Did Eve talk to a literal snake?

yeshuaslavejeff

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I think most of us would agree that Eve did in fact have communication with Satan, and I do believe this account in Genesis is literal. I however, at the moment, do not think a literal snake was involved in this incident.

What is your opinion?
Ask God the Father for HIS OPINION. (i.e. REALITY)

Consider; an evil villain in some scenario, putting women and children in the poorhouse or on the street for lacking rent money on the 1st of the month...
They call him a snake...

Is THAT literal ? Real ?

For thousands of years, tradition has been put over God's Word by the religious leaders, the Jews first, and then the Gentiles....
 
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Roderick Spode

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Ask God the Father for HIS OPINION. (i.e. REALITY)

Consider; an evil villain in some scenario, putting women and children in the poorhouse or on the street for lacking rent money on the 1st of the month...
They call him a snake...

Is THAT literal ? Real ?

For thousands of years, tradition has been put over God's Word by the religious leaders, the Jews first, and then the Gentiles....
I agree with you. Another example would be Jesus' reference to religious leaders being a brood of vipers.

As far as asking God for His opinion, certainly. However, biblical study/research is ongoing process, so we're likely to change our opinions at times. So while God may guide us through scripture, I can't really claim God has revealed every viewpoint I take.

The problem is that if you and/or I claim God revealed His opinion to us on any scriptural matter, we can never change our mind, right? We can't reconsider the matter if we see something in scripture, read a commentary, hear a teaching that may challenge our current view. Because after all, God told us right?

So that's why I stand by my conviction that no matter how strong my opinion on this is, it's still my opinion for now.
 
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yeshuaslavejeff

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Consider the account at Numbers 22:28-30. Like the serpent in Genesis, would you also consider that the ass did not speak or was fictions or symbolic.
Is the word used to describe the animal in Numbers, anything close to the same word equivalent meaning "angel of light", or "light", or even anything like that instead of the animal ?
 
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On guard

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Roderick Spode

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Consider the account at Numbers 22:28-30. Like the serpent in Genesis, would you also consider that the ass did not speak or was fictions or symbolic.
In the account it's made very clear that God opened the mouth of the donkey. So that incident is entirely different.
 
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Swan7

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It seems the most popular opinion is that Satan possessed a snake, using it as a mouthpiece to communicate with Eve. There is also an opinion that the snake was a dragon which would explain the idea of a serpent having legs, and losing them due to being cursed for it's act of deception. And of course there's a view that Genesis simply uses symbolic imagery, rendering the account non-literal, perhaps to varying degrees.

I think most of us would agree that Eve did in fact have communication with Satan, and I do believe this account in Genesis is literal. I however, at the moment, do not think a literal snake was involved in this incident.

What is your opinion?

I see your view and understand it. I guess I see things both ways. Literal and metaphorically (sometimes), but also spiritual. I guess I see all 3 lol, just thinking out loud here.

I believe there could have been a literal snake there as Satan is spirit and doesn't have a body like us. Satan is a big time copy cat though and when Jesus Christ came in form of fallen man (though not fallen Himself), Satan and his cronies were dwelling within people, possessing them. Sounds an awful lot like a foreshadowing of what Jesus Christ ultimately did - those who believe in Him and dwell within us as His temples.

God made a donkey speak to her abuser: Numbers 22:21-39

I believe God can do anything and certainly allow many things to happen :yellowheart:
 
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Roderick Spode

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I see your view and understand it. I guess I see things both ways. Literal and metaphorically (sometimes), but also spiritual. I guess I see all 3 lol, just thinking out loud here.

I believe there could have been a literal snake there as Satan is spirit and doesn't have a body like us. Satan is a big time copy cat though and when Jesus Christ came in form of fallen man (though not fallen Himself), Satan and his cronies were dwelling within people, possessing them. Sounds an awful lot like a foreshadowing of what Jesus Christ ultimately did - those who believe in Him and dwell within us as His temples.

God made a donkey speak to her abuser: Numbers 22:21-39

I believe God can do anything and certainly allow many things to happen :yellowheart:
God could certainly cause a snake to talk just as he did the donkey. But it begs the question whether or not Satan could do the same? Other than possess a snake, unless God somehow is involved, I don't think Satan had the ability to open the snakes vocal chords to speak audibly. But I could be wrong.

What's interesting though is the 3 judgments rendered each to Adam, Eve, and Satan/serpent. God applied different judgments to Adam and Eve, probably based on their gender, responsibilities, etc. The judgments applied to Satan and serpent were addressed as to one individual being. A two-in-one double-judgment. So is the serpent judged equally as Satan? Adam was judged as a male human, eve a female. Satan was judged as a fallen angel, was the serpent judged as a fallen angel as well?

And symbolism is actually unavoidable unless one believes Satan literally is crawling on his belly, eating dust.

And we
 
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Bob Crowley

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Cardinal Ratzinger, later Pope Benedict XVI, had this to say on the term "serpent".

Orthodox Interpretation of Genesis and the Serpent

Cardinal Ratzinger (later Pope Benedict XVI), in his book, 'In the Beginning . . .': A Catholic Understanding of the Story of Creation and the Fall (Huntington, Indiana: Our Sunday Visitor, 1990, from the 1986 German), wrote:

[T]he Bible is not a natural science textbook, nor does it intend to be such . . . One must distinguish between the form of portrayal and the content that is portrayed. The form would have been chosen from what was understandable at the time -- from the images that surrounded the people who lived then . . . (pp.13-14)

Hence, when he writes later about the serpent and the fall of man (Genesis 3), he uses words like “image” and “symbol”:

.............................


[T]he image of the serpent . . . is taken from the eastern fertility cults. These fertility religions were severe temptations for Israel for centuries, tempting it to abandon the covenant and to enter into the religious milieu of the time. . . .

[T]he serpent was a symbol of that wisdom which rules the world . . . the serpent also serves as a symbol of the attraction that these religions exerted over Israel in contrast to the mystery of the God of the covenant.

It is with Israel’s temptation in mind that Holy Scripture portrays Adam’s temptation and, in general, the nature of temptation and sin in every age. (pp. 82-83)
 
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