Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Dave Washburn" <dwashbur AT nyx.net>]

> Shalom,
>
> Regarding the identity of the serpent as satan (as some want to have it),
> it puzzles me that the serpent was the most subtle from all the living of
> the field, that the Lord God made (Gen 3:1).
>
> So God created satan?

Of course.  Where else would he/it come from?  I don't see the
problem here.

> Interesting, but *that* does the narrator not tell us. The serpent is just
> a creature, made by the Lord God. Any other conclusion going behind that,
> is trying to get rid of the fact that the possibility of choosing against
> God's rules, was aparently a creation of the Holy One himself.

I would hope this is a joke.  The text itself, especially chapter 2,
makes it clear that this possibility was indeed a creation of God to
test the man.  I have yet to see anybody "trying to get rid of" this
idea.  It seems to me that this is not only reading into the text, but
reading into other people's minds as well.  Once again, it's obvious
that this snake is no ordinary animal, there's something or
someone motivating its actions, at the very least there's something
or someone giving it the capability of speech since there's no
indication at all anywhere else in the text that any animals could
talk.


Dave Washburn
http://www.nyx.net/~dwashbur
"Éist le glór Dé."