Answers to High Schoolers' Questions About the Serpent in Genesis

Alice C. Linsley


Part 3: The Serpent
(Part 1: Answers to Questions about God; Part 2: Answers to Questions about Adam and Eve)

The serpent is a neutral symbol in the Bible. It symbolizes both good and evil. The serpent is an enemy to be trampled under foot (Gen. 3:15). In other references the serpent is to be lifted up (Num. 21 :4-9). The serpent in Eden is said to be wiser than all the other creatures and it tempts the woman to transgress. Jesus urges his disciples to be wise as serpents, yet gentle as lambs.

How can a single entity have two apparently opposite qualities, both good and evil? It is a mystery. Yet it is as real as a mobius strip, and as mysterious as the Biblical merisms of good-evil, night-day and male-female.

mobius strip

The way the bronze serpent coiled around the staff of Moses have reflected the sun's brilliance. It was actually a solar symbol. The Sun was the emblem of God among Moses's people. The coiled solar serpent on the staff indicated that Moses was God's appointed leader of the people. Even today, this image appears on the croziers of some bishops in the Church.

Q: Why was the devil in the form of a serpent?

A: Genesis does not say that the devil took the form of a serpent. It asserts that a serpent spoke and the woman heard. There are allegorical as well as historical explanations for this. Many Christians believe that the story of the serpent in Genesis has both levels of meaning; that is, it speaks to us symbolically and it speaks about something that actually happened in the past.

In the allegorical approach, the serpent embodies the devilish work that opposes God’s purposes. In other words, the serpent represents a rebellion inside the order of creation. Later, people came to imagine this creature as the Devil or Satan (the Accuser). However, in the time of Abraham and Moses the serpent was a symbol of divine appointment by the overshadowing of the sun. The sun was often pictured as a coiled serpent. Moses lifted up a staff with a serpent in the wilderness and told the people to look upon it and be saved. Numbers 21:8 tells us that God instructed Moses to do this:  The Lord said to Moses, "Make a snake and put it up on a pole; anyone who is bitten can look at it and live."

In ancient times the serpent or snake was associated with trees of poles.  In Genesis, the serpent is associated with the tree in the midst of the garden.  In Numbers, the serpent is wrapped around a pole.  Referring to His death, Jesus alluded to the story in Numbers, saying, "But I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself." (John 12:32)  Jesus is Divine Healing Wisdom on the Cross which is called both a "tree" and a "pole" in Scripture.

In the natural-historical approach, the serpent actually existed and spoke to the woman. One explanation for how this may have happened involves the eating of plants that grow in the part of the world where Eden was located. Before the Fall, humans ate only plants. It is conceivable that the woman ate a combination of plants that caused her to see and hear a talking serpent (hallucination).

Such plants which are high in tryptamine alkaloids exist in the tropics of South America and Africa. In Africa, the Iboga plant produces such effects and is said by the shamans to take one back to the "beginning of time." The isolated active component ibogaine has been used in the treatment of heroin and opium addiction.

Iboga plant

In South America, shamans use a plant called Ayahuasca or Soga de Vida. Ayahuasca is an hallucinogen containing tetrahydroharmine (DMT), which when ingested is neutralized by the oxidizing action of peripheral monoamine oxidase-A (MAO-A), an enzyme in the lining of the stomach. Shamans circumvent the MAO inhibitor by inhaling or smoking the plant or by mixing the DMT with an MAO inhibitor that prevents the breakdown of DMT in the digestive tract.

Ayahuasca vine resembles a coiled serpent

According to the South American shamans, the cosmic serpent taught their ancestors which plants to mix to overcome the body’s natural protection. Combining ingredients allows the DMT in the Ayahuasca to have an hallucinogenic effect when orally ingested. The vine also contains harmaline which can cause vomiting and diarrhea, but it does not affect the shamans who develop a tolerance to its emetic and purgative effects.

In his study of ayahuasca among the Amazon natives, Jeremy Narby found that shamans of the Amazon see and communicate with serpents under the influence of ayahuasca. Narby maintains that nature is speaking to humans through hallucinogenic plants. The illogic of his view never occurs to him. If this is nature speaking, then why must the shaman neutralize the natural enzyme MAO-A in order to gain knowledge? This is cheating nature. People of God do not steal knowledge by drug-induced trances and hallucinations. Instead, they grow in wisdom through constant prayer, communion with God in Christ, the fellowship of the Church, and the study of Scripture. They become, not the mouthpieces of serpents, but of Christ our God.

Q: The serpent in Genesis is never directly referred to as Satan. Why is this?

A: It is true that the serpent in the garden is not identified as the Devil or Satan in Genesis. However, in Revelation the serpent is identified as "that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray" (Rev. 12:9, 20:2).

Recalling that there are two trees in that story, we see that the serpent led Eve from the right choice - to eat of the Tree of Life - to the wrong choice - to eat of the Tree by which she hoped to become like God. This has been the Devil's primary approach throughout history. He attempts to lead us away from life by promising what he cannot give - divinity and immortality.

The serpent is one of the oldest religious motifs. Serpent veneration was rather widespread in the early Neolithic and before. The serpent was venerated among archaic peoples around the world. It was regarded as having powers to communicate, to deceive, to hide, to reveal and to heal and protect. The oldest serpent veneration is evidenced by the 70,000 year old python stone carved in a mountainside in Botswana.

