Tag: serpent

Most Crafty

Posted on by jovial_cynic
There is a ranking of cleverness in the creatures God created.

The serpent (a creeping thing) is more crafty than the wild beasts, but not described as more clever than the cattle/livestock.

God said, “Let the earth bring forth every kind of living creature: cattle, creeping things, and wild beasts of every kind.” And it was so.
God made wild beasts of every kind and cattle of every kind, and all kinds of creeping things of the earth. And God saw that this was good.
Genesis 1:23-24 (The Contemporary Torah, JPS 2006)

Now the serpent was the shrewdest of all the wild beasts that God יהוה had made. It said to the woman, “Did God really say: You shall not eat of any tree of the garden?”
Genesis 1:23-24 (The Contemporary Torah, JPS 2006)

Some translations render this as “more shrewd than all…”

The Name of the Creeping Things

Posted on by jovial_cynic
In Genesis 3, we’re going to be introduced to the Serpent. He’s a “creeping thing,” unlike “wild animals” or “livestock.” All three are listed specifically in the creation account of Genesis 1.But when Adam names in the animals in Genesis 2, notice what’s missing. It’s the “creeping things” of Gen 1:24-25.

Why?

And out of the ground the Lord God formed every animal of the field and every bird of the sky, and brought them to the man to see what he would call them; and whatever the man called a living creature, that was its name. The man gave names to all the livestock, and to the birds of the sky, and to every animal of the field, but for Adam there was not found a helper suitable for him.
Genesis 2:19-20 (NASB)

I’m not sure, but perhaps it’s tied to this:

Now concerning everything which I have said to you, be careful; and do not mention the name of other gods, nor let them be heard from your mouth.
Exodus 23:13 (NASB)

The creeping things point to the serpent of Genesis 3. The serpent points to all the false gods.