How do we know the serpent did not act on his own to deceive Adam and Eve?
Upvote:-1
There is a snake in the garden that is deceitful, manipulative, and very intelligent. This same snake, Paul ties to people being deceived and led away from Christ, at the very least as an analogy: "But I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent’s cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ." 2 Corinthians 11:3
Satan is referred to as a snake in various places. He's even referred to as "the" snake "of old", who "deceives the whole world" "And the great dragon was thrown down, the serpent of old who is called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world" Revelation 12:9 "And he took hold of the dragon, the serpent of old, who is the devil and Satan..." - Revelation 20:1-3
Satan walked in the garden of eden, and was very intelligent, in the "King of Tyre" portion of Ezekiel's prophecies, where Ezekiel switches from referring to the literal king of Tyre, to using the King of Tyre symbolically to refer to satan. Ezekiel 28:11-19 (Unless you think the literal king of tyre was in the garden of eden as a annointed cherub/angel)
Saying the serpent was more intelligent than the beasts of the field doesn't automatically mean that all serpents were, nor that the serpent was a regular creature.
The prophet Micah draws comparison to the snake's curse by symbolically/figuratively saying the enemies of God will do likewise in the end-times: "The nations shall see and be ashamed of all their might; They shall put their hand over their mouth; Their ears shall be deaf. They shall lick the dust like a serpent; They shall crawl from their holes like snakes of the earth. They shall be afraid of the Lord our God, And shall fear because of You." - Micah 7:16-17
As a side note, someone commented that the snake must have had legs, prior to being cursed. Some snakes can "stand upright" on the back half of their body, and some species can even move a very short distance "standing" like that. Prior to their curse, I would speculate they could just move around long distances on the back portion of their body, no legs necessary. We don't have enough info to know either way, but it's interesting to think about!
Upvote:3
You are assuming that a physical snake existed. To use your own words, 'there is no text' that states such. There is 'the serpent'. And the serpent is more subtle than any beast of the field. Ergo, it is not a beast of the field.
Therefore, if there is no physical snake, your opinion cannot be correct that it acted on its own to deceive. (How a physical snake deceives a human is utterly beyond me and I cannot comment further upon that aspect.)
But if we follow the actual wording of scripture, then a serpentine Spirit approached the woman (a serpentine thing to do, not approaching the witness to God's word but the one to whom the witness had, afterwards, witnessed) and then misled her (a serpentine thing to do) and then deceived her (a serpentine thing to do).
It is clear from the text that this is a spiritual matter and we are given symbolism to help us to understand it.
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