The serpent motif is found in Africa, Arabia, Pakistan, India, Central Asia and the Americas. It is a significant symbol among traditional Africans and Native Americans, and in Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism and Buddhism. It is often found with symbols of the Sun and the Tree of Life. The great antiquity of these symbols is attested by their wide diffusion, yet their meaning has remained fairly stable in each religion. Only in Judaism and Christianity is the serpent associated with Satan and evil. In the Bible, the serpent is both good and evil; a kind of trickster whose words and advice always must be tested.

Surveying literature and ancient monuments, it becomes evident that the serpent is not believed to have the power to create something new. The serpent or serpent deity's "innovations" are imitations of what God has created, sometimes helpful imitations (See Doctrine of Signatures; herbalism), but often distorted imitations. Likely this is why the Apostle John warns us "do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God." (1 John 4:1)


Related reading:  The Dragon and Beast of Revelation; Serpent Most Subtle; Serpent Symbolism; The Cosmic Serpent Exposed; The Serpent on Moses's Staff

Extant Biblical Peoples

Alice C. Linsley


The clans and tribes of the Bible represent governmental units based on family and marriage ties.  The clan is often desginated by the head tent (oholibamah), and the Egyptian hierogylph was the symbol of a tent peg. 

Tent peg represented by the ancient Hebrew and Arabic letter Waw.

The high tent was the residence of the chief or ruler of the clan.  The clan or tribe and the locale were often named for this person. That is why there are so many place names that correspond to rulers in the Bible. Clans and tribes of the ancient world moved farther than is generally recognized.  The Yoruba of Nigeria and Benin originated in ancient Kush. This makes the work of tracing biblical peoples more challenging, but often clans, marriage ties, and lineage can be identified by their totems.

The ruling tribe is designated by the sceptre which in Hebrew is שבט.  According to Genesis 49:10, "The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be."  Here Judah is designated as the ruling tribe and as Jerome correctly interprets, Shiloh refers to the Christ who is to be sent.  This prefigures the Son of God who will rule over peoples from every tribe, nation and tongue (Rev. 5:9), and of His kingdom there shall be no end.

The sceptre belongs to the high king who rules over the confederation of clans. The scepter is sometimes called "the rod" and is a version of the Pharaonic crook.  The crook and flail were symbols of the power of ancient Kush and Egypt, from whence came Abraham's ancestors.

The crook and flail were carried by the high king and represented his deification as a son of God.

Family based units are extremely resilient and usually adapt well to changing circumstances. This allows for the succession of rule through many centuries, even millenium.  Though it is assumed that the clans and tribes named in Genesis are extinct, it is more likely that many are extant and can be studied to gain better understanding of the cultural context of the peoples of Genesis.  Certainly this is the case with the Jebusites (Ijebu), a Yoruba people who migrated to Nigeria from the Nile region.


The Jebusites were a Nilo-Saharan people who migrated into Palestine and to the region of the Benue Trough when the Sahara began to dry. They migrated into Nigeria where they controlled the major water systems at the conjunction of the Niger and Benue Rivers and at the Atlantic coast near modern Lagos. They also moved into the land of Canaan where one of their leading men - Melchizedek - was the ruler-priest of Salem (Jerusalem) in Abraham's time (Gen. 14:18).

The modern day Jebusites are the Ijebu and they live near and have close association with the modern day Edomites who are called "Edo." Both tribes live in Nigeria and Benin. In Canaan the Jebusites had close connections with the Horites of Edom.

Study of the living Jebusites enables us to trace their Nilotic origins. The supreme ruler of the Ijebu is called "Awujali” and his coronation ceremony involves palm branches (just as Jesus was greeted as one to be enthroned in Jerusalem, formerly a Jebusite city).  The present Awajali has described how the Ijebus are descended from ancient Nubians and Egyptians (Kushites). He pointed to the correspondences between coronation rituals, scarification, circumcision and linguistics. Over 100 Yoruba words are virtually identical to ancient Egyptian words. Here are some examples:


EGYPTIAN                   YORUBA
wu (rise)                         wu (rise)
Asa (Osiris)                    Ausa (father)
eere or ar (serpent)         Ere (python/serpent)
Horise (great god)          Orise (great god)
sen (worshippers)           sen ( to worship)
ged (to chant)                 igede (a chant)
ta (sell/offer)                  ta (sell/offer)
sueg (a fool)                   suegbe (a fool)
on (living person)           one ( living person)
kum (a club)                   vkumo (a club)
enru (fear/terrible)          eru (fear/terrible)
kun/qun (brave man)      ekun (title of a brave man)
win (to be)                      wino (to be)
odonit (festival)               odon (festival)
ma or mi (to breath)        mi (to breathe)
tebu (town)                     tebu (town)
khu (to kill)                     ku (die)
tan (complete)                 tan (complete)
em (smell)                       emi (smell)
kot (build)                       ko (build)
kot (boat)                        oko (boat)
omi (water)                     omi (water)
ra or osa (time)                ira or osa (time)
Horuw (head)                  Oruwo (head)                  Jesus (HR) is the Head of the Church.
min (deity)                       emin (spirit)
ash (invocation)               ashe (invocation)
do (river)                         odo (river)
ma (to know)                   ma (to know)
hir (praise)                       yiri (praise)
hoo (rejoice)                    yo (rejoice)
osa (tide)                         osa ( tide)

Read the full list here.

