Why wasn’t Eve surprised at the talking serpent?

[Vesper_Jaye✝️]

This is a question I had been wondering for a while - when the serpent talked to Eve, why wasn’t she surprised?
I found this article that explains. Shouldn’t Eve Have Been Shocked that a Serpent Spoke?
This article is interesting, but it seems to be based on an assumption. Does someone know of any more evidence to confirm this, or evidence for a different reason entirely? I was wondering if all animals had the ability to communicate before the Fall?

 

[Sketcher]

Whether she was surprised or not is immaterial - what counts is how her initial "no" turned into a "yes", and how that "yes" was brought to completion, and how she brought Adam into joining her in the sin. She may have had a fight-or-flight reaction, or she may not have; either way, she had no excuse for what she had done, just as neither Adam nor the serpent had any excuse for what they had done.

 

[SkyWriting]

This is a question I had been wondering for a while - when the serpent talked to Eve, why wasn’t she surprised?
I found this article that explains. Shouldn’t Eve Have Been Shocked that a Serpent Spoke?
This article is interesting, but it seems to be based on an assumption. Does someone know of any more evidence to confirm this, or evidence for a different reason entirely? I was wondering if all animals had the ability to communicate before the Fall?

The Garden east of Eden may have been a parallel place to Heaven.
God was walking there, serpents were talking there, one tree had knowledge growing on it, it never rained, lots of indicators that this wasn't your average garden on earth.

 

[friend of]

Maybe they could talk to the animals there?

 

[Vesper_Jaye✝️]

Whether she was surprised or not is immaterial - what counts is how her initial "no" turned into a "yes", and how that "yes" was brought to completion, and how she brought Adam into joining her in the sin. She may have had a fight-or-flight reaction, or she may not have; either way, she had no excuse for what she had done, just as neither Adam nor the serpent had any excuse for what they had done.

I know whether she was surprised or not isn’t important to being a Christian or believing in God, but some people use “talking snakes” as evidence against the creation story and Christianity because they don’t understand it, and it would be nice to be able to explain. And, as @SkyWriting pointed out, it may have been a parallel to Heaven, so understanding this could help explain what Heaven would be like. It’s not essential to being a follower of Jesus or essential to know before we get to Heaven, but it would still be nice to know.

 

[messianist]

Then Satan entered into Judas called Iscariot, who was of the number of the twelve.?

 

[Lost4words]

Imagine if she had met me!!! Woof!

 

[messianist]

Imagine if she had met me!!! Woof!

Brilliant.

 

[Sketcher]

I know whether she was surprised or not isn’t important to being a Christian or believing in God, but some people use “talking snakes” as evidence against the creation story and Christianity because they don’t understand it, and it would be nice to be able to explain. And, as @SkyWriting pointed out, it may have been a parallel to Heaven, so understanding this could help explain what Heaven would be like. It’s not essential to being a follower of Jesus or essential to know before we get to Heaven, but it would still be nice to know.

That doesn't constitute "evidence" against the creation story. Claiming that a snake talked at the beginning of creation is a big claim, but it's not evidence against itself. Whether it literally happened or not doesn't matter that much either - whatever the historical fact may be, the truth of what constitutes sin and guilt, what God's will is, the condition of humankind, and the relationship of male to female and vice versa (which also needs to be borrowed from Genesis 2), is still true. The Bible is about God and our relationship to him, first and foremost.

 

[Vesper_Jaye✝️]

Imagine if she had met me!!! Woof!

LOL!!!

 

[miamited]

Hi @Vesper_Jaye✝️

The difficulty probably rests in our understanding of what 'serpent', the Hebrew word that is translated in English, actually refers to. While we think of the serpent as a snake, and that is how many pictographs show the creature, it isn't likely that it was. If the serpent had been a snake, then God's punishment upon the creature that it would crawl on its belly the rest of its days, wouldn't really mean much in the way of punishment to a snake...would it? After all, a snake lives its life on its belly anyway. And as far as we know, always has.

Other places of the Scripture make clear that the 'serpent' of the garden, was Satan. So, it was likely an angelic being, which is how other places in the Scripture also describe Satan. I believe that we have allowed the word 'serpent' to color our understanding that this creature was some animal crawling around and slithering like a snake coiled around a tree. I believe that it was an angelic being and he is referred to in the Hebrew as וְהַנָּחָשׁ֙ wə·han·nā·ḥāš which can be understood to a Hebrew reader as 'crafty one'. Thus, it could be understood as the crafty one who was more 'subtle', as the Hebrew Names Version translates what the NIV speaks as 'crafty', than any of the creatures of the field.

