The Serpent

Old Testament18

1. Genesis 3:1listed key text

   Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field that the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden?’”(opening verse of the passage)

   ›Commentary on Genesis 3:11 voice

   “(Chapter 3, Verse 1) Now the serpent was more cunning than any other wild animal that was on the earth. In Hebrew, the word for cunning is Arom (אָרוּם), which Aquila and Theodotion translate as πανοῦργον. This means wicked and deceitful. Therefore, from this word, it is demonstrated more of a craftiness and cunningness than wisdom.

   Everything gathered on Genesis 3:1→

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2. Genesis 3:14topical floor

   So the LORD God said to the serpent: “Because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock and every beast of the field! On your belly will you go, and dust you will eat, all the days of your life.

   ›Commentary on Genesis 3:141 voice

   “And the Lord God said unto the serpent - The tempter is not asked why he deceived the woman; he cannot roll the blame on any other; self-tempted he fell, and it is natural for him, such is his enmity, to deceive and destroy all he can. His fault admits of no excuse, and therefore God begins to pronounce sentence on him first. And here we must consider a twofold sentence, one on Satan and the other on the agent he employed.

   Everything gathered on Genesis 3:14→

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3. Genesis 3:15listed key text

   And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed. He will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.”(opening verse of the passage)

   ›Commentary on Genesis 3:152 voices

   He has therefore, in His work of recapitulation, summed up all things, both waging war against our enemy, and crushing him who had at the beginning led us away captives in Adam, and trampled upon his head, as thou canst perceive in Genesis that God said to the serpent, "And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; He shall be on the watch for thy head, and thou on the watch for His heel."

   “I will put enmity between thee and the woman - This has been generally supposed to apply to a certain enmity subsisting between men and serpents; but this is rather a fancy than a reality. It is yet to be discovered that the serpentine race have any peculiar enmity against mankind, nor is there any proof that men hate serpents more than they do other noxious animals.

   Everything gathered on Genesis 3:15→

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4. Genesis 4:25thread stop

   And Adam again had relations with his wife, and she gave birth to a son and named him Seth, saying, “God has granted me another seed in place of Abel, since Cain killed him.”

   ›Commentary on Genesis 4:252 voices

   “(Verse 25) And he called his name Seth. For God has provided me another offspring in place of Abel, whom Cain killed. Seth, properly θέσις, that is, position, is called because God had set him in place of Abel. Finally, Aquila says: And he called his name Seth, saying: For God has placed another offspring for me.

   “And Adam knew his wife again,.... The Targum of Jonathan adds, at the end of a hundred and thirty years after Abel was killed, see Gen 5:3 but, according to Bishop Usher, Seth was born the same year, which is most probable.

   Everything gathered on Genesis 4:25→

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5. Genesis 9:26thread stop

   He also declared: “Blessed be the LORD, the God of Shem! May Canaan be the servant of Shem.(opening verse of the passage)

   ›Commentary on Genesis 9:261 voice

   “Observe, [1.] He calls the Lord the god of Shem; and happy, thrice happy, is that people whose God is the L ORD , Ps. cxliv. All blessings are included in this.

   Everything gathered on Genesis 9:26→

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6. Genesis 12:3thread stop

   I will bless those who bless you and curse those who curse you; and all the families of the earth will be blessed through you.”

   ›Commentary on Genesis 12:32 voices

   “And I will bless them that bless thee,.... Not the priests only that should bless his children, the children of Israel, as the Targum of Jonathan, but all men of all nations, and of every age, that speak well of him, commend him for his faith and holiness, and tread in his steps, these are blessed with faithful Abraham, Gal 3:

   “In thee - In thy posterity, in the Messiah, who shall spring from thee, shall all families of the earth be blessed; for as he shall take on him human nature from the posterity of Abraham, he shall taste death for every man, his Gospel shall be preached throughout the world, and innumerable blessings be derived on all mankind through his death and intercession.

   Everything gathered on Genesis 12:3→

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7. Genesis 15:5thread stop

   And the LORD took him outside and said, “Now look to the heavens and count the stars, if you are able.” Then He told him, “So shall your offspring be.”(opening verse of the passage)

   ›Commentary on Genesis 15:52 voices

   “What is the meaning then of the expression "he brought him outside"? The prophet is as it were led out, so that he goes outside of the body and sees the limitations imposed by the flesh that is his garment and the infusion of the Holy Spirit who makes a kind of visible descent. We too must exit from the confinement of this our temporary dwelling.