An ancient name for God as Father is Ausa and is sometimes spelled Asa. The Asante tribe bears this name.  Asa-nte means "the people of Asa." The Egyptian Asa refers to God as father. Possibly the name Hausa is derived from this name for the Creator.

Nilotic peoples living today still worship As, as is the case with the Kushitic Kalenjin of the Rift Valley. Traditional Kalenjin call the Creator Asis. Most Kalenjin are Christian. 

Akkadian records attest to the antiquity of this name for God.  Sar-gon the Great was born at the shrine city of Azu-piranu, which means Sun House of Azu. God was called Azu in Akkadian, Asa in Chadic, Asha in Kushitic, and the name appears in Hebrew also. A Jerusalem priest named Am-ashai is named in Nehemiah 11:13.

Muhammad Bello, Ruler of Sokoto Caliphate, narrated the organization of the Yoruba. He explained:

"West of Katsina and Gobir there are seven separate countries called 'Banza Bakwai'. These are Zamfara and Kebbi, Yauri, Nufi [Nupe], Yoruba, Borgu and Gurma. Each of these has a Sarki [king] who is equal to the others.


The country of Yoruba is extensive and has streams and forests and rocks and hills. There are many curious and beautiful things in it. The ships of the Christians come there.


The people of Yoruba are descended from the Kanaana [Canaanites] and the kindred of Nimrud.


Now the reason of their having settled in the west according to what we are told is that Yaarubu [son]of Kahtan [great man] drove them out of Irak to westwards and they travelled between Masar [Misr, i.e. Egypt] and Habash [Ethiopia] until they reached Yoruba. It happened that they left a portion of their people in every country they passed. It is said that the Sudanese who live up on the hills [the Nigerian Plateau] are all their kindred; so also the people of Yauri are their kindred.  The people of Yoruba resemble those of Nufi in appearance."  (From here.)


The Clans of Ar

The Arabs represent numerous extant clans and tribes that are named in Genesis. These include the Ar clans of the Red Sea, Trye, and Arvad which constitued a scribal caste. This is supported by the name Ar-vad. Vad means “to speak” in Sanskrit. The word Ar-ab means “people of Ar.” The Igbo of Nigeria call their scribes the Ar or Aro. The Arabic word for throne is aarsh and likely related to the scribal function attached to rulers.

One of the great Ar ruler was Noah's grandson Arpachshad. The peoples living in Arvad, Tyre and Sidon employed serpent imagery in their temples.  Moses lifted a serpent on a rod in the wilderness and those who looked upon it were saved from the vipers. (Numbers 21:8,9) Here the Serpent is a symbol of Christ our God. The Egyptians spoke of Asa-ar, the Serpent of God.  John 3:14-16 makes this connection: "Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life."

Israelites associated by their names with the Ar patrimony include Aroch (1 Chr 7:39, Ezr 2:5, Neh 6:18, Neh 7:10) and Ariel (Ezr 8:16, Isa 29:1, Isa 29:1, Isa 29:2, Isa 29:2, Isa 29:7). Ariel means “Scribe/Messenger of God.”  The association of the name Ar with the scribal caste is further demonstrated by the discovery of Aramaic scrolls from Arsames, the satrap, to his Egyptian administrator Psamshek and to an Egyptian ruler named Nekht-hor. (A.T.Olmstead, History of the Persian Empire, Chicago, 1948, pp.116-117) Some variations of the name Ar include Ar-Shem, Arsames, Artix, and Araxes, and all of these are figures named in historical texts.

More research must be done to trace biblical tribes to their living descendants, but as can be seen from this brief investigation, it is possible. Clan-based units are resilient and survive through the millenium.  It is highly likely that many other biblical clans are extant. They should be identified and studied in their natural contexts.  Such anthropological investigation promises to be a treasure trove of information for Bible enthusiasts.


Related reading:  The Marriage and Ascendency Pattern of Abraham's People; Abusing Biblical Lists; Kushite Diversity and Unity; The Jebusites Unveiled

The Serpent of Eden

Alice C. Linsley


Genesis tells us that Eden was a vast well-watered region extending from the Upper Nile Valley to the Tigris/Euphrates Valley.  This was the center of the Afro-Asiatic Dominion and here the oldest known divine promise was made to Mankind (Gen. 3:15).  Actually, that promise was made to "the Woman" (not Eve) concerning her Offspring who would crush the head of the serpent.[1]  To crush the head is an image of utter defeat.  So this is a promise about the victory of the Son over all that the serpent of Eden represents.

Nubian jar 300 BC

To better understand the Son's victory, we will explore what the Serpent of Eden represents in the context of the binary framework of Afro-Asiatic worldview in which the foremost distinction is always between the Creator God and the creation. This stands in contrast to religions in which this distinction is erased.

The serpent motif is found in Africa, Arabia, Pakistan, India, Central Asia and the Americas.  It is a significant symbol among traditional Africans and Native Americans, and in Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism and Buddhism. It is often found with symbols of the Sun and the Tree of Life. The great antiquity of these symbols is attested by their wide diffusion [2], yet their meaning has remained fairly stable in each religion.

