The idea of a "talking snake" in the garden of Eden story, has been a point of contention for non believers, (and perhaps even some believers as well.)
However, what is not commonly known, is that the adversary of God was not actually a talking snake.
In the following Biblical verses for example, the adversary of God is not described as a serpentine creature, but rather, as one of the individuals who was at times in the company of the Lord God himself:
And he proceeded to show me Joshua the high priest standing
before the angel of God, and Satan standing at his right hand in
order to resist him.
—Zecheria 3.1
Here we are told that Satan stood, not slithered, amongst the assembly of God, as opposed to crawling on its belly in the wilderness or in the depths of Hell. This same situation appears again in the following Biblical passage:
.
Again it came to pass when the sons of God came to present
themselves before Yahweh, that Satan came also among them to
present himself before the Lord.
—Job 2.1
In the ancient world, the serpent was the symbol of wisdom. In fact, this is how it is even refered to in the Biblical version as well.
Be ye wise as serpents.
—Jesus,
Matthew 10.16
The image of the serpent was not only used to convey a sly mind, but it was intended to convey a dangerous image as well. What right-wing old world conservative Judeo-Christians are not taking into account, is that the initial passages in the Book of Genesis were symbolic. For instance, God did not literally create the world in 7 days. But rather, each day was intended to represent stages that world went through.
The author of Genesis was not there during the formation of the universe, nor was he there during the creation of humankind; and therefore used symbolic language instead. Likewise, the image of the snake is symbolic as well.
