Genesis 3a: The Serpent

Thanks to scholars Ben Stanhope and John Walton for reviewing this video. John Walton doesn't agree with the main points of this video, but he was still nice enough to review and offer feedback. This video was primarily written by myself and Ben Stanhope. Check out his channel here:

Sources:

Michael Heiser - The Unseen Realm

Tryggve Mettinger in "Dictionary of Deities and Demons in the Bible," Pages 742-744

William Ward - The Four-Winged Serpent on Hebrew Seals

John Walton - The Lost World of Adam and Eve

Tryggve Mettinger - The Eden Narrative

Ben Stanhope - The Reception of the Winged Serpent Motif on Hebrew Seals of the Late Monarchy and the Biblical Seraphim

H. J. Van Dijk - Ezekiel's Prophecy on Tyre: A New Approach

[marstonmaxers]

Something to keep in mind, Moses (the author of Genesis) was Egyptian. Raised as a prince of Egypt, he'd have been educated in all Egyptian beliefs and taught hieroglyphics, etc. The Hebrew people he was writing to, were also Egyptian and had incorporated many of their beliefs into their own and worshiped their gods. They likely would have understood references to Egyptian ideologies and symbolisms. It would make sense that the connection between Genesis iconography and Egyptian culture would be very strong and would have been a common frame of reference when Moses wrote to the Hebrews to explain complicated topics, theologies and beings.

[gleasonparker]

The true teaching of the Bible is very rare these days. God has used technology and the internet and YouTube to bolster his preaching. Anyone can learn from the comfort of their own home or if they're old and rather disabled like me. It is quite a blessing to be able to learn like this even in old age. Thanks so much.

[MPD_dogmom]

Boy was I so confused when I first started the series now I starting to understand and it’s fascinating!!! I’m so excited to finish the Bible.

[matthewford]

This was great! I am a VFX/digital media artist and have Christian projects in the works. I have been researching everything put out by Dr. Heiser and other writers (Gilbert, Peck, Gallops, etc.).
Your presentation and quality of work was spectacular. Keep it up. We need to be able to compete with these big, secular companies' quality of work!
Keep it up!

[carbon]

I hear a lot of people arguing over Satan being a Seraph or a Cherub.

Person 1: Is Satan a Seraph?
Person 2: Is Satan a Cherub?
IP: Yes.

[pedrohernandez]

Awesome! I’ve been teaching this very same thing for about 20 years. It is refreshing to know others have seen this!!! Praise God!😇🙏🏻

[card]

As a child i use to pray a lot and give thanks every night and one night, as i was praying, i mentioned the idea of a divine council in my prayer. It was something profound because i wasnt even sure whay council meant exactly i even asked my brother about it and told him about this divine council

[Iamyinkadavies]

When you kept memtioning Egyptians...i understood....the devil appears as an angel of light, its obvious he appeared to them as seraphim hence, the shiny winged serpent on every pharaoh and every noble and men of renown.
The Egyptians fell hard for it, sorcery, magic, they paid hard for it as well.
May our lives matter before The GOD-HEAD, may our discerning minds and hearts be sharper with the help of The Holy Spirit, mayThey keep us in Their Shekinah now and forevermore, in The name that is above every name, JESUS The CHRIST, our LORD amen.

[jlupus]

IP: Dust actually just means death
Me: *sudden urge to clean room*

[benjaminbethel]

I really didn't want this video to end.

[DavidBlagic]

the ending gave me the biggest goosebumps in my life

[ryansymons]

Really good content.. The more research that we do on the original language, the more fascinating the scriptures become.

[josephgetnet]

This video makes a lot of sense knowing that moses grew up in Egyptian culture, he would use his knowledge to describe the events perfectly.

[abbienormal]

I read (from a different source) that the Trees in Eden were a type symbology of the angels, which would reinforce the idea of Eve being comfortable speaking with a divine creature without fear, thus making it that much easier to deceive her. Good teaching!

[edwardbynum]

I've been in a Judaism class recently and we keep gravitating to the first few chapters of Genesis, this helps a lot with everything!

[Hugo_jordao_oficial]

The only thing I hate about your videos is that they end. Terrific quality, love your voice, keep up with the good work brother. Although I do not particularly agree with Heiser's theology it's always good to hear his points

[sageseraph]

Got an ad about studying the Bible and the first thing they said asked was “Who is the serpent?” Lol.

[squirrelknight]

Well done with the background music. Remember watching some of your videos way back that felt like the background noise was competing to much with your voice. This one worked perfectly.

[defensape]

Minute 13:55 onward to say the fall of humaniy and Lucifer at the same time is an oxymoron, the serpent was clearly in a fallen stage already when tempted Eve (it lie, deceive and was rebelious when it said to be "like God", ) the nice graphics in this video does not support the Bible hermeneutics.

[lmorter]

I just love your videos. They are so informative and well made. I get excited when I see a new one posted. You are right up there with my three favs- Heiser, Walton and Viola.