Serpent,
a god or a creature?
If God created everything as Genesis states in its opening verses,
Why did He create the Serpent?
Why was the Serpent in the Garden
of Eden? It is a presence found within the Garden, not of
the Fallen earthly world of exile. Adam and Eve did not encounter
the Serpent once exiled. Rather, their encounter with it led to exile.
Why did the Serpent know about
the Tree of Life? About Good and Evil? And why would
it counsel Adam and Eve to disobey their
God?
Why was not the Serpent fearful of
the Lone
Male god? Why did not God destroy the
Serpent?
As is common with Big Stories, there are more
questions evoked than
answers given. What is clear is that the Serpent leads
humans to an insight which they can share with
their god, namely, the knowledge of Good and Evil. Up to the
Serpent's arrival, only God knew about Good
and Evil. A key point is that Good and Evil existed in the Garden,
however, only Adam and Eve were ignorant of its presence.
The appearance of the Serpent reveals
that it knows about Good and Evil.
That it already
shares this knowledge with the
Lone Male god.
In some ways, Genesis infers that
the Serpent either has a special
relationship with God that the humans don't or that
it is also a god. This trend of reflection goes hand in hand
with the other
Genesis creation account of "let
us" in Chapter 1 which implied at
least one other god being present. Although the Serpent is
also referred to as a creature made by God,
this claim can be considered a misdirection in
light of the Abrahamic monotheistic drive
to make its god the only One.
Continue—Serpent
