The Fall- a concept common to all Abrahamic religions, denoting the violation of the will of God by the first man, which led to the fall of man from a state of supreme innocent bliss to a state of suffering and sinfulness.

In modified forms, the concept of the Fall is present in many (including non-Abrahamic) religions. According to mythology researcher Mircea Eliade, who has studied this topic in detail, the mythology of the golden age and expulsion from paradise dates back to the times of the Neolithic revolution and is a reaction to the advent of agriculture. The Golden Age is invariably accompanied by the mythologies of “paradise lost” and “noble savage”.

In the Bible

Interpretation of the Fall in Theology

Religions and philosophy reveal various aspects of the meaning of the Fall, its meaning and consequences.

In Judaism

First, Adam was created from Malchut of the world of Atzilut. As a result of the Fall of Adam, the worlds of Beria, Yetzira, and Assiya descended to their present place. After the Fall, his soul was divided into 600 thousand souls. The reason is that having been born and having learned the purpose of his creation - to receive all the pleasure prepared for him for the sake of the Creator, Adam immediately desired to do this. But having begun to receive this pleasure, he suddenly felt that he was unable to resist, and began to enjoy himself, not for the sake of the Creator, but from receiving pleasure - light for himself.

Due to the use of the light, Hochma for oneself (since there was still no screen for this light) fell from its spiritual level, and all of its nine Sefirot, except Keter, fell into the Klipot. After the Fall, Adam and the six Sefirot Yetzira and the ten Sefirot Assiya descended to the place where the Mador Klipot had previously been.

In Christianity

It is argued that the Fall changed the very nature of man: “ Natural and immaculate passions entered human life as a result of condemnation due to a crime, such as hunger, thirst, fatigue, tears, decay, evasion of death, fear, death throes, which is inherent in all people by nature».

People expelled from paradise lost the ability to live forever (from now on they were denied access to the Tree of Life) and found themselves involved in the struggle between good and evil. Evil, personified in the form of the Serpent (Satan), prompted man to violate the will of God:

From now on, sinfulness hinders human freedom in resolving ethical issues of good and evil. The Creator returns freedom to man through grace.

In Islam

Philosophy

Arts and culture

See also

Write a review of the article "The Fall"

Literature

• Vasiliev P. P.// Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron: in 86 volumes (82 volumes and 4 additional). - St. Petersburg. , 1890-1907.
• Alexander Men,
• Osipov A. I.
• Osipov A.I. “Afterlife.” - M.: Publishing house "Dar", M: 2007
• "The Law of God" Guide for family and school. Comp. prot. Seraphim Slobodskaya. Second ed. Printing house Rev. Job of Pochaevsky Holy Trinity Monastery, Jordanville, NY, USA, 1967
• prof., candidate of biological sciences, architect. Vladivostok and Primorsky Veniamin (Pushkar) “Sacred Biblical History”, Part I. Old Testament. Part II. New Testament. - St. Petersburg, 2003. - 472 p.
• "Notes on the Sacred Biblical history New Testament", MDA, Sector distance learning, Tutorial for 1st grade students, Sergiev Posad, 2005

Notes

1. Life . See also Midrash Rabbah 21:6.
2. Mishnah, Sotah 10b. Other midrashim and targums identify Samael with the angel of death (Targum Jonathan to Gen.) and Satan and the evil spirit (Talmud, Bava Batra 15A)
3. “When the Holy God created His world, there was no angel of death in it yet... But when Adam and Eve fell into sin, the entire human race was corrupted. When Perez appeared, history began to be realized through him, for from him the Messiah was to come, and in his days the Holy God decreed that “death will be swallowed up forever,” as it is written (Isa.)” MESSIAH in Old Testament in the light of rabbinic writings. Risto Santala. St. Petersburg, 1995. pp. 30-31
4. 1. Book of Zohar. 2. “Fundamentals of Kabbalah.” Part “Scheme of the Universe”. Chapter “The Rise and Fall of Worlds.”
5. John of Damascus. Exact statement Orthodox faith. St. Petersburg, 1994. Ch. XX. P. 185
6. Sergei Bulgakov.
7. Metropolitan John (Zizioulas). “Existence as communication. Essays on personality and the Church", Moscow 2006, p. 99.
8. Archimandrite Alipiy.
9. Nikolay Berdyaev.
10. N. Berdyaev. “On the purpose of man,” ch. 2. The origin of good and evil.
11. Vysheslavtsev B.P. "Magazine "Put" No. 34 July 1932, pp. 3-18.

