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NASB | Genesis 3:1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, "Indeed, has God said, 'You shall not eat from any tree of the garden'?" |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | Genesis 3:1 Now the serpent was more crafty (subtle, skilled in deceit) than any living creature of the field which the LORD God had made. And the serpent (Satan) said to the woman, "Can it really be that God has said, 'You shall not eat from any tree of the garden'?" [Rev 12:9-11] |
Subject: The Serpent's Class |
Bible Note: Hello, The Hebrew word rendered "serpent" in Gen. 3:1 is Nachash (from the root Nachash, to shine), and means a shining one. The Nachash, or serpent that beguiled( wholly seduced ) Eve(2 Cor 11:3) is spoken of as "an angel of light" in verse 14. Have we not a snake, but a glorious shining being, apparently an angel, to whom Eve paid such great deference, acknowledging him as one who seemed to possess superior knowledge(Eze 28:12), and who was evidently a being of a superior (not of an inferior) order? We cannot conceive Eve as holding converse with a snake, but we can understand her being fascinated by one, apparently " an angel of light"(i.e. a glorious angel(also see Eze 28:12, perfect in beauty), possessing superior and supernatural knowledge. If a serpent was afterward called a nacash, it was because it was more shining than any other creature; and if it became known as "wise", it was not because of its own innate positive knowledge, but of its wisdom in hiding away from all observation; and because of its association with one of the names of satan (that old serpent) who "beguiled Eve" (2Cor 11:3,14). It is wonderful how a snake could ever be supposed to speak without the organs of speech, or that satan should be able to accomplish so great a miracle. It only shows power of tradition, which has, from the infancy of each one of us, put before our eyes and written on our minds the picture of a "snake" and an "apple": the former based on a wrong interpretation, and the latter being a pure invention, about which there is not one word said in Holy Scripture. Never was satan's wisdom so craftily used as when he secured universal acceptance of this traditional belief: for it has suceeded in fixing the attention of mankind on the letter and the means, and thus blinding the eyes to the solemn fact that the Fall of man had to do solely with the Word of God, and is centered in the sin of believing satan's lie instead of Jehovah's truth. The temptation of "the first man Adam" began with the question "Hath God said?" The temptation of "the second man, the Lord from heaven" began with the similar question "If Thou be the Son of God", when the voice of the Father had scarcely died away, which said "This IS My beloved Son". All turned on the truth of what Jehovah had said. The Word of God being questioned, led Eve in her reply,(1) to omit the word "freely"(Gen 3:2, cp. Gen 2:16); then (2) to add the words "neither shalt thou touch it"(3:3, cp. 2:17); and finally (3) to alter a certainty into a contingency by changing "thou SHALT SURELY die"(2:17) into "LEST ye die"(3:3). It is not without significance that the first Ministerial words of "the second Man" were "It is written", three times repeated; and that His last Ministerial words contained a similar threefold reference to the written Word of God(John 17:8,14,17). The former temptation suceeded because the Word of God was three times misrepresented; the latter temptation was sucessfully defeated because the same Word was faithfully repeated. The history of Gen. 3 is intended to teach us the fact that satan's sphere of activities is in the religious sphere; and not the spheres of crime or immorality; that his battlefield is not the sins arising from human depravity, but the unbelief of the human heart. We are not to look for satan's activities to-day in the newspaper press, or the police courts; but in the pulpit, and in professors' chairs. Wherever the Word of God is called in question, there we see the trail of that "old serpent,which is the devil, and satan". This is why anything in favour of its inspiration and Divine origin and its spiritual truth is rigidly excluded as being "controversial". This is why satan is quite content that the letter of Scripture should be accepted in Gen.3, as he himself accepted the letter of Ps.91:11. He himself could say "It is written"(Matt 4:6) so long as the letter of what is "written" could be put instead of the truth that is conveyed by it; and so long as it is misquoted or misapplied. This is his object in perpetuating the traditions of the "snake" and the "apple", because it ministers to the acceptance of his lie, the hiding of God's truth, the support of tradition, the jeers of the infidel, the oppostion of the critics, and the stumbling of the weak in faith. I hope you understand this! In the love of Jesus and the Father, Peace. |