Among archaic peoples the serpent was regarded as having powers to communicate [3], to deceive, to heal, to hide, to reveal and to protect. The oldest serpent veneration is associated with the 70,000 year old python stone carved in a mountainside in Botswana.

In Hindu mythology, the serpent-dragon RahuKetu tried to drink the nectar of immortality churned by the devas. The Solar and Lunar deities saw RahuKetu trying to do this and told Vishnu. Vishnu then threw his discus, cutting the dragon into Rahu (head) and Ketu (below the head) [4], but the dragon had already consumed the nectar and was thus immortal. Essentially, the serpent takes on divinity.

In the Gilgamesh Epic (Babylonian tale) Gilgamesh retrieves the Plant of Rejuvenation from the bottom of the sea. One evening as he was bathing in a pool, a serpent appeared and ate the Plant that Gilgamesh had left on the shore. The serpent then sloughed its skin and disappeared.  Here too is the implication that the serpent becomes immortal.

In Buddhist mythology, Buddha is often shown meditating under the hood of a seven-headed serpent (naga in Sanskrit; nahash in Hebrew). The serpent protects him from the rain. In another story, the celestial nagas shower the earth with rain as a blessing. They are deities in Buddhism, no longer simple creatures.

Jesus thought of the serpent as a creature with both positive and negative qualities, but never as an immortal being. He used serpent imagery to condemn the hypocrisy of the Jewish rulers: "Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of Gehenna?" (Matthew 23:33)  Yet earlier in Matthew's Gospel He sent forth his Apostles with this exhortation: "Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves" (Matthew 10:16).

The ancient Greeks considered snakes sacred to Asclepius, the god of medicine. Asclepius carried a staff with one or two serpents wrapped around it. This has become the symbol of modern physicians. The ancient symbol of Ouroboros consists of a dragon or a snake curled into a hoop, consuming its own tail. In this image the serpent represents the eternal cycle of life.

As snakes shed their skins, revealing shiny new skins underneath, they symbolize rebirth, transformation, immortality, and healing.  In his novel The Voyage of the Dawn Treader C. S. Lewis uses this image to describe how sin can be sloughed only with Aslan's help. Eustace has turned into a dragon [5] and before he can step into the waters (Baptism) he must shed his scaley layers.  He sheds three layers but can't free himself to be the human he was originally created. Aslan must rip away the layers of sin before Eustace can step free.

In ancient Egyptian mythology, Apopis was a water serpent and a symbol of chaos. He is shown (right) being slain by Hathor, Ra's cat. Another story tells of how each night Apopis attacked Ra, the High God, but the serpent Mehen coiled himself around Ra's solar boat to protect Ra. This also illustrates the binary nature of ancient Egyptian thought, since the power of Mehen to protect is superior to the power of Apopis to destroy. This binary element is key to understanding the victory of Jesus Christ, whose victory is assured because He is one with the Father, not a creature.

In Exodus we read how Moses held up a rod which turned into a serpent and all who looked upon it were spared when they were bitten by vipers. The exalted Serpent was superior in every way to the serpents who attacked the Israelites in the wilderness. The Church Fathers interpreted this as a sign pointing to Jesus on the Cross. The Apostle John had this in mind when he wrote about how Jesus would be "lifted up from the earth" and thereby draw all Mankind to the Father (John 3: 14 and John 12:32).

The serpent of Eden is like those vipers in the wilderness. It is intent on spreading its poison and it achieves that end by means of confusion and deceit.  Here is how the serpent is described:

Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, "Did God really say, 'You must not eat from any tree in the garden'?"

The woman said to the serpent, "We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, 'You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.' "

"You will not surely die," the serpent said to the woman. "For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." (Gen. 3:1-5)

The serpent of Eden symbolizes deception, the promise of forbidden knowledge and self-elevation. It is not a deity, but it is "more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made."  Nevertheless, the serpent of Eden is very much a creature. The distinction between the Creator and the creature is clear.
 
The rabbis identify the serpent of Eden as Satan, the one who decieves and accuses 364 days of the year. Only on Yom Kippur is Satan not able to accuse.  That is the Day of Atonement. For those who believe that Jesus is the Son promised to the Woman in Eden, that is the day of Christ's atoning work on the Cross.  That day the Crucified One ripped away the great deception so that we who believe in Him might step free.
 
 
NOTES
1. The "Woman" of Gen. 3:15 is Mary, the Mother of Christ, our God. She is sometimes shown standing on a hemisphere with the serpent beneath Her foot.
 
2. Diffusion is the process by which a cultural trait, material object, idea, symbol or behavior pattern is spread from one society to another, often traceable to a central point or a point of origin. A principle of anthropology states that the wider the diffusion of a culture trait, the older the trait.  The point of origin for serpent veneration appears to be southern Africa.

3. Shinto shrines have snake pits where shamans go into trace states to communicate with the serpents and to communicate a message to humans from the serpent.

4. Ketu is the name of one of the 3 founders of the Jebusites. There are two Jebu territories and three founding brothers: Yoruba, Egba and Ketu. This 3-clan patriarchal confederation is typical of Abraham's African ancestors. Jebusite influence is reflected by the presence of the bronze serpent in the Israelite cult with many such serpent images having been found at Canaanite shrines in Gezer, Hazor, Meggido and Jerusalem.

