Gen 3 – The Antagonist

Let us open our Bibles and read Genesis 3:1-5 or click on Bible Gateway links below.

NIV    GNT     KJV

In every story, there are always three character elements that makes all stories GOOD; the protagonist, the victim and antagonist. In the Bible, the protagonist is God and the victim is humanity. Who is the bad guy (antagonist)? Well, let us see.

Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. [Gen 3:1a]

You are probably wondering why the drawing is depicting a Komodo Dragon rather than a snake. Well, in the tail end of the Bible, in the book of Revelation, the serpent is figuratively described as the dragon. Originally, this dragon was enormous, red, had seven heads, ten horns and seven crowns on its heads. Frankly, if I drew that dragon as described, it would probably had freaked Eve out of her wits… hahaha. So, I chose to use a komodo… a rather enormous looking komodo, that is. You’ll understand why in my next following post. For now, it’s an aesthetic call.

Who is this serpent? In the same book of Revelation, it also identified the ‘ancient serpent’ as the devil or the Satan [Rev 20:2]. Now, I will not get into the full semantics of the title of Satan which is quite extensive biblically. For our context in this part of Genesis, the serpent represents a spiritual being who had taken a guise of an animal to cunningly entice God’s favored beings – Adam and Eve. If you want to learn more about these spiritual beings, at the bottom of this post are Youtube links to The Bible Project video presentations. I hope you check them out.

Meanwhile, Genesis 3 described the serpent as being crafty; a trait worthy of one that hunts. He sized up his targets which were Adam and Eve. Then, he chose Eve as the easiest opportunity for his scheme to bring them both down.

Now, before any of you ladies send me hate mail, this is not because Eve is just a woman and the weaker sex. I’m a fan of Sigourney Weaver kicking Alien butt and Demi Moore in GI Jane. Ability is not the issue. Eve, in this context, would be the serpent’s likely target because she, unlike Adam, had the least face to face time with God. I offer this, by the way Eve responded to the serpent’s question.

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.’?” [vs1b-3]

Compare her response to what the Lord actually commanded in Genesis 2.

“You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.” [Gen 2:15-17]

Do you see it? Eve was right to say that it was okay to eat the fruit from the trees in the garden but they must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden. The error is when she also said something that the Lord had never said; that if you even ‘touch’ the fruit, you will die!. We’ll see how much of a problem this will cause in a sec. (By the way, Adam dropped the ball here by not teaching Eve properly. We’ll cover this in my next post.)

“You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” [vs 4-5]

In the New Testament, Jesus said the devil “was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.” [John 8:44] The serpent had always represented liars. Native Americans accused those that frequently lie as ‘one with forked tongue’ just like a reptile. In Genesis 3:4-5, we find the ultimate lie which whom Jesus had branded him as the ‘murderer from the beginning’. How can lying end up equating to murder? Intent is the key. So, let us look closely at the serpent’s true intent.

When the serpent said “You will not certainly die”, he was beguiling Eve with the notion that God was telling a lie and the reason is in what he said next. “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” What he was implying here was that God did not care for either her nor Adam to the point that God did not want them to be like Him and know what is good and evil. The serpent’s intention was first to mar God’s credibility and then drive a wedge between them and God.

What drove the serpent’s animosity? Genesis does not offer the reason, but in the poetry of two great Prophets*, we are enlightened more of the serpent’s past. In Isaiah, he is identified as ‘morning star, son of the dawn’ aka Lucifer. Lucifer was an anointed cherub (angel) of the Lord God and he was appointed as Eden’s guardian. From among the other cherubs, he held the highest position and was blameless in his ways from the day he was created… ‘until wickedness was found in him’.*

Lucifer became proud in his heart on account of his beauty; and he had corrupted the wisdom in him because of his splendor. So much so, that he aimed to ascend to the heavens and establish a throne high ‘above the stars of God’ to make himself ‘like the Most High’! * But the position of the Most High, the Lord God Almighty is forever unattainable by him. So, he sets his sights to victimize us whom the Lord loves.

[* Ezekiel 28 and Isaiah 14]

His method, like what happened to Eve, had not changed in time. The Bible is filled with examples of the serpent’s lying schemes. And to illustrate this, I offer my next crimson thread.

One other thing I have to add. As part of his schemes, he always works in the background. At most, he is a subtle whisper in your mind telling you that God is either non-existent or He just does not care. Warning! If he succeeds, according to Jesus, the murderer had taken another victim. We will explore ‘how’ later.

In my next post, we will explore the very nature of SIN and how mankind broke God’s heart.

——————————————————

The Crimson Thread are markers that points to a connection between Old Testament passages to Jesus Christ.

——————————————————-

The Bible Project

Intro to Spiritual Beings

The Satan and Demons

Angels and Cherubim