character of the serpent is alluded to in Jacob’s blessing on Dan (Genesis
49:17; see Proverbs 30:18, 19; James 3:7; Jeremiah 8:17). (See ADDER.)
This word is used symbolically of a deadly, subtle, malicious enemy (Luke
10:19).
The serpent is first mentioned in connection with the history of the
temptation and fall of our first parents (Genesis 3). It has been well
remarked regarding this temptation: “A real serpent was the agent of the
temptation, as is plain from what is said of the natural characteristic of the
serpent in the first verse of the chapter (3:1), and from the curse
pronounced upon the animal itself. But that Satan was the actual tempter,
and that he used the serpent merely as his instrument, is evident (1) from
the nature of the transaction; for although the serpent may be the most
subtle of all the beasts of the field, yet he has not the high intellectual
faculties which the tempter here displayed. (2.) In the New Testament it is
both directly asserted and in various forms assumed that Satan seduced our
first parents into sin (John 8:44; Romans 16:20; 2 Corinthians 11:3, 14;
Revelation 12:9; 20:2).” Hodge’s System. Theol., ii. 127.