5. In Christian iconography the serpent of Eden is often shown as a dragon.  Many famous paintings depict the serpent's defeat by either St. George or St. Michael, the Archangel.


Related reading:  Serpent Symbolism; The Cosmic Serpent Exposed; The Serpent from Africa to India

Leon Kass on Genesis

Alice C. Linsley

In The Beginning of Wisdom: Reading Genesis, bioethicist Leon Kass explores the philosophical and ethical dimensions of Genesis. He does this as a medical doctor committed to engaging the wisdom of the text, holding it close, and teaching it to one's children as a defense against the "antiwisdoms" of modernity (p. 4). He explores the Genesis text as a coherent whole and wastes no time teasing out sources. His approach is to gain practical wisdom for our lives today and his method, while called "philosophical" is dependent upon psychological insights as well as spiritual insights from the Talmud.

Kass hopes with this book to help the Jewish “children of skeptics” to understand why their predecessors found Genesis compelling and illuminating. By shifting the conversation to what he calls “wisdom-seeking”, Kass avoids the view of many skeptics that science has proven Scripture to be false. He is critical of how science abandoned "the large metaphysical-theological questions and spiritual-moral concerns that preoccupied" its ancestors (p. 5).

Kass is not interested in a politically correct interpretation. For example, he argues that male and female gender roles are not a cultural construct but an expression of real biological differences. Concerning homosex and incest, he holds up the story of Sodom, explaining: "This city's special band of injustice is, in fact, epitomized in its own sexual perversions: the acts of sodomy (practiced by the citizens) and the acts of incest (later practiced by Lot's daughters on their father)" (p. 329).

Kass explores the Genesis text as a coherent whole and wastes no time teasing out "sources". His approach is to gain practical wisdom for our lives today and his method, while called "philosophical" is more dependent upon psychological insights than upon spiritual insights that come from observing the repetition of patterns.

Kass sees the patterns in Genesis and explains that Genesis speaks not about "what happened, but what always happens" (pp. 10, 54). He sees the parallels between Joseph and Solomon, for example, and he maintains that Genesis is "instructional narrative" (p. 79). Both Joseph and Solomon married women of the royal court of Egypt and both men embody wisdom in the Old Testament.

The Serpent

Kass' method is evident at the start where he discusses the distinct purposes of the two creation accounts. The first story (Gen. 1) reveals that God's creation, while good, is not to be worshiped. The second story (Genesis 2-3) speaks of the dangers inherent in human freedom and reason. The discussion stresses ethics more than metaphysics, therefore the reality signaled by the serpent is less significant than the question of human freedom, will and rationality.

The serpent for Kass represents the "sibilant and seductive" voice of human reason (p. 80). He never considers that the serpent, while a creature able to communicate like Man, may represent forbidden occult activities. Instead the serpent speaks "as unaided reason naturally does" (note, p. 81). He is correct that "There is no textual basis for identifying the serpent with Satan."

Kass sees the organization of Genesis as hinging on the destruction of the Tower of Babel (symbol of the limits of human reason) and the calling of Abraham. From this point, the stage is set for the eventual emergence of the nation of Israel from the pre-political world of Abraham's ancestors to the law given at Sinai. Kass seems unaware of the evidence that places Abraham's ancestors in the Afro-Asiatic Dominion with its sophisticated social structures and political networks.

Another weakness of the book is Kass' designation of Abraham as Terah's first-born son. This is factually wrong. Analysis of the kinship pattern shown in Genesis 4 and 5 reveals that Abraham was Terah's youngest son. Terah's had 2 wives. By his half-sister wife (daughter of Nahor) he had Nahor, the first-born son, and then Abraham. By his patrilineal parallel cousin wife (daughter of Haran) Terah had Haran, the first-born son, and Sarah. Sarah and Abraham had the same father but different mothers, as Abraham explains to Abimelech in Genesis 20:12. Kass has missed the distinctive bride's naming prerogative among Abraham's people. (It seems a curious omission since he takes 5 pages to address Noah's naming prerogative.)

Casting Abraham as Terah's first-born son causes Kass to miss one of the most significant ethical dilemmas posed by Genesis: the conflict between brothers and their tribes over the question of who should rule. Two tribal areas compete for the right to be known as Jacob’s final resting place. One is Hebron in Judah, and the other is Shechem in Israel. These competing tribal claims point to conflicts between brothers. Kass states that the rivalry becomes greatest when sons seek to establish neolocal residence (p. 447). However, the custom of rulers among Abraham's people was for ruling first-born sons to stay with the fathers. These rulers inherited the territories of their fathers by maintaining 2 wives on a north-south axis.

The recurring theme of fraternal conflict involves Abraham and Lot, Ishmael and Isaac, Jacob and Esau and Joseph and his brothers. The archtypical example is between Cain and Abel, which results in bloodshed. The conflict between brothers (indeed between all classes of people) finds promise of resolution in Messiah, who is traced through David, the shepherd chosen to rule over Israel though he was Jesse's youngest son.

