What is one thing that atheists like to throw in the faces of bible believing Christians? Well, they love to claim that we believe that there was a talking snake who convinced a woman to eat a magical apple. I can’t get into the “magical apple” here, but I do want to talk about the talking snake. Is this something that Christians really believe? Well, some do. Others don’t. It kind of depends on how they view the first few chapters of Genesis.
Young Earth Creationists typically see this as a literal portrayal of what happened (i.e., a real talking snake.) They often cite the fact that, in the fossil record, snakes had legs at one time, and God took them away when He told the snake, “On your belly you shall go and eat the dust of the earth.” On the other hand, Old Earth Creationists are not so unified in their view of this narrative. Some would say that the snake is symbolic of a real being, while others would say that the event never really happened in the first place, the entire narrative is just a creative way of telling that humans rebelled against God. These are just a few of the many interpretations of this account. There are more, but I can’t get into all of them here.
With all of the differing views, I do think that nearly all Christians will agree on one thing. We all seem to understand that this snake was more than just a snake. I mean, even those who hold to the idea that it was a literal snake would go on to add that they believe that it was possessed, or at least influenced, by Satan. So, while we can find a small amount of common ground, the views on the specifics are widely varying. How, then, do we come to a real understanding of what the story of this first rebellion of Scripture is saying? Well, it might be a little more complicated than I like to do here, but I’m going to take a shot at it.
The answer, I believe, lies in the original language, a little biblical self-interpretation (biblical theology), and the supernatural worldviews of the nations that Israel had been in contact with, namely Egypt and Babylon. So, how will we do this? I’m going to look at three different things: the meaning of the Hebrew word for “serpent,” if the Bible mentions this event anywhere else, and what imagery from other cultures might have an influence on how the author portrayed this whole thing.
In this post, I’m only going to cover the language aspect. Hebrew authors of the Old Testament loved to use wordplay . . . almost what we would call puns. The Hebrew word meaning serpent is pronounced nachash (נָחָשׁ), which are the consonants n-ch-sh. Remember, Hebrew is read from right to left. Originally, Hebrew didn’t have vowels. Those little lines and dots under the letters are actually the vowel markers, which were added later. Anyway, in Hebrew, then, you can have the same consonants used to mean many different words, depending on how you vocalize it with vowels. The word נָחָשׁ is no different. Yes, it can mean “serpent,” but it also has a few different meanings as well.
This word, like some in English, can be used as different parts of speech, like our word “run” can a verb (Look at him run!) or as a noun (I’m going for a run.). נָחָשׁ, however has a few different parts of speech that it can function as, depending on vowels and form of the word. We’ll look at some of them, but the most straightforward reading of the word is the noun “serpent.”
The consonants n-ch-sh can also form a verb (pronounced nochesh) which means “to divine” or “the diviner.” A diviner was someone who communicated with the supernatural world and gave out divine information (i.e., prophecies or oracles). How is this relevant to the story? Well, what did the serpent do? He was giving information, supposedly relating to the truth of the supernatural world, to Eve. He told her that what God had said wasn’t really true, and that he had some special revelation that would make them “like God” (or the gods). Sounds kinda like divination doesn’t it?
A third way that these three consonants can be used is as an adjective. For those of you who haven’t done a Mad Lib in a while, an adjective describes a noun (like a red ball or a giant sloth). In this case, n-ch-sh (still pronounced nachash) can mean “like bronze/copper,” “brazen,” or “shining like bronze.” For example, 1 Chronicles 4:12 calls a man named Tehinnah the father of Ir-Nachash, or the founder of the city of Nachash. The name means “the city of copper/bronze (smiths).” In fact, the word nechosheth, which means “bronze” or “copper” uses the same consonants as nachash, with different vowels and a tav ending. The word is used in Daniel 10:6 and Ezekiel 1:7 to describe the way supernatural beings shine. Anyway, I say all of this to make the point that the word nachash can also refer to how something shines.
So, what does all of this mean? Well, I believe (as several scholars do) that we can reasonably conclude that this “snake” was actually a divine (supernatural) being. What does the original language indicate? Well, it seems to say that a shining, snake-like, divining being is who was speaking to Eve that day in the Garden. Not to get a head of myself, but I would suggest that this is why we see no mention of her being surprised by the fact that a snake is talking to her. It also might be why she believed what the being was saying to her. I’ll get more into that next time, though.
I want to make one final point that leads into a little bit of practical takeaway from this information. I have been thinking (or even feeling convicted) lately about the fact that a lot of Christians don’t have the ability, curiosity, or even the desire to get into original languages, cultural contexts, biblical or systematic theology, or a whole host of other things that scholars pour their lives into. I want to say that that’s OK!
I had a woman at church the other day, after asking me about a particular Greek word, tell me that she felt like she couldn’t understand the Bible if she didn’t know these things. To be honest, it kind of broke my heart, and it really made me think about how those of us who do this sort of study can feel like this is the only way that you can understand what God is communicating through Scripture. That is absolutely not true! Yes, this has deepened my appreciation for Scripture and has opened my eyes to a lot that I didn’t see before. However, the message of the love of God and His work in the world to redeem his broken human family, was something that learned and could read in the Bible long before Bible college or the study I have done since then.
I hope you enjoy this information. I really do! And, I hope that, somehow, it leads you to a better understanding of God, the world that He put us in, and the immeasurable love that He has for us. None of that matters though if you don’t have a real relationship with Christ, the Messiah, the one who fixes all of the brokenness, including our sin and separation from the Father. All of that, you can understand from the Bible without ever reading a theology book or taking a Bible class. If you want to learn more, to get deeper, I am thrilled to help with that, but it is not what will bring you into a relationship with God. You can only get that by repenting of your sin, surrendering to Yahweh as God and King, and accepting His grace to bring you into his kingdom and family.
Finally, atheists think we’re crazy. They will always think we’re crazy. That, however, doesn’t mean that we have to let them make fun of our God and His word to us. Yes, we have a supernatural worldview. We believe in spirits, angels, demons, and miracles. None of that means that we believe in ridiculous, mythological, fairy tales. Do we believe in a talking snake and magical apples? No, not in the derogatory sense that they mean. What we believe in is a spiritual battle, one that rages both in the cosmos around us, as well as in the hearts and minds of each one of us individually. That is a much deeper truth than a children’s story about a snake. Our beliefs, or faith, or worldview may be different than theirs, but it isn’t stupid, unintelligent, or stupid.
I hope this started to make some sense of the this part of the Bible. In my next two posts, I am going to talk about the other places in the Bible that talk about this being, and how the cultures around Israel also confirm this supernatural being view. If you ever have any questions, you can comment on these posts, or contact me any other way if you have my phone number (friends or family) or my e-mail. I would love to discuss and answer them! Thank you all for reading these. I know they are a little long (thanks to my sister for pointing that out on Facebook), but I hope they are interesting enough to not be tedious. I hope you all have an amazing day. I love you all!
Uncovering the Bible 