Passage describing the Fall

Bogucharovo was always, before Prince Andrei settled there, an estate behind the eyes, and the Bogucharovo men had a completely different character from the Lysogorsk men. They differed from them in their speech, clothing, and morals. They were called steppe. The old prince praised them for their tolerance at work when they came to help with cleaning in the Bald Mountains or digging ponds and ditches, but did not like them for their savagery.
Prince Andrei's last stay in Bogucharovo, with its innovations - hospitals, schools and ease of rent - did not soften their morals, but, on the contrary, strengthened in them those character traits that the old prince called savagery. Some vague rumors always circulated between them, either about the enumeration of all of them as Cossacks, then about the new faith to which they would be converted, then about some royal sheets, then about the oath to Pavel Petrovich in 1797 (about which they said that back then the will came out, but the gentlemen took it away), then about Peter Feodorovich, who will reign in seven years, under whom everything will be free and it will be so simple that nothing will happen. Rumors about the war in Bonaparte and his invasion were combined for them with the same unclear ideas about the Antichrist, the end of the world and pure will.
In the vicinity of Bogucharovo there were more and more large villages, state-owned and quitrent landowners. There were very few landowners living in this area; There were also very few servants and literate people, and in the life of the peasants of this area, those mysterious currents of Russian folk life, the causes and significance of which are inexplicable to contemporaries, were more noticeable and stronger than in others. One of these phenomena was the movement that appeared about twenty years ago between the peasants of this area to move to some warm rivers. Hundreds of peasants, including those from Bogucharov, suddenly began to sell their livestock and leave with their families somewhere to southeast. Like birds flying somewhere across the seas, these people with their wives and children strove to the southeast, where none of them had been. They went up in caravans, bathed one by one, ran, and rode, and went there, to the warm rivers. Many were punished, exiled to Siberia, many died of cold and hunger along the way, many returned on their own, and the movement died down by itself just as it had begun without an obvious reason. But the underwater currents did not stop flowing in this people and were gathering for some new force, which was about to manifest itself just as strangely, unexpectedly and at the same time simply, naturally and strongly. Now, in 1812, for a person who lived close to the people, it was noticeable that these underwater jets produced strong work and were close to manifestation.
Alpatych, having arrived in Bogucharovo some time before the death of the old prince, noticed that there was unrest among the people and that, contrary to what was happening in the Bald Mountains strip on a sixty-verst radius, where all the peasants left (letting the Cossacks ruin their villages), in the steppe strip , in Bogucharovskaya, the peasants, as was heard, had relations with the French, received some papers that passed between them, and remained in place. He knew through the servants loyal to him that the other day the peasant Karp, who had great influence to peace, returned with the news that the Cossacks were destroying the villages from which the inhabitants were leaving, but that the French were not touching them. He knew that yesterday another man had even brought from the village of Visloukhova - where the French were stationed - a paper from the French general, in which the residents were told that no harm would be done to them and that they would pay for everything that was taken from them if they stayed. To prove this, the man brought from Visloukhov one hundred rubles in banknotes (he did not know that they were counterfeit), given to him in advance for the hay.
Finally, and most importantly, Alpatych knew that on the very day he ordered the headman to collect carts to take the princess’s train from Bogucharovo, there was a meeting in the village in the morning, at which it was supposed not to be taken out and to wait. Meanwhile, time was running out. The leader, on the day of the prince’s death, August 15, insisted to Princess Marya that she leave on the same day, as it was becoming dangerous. He said that after the 16th he is not responsible for anything. On the day of the prince’s death, he left in the evening, but promised to come to the funeral the next day. But the next day he could not come, since, according to the news he himself received, the French had unexpectedly moved, and he only managed to take his family and everything valuable from his estate.
For about thirty years Bogucharov was ruled by the elder Dron, whom the old prince called Dronushka.
Dron was one of those physically and morally strong men who, as soon as they get old, grow a beard, and so, without changing, live up to sixty or seventy years, without a single gray hair or missing tooth, just as straight and strong at sixty years old , just like at thirty.
Dron, soon after moving to the warm rivers, in which he participated, like others, was made head mayor in Bogucharovo and since then he has served in this position impeccably for twenty-three years. The men were more afraid of him than the master. The gentlemen, the old prince, the young prince, and the manager, respected him and jokingly called him minister. Throughout his service, Dron was never drunk or sick; never, neither after sleepless nights, nor after any kind of work, did he show the slightest fatigue and, not knowing how to read and write, never forgot a single account of money and pounds of flour for the huge carts that he sold, and not a single shock of snakes for bread on every tithe of Bogucharovo fields.
This Drona Alpatych, who came from the devastated Bald Mountains, called to him on the day of the prince’s funeral and ordered him to prepare twelve horses for the princess’s carriages and eighteen carts for the convoy, which was to be raised from Bogucharovo. Although the men were given quitrents, the execution of this order could not encounter difficulties, according to Alpatych, since in Bogucharovo there were two hundred and thirty taxes and the men were wealthy. But Headman Dron, having listened to the order, silently lowered his eyes. Alpatych named him the men whom he knew and from whom he ordered the carts to be taken.
Dron replied that these men had horses as carriers. Alpatych named other men, and those horses did not have, according to Dron, some were under government carts, others were powerless, and others had horses that died from lack of food. Horses, according to Dron, could not be collected not only for the convoy, but also for the carriages.
Alpatych looked carefully at Dron and frowned. Just as Dron was an exemplary peasant headman, it was not for nothing that Alpatych managed the prince’s estates for twenty years and was an exemplary manager. He's in highest degree He was able to understand by instinct the needs and instincts of the people with whom he dealt, and therefore he was an excellent manager. Looking at Dron, he immediately realized that Dron’s answers were not an expression of Dron’s thoughts, but an expression of the general mood of the Bogucharov world, which the headman was already captured by. But at the same time, he knew that Dron, who had profited and was hated by the world, had to oscillate between two camps - the master's and the peasant's. He noticed this hesitation in his gaze, and therefore Alpatych, frowning, moved closer to Dron.
- You, Dronushka, listen! - he said. - Don't tell me nothing. His Excellency Prince Andrei Nikolaich themselves ordered me to send all the people and not stay with the enemy, and there is a royal order for this. And whoever remains is a traitor to the king. Do you hear?
“I’m listening,” Dron answered without raising his eyes.
Alpatych was not satisfied with this answer.
- Hey, Drone, this will be bad! - Alpatych said, shaking his head.
- The power is yours! - Dron said sadly.
- Hey, Drone, leave it! - Alpatych repeated, taking his hand out of his bosom and with a solemn gesture pointing it to the floor at Dron’s feet. “It’s not that I can see right through you, I can see right through everything three arshins below you,” he said, peering at the floor at Dron’s feet.
The drone became embarrassed, glanced briefly at Alpatych and lowered his eyes again.
“You leave the nonsense and tell the people to get ready to leave their houses for Moscow and prepare carts tomorrow morning for the princesses’ train, but don’t go to the meeting yourself.” Do you hear?
The drone suddenly fell at his feet.
- Yakov Alpatych, fire me! Take the keys from me, dismiss me for Christ's sake.
- Leave it! - Alpatych said sternly. “I can see three arshins right under you,” he repeated, knowing that his skill in following bees, his knowledge of when to sow oats, and the fact that for twenty years he knew how to please the old prince had long ago gained him the reputation of a sorcerer and that his ability to see three arshins under a person is attributed to sorcerers.
The drone stood up and wanted to say something, but Alpatych interrupted him:
- What did you think of this? Eh?.. What do you think? A?
– What should I do with the people? - said Dron. - It completely exploded. That's what I tell them...
“That’s what I’m saying,” said Alpatych. - Do they drink? – he asked briefly.
– Yakov Alpatych got all worked up: another barrel was brought.
- So listen. I’ll go to the police officer, and you tell the people, so that they give up this, and so that there are carts.
“I’m listening,” answered Dron.
Yakov Alpatych did not insist any more. He had ruled the people for a long time and knew that the main way to get people to obey was to not show them any doubt that they might disobey. Having obtained the obedient “I listen with” from Dron, Yakov Alpatych was satisfied with this, although he not only doubted, but was almost sure that the carts would be without help. military team will not be delivered.
And indeed, by evening the carts were not assembled. In the village at the tavern there was again a meeting, and at the meeting it was necessary to drive the horses into the forest and not give out the carts. Without saying anything about this to the princess, Alpatych ordered his own luggage to be packed from those who had come from Bald Mountains and to prepare these horses for the princess’s carriages, and he himself went to the authorities.

