s we continue our discussion, we would like to emphasize that we are just using the serpent as an example to prove to all that we do not give our own interpretation to what we read from the Bible. The Bible must be used in accordance to the prescription of no less than the author of the Bible himself, and that is God, through the Holy Spirit.
Going back to the serpent that deceived Eve, would you believe that this serpent also tried to deceive Adam? People believe that it was Eve that was deceived by the serpent. But if you are going to read between the lines, you will have the idea that, the serpent also attempted to deceive Adam, only it was not explicitly lettered in the Bible.
I Timothy 2:13-14 it reads--
“For Adam was first formed, then Eve. And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression."
By reading between the lines, this particular verse implies that there was an attempt of the serpent to deceive Adam. It may not be in those letters but it is within the letters of the Bible. Adam was not deceived. Therefore, the serpent had tried to deceive Adam. But Adam was not deceived, but the woman, after being deceived, was found in transgression. Therefore, this serpent was there already even before God created Eve.
Everybody knows that God first created Adam, and then Eve. Adam was the first creation. As far as the human family is concerned, Adam was the first, and then Eve. But before Eve was made, there was already an attempt, by the serpent, to deceive Adam. And St. Paul said, Adam was not deceived. Why? I just want to point out something very important about these verses. Remember that the animals were created before Adam. The animals were created on the first part of the sixth day of creation. Right? And after their creation of Adam, when he was already in the garden of Eden, remember that the garden of Eden was both a botanical and zoological garden, God brought to Adam every creeping creature that He had created, and tasked him to give names to these creatures. That can be read in
Genesis 2:19--
“And out of the ground the Lord god formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof.”
Now, what do I mean by this?
Isaiah 34:16 told us,
“seek ye out of the book of the Lord and read.” Therefore, you have to read, and in reading you have to seek. What are you going to seek? The things that you cannot read! Because there are things that you cannot read but they can be sought out of reading the Bible. At this juncture, allow me to say that, Adam was very well acquainted with the beasts of the earth. In fact, he was the one who gave them names, and Eve was not on earth yet that time. While Eve was not created yet, Adam was already acquainted with these beasts.
This serpent, which is recorded in Gen. 3, deceived Eve but not Adam. Why? Although this serpent attempted to deceive Adam, it did not succeed because he was well acquainted with every beast and animals of the earth. He was even the one who assigned name to them all. But why was the serpent triumphant in deceiving Eve? It was because Eve was not very much acquainted with these creatures, unlike Adam. That is where the difference lies. Adam was not deceived; the woman was deceived by the serpent who is more subtile than any other beast in the field that God had created. Who is this serpent? What information does the Bible supply us about this serpent? Let us follow God’s instruction: seek out of the book of the Lord and read. And since we have read about the serpent in Genesis 3, let us continue reading Genesis 4, 5, and so on. And if until the last chapter of the book of Genesis, no explanation about the serpent has been given, go on reading the next book, Exodus. If, still, there isn’t any explanation given, proceed to the next books, Deuteronomy and Leviticus. But before we end the Pentateuch, or the five books written by Moses, we will encounter another serpent – the serpent that God commanded Moses to form. There was a plague that came to the Israelites when they were still in the wilderness. Twenty-three thousand of them were bitten by serpents. Twenty-three thousand died in a day. God commanded Moses to make a serpent out of a brass and put it in a pole, and everyone bitten by snakes should look at the serpent so that they may be cured, or healed. That particular serpent was made by Moses. But it does not explain the serpent in Genesis. As we keep on reading the Bible, we will reach the Book of Matthew, the first book of the New Testament. There is a verse, wherein Jesus Christ, Himself, was the speaker, which says,
“You, generation of vipers.” This is another kind of serpent, or snake. These are venomous vipers, according to
Matthew 23:33. And you will see that this serpent has his seeds scattered. Why? There are now generations of vipers, according to the Bible. However, this does not clearly explain the meaning of the serpent that was mentioned in Genesis 3. But once we reach
II Corinthians 11:3, it reads--
“But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.”