This would be in keeping with all that we are told about Satan. That he is a subtle liar. He has the ability to blind reasonable thinking in some people. The Scriptures declare that the angels are more powerful than any human and the fallen angel Satan, who Jesus tells us is the 'serpent' of the garden, was likely very practiced at deceiving. So, if this understanding is correct, than Satan talking to Eve would have been no different than any of the other dozens of times that the Scriptures allow that angels talked with people.

God bless,
Ted

 

[Vesper_Jaye✝️]

Hi @Vesper_Jaye✝️

The difficulty probably rests in our understanding of what 'serpent', the Hebrew word that is translated in English, actually refers to. While we think of the serpent as a snake, and that is how many pictographs show the creature, it isn't likely that it was. If the serpent had been a snake, then God's punishment upon the creature that it would crawl on its belly the rest of its days, wouldn't really mean much in the way of punishment to a snake...would it? After all, a snake lives its life on its belly anyway. And as far as we know, always has.

Other places of the Scripture make clear that the 'serpent' of the garden, was Satan. So, it was likely an angelic being, which is how other places in the Scripture also describe Satan. I believe that we have allowed the word 'serpent' to color our understanding that this creature was some animal crawling around and slithering like a snake coiled around a tree. I believe that it was an angelic being and he is referred to in the Hebrew as וְהַנָּחָשׁ֙ wə·han·nā·ḥāš which can be understood to a Hebrew reader as 'crafty one'. Thus, it could be understood as the crafty one who was more 'subtle', as the Hebrew Names Version translates what the NIV speaks as 'crafty', than any of the creatures of the field.

This would be in keeping with all that we are told about Satan. That he is a subtle liar. He has the ability to blind reasonable thinking in some people. The Scriptures declare that the angels are more powerful than any human and the fallen angel Satan, who Jesus tells us is the 'serpent' of the garden, was likely very practiced at deceiving. So, if this understanding is correct, than Satan talking to Eve would have been no different than any of the other dozens of times that the Scriptures allow that angels talked with people.

God bless,
Ted

Wow, I’ve never heard of that before, but it does make a lot of sense!

 

[Presbyterian Continuist]

When God turned up to find out what went wrong, Adam blamed Eve, and Eve blamed the snake, and the snake didn't have a leg to stand on!

 

[messianist]

Serpent = Deceiver

 

[messianist]

And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.

 

[Presbyterian Continuist]

Two muffins were baking in the oven, and one turned to the other and said, "Boy, it's getting really hot in here!" The other muffin exclaimed, "Good grief. A talking muffin!"

 

[Vesper_Jaye✝️]

Two muffins were baking in the oven, and one turned to the other and said, "Boy, it's getting really hot in here!" The other muffin exclaimed, "Good grief. A talking muffin!"

Lol! I’m going to tell that joke to my little brother! He really likes jokes.

 

[Presbyterian Continuist]

Lol! I’m going to tell that joke to my little brother! He really likes jokes.

Here's another one for you:

A man and his dog went to a theatrical agent and the man said, "I have a talking dog here". The agent said, "I will test it out." Speaking to the dog he said, "Look out the window. What's the state of the sea?" The dog replied, "Ruff!" The agent asked again, "What happens when something soaked in petrol is lit?" The dog replied, "Whoof!" The agent got angry and told the man, "This dog can't talk! Get out!" Outside, the dog told the man, "Do you think I should have recited the Oath of Independence?"

 

[sandman]

This is a question I had been wondering for a while - when the serpent talked to Eve, why wasn’t she surprised?
I found this article that explains. Shouldn’t Eve Have Been Shocked that a Serpent Spoke?
This article is interesting, but it seems to be based on an assumption. Does someone know of any more evidence to confirm this, or evidence for a different reason entirely? I was wondering if all animals had the ability to communicate before the Fall?

Just as you noted it would be shocking that a snake was speaking to Ishshâh (she was called Eve… after the fall)
Gen 2:23 …she shall be called Woman (Ishshaw), because she was taken out of Man.


The word serpent in Genesis 3 is a figure the speech hypocatastasis ….or implication. ….An implied resemblance or representation.

(Of the 219 known figure of speech… God uses 212 throughout the Bible as a way of drawing our attention and giving emphasis to a specific area.)


A better translation for "serpent" would be a shining ….. Satan was/is a spirit being, he is/was the angel of light. It would be ill-conceived that Ishshaw would carry on a conversation with a snake, but one can understand her fascination with the glorious angel of light one with superior and supernatural knowledge…

 

[Der Alte]

Why would Chavah not be surprised at a talking serpent? No sense of danger. No sense of right and wrong. Much like a toddler in many respects. How much danger would a toddler get into if there were no parents there to say "No!" "Don't touch." etc.