X
After her father's funeral, Princess Marya locked herself in her room and did not let anyone in. A girl came to the door to say that Alpatych had come to ask for orders to leave. (This was even before Alpatych’s conversation with Dron.) Princess Marya rose from the sofa on which she was lying and said through the closed door that she would never go anywhere and asked to be left alone.
The windows of the room in which Princess Marya lay were facing west. She lay on the sofa facing the wall and, fingering the buttons on the leather pillow, saw only this pillow, and her vague thoughts were focused on one thing: she was thinking about the irreversibility of death and about that spiritual abomination of hers, which she had not known until now and which showed up during her father’s illness. She wanted, but did not dare to pray, did not dare, in the state of mind in which she was, to turn to God. She lay in this position for a long time.
The sun set on the other side of the house and slanting evening rays through the open windows illuminated the room and part of the morocco pillow that Princess Marya was looking at. Her train of thought suddenly stopped. She unconsciously stood up, straightened her hair, stood up and went to the window, involuntarily inhaling the coolness of a clear but windy evening.
“Yes, now it’s convenient for you to admire in the evening! He’s already gone, and no one will bother you,” she said to herself, and, sinking into a chair, she fell head first on the windowsill.
Someone called her in a gentle and quiet voice from the side of the garden and kissed her on the head. She looked back. It was M lle Bourienne, in a black dress and pleres. She quietly approached Princess Marya, kissed her with a sigh and immediately began to cry. Princess Marya looked back at her. All previous clashes with her, jealousy towards her, were remembered by Princess Marya; I also remembered how he lately changed to m lle Bourienne, could not see her, and, therefore, how unfair were the reproaches that Princess Marya made to her in her soul. “And should I, who wanted his death, condemn anyone? - she thought.
Princess Marya vividly imagined the position of m lle Bourienne, who had recently been distant from her society, but at the same time dependent on her and living in someone else’s house. And she felt sorry for her. She looked at her meekly questioningly and extended her hand. M lle Bourienne immediately began to cry, began to kiss her hand and talk about the grief that befell the princess, making herself a participant in this grief. She said that the only consolation in her grief was that the princess allowed her to share it with her. She said that all former misunderstandings should be destroyed before great grief, that she felt pure in front of everyone and that from there he could see her love and gratitude. The princess listened to her, not understanding her words, but occasionally looking at her and listening to the sounds of her voice.