Kass often refers to numerological symbolism and one notes that the book has exactly 666 pages. I loved that he did this. He is sending a message that there is still much more to be said. Clearly, Kass does not claim this expansive volume to be exhaustive. It is however, influential. In his book The Philosophy of Hebrew Scripture, Yoram Hazony makes frequent reference to Kass book.

The Cosmic Serpent Exposed

Serpent Symbolism, Part II
Alice C. Linsley

(For Serpent Symbolism, Part I go here.)

Background

Shamans of the Amazon drink or inhale the hallucinogenic ayahuasca, the principal ingredient of which is a serpent shaped vine. The effects of the ayahuasca drink appear in thirty to forty minutes and last approximately four hours. While under the influence of ayahuasca, they see serpents who teach them the medicinal and sorcery uses of other plants. The shaman is said to be able to see galaxies and planets, distant relatives, lost objects, the identity of an unfaithful spouse’s lover, the cause of a patient’s sickness and travel through time and space.

Aya and huasca are Quechua words meaning “soul” and “vine”. In Spanish the vine is called “soga de alma” – vine of the soul and also "soga de muerto" - vine of the dead. Ayahuasca is a mixture of 2 or 3 plant ingredients, sometimes more. The hallucinogenic ingredient is tetrahydroharmine (DMT), which when ingested is neutralized by the oxidizing action of peripheral monoamine oxidase-A (MAO-A), an enzyme in the lining of the stomach. Shamans circumvent the MAO inhibitor by inhaling or smoking the plant or by mixing the DMT with an MAO inhibitor that prevents the breakdown of DMT in the digestive tract.

According to the shamans, the cosmic serpent taught their ancestors which plants to mix to overcome the body’s natural protection. Combining ingredients allows the DMT in the ayahuasca to produce its hallucinogenic effect when orally ingested. The vine also contains harmaline which can cause vomiting and diarrhea, but it doesn’t have an effect on shamans who develop a tolerance to its emetic and purgative effects over time. However, they do not develop a tolerance for ayahuasca’s hallucinogenic effects.

In his book The Cosmic Serpent: DNA and the Origins of Knowledge (1999), Jeremy Narby tells of his fieldwork with the Ashaninca and Quirishari of the Peruvian Amazon. Through use of the hallucinogen ayahuasca, derived from a serpent shaped vine (shown on left), Narby encountered the metaphysical reality presented in Genesis 3: the beguiling cosmic serpent who "was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, "Did God really say...?"

Narby explains, “I began my investigation with the enigma of ‘plant communication.’ I went on to accept the idea that hallucinations could be the source of verifiable information. And I ended up with a hypothesis suggesting that a human mind can communicate in defocalized consciousness with the global network of DNA-based life. All this contradicts principles of Western knowledge.

Nevertheless, my hypothesis is testable. A test would consist of seeing whether institutionally respected biologists could find biomolecular information in the hallucinatory world of ayahuasqueros… My hypothesis suggests that what scientists call DNA corresponds to the animate essences that shamans say communicate with them and animate all life forms. Modern biology, however, is founded on the notion that nature is not animated by an intelligence and therefore cannot communicate.” (p. 132)

My hypothesis is based on the idea that DNA in particular and nature in general are minded. (p. 145)

According to my hypothesis, shamans take their consciousness down to the molecular level and gain access to bimolecular information. But what actually goes on in the brain/mind of an ayhuasquero when this occurs? What is the nature of a shaman's communication with the animate essences of nature? The clear answer is that more research is needed in consciousness, shamanism, molecular biology, and their interrelatedness. (p. 160)

Narby concludes: “All things considered, wisdom requires not only the investigation of many things, but contemplation of the mystery.”

To me the most interesting part is Chapter 6. Here we read:

I was sitting in the main reading room, surrounded by students, and browsing over Claude Levi-Strauss's latest book, when I jumped. I had just read the following passage: "In Aztec, the word coatl means both 'serpent' and 'twin.' The name Quetzalcoatl can thus be interpreted either as 'Plumed serpent" or "Magnificent twin.'" A twin serpent, of cosmic origin, symbolizing the sacred energy of life among the Aztecs?

It was the middle of the afternoon. I needed to do some thinking. I left the library and started driving home. On the road back, I could not stop thinking about what I had just read. Staring out of the window, I wondered what all these twin beings in the creation myths of indigenous people could possibly mean.When I arrived home, I went for a walk in the woods to clarify my thoughts. I started recapitulating from the beginning: I was trying to keep one eye on DNA and the other on shamanism to discover the common ground between the two. I reviewed the correspondences that I had found so far. Then I walked in silence, because I was struck. Ruminating over this mental block I recalled Carlos Perez Shuma's words: "Look at the FORM."

That morning, at the library, I had looked up DNA in several encyclopedias and had noted in passing that the shape of the double helix was most often described as a ladder, or a twisted rope ladder, or a spiral staircase. I was during the following split second, asking myself whether there were any ladders in shamanism, that the revelation occurred: "THE LADDERS! The shamans' ladders, 'symbols of the profession' according to Metraux, present in shamanic themes around the world according to Eliade!"

