{"id":5184,"date":"2006-05-08T21:27:48","date_gmt":"2006-05-09T02:27:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/?p=5184"},"modified":"2019-06-28T21:32:04","modified_gmt":"2019-06-29T02:32:04","slug":"why-was-the-serpent-cursed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-was-the-serpent-cursed\/","title":{"rendered":"Why was the serpent cursed?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\t<h2>Question:<\/h2>\n<p>In Genesis 3:14 it states &#8220;And the LORD God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Was the serpent in the situation actually the devil or just an ordinary beast? If it was the devil, why did God cursed the serpent and made it crawl on its stomach, which still transpires to date? Could the serpent have chosen not to let the devil use its body? So why was it cursed?<\/p>\n\t<h2>Answer:<\/h2>\n<p>In\u00a0Genesis 3:1\u00a0we learn, &#8220;<em>Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made.<\/em>&#8221; Was it clever enough to chose whether to allow Satan to use it to tempt Eve? The Bible doesn&#8217;t make that clear. The closest guess I can think of is so the serpent could not be used again in that manner.<\/p>\n<p>We do know that it was Satan because John records, &#8220;<em>He laid hold of the dragon, that serpent of old, who is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years<\/em>&#8221; (Revelation 20:2). Paul states that the serpent deceived Eve, &#8220;<em>But I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ<\/em>&#8221; (II Corinthians 11:3). But Jesus said that it was Satan who was the murderer, &#8220;<em>You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it<\/em>&#8221; (John 8:44).<\/p>\n<p>Things used for corruption have been cursed. As examples:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The ground is cursed because of Adam&#8217;s sin (Genesis 3:17)<\/li>\n<li>Canaan received a curse because of his father&#8217;s sin (Genesis 9:25)<\/li>\n<li>Jesus cursed a fig tree because it had no fruit (Mark 11:21)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>You could extend this further. The land of Israel suffered because Israel sinned. Children suffered because their parents sinned, such as those condemned to wander for forty years in the wilderness. The fact that we see snakes crawling on the ground serves as a reminder of what happened in Genesis and that God does punish sin.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Question: In Genesis 3:14 it states &#8220;And the LORD God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life&#8221; Was the serpent in the situation&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[20],"tags":[235,779],"class_list":["post-5184","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-satan","tag-serpent"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":13391,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-the-devil-the-apple-that-adam-and-eve-ate\/","url_meta":{"origin":5184,"position":0},"title":"Is the Devil the apple that Adam and Eve ate?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 16, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: So is the Devil the apple that Adam and Eve ate? Answer: First, the Bible doesn't say Adam and Eve ate an apple. That is an old myth from the days when people assumed that red fruits were poisonous. The tree was a unique tree called the tree of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Answer&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":17791,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/were-there-other-animals-in-the-garden-beside-the-serpent\/","url_meta":{"origin":5184,"position":1},"title":"Were there other animals in the garden beside the serpent?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 4, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Were there animals in the garden of Eden apart from the snake that Satan used as his tool? Answer: On the sixth day, prior to Eve being created, we are told: \"Out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Answer&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":21641,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/did-eve-commit-adultery-with-the-serpent\/","url_meta":{"origin":5184,"position":2},"title":"Did Eve commit adultery with the serpent?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 9, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Is it true that Eve committed adultery with the serpent? Where was Adam when this sin was committed? If the serpent was a beast why was Cain a proper human being? What is the biblical position on this issue? Answer: Questions like these wouldn't even come up if people\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Answer&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":12146,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/when-and-to-whom-was-the-savior-first-promised\/","url_meta":{"origin":5184,"position":3},"title":"When and to whom was the Savior first promised?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 4, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: When and to whom was the Savior first promised? Answer: \"So the LORD God said to the serpent: \"Because you have done this, you are cursed more than all cattle, and more than every beast of the field; on your belly you shall go, and you shall eat dust\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Answer&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":26713,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-do-we-know-that-the-serpent-was-satan\/","url_meta":{"origin":5184,"position":4},"title":"How do we know that the serpent was Satan?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 15, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I have started reading my Bible consistently, and have a couple of questions: Why do people say that the serpent who tempted Eve was Satan? I don't see that anywhere. Maybe I missed something? Also, someone once told me that Abram and Sarai were half-siblings, but I can't seem\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Answer&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":92566,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-proper-explanation-of-john-316\/","url_meta":{"origin":5184,"position":5},"title":"The Proper Explanation of John 3:16","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 13, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Carl O. Cooper The fact is, John 3:16, when taken in its proper context, teaches that salvation is by works of obedience when accompanied by proper faith. It's true! This verse, read in its proper context, does not teach \"saved by faith alone.\" In reality, the context of this\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Article&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5184","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5184"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5184\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5184"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5184"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5184"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}