FROM THE PASTOR’S HEART
OP / ED BY DR. ROBERT KENNEDY
The serpent is a fascinating creature whose story is told in mythology, literature, science, and religions worldwide. Interestingly, for most people, the serpent is a cursed creature. However, the serpent’s story is much more complicated, with negative and positive aspects. So while on the one hand, it is seen as a symbol of curse, evil, darkness, poison, and destruction, on the other hand, it is seen as a symbol of health and healing and is used as a medical symbol worldwide. It is also used as a symbol of power (placed on the clothing of warriors), fertility, creativity, and rebirth, and even as the bronze image (Numbers 21:9), representing Christ.
It is fascinating howover the lapse of nearly one thousand years following the wilderness experience, the Israelites invested the “brazen serpent” with a mysterious sanctity that led to their idolatry. In his effort to deliver the people from their infatuation and impress them with the idea of its worthlessness, King Hezekiah called the bronze serpent, in contempt, “Nehushtan,” a brazen thing, a mere piece of brass (2 Kings 18:4). In effect, the bronze serpent, intended to be a symbol of Christ and a call to faith, became a curse to the people of Israel.
A comment from what is to be seen from the reflection on the serpent is that what was created as one of the most beautiful of creatures and a positive symbol of faith and representation of salvation became the greatest symbol of the curse that has been in the world. The first place where the serpent appears in the Bible as a curse is in Genesis, where it acted as an agent of Satan. We read in Genesis 3:1-15:
Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?” 2 The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, 3 but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’” 4 “You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. 5 “For God knows that when you eat from it, your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” 6 When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. 7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves. 8 Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden. 9 But the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?” 10 He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked, so I hid.” 11 And he said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?” 12 The man said, “The woman you put here with me – she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.” 13 Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.” 14 So the Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this,
“Cursed are you above all livestock
and all wild animals!
You will crawl on your belly
and you will eat dust
all the days of your life.
15 And I will put enmity
between you and the woman,
and between your offspring and hers;
he will crush your head,
and you will strike his heel.” (NKJV)
The story, as it reads, is not only fascinating but tragic. Yes, it is fascinating because of its uniqueness as a talking animal, its attractive power, and its defiance of simple interpretation. But more than its fascination is its devastating impact because, as described in Greek tragedies, it tells of “the swift reversals of fortune.”
Just reflect on the perfectly pristine life in the Garden of Eden that Adam and Eve were enjoying when the serpent came to Eve with The Big Question, “Did God really say,” “‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?” And The Big Lie, “You will not certainly die.” After dialoguing with the serpent and accepting the lie, Eve took the fruit from the tree God had forbidden, she ate and gave it to her husband, and he ate. The rest of the story about Adam and Eve and the serpent is that of the Fall tragedy. That is what Bible-believing people describe as the transition of the first man and woman from innocent obedience to God to rebellion. The brokenness, guilt, shame, blame, despair, destruction, and death that came with the Fall does not fit an easy description. It is regularly spoken of as the mystery of evil.
Part of the response of the Creator to the whole event of the Fall was the pronouncement of the curse on the serpent. He cursed the serpent above “all livestock and all wild animals.” He told it that it would “crawl upon its belly” and “eat dust all the days of its life.” That means it would be subjected to total humiliation and punished to the point of non-existence. Furthermore, the “Seed of the woman” would “crush” its head. The crushing met its fulfillment when Christ, the Seed of the woman, was uplifted on the “cursed” cross. As the apostle John states, “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so, must the Son of man be lifted up.” (John 3:14 KJV). Here we can say that God knows how to turn a curse into a blessing.
Among the great promises of God is the fact that those who put their trust in God are to hear the words, “You will tread on the lion and cobra; you will trample the young lion and serpent.” (Psalm 91:3 KJV). “They will pick up snakes with their hands, and if they drink any deadly poison, it will not harm them; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will be made well.” (Mark 16:18 KJV). “Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you.” (Luke 10:19 NIV).
In his identification of the first rebel, John names the serpent as the equivalent of Satan, “And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him (Revelation 12:9, cf, vv 13, 15, 17 KJV).
And in the final destruction of evil, John states that “He (the Eternal Judge and Executioner) laid hold of the dragon, that serpent of old, who is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years; and he cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal on him so that he should deceive the nations no more till the thousand years were finished.” (Revelation 20:2-3 NKJV).
As you reflect on all that has been said, you must agree that one of the greatest divine judgments is to be caught up under the serpent’s curse.