I rushed back to my office and plunged into Mircea Eliade's book Shamanism: Archaic techniques of ecstasy and discovered that there were "countless examples' of shamanic ladders on all five continents, here a "spiral ladder," there a "stairway" or "braided ropes." In Australia, Tibet, Ancient Egypt, Africa, North and South America, "the symbolism of the rope, like that of the ladder, necessarily implies communication between sky and earth. It is by means of a rope or a ladder (as, too, by a vine, a bridge, a chain of arrows, etc.) that the gods descended to earth and men go up to the sky." Eliade even cites an example from the Old Testament, where Jacob dreams of a ladder reaching up to heaven, "with the angels of God ascending and descending on it." According to Eliade, the shamanic ladder is the earliest version of the idea of an axis of the world, which connects the different levels of the cosmos, and is found in numerous creation myths in the form of a tree. (pp. 62 - 63)

I was staggered. It seemed that no one had noticed the possible links between the "myths" of "primitive peoples" and molecular biology. No one had seen that the double helix had symbolized the life principle for thousands of years around the world. On the contrary, everything was upside down. It was said that the hallucinations could in no way constitute a source of knowledge, that Indians had found their useful molecules by chance experimentation, and that their "myths" were precisely myths, bearing no relationship to the real knowledge discovered in laboratories. (p. 71)


Conclusion

Eliade and others have studied shamanic techniques of ecstasy among primitive peoples. (See also I.M. Lewis’ Ecstatic Religion, 1971.) Narby argues that shamans receive information from DNA in the form of visions. His conclusion is that nature is speaking. The illogic of this view never seems to occur to him. If this is nature speaking, then why must the shaman neutralize the natural enzyme MAO-A in order to gain knowledge? This is contrary to the biblical understanding in which knowledge and wisdom are not gained by a self-induced ecstatic state.

Consider the staretz, a spiritual adviser to whom priests, monks and laymen turn for spiritual wisdom and guidance. These men and women do not seek to steal knowledge by trances. Instead by constant prayer, communion with God in Christ, and study of Scripture, they gradually and steadily grow in holiness. They become, not the mouthpieces of serpents, but of angels.

(To read about the difference between priests and shamans, go here.)

Serpent Symbolism

Alice C. Linsley


Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, "Did God really say, 'You must not eat from any tree in the garden'?"

The woman said to the serpent, "We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, 'You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.' "

"You will not surely die," the serpent said to the woman. "For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." (Gen. 3:1-5)


Serpents are known for their swiftness, their ability to hide, and for their ability to raise themselves to eye level with humans. Some are slender with narrow heads and lateral eyes. Others are thick, with hooded heads and eyes facing forward. Serpent symbolism is found in all religious traditions. Among archaic peoples the serpent was regarded as having powers to communicate, to deceive, to heal, to hide, to reveal and to protect. The oldest serpent veneration is associated with the 70,000 year old python stone carved in a mountainside in Botswana.

Serpent images are found across the world. The wide dispersion of serpent images on artifacts and in mythologies tells us that this is a very ancient symbol. Serpents on artifacts range from coiled snakes to fire-breathing winged dragons. On some works, the serpent is somewhat hidden and on others it is the focal point of the piece. Many illuminated Medieval Bibles show Adam and Eve with a winged serpent coiled around a tree. The serpent is often shown with the head of a woman (Lillith) and sometimes that head is topped with a fiery plume. The morphing of the snake suggests that peoples around the world have pondered the serpent and found it a dynamic metaphor for the great mysteries of life. To understand the deeper meaning of the serpent in Genesis, we must explore serpent symbolism in the larger context.

The Serpent in Hinduism and Buddhism

Nāga is the Sanskrit word for a deity that has the form of a large snake. The term may also refer to human tribes known as "Nāgas" and can apply to ordinary snakes. The largest of the cobra in India is the King Cobra (shown above). It is intelligent, alert and deadly. It can inject enough venon at one strike to kill an elephant. The Indian Cobra holds a special place in the religious symbolism of Hinduism and Buddhism. The Buddha is said to have been sheltered from rain by a giant cobra. In Buddhist texts, the cloud gods, Nanda and Upananda, who showered Gautama at his birth are identified as nāgas, serpents.

The Serpent Among the Afro-Asiatic Peoples

The serpent is both admired and feared among Afro-Asiatic peoples. Abarea, a headman of the Galla, in the north-east of Kenya Colony reports in Swahili, "Nyoka ni adui- the snake is the enemy."

The plumed or crested serpent is venerated in Swaziland and Natal, where native peoples provide daily offerings of meal, tobacco and water at shrines. This variety has a flame colored body. The crested flame colored serpent is among the most dreaded snake in southern Africa. The feathered serpent of the Olmecs (Mexico, Guatemala and El Salvador) is portrayed in the same way as the crested serpent of southern Africa, suggesting that the Olmec rulers may have come to the Americas from Africa.

There are about forty varieties of snakes in southern Africa. The most dreaded are the deadly Black Mamba and the flame colored crested serpents that elevate and lunge at their victims. Naja haemachates, a snake in the cobra family, has a large hood and spits or ejects its poison. The largest of the serpents in southern Africa is the Natal python. It lives in jungles, among rocks along streams and in the coastal districts. It can reach a length of 20 feet and has been known to strangle humans and large animals.

The fat of the python is used in rituals throughout Africa. The Mofu holy man (Cameroon) mixes python fat with the blood of a sacrificed animal when offering prayers for rain. Rounded rain stones are placed in a stone basin. Then dry grasses are added, followed by a handfull of brilliant green python fat and then the red blood. The holy man mixes all together with his hands while he prays for rain. When the holy man has finished praying, he instructs his assistant to wash the stones carefully before they are returned to their hiding place. (For more on python rituals in Africa go here.)

