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Genesis 3

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1 Now the serpent was more subtle than any animal of the field which Yahweh God had made. He said to the woman, "Has God really said, 'You shall not eat of any tree of the garden?'"

2 The woman said to the serpent, "Of the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat,

3 but of the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, 'You shall not eat of it, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.'"

4 The serpent said to the woman, "You won't surely die,

5 for God knows that in the day you eat it, your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil."

6 When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit, and ate; and she gave some to her husband with her, and he ate.

7 The eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked. They sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons.

8 They heard the voice of Yahweh God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of Yahweh God among the trees of the garden.

9 Yahweh God called to the man, and said to him, "Where are you?"

10 The man said, "I heard your voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself."

11 God said, "Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?"

12 The man said, "The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate."

13 Yahweh God said to the woman, "What is this you have done?" The woman said, "The serpent deceived me, and I ate."

14 Yahweh God said to the serpent, "Because you have done this, you are cursed above all livestock, and above every animal of the field. On your belly you shall go, and you shall eat dust all the days of your life.

15 I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring. He will bruise your head, and you will bruise his heel."

16 To the woman he said, "I will greatly multiply your pain in childbirth. In pain you will bring forth children. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you."

17 To Adam he said, "Because you have listened to your wife's voice, and have eaten of the tree, of which I commanded you, saying, 'You shall not eat of it,' cursed is the ground for your sake. In toil you will eat of it all the days of your life.

18 Thorns also and thistles will it bring forth to you; and you will eat the herb of the field.

19 By the sweat of your face will you eat bread until you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken. For you are dust, and to dust you shall return."

20 The man called his wife Eve, because she was the mother of all living.

21 Yahweh God made coats of skins for Adam and for his wife, and clothed them.

22 Yahweh God said, "Behold, the man has become like one of us, knowing good and evil. Now, lest he put forth his hand, and also take of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever..."

23 Therefore Yahweh God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from which he was taken.

24 So he drove out the man; and he placed Cherubs at the east of the garden of Eden, and the flame of a sword which turned every way, to guard the way to the tree of life.

   

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Apocalypse Revealed #455

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455. [And in their tails,] for their tails were like serpents, having heads, and with them they do harm. This symbolizes the reason, namely, that they are sensual and turned upside down, speaking truths with their mouths, but falsifying them by the premise which forms the chief tenet of their religion, and thus deceiving others.

The symbolism here is similar to that earlier in the case of the locusts (nos. 438, 439), but there we were told that they had tails like scorpions, and here tails like serpents. For the people described by locusts there speak and persuade using the Word, scholarship and learning, whereas the people described here employ arguments that consist only of appearances of truth and fallacies; and people who use these to speak harmoniously and seemingly wisely do indeed deceive others, but not to the same extent.

[2] Serpents in the Word symbolize sensual elements, which are the lowest constituents of a person's life, as described in no. 424 above. The reason is that all animals symbolize human affections. Consequently, in the spiritual world the affections of angels and spirits also look at a distance like animals, and merely sensual affections like serpents. That is because serpents slither along the ground and lick the dust, and sensual matters are the lowest in the intellect and in the will, being most closely connected with the world and being fed by its objects and delights, which affect only the physical senses of the body.

Harmful serpents, of which there are many kinds, symbolize sensual matters dependent on the evil affections that form the interior motivations of the mind in people who, owing to the falsities accompanying evil, are irrational. And harmless serpents symbolize sensual matters dependent on the good affections that form the interior motivations of the mind in people who, owing to the truths accompanying goodness, are wise.

[3] Sensual matters dependent on evil affections are symbolized by serpents in the following passages:

They shall lick the dust like a serpent. (Micah 7:17)

Dust shall be the serpent's food. (Isaiah 65:25)

(The serpent was told:) On your belly you shall go, and you shall eat dust all the days of your life. (Genesis 3:14)

The sensual level in a person is thus described, and because it communicates with hell, where the people are all sensual, it turns heavenly wisdom in spiritual matters into hellish insanity.

Do not rejoice, Philistia...; for out of the serpent's roots will come forth a viper, whose offspring will be a fiery flying serpent. (Isaiah 14:29)

They hatch a viper's eggs...; he who eats of its eggs dies, and when anyone squeezes them, a viper breaks out. (Isaiah 59:5)

Because the children of Israel wished to return to Egypt, they were bitten by serpents (Numbers 21:4-9). To return to Egypt means, symbolically, to go from being spiritual to being sensual. So we read,

(The) mercenaries (of Egypt)...are turned back... Its sound shall go like that of a serpent... (Jeremiah 46:21-22)

[4] Because Dan was the furthest out of the tribes and so symbolized the outmost component of the church, which is the sensual one subject to its interior ones, therefore this is said of it:

Dan shall be a serpent by the way... that will bite the horse's heels so that its rider falls backward. (Genesis 49:17)

A horse's heels symbolize the lowest constituents of the intellect, which are its sensual ones. To bite means, symbolically, to cling to them. The rider symbolizes the ignorance produced by them, by which it perverts truths. We are told, therefore, that the rider will fall backward.

Since sensual people are cunning and crafty like foxes, therefore the Lord says, "Be as wise as serpents" (Matthew 10:16). For a sensual person speaks and reasons on the basis of appearances and fallacies, and if he possesses a talent for arguing, he knows how to skillfully defend every falsity, including as well the heresy of faith alone; and yet he is so dim-sighted at seeing truth that almost no one could be more so.

  
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Many thanks to the General Church of the New Jerusalem, and to Rev. N.B. Rogers, translator, for the permission to use this translation.