Reptile & Amphibian Forums

what species of snake tempted eve in the garden?

random thoughts i guess. The bible doesnt really specify other than it was a bad snake.

Sean P. Keen

What did the shrews eat on the ark? They certainly would have died in 40 days without food.
How did the freshwater/saltwater fish survive the flood? Either the earth was inundated with fresh or salt water. Either way, one group would die out.
How come all the plants didn't die during the flood of 40 days?
When the flood was over, wouldn't the predators have eaten the at least one of some of the prey species leaving no breeding pair?
Why don't all species show a genetic bottleneck dating to the flood?
What caused the light that existed in the first two days before the creation of the sun and stars?
Since night and day are defined by the rotation of the earth, how could there have been night and day before the creation of the earth and sun?
When did God create the non-seeding plants, like mosses and ferns?
Who did Adam and Eve's children mate with? Each other? Their parents? No wonder they were cast out of the garden!

All these stories are allegories meant to teach a point. If you endeavor take them literally, you find them hard to mesh with what we know about the universe today, regardless of your creed.
-----
Chris Harrison
San Antonio, Texas

yes indeed.

but given what we know about the area, what would be the logical answer.

sean p. keen

The logical answer for a talking tree dwelling snake in a fruit tree in the desert in a fictitious garden? Make up your own species name, you will no further from the truth than by trying to do it geographically. LOL

I say Spalerosophis diadema. How about one of the spitting cobras? Maybe a Blindsnake.

Then there is the whole philosophical approach that says it wasn't a snake at all she was tempted by, but in fact the "snake" of another man - thus her sin!
-----
Chris Harrison
San Antonio, Texas

Actually if one is supposed to take all this seriously, the "snake" that tempted A & E had limbs, so therefore was not a snake as we know it. In fact, it wasn't a snake at all.

The Bible says that Satan took upon himself the form of the serpent and tempted Eve (not an exact quote).

There is a strong arguement that the serpent of the Bible was the first "wrongly condemed individual" since no real snake was involved, the temptation being done by an impersonator (Satan).

Besides that, the location of Eden is still up for grabs..pick a county, even Mark Twain had a theory.

Frank
-----
"The luxury of not getting involved departed with the last lifeboat Skipper..."

Sean, I've had numerous conversations with Jewish religious scholars on this subject, and all of them have told me that the word "serpent", as used in the King James Bible, was NOT the word used in the original Aramaic text in which the Book of Genesis was recorded. The word used has no comparable Latin or English translation, and was clearly meant to refer to a supernatural being whose purpose was to tempt the first humans, appearing in the form of a beautiful flesh-and-blood creature. When the Biblical texts were translated into Greek and later Latin, the closest thing that the scribes could come up with was "serpent", which in Old English, by the way, could be used to refer to ANY reptilian creature, not just snakes. I'm a Christian myself, but I understand that this whole story of how humankind fell from Grace is indeed an allegory, not a literal account, and that the "snake" was no snake at all, or any other earthly animal, so the question as to what kind of snake it was is a moot point. Sadly, the literal acceptance that snakes, and reptiles in general, are the Devil Incarnate has persisted to this very day, due to what was lost in translation and people's literal, word-for-word beliefs. If that were the case, who did Cain seek as his wife when he went off into the wilderness, if he and his parents were the only humans? The Book of Genesis makes no mention of any other humans, or of Adam and Eve having any daughters.
It is interesting to note that when the Bible DOES refer to real snakes, it refers to them by species, such as cobras, adders, vipers, etc.

McKenzieS

I don't completely agree with everything you say, but one thing stands out to me:

"The Book of Genesis makes no mention of any other humans, or of Adam and Eve having any daughters. "

I am not surprised at all that it does not mention daughtors because through out the bible men are mentioned way more them women because men were thought of as "the leaders". So to say that Adam and Eve had no daughtor would not be correct unless you have undeniable proof which has not been presented. Also it would not be correct to say that Cain and Abel were the only sons of Adam and eve. Maby adam and eve had Cain and Abel a few hundred years after they had other kids. If adam and eve had a male and a female child 100 years before cain and abel then the male and femal could have been married and had many kids and their kids would have had time to have kids because of the length of time.
Nowdays women in their 20s can have kids so 20 times 5 = 100. And the people back them lived longer then 100 years so they could easily populate the earth rapidly!

Interesting question. I would guess it was a species that does not exist anymore. I would guess that it was a big snake.

" 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: And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel." Genesis 3:14-15 KJV

I am logically thinking that Snakes used to be different then we know them today. "upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life" It was cursed to crawl on its belly all the days of its life so It must have either had legs or wings. I am gonna say it probably was wings because Ive been told (I have not real evidence at the moment for this) that there are parts on snakes that people don't know why there there and they could be where the wings would have been if they still had them.

Interesting topic for a herp forum! It surprises me that no one referenced the popular theory of a pre-adamic race. What's the moral of the story??? There are few things that one can do in this life that are more frustrating than to look for factual answers to a question of faith.