in all manner of deceit and mischief, any beast of the field. Although it is improper, in a scientific point of view, to class a serpent with brutes, in this simple and artless history objects are popularly described, and the comparison between it and the beasts of the field was apparently suggested by the last scene which the historian had described (Genesis 2:19-20). Now, with regard to the superior subtilty ascribed to serpents, it is impossible to say whether all the stories related in illustration of this characteristic property are worthy of credit.
Assuredly, serpents are not naturally the most sagacious of the inferior creation; because there are several others in the animal kingdom which far surpass them in point of instinctive sagacity; but with respect to craft, artifice, and similar qualities of the baser sort, they have in all ages been pre-eminently distinguished. The common view taken of this first verse is that a material serpent is referred to; but what was the particular kind of serpent has given rise to a variety of conjectures. Bochart thinks it was the Dragon serpent-Dr. Patrick, a saraph, the supposed winged serpent, which, from its bright luminous appearance and springing motions, he conceived, strangely enough, to bear some resemblance to the seraphim (cf. Isaiah 6:2). Dr. Adam Clarke held the opinion that the animal was an orang-outang-an opinion, however, which has found no supporters.
Whatever the species of serpent was (and since no hint is given it would be idle to prosecute an enquiry where certainty is unattainable), it is presented in this narrative as the prominent agent in a wicked scheme of seduction. Josephus considered it the only agent. He represents all living creatures as having had one language at first, and describes the serpent as living in familiar conversation with Adam and Eve, until, becoming envious of their happiness, he resolved to work their destruction. But the views of the Jewish historian are inadmissible; and since the continued management of such a plot as the temptation of our first parents, with a knowledge and skillful use of the insidious arts necessary to carry it into successful completion, seems far beyond the natural capabilities of an irrational animal, there is no way of explaining the mystery except by the light shed on the transaction by later passages of Scripture, where we are informed of the latent influence of an artful and malevolent spirit who had formed the diabolical purpose of accomplishing the ruin of the happy human pair in the garden of Eden. This point, however, will be considered afterward.
And he said unto the woman. His subtlety was displayed in selecting the woman as the object of his attack; and that choice was founded on his knowledge of her frailty. She was naturally the weaker vessel. She had only existed for a short time being-possessed but a limited stock of knowledge and a narrow range of experience; she had perhaps never had an opportunity of learning from Adam, who had been supernaturally informed about the animals in the garden before her formation, whether the inferior creatures possessed the natural gifts of speech and reason; so that on that account she neither displayed nor felt any surprise or alarm when the serpent addressed her.
The conversation which is here related is manifestly fragmentary-the sequel of something which had been said or done before. The first tempter, like all who have practiced the insidious arts of seduction since, was too knowing and wary to open his battery all at once. He began by talking, it is probable, about the beauty, fertility, and various productions of the garden, until he gradually directed the course of conversation to the trees and their pleasant fruit, and then, in the most adroit and crafty manner, without creating any suspicion of his base design, he fixed her attention upon that subject. "Yea, hath God said, ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?" Gesenius' rendering is more strictly according to the original: 'Is it even so that God has said, Ye shall eat of no tree in the garden?' Is it a fact that He will not allow you to take your will of all the produce of this delightful place? Depend upon it that this is not correct, nor like Him; there must be some mistake in your apprehension of His meaning. It cannot be that a Being so good, so kind, so delighted in promoting the happiness of all His creatures, could have restricted you, any more than He has hindered me, from partaking of this as well as all the fruit trees which the garden contains.
Thus, he insinuated, in the gentlest manner, a doubt that she might have taken up a wrong impression of the Creator's command. He endeavoured to show her the unreasonableness of such a view, if it were as she alleged; and to accomplish that end, he perverted the tenor of the divine injunction-speaking artfully and falsely of it as a prohibition, not of one tree, but of all, and taunting the woman with too nice and scrupulous feelings in standing at a distance from the excepted tree, as if afraid to approach it, while he, with the most perfect freedom, and impunity also, sported among its luxuriant branches, and enjoyed its delicious fruit. The insinuation tended, though in a very unsuspected way, to throw a doubt upon the import of the divine command-to diminish her sense of the reasonableness and obligation of the law, and thus to sap, by the most insidious means, the foundation of her faith and principles.