Comments on: Serpents & The Fall

By: Scott

Scott — Mon, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

For a recent treatment of serpent imagery in scripture, see the Andrew Skinner article (in .pdf) linked above.

Scott

By: Adam Greenwood

Adam Greenwood — Mon, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

I think that various of the noble and great ones were assigned various species that came under their care (angels for classes of animals just as angels for dispensations). Satan’s, I suppose, was the serpent and totemically he was the Serpent. Then, as an act of redemption, Christ assimilated the serpents to himself.

By: Brent

Brent — Mon, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

I love those more clever students. Only by asking questions do we get answers. Incidentally, I have always considered the command not to make any graven images to be directly connected to the prohibition against bowing down to serve such graven images. I guess the question would be what was the role of the graven serpent and its relationship the people of Israel?

You raise an interesting question about the image of the serpent and its varied appearances in the scriptures.

By: Paul

Paul — Mon, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

I’ve been following your comments with great interest, trying to decide where I stood on the matter. After realizing there was no way I was going to come to a conclusion on my own, I took my search to lds.org. I found a New Era article by Elder Bruce. R. McKonkie, here’s how he introduced the story of Balaam’s ass:

Let me tell you the story of a prophet, in some respects a very great prophet, but one “who loved the wages of unrighteousness,” who “was rebuked for his iniquity” in a most strange and unusual way, and whose actions (which included the uttering of great and true prophecies) were described by another prophet in another day as “madness.”

This is a true story, a dramatic story; one with a great lesson for all members of the Church; one that involves seeing God, receiving revelation, and facing a destroying angel in whose hand was the sword of vengeance. It includes the account of how the Lord delivered a message to the prophet in a way that, as far as we know, has never been duplicated in the entire history of the world.

This puts the matter to rest for me, although please feel free to discuss this as I thoroughly enjoy the new insights.