Serpent

How Nave’s arranged it

• Satan appears to Eve in the form ofGenesis 3:1–152 Corinthians 11:3
• Subtlety ofGenesis 3:1Ecclesiastes 10:8Matthew 10:16
• Curse uponGenesis 3:14Genesis 3:15Genesis 49:17
• Feeds upon the dustGenesis 3:14Isaiah 65:25Micah 7:17
• Unfit for foodMatthew 7:10
• Venom ofDeuteronomy 32:24Deuteronomy 32:33Job 20:16Psalms 58:4Psalms 140:3Proverbs 23:31Proverbs 23:32Acts 28:5Acts 28:6
• The staff of Moses transformed intoExodus 4:3Exodus 7:15
• Fiery (poisonous), sent as a plague upon the IsraelitesNumbers 21:6Numbers 21:7Deuteronomy 8:151 Corinthians 10:9
• The wound of, miraculously healed by looking upon the bronze snake, erected by MosesNumbers 21:8Numbers 21:9
• The charming ofPsalms 58:4Psalms 58:5Ecclesiastes 10:11Jeremiah 8:17
• Mentioned in Solomon' s riddleProverbs 30:19
• Constriction ofRevelation 9:19

The passages, in Bible order (37)

The same references, sorted Genesis to Revelation. The first 16 are quoted in full; the rest are one click beneath them, book by book.

1. Genesis 3:1–15

   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?’”

   ›Commentary on Genesis 3:1–152 voices

   “(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.

   “Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field, which the Lord God had made,....

   Everything gathered on Genesis 3:1–15→

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2. Genesis 3:14

   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 3:142 voices

   “The serpent is a type of the pleasures of the body. The woman stands for our senses and the man for our minds. Pleasure stirs the senses, which in turn have their effect on the mind. Pleasure, therefore, is the primary source of sin. For this reason, do not wonder at the fact that by God's judgment the serpent was first condemned, then the woman and finally the man. The order of condemnation, too, corresponded to that of the crimes committed, for pleasure usually captivates the senses, and the senses captivate the mind.

   “And the Lord God said unto the serpent,.... And to the devil in it; for what follows may be applied to both; literally to the serpent, and mystically to Satan; both are punished, and that very justly, the serpent in being the instrument Satan made use of, and is cursed for his sake, as the earth for man's; and the punishing the instrument as well as the principal, the more discovers God's detestation of the act for which they are punished, as appears in other instances, Exo 21:

   Everything gathered on Genesis 3:14→

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3. Genesis 3:15

   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.”

   ›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."

   “And I will put enmity between thee and the woman,....

   Everything gathered on Genesis 3:15→

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4. Genesis 49:17

   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 49:172 voices

   “(Verses 16 and following.) And he shall judge his people, as one of the tribes of Israel. Let Dan be a serpent by the way, an adder in the path, that biteth the horse heels, so that his rider shall fall backward: thy salvation, O Lord, I will wait for.

   “Therefore, when we are going well on the road, let us beware that a snake does not hide in the path and overthrow the footprint of the horse, that is, of our body, and suddenly cast down the sleeping rider. For if we are watchful, we ought to be somewhat cautious and to avoid the bites of the serpent.

   Everything gathered on Genesis 49:17→

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5. Exodus 4:3

   “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 4:32 voices

   “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!

   “And he said, cast it on the ground,....

   Everything gathered on Exodus 4:3→

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6. Exodus 7:15

   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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7. Numbers 21:6

   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 wounds caused by the fiery serpent are the poisonous enticements of the vices, which afflict the soul and bring about its spiritual death. The people were murmuring against the Lord. They were stricken by the serpents' bites. This provides an excellent instance of how …

   “And the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people,....

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8. Numbers 21:7

   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

   “Therefore the people came to Moses, and said, we have sinned,....

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9. Numbers 21:8

   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 21:81 voice

   “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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10. Numbers 21:9

    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.

    ›Commentary on Numbers 21:92 voices

    “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).

    “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.

    Everything gathered on Numbers 21:9→

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11. Deuteronomy 8:15

    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 8:152 voices

    “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.

    “Who led thee through that great and terrible wilderness,....

    Everything gathered on Deuteronomy 8:15→

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12. Deuteronomy 32:24

    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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13. Deuteronomy 32:33

    Their wine is the venom of serpents, the deadly poison of cobras.

    ›Commentary on Deuteronomy 32:331 voice

    “Their wine is the poison of dragons,.... Of these creatures, both land and sea dragons; see Gill on Mic 1:8; See Gill on Mal 1:3; Pliny says (l) the dragon has no poison in it; yet, as Dalechamp, in his notes on that writer observes, he in many places prescribes remedies against the bite of the dragon; but Heliodorus (m) expressly speaks of some archers, whose arrows were infected with the poison of dragons; and Leo Africanus (n) says, the Atlantic dragons are exceeding poisonous: and yet other writers (o) besides Pliny have asserted that they are free from poison.

    Everything gathered on Deuteronomy 32:33→

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14. Job 20:16

    He will suck the poison of cobras; the fangs of a viper will kill him.

    ›Commentary on Job 20:161 voice

    “Ver. 16. He shall suck the head of asps: the viper's tongue shall slay him. 19. The 'asp' is a small serpent, but the 'viper' hath more length of body. And asps produce eggs, and their young are hatched from the eggs. But when vipers have conceived, their 'young ravin in their womb, which bursting the parents' sides issue out of their bellies. Hence too it is called the 'viper,' because it is a 'parent by violence.'

    Everything gathered on Job 20:16→

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15. Psalms 58:4

    Their venom is like the venom of a snake, like a cobra that shuts its ears,

    ›Commentary on Psalms 58:42 voices

    “Though it appears that the serpent's nature is being delineated in the foregoing, rather, every vessel of evil is being delineated, and every serpent of depravity who casts himself down on the belly and hides his poison inside himself and ponders it inwardly in his breast. He25 is slippery in his thoughts, he advances in his deceits and wraps himself in his deceptions; he is always moving and stirring his poisons by thought and treading on his belly as well, that is, the seedbed of his heart.

    “We hide away our sin, cloaking it over in the depth of our soul, like some festering and malignant disease, as if by escaping human notice we could escape the mighty eye of God and justice. Or else we make excuses for our sins by devising pleas in defense of our falls or by tightly closing our ears. Like the snake that stops its ears, we are obstinate in refusing to hear the voice of the charmer and be treated with the medicines of wisdom, by which spiritual sickness is healed.

    Everything gathered on Psalms 58:4→

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16. Psalms 58:5

    refusing to hear the tune of the charmer who skillfully weaves his spell.

    ›Commentary on Psalms 58:52 voices

    “Though it appears that the serpent's nature is being delineated in the foregoing, rather, every vessel of evil is being delineated, and every serpent of depravity who casts himself down on the belly and hides his poison inside himself and ponders it inwardly in his breast. He25 is slippery in his thoughts, he advances in his deceits and wraps himself in his deceptions; he is always moving and stirring his poisons by thought and treading on his belly as well, that is, the seedbed of his heart.

    “Which will not hearken to the voice of charmers,.... Or "that use enchantments", to enchant serpents, by muttering certain words, or by magical songs; by which means it is said that they have been drawn out of their holes, or caused to fly, or have become stupefied, and have lost their poison, and even burst asunder; as Bochart (b) relates from Pliny, Aelianus, Lucan, Isidore, Virgil, Ovid, Horace, and others: but an "asp" is unmoved by enchantments, and they are of no avail against its bites and poison (c).

    Everything gathered on Psalms 58:5→

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