The Serpent

In the book of Genesis, when God placed the curse on the serpent, God told the serpent he would crawl on his belly…….for all the days of his life. Before the curse, was the serpent walking upright in some way?

Q. In the book of Genesis, when God placed the curse on the serpent, God told the serpent he would crawl on his belly…….for all the days of his life. Now I know this is going to sound a little far out there, but I need to ask. Before the curse, was the serpent walking upright in some way?

A. The word translated serpent in Genesis 3:1 comes from a root meaning enchanter, or one who practices divination. There’s no record of the serpent’s appearance before the fall, but from the way it was cursed, one could infer that it had legs and stood upright.

Since Eve apparently had no problem conversing with and taking counsel from it, it’s likely that Satan had possessed a being with whom Eve was familiar as a way of deceiving her. Later God cursed the serpent, as much to provide Adam and Eve with a visible reminder of Satan’s tricks as to judge the serpent.