“The
serpent was the shrewdest of all the wild animals the Lord God had made. One day he asked the woman, “Did God
really say you must not eat the fruit from any of the trees in the garden?”
Genesis 3:1 (New Living
Translation)
Was Humpty Dumpty an egg?
One of the most popular nursery rhymes is about Humpty
Dumpty who sat on a wall but then he has a great fall. When he is depicted in
associated images, he is portrayed like an egg. But the poem never suggested
that he was an egg. But why do we portray him as an egg? Someone has rightly
said, “We live in a fantasy world, a world of illusion. The great task in life
is to find reality.” We have also depicted the story of creation in visual form
but what is depicted is not exactly true. Let’s talk about one of the most
difficult but most important narratives in the Bible.
Up until now God was very happy with His creation. The story
of creation explains the felicity and perfection of the very first humans. Everything
was perfect until the ‘Fall of Man’. It is an interesting read and raises certain
questions: Who was the serpent? How did he seduce the happy pair of humans?
The ‘serpent’ is translated from the Hebrew word ‘nachash’.
As per the text we find that:
1) The ‘nachash’
was head of all inferior animals for wisdom and understanding
2) That it
walked upright(before being punished by the Lord)
3) That it
was blessed with the gift of speech as it was able to speak to the woman
4) That it was blessed with the gift of reasoning
as it reasoned and argued with the woman
5) All
these things must be true as the woman doesn’t show any surprise when it speaks
to her.
Translated as serpent, the name serpent comes from ‘serpo’
which means to creep, and therefore to
such an animal it could be neither a curse nor punishment to go on their
bellies, i.e., to creep on, which it is supposed to do since being created.
In this context ‘nachash’ signifies to view or observe attentively, to divine or use
enchantments, because in them the augurs viewed attentively the flight of
birds, the entrails of beasts, the course of the clouds, etc.; and under this
head it signifies to acquire knowledge by experience, just as Laban said to
Jacob in Genesis 30:27 “I have learned by experience”. The word ‘serpent’ is not
a fixed determinate meaning in the sacred writings, but it was the best
alternative that occurred to the translators.
When
‘nachash’ asked Eve the question, it wanted to see the weak-point, where the
fidelity of the woman to her Maker might be shaken. It hinted at something
strange, if not unjust or unkind on God’s side. God made mankind pure and innocent
and hence He didn’t want them to eat the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of
good and evil lest mankind knows about evil and they may sin. Prior to this
event, no one had ever died before because death didn’t exist. It was only this
very act of rebellion that introduced death in this world.
The
original Hebrew text also refers to ‘nachash’ as ‘Chanas’ or ‘Khanasa’ which
signifies it departed(from God’s surroundings), drew off(from God’s glory), lay
hidden(from His presence). It also
signifies a creature from the ape genus. This creature belonged to the ape
genus, could walk uprightt(before being punished by God) and was blessed with
the gift of speech and reasoning.
To
summarize my article I’d like to point that the devil has many disguises, like
it says in 2 Corinthians 11:14(New Living Translation)
Message for the week:
We
have to be aware of our surroundings, of the spiritual realm around us. Be
vigilant and pray diligently to put on the Armor of God(the Belt of Truth, the Breastplate
of Righteousness, the Shoes of the Gospel, the Shield of Faith, the Helmet of
Salvation and the Sword of the Spirit). With these, we can fight the enemy whatever disguise it comes in and
know that we already have our victory in Christ Jesus our Lord and Savior.
Amen
