Friday, March 28, 2025

Shouldn’t Eve Have Been Shocked That A Serpent Spoke?

 

Shouldn’t The Woman (Eve) Have Been Shocked That A Serpent Spoke?

Bodie Hodge, M.Sc., B.Sc., PEI

Biblical Authority Ministries March 28, 2025 

Often, people say that they can’t believe the serpent in Genesis 3 spoke because they claim animals don’t speak! “Well, I wish I could tell that to my sister-in-law’s old Blue-Fronted Amazon parrot that doesn’t stop talking!”

Many types of parrots talk by mimicking, so it would be illogical to think that God didn’t give this ability to other animals—especially in a perfect world. Speaking human sounding words and speaking intelligently, however, is not the same. 

Recall that even Balaam’s donkey spoke, with God’s help. So, there should be caution about limiting what God did or didn’t do in the perfect Garden.

There is a possibility that many other animals had the ability to “speak phonetically” before the curse. The book of Revelation refers to living creatures in heaven that speak (Revelation 6:1, 19:4), angels speak, and humans speak. So, it should be no surprise that God could create animals that could make human-like sounds in a perfect world. Many animals have types of sound-based communication even today. 

The difference with the serpent is that it was “clever” when it spoke. It made sense to the Woman[1]. Since Satan was the one who influenced the serpent (per Revelation 12:9, Revelation 20:2), then it makes sense why the serpent could deceive her. The serpent was an instrument in the deception and also deserved a punishment, which God justly gave.

One artistic view of the serpent; Image by Bodie Hodge

This reminds me of Judas who also received due punishment even though Satan entered him (Luke 22:3) or the King of Tyre (Ezekiel 28). I doubt that God gave Satan the power and ability to make animals talk if they didn’t have the correct phonics ability originally. With Balaam’s donkey, it was by the power of God that it spoke. 

Of course today, serpents, such as snakes which crawl on their belly, don’t speak but the curse in Genesis 3:14 probably had something to do with this. Recall the physical changes in Genesis 3. Perhaps this is the reason the particular kind of serpent that deceived the Woman no longer passed along the ability to speak or may have even become extinct since the Fall[2].  The fact that the curse included “crawling on the belly” rules out a dinosaur as being the serpent that deceived the Woman since they walked upright. 

The issue of the Woman being shocked when she heard the serpent speak also has a couple of theological problems. First, everything in the Garden of Eden was new to the first couple—they’d only been alive for a short time. Even a bug or cat or dinosaur would all be new, so they shouldn’t have been shocked at a talking serpent. 

God programmed into Adam and Eve language (since they were able to speak immediately with God) which would include animal definitions. So, it shouldn’t have been shocking to see or hear something for the first time, when you’re already programmed to know about it.

Also, the word “shocking” implies an imperfect world with violence and indecency. The definition of shocking from Merriam-Webster Online dictionary (retrieved March 2008) is “extremely startling, distressing, or offensive”[3]. 

This has a theological problem since God declared everything “very good” in Genesis 1:31 and perfect in Deuteronomy 32:4. There wouldn’t have been any violence or indecency in the Garden at this time.  It wasn’t until after they sinned that these things would have existed as part of a now fearfully and broken world Therefore, there should have been no reason for Eve to have been “shocked” in a very good creation.

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Originally published here: https://answersingenesis.org/adam-and-eve/eve-shocked-a-serpent-spoke/; Used by permission.



[1] When using “Woman” in caps, this denotes Eve’s original name as given in Genesis 2:23, when Adam named her.  She was originally named Woman and wasn’t given the name Eve until after sin. Throughout this book both names are used. Most of the time they are corresponding to the name prior to and after sin.  The use of the names “Man” and “Adam” were both used prior to sin for the first man.  So sometimes one may see Adam and the Woman but please understand that the name Woman is not used in any derogatory sense in this book but used as a name. 

[2] There were likely no land-dwelling air-breathing animals extinct by the time of the Flood since representatives of each kind were aboard the Ark (Genesis 6:19-20).  If descendants of this particular serpent did go extinct, it would have been after the Flood. 

[3] Merriam-Webster Online dictionary (retrieved March 2008) http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/shocking.

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