Such are the importance of words that in the power-crazed world of law there are “special” dictionaries that are used by specialists because words can and do have more than one meaning. For example; the word “person” can represent a natural person (human being) or an artificial person (such as a corporation).
I highlighted the importance of words before embarking on part two of this series about hidden rhetoric found in the bible because like all other books and films various bytes of information are embedded and presented to our intelligent senses for the purpose of “self” discovery or self-awareness. If you haven’t already done so I recommend you read part one of this series HERE in order to get a deeper understanding of what it is I am trying to communicate by analyzing the verses, the words and their meanings.
Genesis Chapter three
Other than being an Old Testament term for Satan or the Devil the definition of a serpent can also mean a wily, treacherous, or malicious person. If you read the text carefully you will see that Chapter 3 of Genesis has been written from the “perspective” of a wrathful and vengeful LORD God who is best described as a Demiurge. This god is otherwise known as the “builder” of solar systems rather than the “creator” of the universe. He is the chief of the seven archons and is known as Yaldaboath, Saklas or Samael which in gnostic terms is synonymous with Satan the deceiver.
The challenge in terms of perspective is to ask who the Devil is in the eyes of an inherently malevolent lower god… the answer lays naturally in everything opposite to malevolence in benevolence. Therefore an “entity” that represents the “love” and “goodness” of a supreme creator would in the eyes of a lower subordinate god be seen as a serpent.
Furthermore, the term beast apart from meaning a non human or crude type of animal can define a cruel, coarse, filthy, or otherwise beast-like person. This definition also shines a new light on the perspective of the serpent in Genesis chapter 3 from the LORD Gods perspective.
The text refers to the serpent as a beast of the “field” that is more subtle (i.e. cunning, cleverer, ingenious etc) than what the LORD God made. If the LORD God is the chief creator how is it possible that any beast can be more subtle than that which created it.
The term “made” is used instead of “create”. The term “make” is synonymous with bringing into existence “something” by shaping or changing preexisting material or combining parts, i.e. to build from existing parts. Whereas the term “create” is used to describe causing something NEW to come into being. There is a huge difference.
As a summary… it is an all powerful creative force that is referenced as God (Gen 1) that “creates” all living things from the “earth”. The LORD God makes from the “field”. The LORD God is a “ruling” God hence he is called LORD God. This god can only manipulate at the scale of the “field” and not the “earth”. The term “earth” (in lowercase) is synonymous with general terrain which can indicate that “earth” is cosmic terrain, i.e. anywhere in the cosmos, whereas “Earth” in uppercase as used in the KJV bible (Gen 1:10) through use of capitalization denotes a unique place such as a planet within a particular solar system.
The serpent is referred to as a masculine “he”. It’s obvious that the term serpent is a metaphor for an “intelligent” entity because serpents (or snakes) can’t talk. Also consider the fact that this event is seen from the perspective of an “opposing” god and so has the term “he” been reversed in place of “she” and that the term “woman” is actually used in relation to a “he”. The details of the LORD God’s (wo)man was discussed HERE in part 1.
The forbidden fruit is a metaphor for knowledge. The spell-bound Adam and his/her newly formed wife have been forbade by the LORD God from obtaining knowledge. The LORD God wants them to remain ignorant of a greater truth because for as long as they do they will remain deceived. I have referenced Adam as his/her because it is not clear whether it is the masculine or feminine principle that remains in Adam after the LORD God separated the male and female aspects in chapter 2. An interesting point to note (perhaps) is that Adamah (אדמה) is an ancient Hebrew term for the “feminine” form of “ground” (earth).