   “Look now toward heaven - It appears that this whole transaction took place in the evening; see on Gen 13:14 (note). Abram had either two visions, that recorded in Gen 15:1, and that in Gen 15:12, etc.; or what is mentioned in the beginning of this chapter is a part of the occurrences which took place after the sacrifice mentioned Gen 15:9, etc.: but it is more likely that there was a vision of that kind already described, and afterwards a second, in which he received the revelation mentioned Gen 15:13-

   Everything gathered on Genesis 15:5→

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8. Genesis 22:18thread stop

   And through your offspring all nations of the earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.”

   ›Commentary on Genesis 22:181 voice

   “And in thy seed, etc. - We have the authority of St. Paul, Gal 3:8, Gal 3:16, Gal 3:18, to restrain this to our blessed Lord, who was The Seed through whom alone all God’s blessings of providence, mercy, grace, and glory, should be conveyed to the nations of the earth.

   Everything gathered on Genesis 22:18→

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9. Genesis 49:10thread stop

   The scepter will not depart from Judah, nor the staff from between his feet, until Shiloh comes and the allegiance of the nations is his.

   ›Commentary on Genesis 49:102 voices

   “until Shiloh come--Shiloh--this obscure word is variously interpreted to mean "the sent" (Joh 17:3), "the seed" (Isa 11:1), the "peaceable or prosperous one" (Eph 2:14) --that is, the Messiah (Isa 11:10;

   “The scepter shall not depart from Judah till Shiloh come - Jacob here foretels, (1.) That the scepter should come into the tribe of Judah, which was fulfilled in David, on whose family the crown was entailed.

   Everything gathered on Genesis 49:10→

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10. Genesis 49:17topical floor

    He will be a snake by the road, a viper in the path that bites the horse’s heels so that its rider tumbles backward.

    ›Commentary on Genesis 49:171 voice

    “Dan shall be a serpent - The original word is נחש nachash, and we have seen on Genesis 3 that this has a great variety of significations. It is probable that a serpent is here intended, but of what kind we know not; yet as the principal reference in the text is to guile, cunning, etc., the same creature may be intended as in Genesis 3. A cerastes upon the track - The word שפיפון shephiphon, which is nowhere else to be found in the Bible, is thus translated by the Vulgate, and Bochart approves of the translation.

    Everything gathered on Genesis 49:17→

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11. Exodus 4:3topical floor

    “Throw it on the ground,” said the LORD. So Moses threw it on the ground, and it became a snake, and he ran from it.

    ›Commentary on Exodus 4:31 voice

    “A serpent - This miracle had a meaning which Moses could not mistake. The serpent was probably the basilisk or Uraeus, the Cobra. This was the symbol of royal and divine power on the diadem of every Pharaoh. The conversion of the rod was not merely a portent, it was a sign, at once a pledge and representation of victory over the king and gods of Egypt!

    Everything gathered on Exodus 4:3→

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12. Exodus 7:15topical floor

    Go to Pharaoh in the morning as you see him walking out to the water. Wait on the bank of the Nile to meet him, and take in your hand the staff that was changed into a snake.

    ›Commentary on Exodus 7:152 voices

    “Get thee unto Pharaoh in the morning,.... The next morning, a time in which the mind is most composed and sedate, and fit to attend to what may be suggested: lo, he goeth out unto the water; the river Nile, either to take his morning's walk, and to refresh himself at the waterside, as the Jerusalem Targum; or to observe divinations upon the water, as a magician, as the Targum of Jonathan. So in the Talmud (d) it is said, that the Pharaoh in the days of Moses was a magician.

    “He goeth out unto the water - The Nile was worshipped under various names and symbols; at Memphis especially, as Hapi, i. e. Apis, the sacred bull, or living representation of Osiris, of whom the river was regarded as the embodiment or manifestation. If, as is probable, the king went to offer his devotions, the miracle would have special force and suitableness. It was also the season of the yearly overflowing, about the middle of June; and the daily rise of the water was accurately recorded, under the personal superintendence of the king.

    Everything gathered on Exodus 7:15→

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13. Numbers 21:6topical floor

    So the LORD sent venomous snakes among the people, and many of the Israelites were bitten and died.

    ›Commentary on Numbers 21:62 voices

    “The only known remedy consists in sucking the wound, or, in the case of cattle, in the application of ammonia. The exact species of serpents that caused so great mortality among the Israelites cannot be ascertained. They are said to have been "fiery," an epithet applied to them either from their bright, vivid color, or the violent inflammation their bite occasioned.

