Try putting “snake in the apple tree” in Google, and go to Images. It’s quite amazing just how many pictures have been drawn or painted over the years to depict the sad event in the Garden of Eden.
But what is even sadder is this pictorial image. It may seem to be true according to the AV Bible (and many other versions) but it in no way captures the true scene in Eden.
The “Serpent” is clearly defined for us by the apostle John. “The great dragon . . . that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world.” Adam and Eve were not confronted by a snake, a serpent, or anything like that, but by Satan himself. He is called a serpent because he is subtle, he “has two horns like a lamb but speaks like a dragon”, to use another figure, and he deceives the whole world, just as he deceived Eve on that fateful day. “Satan transforms himself into an angel of light.” “Your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.” These are other figures of Satan found in the Bible.
Figurative language is rife in Scripture. So we need to strip the figures away and get at the truths behind them. When we are told that the serpent would henceforth go on its belly, clearly it was not like that before being cursed. The figure means that a former upright being would be made prostrate before God for his act of deception. When we are told that it would henceforth eat dust, we know that snakes have never eaten dust for food. The figure means continual disappointment in all that he aspires to do. The wisdom of God turns all his works on their head.
References. Revelation 12:9, 13:11. 1 Peter 5:8, 2 Corinthians 11:14.