There is silence in paradise,
Smells like roses, leftover...
Eve came to the garden alone,
Enjoying peace...

The birds drink the dew from the bush,
The fish beats its tail in the dam,
Eve is dozing, on her lips
A sleepy smile wanders...

Suddenly the singing of the birds fell silent,
Eva hears a strange rustling...
The dream fled from her eyelashes,
My mind has become clouded...

He sees: A snake crawls in the grass,
Moves its sting lazily...
A thought flashed through my head:
“It’s a pity I didn’t run away earlier...”

The snake crawled up the tree
And curled up in the warmth...
The snake was slippery, too thick,
A tenacious gaze froze on Eve...

“What breasts! What a person to become! -
The Serpent hissed, “Eve!” Diva!
You can become a queen...
You are so good, simply amazing!

To know good and evil,
To taste love and anger,
May you be lucky in life
Eat the forbidden fruit, Eve!

Eva is scared, but wonderful"
What the creeping Serpent said,
God forbids them
This fruit is fragrant to eat...

Only Eve wants to know
What kind of fruit is this on the tree?
Why can't you tear them?
Curious for the brave maiden...

Overcoming trepidation, fear,
Eva extended her hand,
She picked it from the bush
Forbidden fruit... Torment everyone...

She ate the fruit herself
She treated Adam to them,
And, very pleased,
I didn't notice all the drama...

The shining light has faded,
It became cold and gloomy...
God is angry and cast down
From heaven, depriving them of luck...

The dispute goes on from century to century,
Like a battle, holy and mortal:
Happy man would be
Without tasting the forbidden fruit?

02/19/2016

Reviews

The Serpent - he is the Serpent, in whatever guise he may be...))
The Bible does not say that the Serpent was a man, it says:
“The serpent was more cunning than all the beasts of the field that the Lord God had made.”
And only Eve and God know what he looked like before...
With a smile.

Love, in the Bible the Serpent spoke with a human voice.
Actually, I have been an atheist since Soviet times. Although I know the contents of this book firsthand. It is in my home library.

At that time there were only two people: Adam and Eve...
“And God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.” And the devil hides in the image of the wise Serpent.
I also have a Bible at home. But I'm not an expert on it.

The daily audience of the portal Stikhi.ru is about 200 thousand visitors, who in total view more than two million pages according to the traffic counter, which is located to the right of this text. Each column contains two numbers: the number of views and the number of visitors.

Adam and Eve- the first people created by God on earth.

The name Adam means man, son of the Earth. The name Adam is often identified with the word man. The expression “sons of Adam” means “sons of men.” The name Eve is the giver of life. Adam and Eve are the progenitors of the human race.

A description of the life of Adam and Eve can be read in the first book of the Bible - in chapters 2 - 4 (audio recordings are also available on the pages).

Creation of Adam and Eve.

Adam and Eve were created by God in His likeness on the sixth day of creation. Adam was created "from the dust of the ground." God gave him a soul. According to the Jewish calendar, Adam was created in 3760 BC. e.

