Snakes of the Bible If I had to guess which animal on this earth that would put more fear into a man that any other, it would have to be a serpent {Snake}. As a child, I always worried that one of these crawly things would sneak upon me and bite. I’ve always had great fear of them, not too much unlike Indiana Jones. The Bible tells us of many types of snakes and uses them as illustrations of evil and craftiness. We see a talking snake in Genesis and the Devil as a snake in revelations, a sign of death and also a sign of life. Why both? Because God commands the snake to do His bidding. Our first run in with these animals is in Genesis. Gen 3:1 Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, “Yea, hath God said, “Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?” A talking snake, the Indians use to say that, a white man always talked with a forked tong {a lying tong} The Indian had knowledge of this story of Gen. Before He met the outsiders. Gods’ word gets to all men in one way or the other. Now Adam, trying to lay off the blame on Eve remarked,
Gen 3:12 And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat. Now women, isn’t that just like a man, he never asks for directions, but when he finally does he always says, “ Well I tried to tell my wife were going the wrong direction but you know how women are.” Gen 3:13 And the LORD God said unto the woman, What is this that thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat. At least Eve told the whole truth. She didn’t try to put the blame on the serpent or Adam, she knew what she did was wrong and was prepared to take the consequences. Gen 3:14 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: If you noticed in Gen. 3:14, God talks directly to the serpent. Now a point of discussion here is, Did the serpent talk, hear and understand God. Did the serpent allow Satan to inhabit him and lead the attack on Eve? Is this the reason that a snake has a split tong or was it split after his deception of Eve? Was the tong of the serpent, formally created by God, with the ability to speak, not only of the serpent but did all animals at the beginning have the ability to talk to God? What about now? {Very important to understand the relevants, to us, in the light of the scripture} (Reference, 2Peter 2:16 ,Num 22:23, 22:28 thru 22:33)
. Lets look at the symbolism for snakes in the Bible. Snakes used as symbol of easy victory for Dan over His enemies
Gen 49:17 Dan shall be a serpent by the way, an adder in the path, that biteth the horse heels, so that his rider shall fall backward. Snakes as a symbol of Jesus crucifixion and healing for Moses in the midst of a plague. Num 21:8 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. Snakes and their pits as a symbol of destruction on all inhabitants of the earth for refusing to believe in Jesus and repent. What the end will look and sound like.
Isa 24:17 Fear, and the pit, and the snare, are upon thee, O inhabitant of the earth.
Isa 24:18 And it shall come to pass, that he who fleeth from the noise of the fear shall fall into the pit; and he that cometh up out of the midst of the pit shall be taken in the snare: for the windows from on high are open, and the foundations of the earth do shake.
Isa 24:19 The earth is utterly broken down, the earth is clean dissolved, the earth is moved exceedingly.
Isa 24:20 The earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard, and shall be removed like a cottage; and the transgression thereof shall be heavy upon it; and it shall fall, and not rise again.
Sometimes killing 1 serpent will bring about retribution from a stronger one. Decedents.
Isa 14:29 Rejoice not thou, whole Palestina, because the rod of him that smote thee is broken: for out of the serpent’s root shall come forth a cockatrice, and his fruit shall be a fiery flying serpent. Isa 27:1 In that day the LORD with his sore and great and strong sword shall punish leviathan the piercing serpent, even leviathan that crooked serpent; and he shall slay the dragon that is in the sea. In the Old Testament, when God ordered Israel to destroy all, including the women and Children, He knew the outcome of allowing them to live. The decedents {Children} would grow up and take revenge upon the children of Israel.
As a symbol of Gods total power over every beast of the Field, this is an end time prophecy, in the new millennium.
Isa 65:25 The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, and the lion shall eat straw like the bullock: and dust shall be the serpent’s meat. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain, saith the LORD. Isa 11:8 And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice’ den. As trying to escape the wrath of God.
Amo 5:19 As if a man did flee from a lion, and a bear met him; or went into the house, and leaned his hand on the wall, and a serpent bit him.
End time prophecy’s, unable to escape God in His judgments.
Mic 7:17 They shall lick the dust like a serpent, they shall move out of their holes like worms of the earth: they shall be afraid of the LORD our God, and shall fear because of thee.
No where to hide, no where to run.
Amo 9:3 And though they hide themselves in the top of Carmel, I will search and take them out thence; and though they be hid from my sight in the bottom of the sea, thence will I command the serpent, and he shall bite them:
The symbol of the weakness of Satan over the will of God.
Act 28:3 And when Paul had gathered a bundle of sticks, and laid them on the fire, there came a viper out of the heat, and fastened on his hand.
Act 28:5 And he shook off the beast into the fire, and felt no harm. This has been a short study on symbolism in the Bible, covering snakes. I pray that it will be helpful to explain the harder mysteries of Bible symbolism. Ars.
