Well, some scholars say that Genesis 1-3 is not literal, but a Hebrew adaptation of Babylonian/Sumerian creation story myths like the Enuma Elish and Gilgamesh. Check them out for yourself; the similarities are quite interesting.
Also, was the serpent Satan? The Genesis text never ACTUALLY says that the serpent IS Satan.
On a different note: Did the serpent lie?
Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman,
"Indeed, has God said, 'You shall not eat from any tree of the garden'?" The woman said to the serpent, "From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat; but from the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, 'You shall not eat from it or touch it, or you will die.'" The serpent said to the woman,
"You surely will not die! "For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." - Genesis 3:1-5, NASB
In the first statement, the serpent asks Eve if God told her that God would punish her with death if she ate from the tree. Eve of course confirms this. But then the serpent tells her she will not die. Here, the question is: Was the serpent speaking literally?
If you say that the serpent wasn't lying, in that he tells her she would not physically die on the spot, then the serpent was telling the truth. And physical death is the only thing Eve has observed: when she eats a plant, it must, by necessity, cease to live: pick the plant and it dies, eat the fruit and you die. This is the only type of death that Eve is aware of, therefore, she cannot help but only think of immediate physical death because of her ignorance. So, within the context of the conversation, the serpent never lies.
Of course you could also say that he doesn't tell her the full truth either. But even if the serpent WANTED to talk about spiritual death, Eve wouldn't even be able to understand spiritual death, or by association, it's cause, sin. She had never experienced sin, and therefore could not comprehend it's consequence. Can the serpent be held responsible for Eve's ignorance? Then again, if the serpent can't be held responsible, why does God curse him? You could say the serpent exploited her ignorance, but if mankind was supposedly the epitome of God's creation, having been created in the image of God, then how could a "beast of the field", cunning as he may be, understand spiritual death before Adam and Eve?
What are your thoughts on this alternative interpretation?