God settled Adam in the Garden of Eden and allowed him to eat fruit from any tree except the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Adam had to cultivate and maintain the Garden of Eden, and also give names to all the animals and birds created by God. Eve was created as Adam's helper.

The creation of Eve from Adam's rib emphasizes the idea of ​​the duality of man. The text of Genesis emphasizes that “it is not good for man to be alone.” The creation of a wife is one of God’s main plans - to ensure a person’s life in love, for “God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him.”

The first man is the crown of the world created by God. He has royal dignity and is the ruler of the newly created world.

Where was the Garden of Eden?

We are already accustomed to the appearance of sensational reports that the place where the Garden of Eden was located has been found. Of course, the location of each “discovery” is different from the previous one. The Bible describes the area around the garden, and even uses recognizable place names, such as Ethiopia, and the names of four rivers, including the Tigris and Euphrates. This led many, including Bible scholars, to conclude that the Garden of Eden was located somewhere in the Middle East region known today as the Tigris-Euphrates River Valley.

Today, there are several versions of the location of the Garden of Eden, none of which has solid evidence.

Temptation.

It is unknown how long Adam and Eve lived in the Garden of Eden (according to the Book of Jubilees, Adam and Eve lived in the Garden of Eden for 7 years) and were in a state of purity and innocence.

The serpent, who “was more cunning than all the beasts of the field that the Lord God had created,” used tricks and cunning to convince Eve to try the fruit of the forbidden Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Eve refuses, citing God, who forbade them to eat from this tree and promised death to anyone who tasted this fruit. The serpent tempts Eve, promising that, having tasted the fruit, people will not die, but will become Gods who know Good and Evil. It is known that Eve could not stand the temptation and committed the first sin.

Why does the snake act as a symbol of evil?

The serpent is an important image in ancient pagan religions. Because snakes shed their skin, they were often symbolized with rebirth, including nature's cycles of life and death. Therefore, the image of a snake was used in fertility rituals, especially those associated with seasonal cycles.

For the Jewish people, the snake was a symbol of polytheism and paganism, the natural enemy of Yahweh and monotheism.

Why did Sinless Eve allow herself to be deceived by the serpent?

Comparison, albeit indirect, between man and God led to the emergence of anti-God sentiments and curiosity in the soul of Eve. It is precisely these sentiments that push Eve to intentionally violate God’s commandment.

The co-cause of the Fall of Adam and Eve was their free will. Violation of God's commandment was only suggested to Adam and Eve, but not imposed. Both husband and wife participated in their fall of their own free will, for outside of free will there is no sin and no evil. The devil only incites sin, but does not force it.

The story of the Fall.

Adam and Eve, unable to withstand the temptation to which they were exposed by the devil (Snake), committed the first sin. Adam, carried away by his wife, violated the commandment of God and ate from the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Thus Adam and Eve incurred the wrath of the Creator. The first sign of sin was a constant feeling of shame and futile attempts to hide from God. Called by the Creator, they laid the blame: Adam - on the wife, and the wife - on the serpent.

The fall of Adam and Eve is fateful for all humanity. By the fall, the Theanthropic order of life was broken and the devil-human order was adopted; people wanted to become Gods, bypassing God. By the Fall, Adam and Eve introduced themselves into sin and sin into themselves and all their descendants.

Original sin– a person’s rejection of the goal of life determined by God - becoming like God. Original sin contains in germ all the future sins of mankind. IN original sin contains the essence of all sin - its beginning and nature.

The consequences of the sin of Adam and Eve affected all of humanity, which inherited from them human nature corrupted by sin.

Expulsion from paradise.

God expelled Adam and Eve from paradise so that they would cultivate the earth from which Adam was created and eat the fruits of their labors. Before the exile, God made clothes for people so that they could cover their shame. God placed a Cherub with a flaming sword in the east of the Garden of Eden to guard the path to the tree of life. It is sometimes believed that the cherub armed with a sword was the Archangel Michael, the guardian at the gates to heaven. According to the second version, it was the Archangel Uriel.

Two punishments awaited Eve and all her daughters after the Fall. First, God increased Eve's pain in childbirth. Second, God said that the relationship between a man and a woman will always be characterized by conflict (Genesis 3:15 - 3:16). These punishments happen again and again in the lives of every woman throughout history. Regardless of all our medical advances, childbirth is always a painful and stressful experience for a woman. And no matter how advanced and progressive our society is, in the relationship between a man and a woman there can be seen the struggle for power and the struggle of the sexes, full of discord.

Children of Adam and Eve.

It is known for certain that Adam and Eve had 3 sons and an unknown number of daughters. The names of the daughters of the forefathers are not recorded in the Bible, since, according to ancient tradition, the family was traced through the male line.