The Serpent in Judaism

The proto-root for vein, river, tongue, sinew, lightening and serpent was NS. The S originally would have been a pictograph representing a serpent or anything serpentine. It also indicates "great" and can mean "Man" (Egyptian - sa), and throne (Proto-Saharan es or is). NS suggests connection between heaven and earth, and between deity and man. The serpent was a sacred symbol to the Kushites, especially to the metalworking clans such as the Hittites of Anatolia who called themselves NS (Nes).

In the Old Testament, the serpent (nahash) symbolizes deception, the promise of forbidden knowledge and self-elevation. This is seen in the serpent’s deception and manipulation of the first woman (Gen. 3:4-5 and 3:22). The serpent in this story isn’t a deity, but it does have powers not usually associated with snakes. It is said to be "more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made" (Genesis 3:1). Nevertheless, it is very much a creature. The prophets and rabbis identify the serpent of Genesis 3 as HaSatan, the one who decieves and accuses 364 days of the year. On one day only is HaSatan not able to accuse: on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement.

Though God curses the serpent for leading the woman astray, the snake continued to be venerated among the people of Abraham. Moses transformed a rod into a snake and back again, as a sign of Yahweh’s power before Pharaoh. "And the Lord said unto him, ‘What is that in thine hand?’ And he said, ‘A rod.’ And He said, ‘Cast it on the ground.’ And he cast it on the ground and it became a serpent; and Moses fled from before it. And the Lord said unto Moses, ‘Put forth thine hand, and take it by the tail.’ And he put forth his hand and caught it and it became a rod in his hand" (Exodus 4:2-4).

Later, while leading the people through the wilderness, Moses lifted up the bronze snake to cure the snake-bitten Israelites. "And the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and much people of Israel died. Therefore the people came to Moses, and said, ‘We have sinned, for we have spoken against the Lord, and against thee; pray unto the Lord, that he take away the serpents from us.’ And Moses prayed for the people. And the Lord said unto Moses, ‘Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole: and it shall come to pass, that every one that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live.’ And Moses made a serpent of brass, and put it upon a pole, and it came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived" (Numbers 21:6-9).

The ancient veneration of the serpent encountered opposition from the King Hezekiah who sought to purify Israelite religion of occult elements. According to Second Kings 18:4, King Hezekiah "removed the high places, and brake the images, and cut down the groves, and brake in pieces the brazen serpent that Moses had made: for unto those days the children of Israel did burn incense to it; and he called it Nehushtan."

The Serpent in Christianity

Christianity, building on Judaism, also connects the Serpent and Satan. Genesis 3:14 is seen in this light: "And the Lord God said unto the serpent, 'Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life.'" Some believe that this indicates that the serpent originally had legs. But if the serpent is Satan himself (who is sometimes called THE serpent or dragon), rather than an ordinary snake possessed by Satan, the reference to crawling in the dust symbolizes the Devil’s ultimate humiliation and defeat.

John the Baptist calls the Pharisees and Sadducees a "brood of vipers" (Matthew 3:7). Jesus also uses this imagery in his condemnation of their hypocrisy: "Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of Gehenna?" (Matthew 23:33).

Jesus recognized that the serpent symbolizes both deception and wisdom, because He sent forth his twelve Apostles with this exhortation: "Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves" (Matthew 10:16). He also applied the serpent image to Himself as the "wisdom of God" (to which Paul refers often) when He compared being lifted up on the Cross to Moses’ rod with the bronze serpent being lifted in the desert. All the Israelites who looked upon it were saved. So all who look to the Cross of Jesus for salvation will be saved. Jesus said, "And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life" (John 3:14-15).

All Christians recognize and honor the Blood of Christ as the means of our salvation. Not all recognize, as did the Church Fathers, that the blood of Jesus is the blood of his mother, Mary. She is "the woman" spoken of in Genesis 3, where God addresses the serpent. Then Yahweh God said to the snake, ‘Because you have done this, accursed be you of all animals wild and tame! On your belly you will go and on dust you will feed as long as you live. I shall put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he [following the Greek] will bruise your head and you will strike his heel." (Gen. 3:14-15)

This proclaims that Satan’s "children" will be at enmity with the offspring of "the woman". The "woman" to whom this refers can’t be Eve as Eve is not named until Genesis 3:20. The "offspring" can’t refer to the human race since, according to Christian understanding humanity is Satan's captive. Therefore the woman's "offspring" refers to those, who redeemed by the Blood of Jesus, share in His ultimate victory. (So it is that Mary is regarded as the Mother of the Church.)

Satan bruised His heel at Calvary, but the sacrifice, resurrection and ascension of the Incarnate Son of God crushes the serpent's head, makes void the curse, sets Eve free, and renews Adam. May God be praised!

Related reading: The Dragon and Beast of Revelation; The Serpent of Eden; Nilotic-Kushitic Celestial Archetypes; Tamar of Timnah; Afro-Asiatic Metalworkers; The Cosmic Serpent Exposed; Answers to High Schoolers Questions About the Serpent in Genesis