The World English Bible is used throughout, unless otherwise designated. God's Holy Name is presented as "Jehovah," regardless of translation.
Jehovah God said to the serpent, "Because you have done this, cursed are you above all cattle, and above every animal of the field. On your belly shall you go, and you shall eat dust all the days of your life. -- Genesis 3:14.
"When Pharaoh speaks to you, saying, 'Perform a miracle!' then you shall tell Aaron, 'Take your rod, and cast it down before Pharaoh, that it become a serpent.'" -- Exodus 7:9.
Moses and Aaron went in to Pharaoh, and they did so, as Jehovah had commanded: and Aaron cast down his rod before Pharaoh and before his servants, and it became a serpent. -- Exodus 7:10.
Jehovah said to Moses, Make you a fiery serpent, and set it on a standard: and it shall happen, that everyone who is bitten, when he sees it, shall live. -- Numbers 21:8
Moses made a serpent of brass, and set it on the standard: and it happened, that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he looked to the serpent of brass, he lived. -- Numbers 21:9
The question has been asked as to why Jehovah would curse the serpent, and then use snakes to respresent himself, and have the Israelites to worship a serpent? This is evidently presented as being a proof that the Bible is self-contradictory and thus is not the divinely-inspired Word of God.
In the context, we find that man, who has the highest intellect of any of God's earthly creatures, had been, in effect, tested, and he failed through his disobedience. God had given him one simple command, to not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. However, the Bible record shows that the serpent deceived Eve (2 Corinthians 11:3), so that she disobeyed God. She then gave the fruit to Adam and Adam also disobeyed God. Adam, in effect, proved himself more loyal to the creature (his wife, Eve) than to his Creator. -- Genesis 3:1-6.
The serpent, like man, is part of God’s creation. God cursed the snake, but he also cursed man and the woman, and the ground. (Genesis 3:14-19) This does not mean that God could no longer have anything do with with a snake, a man, a woman, or the ground.
The serpent, like man, is part of God’s creation. God cursed the snake, but he also cursed man and the woman, and the ground. (Genesis 3:14-19) This does not mean that God could no longer have anything do with with a snake, a man, a woman, or the ground.
Nevertheless, by comparing spiritual revealing with spiritual revealing, we conclude that God did not actually curse the serpent in itself, but rather the angel who proved to be Satan and the devil, who is represented by the serpent, and thus referred to as a serpent. When God spoke through a donkey, the scripture records it at though the donkey itself was speaking. -- Numbers 22:29-31.
When angels appeared as men, they were referred as though they were actually men. Likewise, since Revelation 12:9 identifies the serpent as the devil and Satan, this would mean that it was actually this angel who spoke through the serpent, and thus, figuratively, the curse was spoken of as upon the serpent, but was actually referring to the one who spoke through the serpent. Certainly this is so in Genesis 3:15, where we read of the seed of woman being bruised in the heel by the seed of the serpent, and of the serpent being bruised in the head by the seed of the woman. This is all pictorial. — Romans 16:20; Hebrews 2:14; 1 John 3:8; Revelation 20:1-3,10.
We do not know of any place that Jehovah told the children of Israel that the serpent represented Himself, or that he authorized anyone to worship the brazen serpent. Indeed, when the serpent apparently began to worshiped, Hezekiah had the brazen serpent destroyed along with other idols. Thus, while the brazen serpent itself was not an idol, it later became an idol due to the worship being given to it. -- 2 Kings 18:4.
Jesus used Moses’ lifting up of the brazen serpent to represent himself, referring to his being lifted up as the sacrifice for mankind. (John 3:14) God had inflicted upon the children of Israel a lot of serpents, which was bringing death upon them, picturing -- we believe -- how Satan, by his lie, brought death upon mankind. The lifting up of the copper serpent represented the lifting up of Jesus, undoing what Satan had done.
The serpent, however, primarily represents sin, being Satan's agent in alluring our first parents into condemnation. Jesus, however, came to take the sinner's place. Thus we read that God "made him who knew no sin to be a sin-offering for us." -- 2 Corinthians 5:21, Diaglott.
When angels appeared as men, they were referred as though they were actually men. Likewise, since Revelation 12:9 identifies the serpent as the devil and Satan, this would mean that it was actually this angel who spoke through the serpent, and thus, figuratively, the curse was spoken of as upon the serpent, but was actually referring to the one who spoke through the serpent. Certainly this is so in Genesis 3:15, where we read of the seed of woman being bruised in the heel by the seed of the serpent, and of the serpent being bruised in the head by the seed of the woman. This is all pictorial. — Romans 16:20; Hebrews 2:14; 1 John 3:8; Revelation 20:1-3,10.
We do not know of any place that Jehovah told the children of Israel that the serpent represented Himself, or that he authorized anyone to worship the brazen serpent. Indeed, when the serpent apparently began to worshiped, Hezekiah had the brazen serpent destroyed along with other idols. Thus, while the brazen serpent itself was not an idol, it later became an idol due to the worship being given to it. -- 2 Kings 18:4.
Jesus used Moses’ lifting up of the brazen serpent to represent himself, referring to his being lifted up as the sacrifice for mankind. (John 3:14) God had inflicted upon the children of Israel a lot of serpents, which was bringing death upon them, picturing -- we believe -- how Satan, by his lie, brought death upon mankind. The lifting up of the copper serpent represented the lifting up of Jesus, undoing what Satan had done.
The serpent, however, primarily represents sin, being Satan's agent in alluring our first parents into condemnation. Jesus, however, came to take the sinner's place. Thus we read that God "made him who knew no sin to be a sin-offering for us." -- 2 Corinthians 5:21, Diaglott.
References:
The Brazen Serpent
The Brazen Serpent and Its Antitype
The Manner of Mother Eve's Temptation
With Staff in Hand
(We do not necessarily agree with all of the conclusions given in the studies linked to above.)
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