What "was" the serpent?

[Sword-In-Hand]

I've heard different theories on this, but if you read deeply in the book of Genesis, particuarly Chapter 3:14, God curses the serpent and says, "on your belly you will go." Which seems to imply that at one point the serpent stood upright.

I've heard people say that the serpent was "dragon-esque" with wings and things of that nature. Has anyone done a study on this or have any info on what the serpent could have once looked like?

 

[Crazy Liz]

The serpent (as well as the Tree of Life) is mentioned in Revelation, as well as in Genesis:

[bible]revelation 12:9[/bible]

[bible]revelation 20:2[/bible]

I believe this is where the serpent/dragon identification comes from.

I sometimes like to have fun with young earth creationists by pointing this out, along with the fact that we know that reptiles that walked upright on 4 legs or 2 legs, as well as flying reptiles, once existed, but no longer do. The only reptiles that did not become extinct are the belly-crawlers - lizards, snakes, turtles and crocodiles. Snakes are the last to appear in the fossil record.

So it is possible the serpent mentioned in Genesis 3 is some sort of dinosaur. However, since this does not fit any of the current young earth creation theoretical models, the very people who insist on a literal and empirical interpretation of Genesis 1-3 cannot acknowledge this possibility.

 

[Sword-In-Hand]

If it was a dinosaur, which it could have been, I wonder which one it was. It says it was the most crafty of creatures in the garden, so if it was a dinosaur, I guess that would hurt the facts that dinosaurs were supposedly stupid.

 

[Crazy Liz]

If it was a dinosaur, which it could have been, I wonder which one it was. It says it was the most crafty of creatures in the garden, so if it was a dinosaur, I guess that would hurt the facts that dinosaurs were supposedly stupid.

Did you see the velociraptors talking to each other in Jurassic Park 3? It was watching that movie that this thought first occurred to me.