The fact that Adam and Eve had daughters is evidenced by the text of the Bible:

The days of Adam after he begat Seth were eight hundred years, and he begat sons and daughters.

The first sons of Adam and Eve were. Cain, out of envy, kills Abel, for which he was expelled and settled separately with his wife. From the Bible it is known about six generations of the Tribe of Cain; further information is not traced; it is believed that the descendants of Cain died during the Great Flood.

He was the third son of Adam and Eve. Noah was a descendant of Seth.

According to the Bible, Adam lived 930 years. According to Jewish legend, Adam rests in Judea, next to the patriarchs; according to Christian legend, on Golgotha.

The fate of Eve is unknown, however, in the apocryphal “Life of Adam and Eve” it is said that Eve dies 6 days after the death of Adam, having bequeathed to her children to carve the life history of the first people in stone.

On the other hand, several places in the New Testament clearly indicate the reality of these two first men. Thus, in two books of the New Testament, in the Epistle to the Romans and in the First Epistle to the Corinthians, where St. The Apostle Paul speaks of the connection between human sinfulness and Adam; it is quite difficult to understand the word “Adam” as just a general term (Rom. 5: 12–14; 1 Cor. 15: 47). Moreover, in the Epistle to the Romans, St. Paul speaks even more specifically several times about the sin of “one man.”

“The serpent was more cunning than all the beasts of the field that the Lord God created. And the serpent said to the woman: Did God truly say: You shall not eat from any tree in the garden?

And the woman said to the serpent: We can eat fruit from the trees,

Only from the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God said, do not eat it or touch it, lest you die.

And the serpent said to the woman: No, you will not die;

But God knows that on the day you eat of them, your eyes will be opened, and you will be like gods, knowing good and evil” (Genesis 3: 1–5).

So, the cause of the Fall of man was the Serpent. But, while placing the responsibility for such a monumental event on the Serpent, the Bible nevertheless pays relatively little attention to this creature. Therefore, the nature of the Serpent remains quite mysterious. Although some features of this creation can still be established through logical reflection, as well as based on the interpretations of the Holy Fathers.

Yes, in a row external signs, for example, by its name, by its belonging to the animal world, also by the fact that it is punished by God by crawling on the ground - the Serpent, of course, is depicted in the Bible as an ordinary representative of reptiles. However, many of its other features, for example, such as the ability to speak, awareness of the prohibition of eating the fruit of the tree of knowledge, incredible cunning and cunning, indicate that the Serpent is an intelligent creature. Moreover, he is most likely a being of a higher order.

The words from the “Revelation” of St. are very important for understanding the essence of the Serpent. John the Theologian: “And the great dragon was cast out, that ancient serpent, called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world, he was cast out to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him” (Rev. 12:9). Most likely, this “ancient serpent” persuaded Eve to taste the forbidden fruit. And since, before being on earth, the Serpent lived in heaven, he is a spiritual being.

The Fall. Capital of a Catalan monastery. End of the 12th century

Therefore, probably, the Snake should be represented as a creature in which all of its features mentioned above are combined into a single whole. Saint John Chrysostom says the following about this unity: “Always following Scripture, one must reason in such a way that the words belonged to the devil, who was excited by his envy for this deception, and used this animal as a convenient tool so that, covering his deception with bait, to seduce first the wife, who, as always, is more capable of seduction, and then through her the first-created One” (I. Chrysostom. Conversations on the book of Genesis. Conversation 16).

If you carefully read the third chapter of Genesis, you will notice that if you strictly follow the categories of modern zoological science, then the Serpent described in the Bible before the temptation of Eve does not have clear signs of a reptile and is classified in this class of animals solely in accordance with its name. Moreover, according to the “classification” of Genesis, the tempting Serpent belongs to the “beasts of the field”: “The serpent was more cunning than all the beasts of the field that the Lord God created” (Gen. 3: 1); “Cursed are you above all livestock and... all wild beasts” (Gen. 3:14).

Indeed, if the Serpent is a reptile, then on what basis is it twice mentioned specifically with cattle and beasts, and besides, it is cursed before them?

Continuing to study the text of Shestodnev, we are again convinced that initially the Serpent had a different structure, not characteristic of snakes, and only at the command of God acquired characteristics characteristic of reptiles external features. “And the Lord God said to the serpent, Because you have done this, you are cursed above all cattle and above all the beasts of the field; on your belly you will go, and you will eat dust all the days of your life” (Gen. 3:14).

Thus, all the above passages from Genesis regarding the Serpent make it very clear that he was originally closely related to “beasts and cattle.” It is quite difficult to imagine that the prophet Moses could confuse the “beast of the field” with a reptile. And St. John Chrysostom also says that the Serpent was originally a “beast,” and only after God cursed him did he become a reptile.