    “Fiery serpents - הנחשים השרפים hannechashim hasseraphim. I have observed before, on Gen. iii., that it is difficult to assign a name to the creature termed in Hebrew nachash; it has different significations, but its meaning here and in Gen. iii. is most difficult to be ascertained. Seraphim is one of the orders of angelic beings, Isa 6:2, Isa 6:6; but as it comes from the root שרף saraph, which signifies to burn, it has been translated fiery in the text.

    Everything gathered on Numbers 21:6→

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14. Numbers 21:7topical floor

    Then the people came to Moses and said, “We have sinned by speaking against the LORD and against you. Intercede with the LORD so He will take the snakes away from us.” So Moses interceded for the people.

    ›Commentary on Numbers 21:71 voice

    “This peculiar method of cure was designed, in the first instance, to show that it was the efficacy of God's power and grace, not the effect of nature or art, and also that it might be a type of the power of faith in Christ to heal all who look to Him because of their sins (Joh 3:14, 15; see also on 2Ki 18:4).

    Everything gathered on Numbers 21:7→

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15. Numbers 21:8topical floor

    Then the LORD said to Moses, “Make a fiery serpent and mount it on a pole. When anyone who is bitten looks at it, he will live.”

    ›Commentary on Numbers 21:82 voices

    “The serpent signified Christ, who was in the likeness of sinful flesh, though without sin, as this brazen serpent had the outward shape, but not the inward poison, of the other serpents: the pole resembled the cross upon which Christ was lifted up for our salvation: and looking up to it designed our believing in Christ.

    “Many things were done in figure which were done in former times. For when he said that the fathers who were bitten by serpents in the desert could not be healed in any other way except that Moses hung up a brazen serpent, and when this was seen, those deadly bites and injurious effects of the poison were cured, he added: But these things were done in figure to instruct us (1 Corinthians 10:6).

    Everything gathered on Numbers 21:8→

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16. Numbers 21:9listed key text

    So Moses made a bronze snake and mounted it on a pole. If anyone who was bitten looked at the bronze snake, he would live.(opening verse of the passage)

    ›Commentary on Numbers 21:92 voices

    “That brazen serpent was hung up as a remedy for the biting serpents, not as a type of him that suffered for us but as a contrast. It saved those that looked upon it, not because they believed it to live but because it was killed, and killed with it were the powers that were subject to it, being destroyed as it deserved. And what is the fitting epitaph for it from us? "O death, where is your sting? O grave, where is your victory?" You are overthrown by the cross.

    “Many things were done in figure which were done in former times. For when he said that the fathers who were bitten by serpents in the desert could not be healed in any other way except that Moses hung up a brazen serpent, and when this was seen, those deadly bites and injurious effects of the poison were cured, he added: But these things were done in figure to instruct us (1 Corinthians 10:6).

    Everything gathered on Numbers 21:9→

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17. Deuteronomy 8:15topical floor

    He led you through the vast and terrifying wilderness with its venomous snakes and scorpions, a thirsty and waterless land. He brought you water from the rock of flint.

    ›Commentary on Deuteronomy 8:151 voice

    “Render: “Who brought thee through that great and terrible wilderness, the fiery serpent and the scorpion, and the dry land where are no waters.” On the fiery serpents see Num 21:6 note.

    Everything gathered on Deuteronomy 8:15→

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18. Deuteronomy 32:24topical floor

    They will be wasted from hunger and ravaged by pestilence and bitter plague; I will send the fangs of wild beasts against them, with the venom of vipers that slither in the dust.

    ›Commentary on Deuteronomy 32:242 voices

    “They shall be burnt with hunger - Their land shall be cursed, and famine shall prevail. This is one of the arrows. Burning heat - No showers to cool the atmosphere; or rather boils, blains, and pestilential fevers; this was a second. Bitter destruction - The plague; this was a third. Teeth of beasts - with the poison of serpents - The beast of the field should multiply upon and destroy them; this was a fourth: and poisonous serpents, infesting all their steps, and whose mortal bite should produce the utmost anguish, were to be a fifth arrow.

    “They shall be burnt with hunger,.... This is the arrow of famine, Eze 5:16; the force of which is such that it makes the skin black as if burnt, Lam 5:10; Onkelos paraphrases it,"inflated or swelled with famine,''which is a phrase Josephus (b) makes use of in describing the famine at the siege of Jerusalem.

    Everything gathered on Deuteronomy 32:24→

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