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