But what exactly was this animal? – it’s impossible to know. This is another secret of Shestodnev.

An equally curious question is: why did the Serpent deceive man? What motives prompted him to deprive man of the benefits that God provided him in the Garden of Eden? The Bible says nothing about this. Although, most likely, the Snake had reasons.

What are they? – it’s hard to say. After all, at first glance, he did not receive any benefit from his deception. On the contrary, this insidious act cost the Snake many losses. And above all, he was cursed by God.

Based on the above, it is difficult to believe that the most cunning creature on earth changed the whole future life the human race without any benefit for themselves. Most likely, having provoked God’s expulsion of Adam and Eve from Paradise, the Serpent subsequently took advantage of the very benefits that man had lost at his instigation. Why, for example, not assume that, having persuaded the first people to try the fruit from the tree of knowledge, he himself tasted the fruit from the tree of life and, thus, gained immortality. Some Bible interpreters suggest that it was not God himself who warned Adam and Eve not to eat the fruits of the tree of good and evil, but sent the Serpent with this warning. The serpent perverted the words of the Most High, saying that Eve, on the contrary, should eat the fruits of the tree of knowledge. The stupid woman did just that: not only did she taste the fatal fruit, but she also persuaded her husband to do it...

But, in addition to the motives that pushed the Snake to deceive, there are other questions regarding this insidious creature. For example, how did he end up in Paradise? Or why did God allow the Serpent to seduce Eve?

As for the first question, answering it will not be very difficult if we remember that the Serpent, according to the classification of Genesis, belongs to the beasts of the field. And, as you know, only animals and birds were allowed into Paradise. And, like all these animals, the Serpent received its name in Paradise. On this occasion St. Ephraim the Syrian writes: “The Creator... allowed the slave to name the animals, so that he would remember... that he himself gave the name to the serpent.” Perhaps, as the most “intelligent” of all the creatures that lived in Eden, he was the first to be given a name?

The second question is also not difficult to answer. The fact is that God, having created man, gave him the right to choose one path or another. Therefore, he could not prevent Eve from picking fruit from the tree of knowledge. And she, succumbing to the persuasion of the Serpent-tempter, violated the Creator’s prohibition.

The story of the Fall of Adam and Eve, told in chapter 3 of the book of Genesis, at first glance is quite simple.

Having created man and settled him in Paradise, “...the Lord God commanded man, saying, You will eat from every tree in the garden; But from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat; for in the day that you eat of it, you will die” (Genesis 2: 16–17).

But the Serpent persuaded Eve to break God’s prohibition. And she “...took of its fruit and ate; and she gave it also to her husband, and he ate. And the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked, and they sewed together fig leaves and made aprons for themselves” (Genesis 3: 6-7).

“The external eye,” according to the thoughtful remark of the Greek theologian Origen, “opened after the spiritual was closed.”

“The serpent was more cunning than all the beasts of the field that the Lord God created. And the serpent said to the woman: Did God truly say: You shall not eat from any tree in the garden? And the woman said to the serpent: We can eat fruit from the trees, only from the fruit of the tree that is in the middle of the garden, God said, do not eat them or touch them, lest you die. And the serpent said to the woman: No, you will not die, but God knows that on the day that you eat of them, your eyes will be opened, and you will be like gods, knowing good and evil. And the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes and desirable because it gave knowledge; and she took of its fruit and ate; And she gave it also to her husband, and he ate” (Genesis 3:1-6).

The mysterious figure of the seducing serpent has long aroused the unflagging interest of Bible readers. Who is he? Where did it come from? What is its nature? Let's try to figure it out.

First of all, Holy Scripture says that he is “the beast of the field.” The original uses the phrase חַיַּת הַשָּׂדֶה (hayyat hassadeh), which appears twice before in the book of Genesis:

“The Lord God formed out of the ground every animal of the field and every bird of the air, and brought it to man to see what he would call them, and that whatever man called every living creature, that was its name. And man called the names of all the livestock and to the birds of the air and to all the beasts of the field; but man was not found to have a helper like him” (Genesis 2:19,20).

In these two verses, the phrase under study is translated as “beasts of the field” and “beasts of the field”, describing the ordinary representatives of the fauna created by God. The snake being studied is therefore a representative of the animal world. As such, it shares all the characteristics of animals.

The first of them is subjection to man:

“And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness, and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that moves on the earth. And God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female he created them. And God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves on the earth” (Genesis 1:26-28).

This means that the serpent, as the “beast of the field,” did not have the power to manipulate a person, provoke him, rise above him, etc.

