Christians, I say the serpent in the garden was not satan.?

Question

Chapter 3:15
I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel."
Anyone have any verses, that points to the snake being satan ?

Hey Palomnik, I like that.
It does seem that the snake was trying to help.

What makes that wrong, god's disapproval? Humph

Answer 1

"The seed of the woman" is Jesus Christ (i.e. the seed of Mary). Satan has power to bruise Jesus' heel (i.e. Crucify and kill Him) but Jesus has the power to crush Satan's head (i.e. defeat Satan for all time and end his influence over humankind) -Rev 12:9.

Of course, "serpent" is also a metaphor of sorts, since snakes are coniving and move about without making sounds, sneaking up on you and by the time you notice them, it's too late and you've been bitten. If, however, you are aware, you can crush the serpent's head. He may bite your heel, but you'll kill him.

Answer 2

The idea of the serpent in the garden being Satan stemed from later traditions. There is no mention of the connection between Satan and the serpent in the Old Testament. And if you look at other books that speak about Satan - such as the book of Job - the protrayal of him is quite different then what we are shown today in modren times.

Christians look to the verse talking about how her offspring shall bruise the serpent's head. Many take this to be a prophetic verse about the coming of Jesus to over come Satan on the cross. I don't understand that if this is Jesus - then how can Satan even begin to bruise his heel?

Anyway - the graphic depictions of Satan being in the garden of Eden didn't begin until after Jesus' life. There is no evidence that the Jewish people up until that time ever considered Satan to be there. Instead, the serpent is just a symbol for temptation and sin - something lowly on the ground instead of heavenly towards God. (such as the dove).

*edit*

Ezekiel 28:13 is describing the King of Tyre. God is telling the king that his ancestors started off perfect with all things given to them and foresoke them. Just as the king has done with the gifts that God has given him. Because of this God made an example out of him, throwing him from his throne.

Some would like to exclaim that this is a picture of Satan - but to do so would be reading more into the text then is actually there. It's obvious he is talking about Adam - not Satan.

Answer 3

This is a metaphorical meaning that agrees with the womb as garden of eden with its steady state existence being undone only by the birth of body (adam, red earth) and soul (eve, invisible essence) into the world of the knowledge of good and evil. The seed of the woman or soul are the virtues, obedience to God and in general spiritual advancement. The seed of the body is the physical labor resulting in food, clothing and housing. Each is offensive to the other in that it takes no virtue to acquire the material and it takes no material to acquire the spiritual. However in this life they are dependent over time. The spiritual advancement cannot continue if, say, starvation leading to death occurs. Physical advancement, the acquisition of the comforts, time to meditate and so on cannot come but from the spiritual aspect that, embraced by all, allays conflict and destruction and supports justice and tranquility. The serpent is the symbol of the intellect, or that by which the spiritual values are perceived and embraced. It is seen as lowly in the material world and the physical bruises its head. It in turn bruises the heel as consequence for ignoring the spiritual aspect.

Answer 4

Revelation 12 : 9 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 20 : 2 And he laid hold on the dragon,that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years,
Enough or do you want more? Better do some more studying before making such claims. many places it states Satan is called the serpent, dragon, beast, etc. Check out the site below for some good studies.

Answer 5

Revelation 12:9 (refers to Satan as a serpent); Ezekiel 28:13a (proves Satan was in the Garden of Eden; the King of Tyre is symbolic for Satan; the Prince of Tyre is the antichrist); Isaiah 26:20-21 together with Isaiah 27:1 (judgement of Satan following the Tribulation -- this also proves Satan is referred to by God as a "serpent").

Answer 6

In ancient Jewish tradition Satan is simply an angel doing the work that God assigned to Satan to do.

The word Satan means challenger. With the idea of Satan challenging us, or tempting if you will. This description sees Satan as the angel who is the embodiment of man's challenges. This idea of Satan works closely with God as an integral part of Gods plan for us. His job is to make choosing good over evil enough of a challenge so that it becomes clear to us that there can be only one meaningful or logical choice.

Contrast this to Christianity, which sees Satan as God's opponent. In Jewish thought, the idea that there exists anything capable of setting itself up as God's opponent would be considered polytheistic or setting up the devil to be an equally powerful polarity to god or a demigod.

Oddly, proof for The Christian satan/devil mythology is supposedly found in the ancient Jewish texts that were borrowed to create the bible. One can’t help but wonder how Christians came up with such a fantastically different interpretation of Gods assistant Satan in their theology.

Other hints about Satan’s role in human relations can be seen if you look at the name Lucifer. It’s meaning in the original tongue translates as Light bearer or light bringer. Essentially the bringer of enlightenment. The temptations of the Satan idea bring all of us eventually into Gods light. Hardly the Evil entity of Christian mythology.

Love and blessings
don

Answer 7

According to the Secret Doctrine, the Serpent is the Redeemer - "Christ" in disguise! Nechesh, the Serpent in Eden, is spelt in Hebrew NChSh = 358 = MShICh, the Messiah. In this interpretation, popular among the Gnostic sects of early Christianity, the "Lord" who presided over creation was the Demiurge, the "Half-Creator," who sought to enslave man and keep him ignorant and submissive. Note that He clearly lies to Adam in telling him that the day he eats of the Tree of Knowledge, he will die. Rather He is jealous lest Adam become "like one of us, knowing Good and Evil." (Who's "us," anyway? Vestiges of panthesim?) So the Serpent, in convincing Adam and Eve to eat of the Tree of Knowledge (Gnosis), is in fact the Redeemer, the Initiator who made Gods of our race, and opened our eyes to Truth. This thesis can be developed at great length.

Answer 8

Dear Friend

The Scripture concerned are

Genesis 3:1 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 surely die," the serpent said to the woman. 5 "For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil."

and also

Revelation 12:9The great dragon was hurled down—that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him.

God Bless

Answer 9

Yep. Revelation 20:2 - you'll have a few of the many names of Satan written there. Among them, "serpent"

Answer 10

I will agree with you, because ancient jewish belief (and modern belief) about Satan is that he is in God's employ and is not a fallen angel... however, the christians will point you to the following verses to try and back up their statement. None of them has obviously studied Greek belief (The Greeks invaded Jerusalem during the 400 year period between the testaments) to understand that this concept of good versus evil comes from them and not Judaism.. anyway, here are the verses:

“And he seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years,” (Revelation 20:2). “And the great dragon was thrown down, the serpent of old who is called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him” (Revelation 12:9).