Satan - Serpent or Personage?
We know that Satan approached both Adam and
Eve in the Garden of Eden. But did he
appear to them as himself, in the form of a man, or did he speak to them
through a serpent? After all, the scriptures seem to give us mixed
signals. For example, “in the Moses
account…Lucifer tricks the serpent into doing his bidding. However, in 2 Nephi [2:17-18], father Lehi
informs us that the serpent is the
devil.”[1]
In the book
of Numbers, we read that the Lord sent fiery serpents among the camp of Israel.[5] As a result, many were bitten, and many
died. The Lord, as he often does, gave
the children of Israel a chance to repent and be saved. He had Moses fix a brazen serpent on a pole
and invited all who had been bitten to look upon it. Those who looked would live. The symbolism of Christ on the cross is easy
to see: if we look to Him in our lives we will live. What is often overlooked in this story is the
fact that God used a serpent to represent Christ.
Notes:
We know that Satan approached both Adam and
Eve in the Garden of Eden. But did he
appear to them as himself, in the form of a man, or did he speak to them
through a serpent? After all, the scriptures seem to give us mixed
signals. For example, “in the Moses
account…Lucifer tricks the serpent into doing his bidding. However, in 2 Nephi [2:17-18], father Lehi
informs us that the serpent is the
devil.”[1]
So which one
is it? As we look for answers, we must remember
that the story of the Fall is filled with symbolism. While there are some
aspects of the fall that can and should be taken literally, there are other
aspects of the Fall that are purely figurative and symbolic. For example,
Brigham Young informed us that Adam was not literally created from dust, but rather,
“he was made as you and
I were made and no person was ever made on any other principle.”[2] In
other words, the phase “created from dust” is simply a figurative expression. In the words of BYU’s Cleon Skousen:
The Lord originally told
Moses precisely what it meant to be made from the dust of the earth. This
is a technical phrase. It meant to be “born...by water, and blood,
and the spirit which I have made, and so became of dust a living soul”
(Moses 6:59).[3]
The Book of
Mormon confirms the teaching that Adam was created the same way as the rest of
us (birth process); for it was King Benjamin who said, “ye [you and I] were
created of the dust of the earth” (Mosiah 2:25). In other words, according to
Elder Bruce R. McConkie,
Mortal men are born into
mortality, meaning that the spirits from pre-existence come into tabernacles
which have been created from the dust of the earth through the normal birth
process.[4]
Therefore, if you
and I were created from the dust of the earth (i.e. through the birth process),
and Adam was also created in the same way, then Adam was born of a woman as
well.
This helps
us to understand that some aspects in the story of the Fall are not to be
interpreted as literal, but rather figurative or symbolic. Such is the case
with the serpent.
Let us
assume for a moment that Satan did not speak through a serpent in the Garden of
Eden, but rather, he personally appeared to Adam and Eve. This would mean that the term serpent is used only to describe Satan. If this were true, what exactly are the
scriptures trying to tell us about Satan?
Outside the
story of the Fall, what does a serpent normally represent? If
asked, most people would probably guess that a serpent would represent evil,
perhaps even Satan himself. The assumption for this logic is
understandable, for serpents are deadly creatures, filled with venomous poison
and feared by many. And after all, tradition
has it that it was a serpent that Satan used in order to deceive Adam and Eve
in the Garden of Eden. But if we examine
the scriptures, we find that the serpent actually represents something
different. In fact, what it represents
is the complete opposite of Satan. It
represents God.
Serpent = Messiah
In the book
of Numbers, we read that the Lord sent fiery serpents among the camp of Israel.[5] As a result, many were bitten, and many
died. The Lord, as he often does, gave
the children of Israel a chance to repent and be saved. He had Moses fix a brazen serpent on a pole
and invited all who had been bitten to look upon it. Those who looked would live. The symbolism of Christ on the cross is easy
to see: if we look to Him in our lives we will live. What is often overlooked in this story is the
fact that God used a serpent to represent Christ.
In the book of Exodus we find yet another example of a serpent
representing God. When Moses and Aaron
first approached Pharaoh to ask that he let the children of Israel go, Pharaoh
refused. In order to prove that the Lord
was on their side, Aaron cast down his rod before Pharaoh and it immediately
became a serpent. Not impressed, Pharaoh
brought in his sorcerers and had them cast down their rods, which also became
serpents.
