Adam blamed Eve, and Eve blamed the serpent. God confronted them over their disobedience. Because of their shame, they tried to hide themselves from God but to no avail. Their innocence was lost, and they knew they were naked.
Eve ate the fruit, gave some to Adam, and he ate too. “For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” He declared, “You will not surely die.” And then he called into question God’s motives. After the woman said that eating of the tree in the middle of the garden would lead to death, the serpent went on contradict God’s Word altogether. He implanted doubts in the woman’s mind so that she began to entertain alternative options. For immediately, he questioned Eve, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” Notice the serpent’s tactic. Genesis 3:1 notes, “Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the LORD God had made.”Ĭrafty (or deceitful) describes this serpent perfectly. However, they let their guard down and allowed the serpent to enter. As the crowning jewels of God’s creation, humans walked in fellowship with him in the garden. A perfect, holy God decided to share his goodness so he created a universe ex nihilo. With those anecdotes in mind, let’s start from the very beginning. When a serpent attempts to devour, it’s a dragon.” When a serpent in Scripture attempts to deceive, it’s a snake. Biblical scholar Andrew Naselli remarks, “As a general rule, the form a serpent takes depends on its strategy. Throughout the Bible, serpents take on either form depending on the situation. Rather, they thought of them as giant serpents. Also worth noting is that the ancients did not think of dragons as fire-breathing creatures with wings.
In other words, serpent is an umbrella category while snakes and dragons are more specific. It’s worth noting that “Serpent” is a biblical catch-all term that includes both snakes and dragons. You see, the Bible presents three main characters: 1) The Serpent (the villain-Satan), 2) The Damsel in Distress (the people of God), and 3) The Serpent Slayer (the hero-Jesus). If that story sounds familiar to you, it’s because so many great children’s tales of the past echo this same story. More than that, it’s about how a mighty warrior defeats the serpent to rescue his precious bride. Instead, it’s a post about how the Bible portrays snakes, serpents, and dragons. If you’re from an Appalachian snake-handling church, I’m sorry to disappoint.