Another important characteristic of animals according to the Bible is dumbness:

“They are like dumb animals, led by nature, born to be caught and destroyed, speaking evil of what they do not understand, and through their corruption they will be destroyed” (2 Peter 2:12). “But these slander what they do not know; What they know by nature, like dumb animals, they corrupt themselves” (Epistle of Jude 1:10).

This important circumstance is indirectly demonstrated in chapter 3 of the book of Genesis, which describes the Fall. After our ancestors ate from forbidden fruit, a conversation between the Creator and creation took place (Genesis 3:8-15). In this conversation, God asks a question to Adam, he answers, to Eve, she answers, but there is no dialogue between the Almighty and the serpent - the serpent is wordless!!! Speech is evidence of intelligence; it is a unique ability of man, who is created in the image of God. Animals do not have this ability.

If this is so, who then owned the words that became disastrous for the first people on Earth? To answer this question, we will look at the word “serpent”, which is used in the original to describe this “beast of the field.”

In the original Tanakh there are four different words, which are translated in the Synodal Bible as “snake”. Here they are:

תַנִּין (tannin) - “And the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying: If Pharaoh says to you: perform a miracle, then you say to Aaron: Take your rod and throw it before Pharaoh; it will become a serpent. Moses and Aaron came to Pharaoh and did as the Lord commanded. And Aaron cast down his rod before Pharaoh and before his servants, and it became a serpent. And Pharaoh called for wise men and sorcerers; and these magicians of Egypt did the same with their spells: each of them cast down his rod, and they became serpents, but Aaron's rod swallowed up their rods" (Exodus 7:8-12)

נָּחָשׁ (nachash) – “And the Lord sent poisonous serpents among the people, which bit the people, and a great multitude of the children of Israel died” (Numbers 21:6).

פטן (peten) - “He sucks snake venom; The tongue of the viper will kill him” (Job 20:16).

צֶפַע (tsefa) - “And the child will play in the asp’s hole, and the child will stretch out his hand into the viper’s nest” (Isaiah 11:8).

Thus, Moses had a choice in terminology when writing the Torah—Hebrew has more than one word for snake. What word did Moses choose? Genesis 3 uses the term נָּחָשׁ (nahash), and this is extremely important. The fact is that the word “nashah” in the Bible is directly connected with Satan and demons. Let us give as an example several passages where the word we are studying is used. It translates like this:

“Guessing” - “Isn’t this the cup from which my master drinks and he tells fortunes with it? This is a bad thing you have done” (Genesis 44:5).

“Fortune” - “Do not eat with blood; do not use divination or divination” (Leviticus 19:26).

“Magic” – “There is no magic in Jacob and no divination in Israel. In due time they will say about Jacob and about Israel: this is what God is doing!” (Numbers 23:23)

“Sorcery” - “Balaam saw that the Lord was pleased to bless Israel, and did not go, as before, to perform sorcery, but turned his face to the wilderness” (Num. 24:1).

All these actions describe the spiritual realm. Those who perform fortune telling, divination, sorcery, and sorcery are by their nature intermediaries between the material and spiritual world, and the magical acts they perform are channels of communication with Satan and demons. This connection will be discussed in more detail in the chapter “Occult Sources of Curses,” but it is already obvious that the meaning of the term “nachash” goes beyond the definition of a simple snake.

Since everyone who practices witchcraft is essentially an intermediary between the spiritual and the material, to designate them in modern literature The word "medium" is often used. The word “mediator” itself means “one in the middle”, “medium”, “from the Latin medium - middle, something in between, intermediate, mediating, in spiritualism - an intermediary between the world of “spirits” and people, through whom “messages” are transmitted in a state of trance.” dead" (Illustrated Encyclopedic Dictionary).

The word “nachash”, thus, has a dual nature - it can mean both a creeping creature and a medium performing occult actions, which, by definition, are the sphere of Satan and demons. Under divine inspiration, Moses chose a term that perfectly reveals the nature of the Fall on earth. The serpent, an ordinary creature, became a medium, an intermediary, a channel for the action of Satan. This is who actually owned the words that Eve heard from the serpent’s mouth! Satan used the dumb animal to carry out his dirty work unnoticed and disguised.

For those who have access to the original Tanakh, let us remind you that in the 6-8 centuries AD, vowels were introduced into the text of the Holy Scriptures in Hebrew to help the reader. Initially, the text of the Prophetic Scriptures contained only consonant letters. Torah scrolls used during services in synagogues do not contain vowels. In them, the spelling of the words “snake” and “fortune telling, bewitching, magic, sorcery” is identical!

Vitaly Oliynik,

Torah Study Center,