Genesis 3:14-15 - "14 So the LORD God said to the serpent:“ Because you have done this, you are cursed more than all cattle, and more than every beast of the field; on your belly you shall go, and you shall eat dust All the days of your life. 15 And 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.” - NKJV

 

Introduction

Many believe that according to Genesis 3, snakes used to have legs... until Satan posed as a snake when he tempted Eve in the garden. As part of his punishment, God removed the legs from all snakes.

 

1a The serpent was the shrewdest

of all the wild animals the Lord God had made.

- - -

14 Then the Lord God said to the serpent,

“Because you have done this, you are cursed
more than all animals, domestic and wild.
You will crawl on your belly,
groveling in the dust as long as you live. - NLT

 

 

Christians generally interpret this quite literally as the time when snakes lost their legs, after Satan took the form of a snake and tempted Eve about 6,000 years ago. It proves that the earth is young, because science teaches that snakes lost their legs millions of years ago, while scripture clearly says it happened less than 6,000 years ago. It seems like an open-and-shut case. But, is that what scripture says?

 

"You will crawl on your belly"

What does it mean to crawl? Generally, it means to crouch on all fours and advance with your body low to the ground. As for crawling on your belly, alligators and crocodiles do this, and they have legs. However, the curse in Genesis 3:14 is to crawl on ones belly; people read Genesis 3:14 as a curse to crawl with ones belly, i.e., without legs, or at least without using them. This is not to say that snakes cannot be described as crawling on their bellies, but that other types of modality can be described with the same words.

 

There is a type of lizard called the burrowing skink. They are like miniature snakes, except they have only the tinyiest of legs that are all but useless. Now, burrowing skinks predate the garden as well as snakes do, so the point to see is that the serpent in Genesis 3 may not refer to modern snakes, but something else. But, what could it be?

 

The Shrewd Serpent

The Hebrew word used for serpent in Genesis 3 is nachash, which is the accepted Hebrew word for snake. Still, English Bible translations generally say serpent. Why would that be? Tradition perhaps.

 

According to Strong's Concordance, the usage of nachash for "snake" comes from its verb form, which means "to hiss." However, this hissing more specifically refers to someone whispering a magic spell or telling a prophecy or predicting the future. There is a sneakiness implied, which fits what Satan did perfectly. More than that, when used in phrases, nachash can indicate an enchantment or just a diligent observer; both descriptions seem appropriate here.

 

The word nachash describes Satan's actions in the garden quite well. To then conclude that he appeared as a real snake is to rob the Hebrew of its point, which is a description of Satan's intentions and character. But then, what of verse 1's description of Satan, as being the shrewdest of all animals? Does that not mean he appeared as an animal? Well, the NLT translation would certainly suggest that. However, the NLT, while pleasing to the ear, is often not as literal as the more traditional translations we are used to...

 

1a Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. - King James Version

1a Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. - New King James Version

1a And the serpent hath been subtile above every beast of the field which Jehovah God hath made. - Young's Literal Translation

1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made. - NIV

 

Do you see the difference between these translations and the NLT? Here is the NLT version again....

 

1a The serpent was the shrewdest of all the wild animals the Lord God had made. - NLT

 

Generally, the NLT is a very good modern-language translation. It takes the meaning that Christians generally have to read between the lines, and writes it in clear concise English. Frankly, it makes the scripture come alive. So, because Christians generally believe that Satan was acting as a true physical snake, the NLT's description of the serpent as "the shrewdest of all the wild animals" reads true. However, in this case, it adds meaning to the verse that was never intended. A more accurate "modern" translation would have been...

 

Satan was a "snake", being shrewder than any animal that God had made.

 

In other words, Satan was shrewder than the animals, but was not necessarily an animal himself.

 

The Serpent is Cursed

People generally believe that part of the God's curse against Satan resulted in all snakes losing their legs. Let us review the actual curse...

 

14 So the LORD God said to the serpent:
“Because you have done this, You are cursed more than all cattle,
And more than every beast of the field; On your belly you shall go,
And you shall eat dust All the days of your life.

15 And 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.” - NKJV

 

Let us start with verse 15. God put enmity between the seed of Satan and the seed of Eve. More modern translations interpret this to mean that snakes and people will always be at odds. However, being a woman, Eve had no seed. However, Mary would give birth to Jesus, Who would be conceived without a man's seed. The phrase "her Seed" is therefore a reference to Jesus, not mankind. Therefore "your seed" is not a reference to all snakes, but to Satan and his minions, which include the demons cast out of Heaven, the giants that would be conceived between the demons and human women (Genesis 6:2), and even those people who become willing followers of Satan, instead of followers of Jesus Christ.

 

He shall bruise your head, And you shall bruise His heel.

 

Clearly, Jesus was not going to literally bruise (or crush as some translataions say) Satan's head; Satan would not literally bruise Jesus' heel. However, the description is nonetheless apt, making verse 15 a metphor for how annoying Satan would always be to God, and the victory Jesus would eventually have over him. However, the metaphor did not begin in verse 15, but in verse 14.

 

“Because you have done this, You are cursed more than all cattle,
And more than every beast of the field; On your belly you shall go,
And you shall eat dust all the days of your life.

 

Given Satan's actions as a nachash, i.e., a whispering enchanter, God is basically saying that if Satan is going act like a snake, he will be cursed like one. Think of it this way. Just as the snake lost its legs as it evolved to crawl on its belly, Satan was cast out of heaven to rule the earth. As he advances to bite Jesus at his heel, he will merely get a mouthful of dust from Jesus' sandles... until the day then when Jesus crushes him forever.

 

Conclusion

Genesis 3 was never about real snakes, or them losing their feet. As it turns out of course, snakes did lose their legs over millions of years. However, that discovery should just drive the point home all the more: This is not a passage about evolution, but about Jesus' victory over Satan.