The reason
Moses and Aaron turned their rod into a serpent was to tell Pharaoh that God
was with them. Pharaoh had his sorcerers
replicate this miracle to suggest that he also had a power on his side. And he did: Satan.[6] What we have next is a battle to see whose
God is more powerful. After the
sorcerer’s rods become serpents, we read that “Aaron's rod swallowed up their
rods” (Exo. 7:12). The message here is
clear: the God of Israel will always triumph over the god of this world.
In addition to these two examples, there
is further evidence that suggests that a serpent represented the Messiah. According to one LDS author,
In most ancient societies, letters
and numbers were often used interchangeably, and each letter of an alphabet had
a numerical value.[7]
"Generally, the first nine letters of the alphabet stood for
numbers one through nine, the next nine for numbers ten through ninety, and so
on."[8] With this formula, each word could therefore
be assigned a numerical value. When two
words had the same numerical value, they were considered to represent each
other and could be used interchangeably as synonyms. This is significant because the Hebrew word
for Messiah (mashiyakh) and the
Hebrew word for serpent (nakhash)
both have a numerical value of 358.[9] This helps to confirm that anciently, and
especially in the Hebrew culture, the serpent was a symbol for the Messiah. As LDS scholar Jeffery Bradshaw stated, "the
serpent is a frequently used representation of the Messiah and his life-giving
power."[10]
Satan
as a Serpent
Why then, would the scriptures use a serpent when
describing Satan in the story of the Fall?
Perhaps the best answer to this question comes from the Book of Mormon,
where the Prophet Jacob teaches us that Satan, “beguiled our first parents, [by]
transform[ing] himself nigh unto an angel of light” (2 Ne. 9:9). LDS scholar Alonzo Gaskil wrote:
The Hebrew word translated as
“serpent” in the Genesis account is related to the Hebrew word for “luminous”
or “shining.” Thus, some have suggested that the Genesis account should not
read “serpent” but rather “angel of light.”
In addition, it is believed that prior to the Fall the serpent was a
symbol or type for Christ…. Thus associating the serpent with the devil would
simply suggest that in Eden, Lucifer was seeking to usurp the role of Christ by
appearing to Adam and Eve as an angel of light.[11]
With this information, it becomes
clear what Satan’s intentions were in the Garden of Eden. In an attempt to get Adam and Eve to worship
him, he would present himself as if he were Adam and Eve’s true Messiah. In other words, Satan is described as a
serpent in the Garden of Eden not for who he was, but for who he was attempting
to portray. Thankfully, after Adam and
Eve partook of the fruit of the tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, their eyes
were opened and they were able to detect Satan for who he really was.
We can therefore conclude that whether
Satan is described as a serpent, or whether he is described as approaching Adam
and Eve adorned with priesthood power and authority in the form of a man, the
meaning is the same. “Lucifer was seeking to usurp the role of Christ by
appearing to Adam and Eve as an angel of light.”[12] This
should not come as a surprise to Latter-day Saints, for this is the very thing
Satan desired in the pre-existence, namely, the honor that came from being the
Savior of the world.[13]
As it turns
out, this would not be Satan’s last attempt to get Adam and Eve to worship
him. We see a second attempt in the story of the fig leaves.
Notes:
[1]
Gaskill, The Truth About Eden, p.
150.
[2]
Journal of Discourses, 3:319.
[3]
Skousen, The First 2,000 Years, p.
24.
[4]
McConkie, Doctrinal New Testament
Commentary, 2:471.
[5]
Numbers 21:5-9
[6]
That Satan was the force behind this miracle was alluded to by Elder Jedediah
M. Grand who said, "I believe Lucifer has just as much power to make lice
now as ever he had, he has just as much ability to display his power in making
a serpent to oppose a Moses as ever" (Journal
of Discourses, 2:12)
[7]
Gaskil, The Lost Language of Symbolism, p.
111
[8]
Draper, Opening the Seven Seals, p.
149
[9]
See Gaskill, The Lost Language of
Symbolism, p. 144
[10] Bradshaw, “A Strange Story Explained:
Temple Symbolism and the Garment of Noah,” Meridian
Magazine, January 24 2013, located
at: http://www.ldsmag.com/article/12120?Itemid=
As a reference for the above statement, Bradshaw uses the following scriptures:
Numbers 21:8-9; John 3:14-15; 2 Nephi 25:20; Alma 33:19; Helaman 8:14-15. See
also J. M. Bradshaw, God's Image 1, pp. 247-248. For a comprehensive study of
the ambivalent symbolism of the serpent, see J. H. Charlesworth, Serpent.
[11]
Gaskill, The Truth About Eden, p.
151.
[12]
Gaskill, The Truth About Eden, p.
151.
[13]
D&C 29:36; Moses 4:1-4.