Christ and the Snake of the Garden

I mentioned the connection of Christ to the serpent as a warning to the followers of YHWH not to find solace in the man of Jesus.  I also touched on the idea that Jesus was the Messiah promised, but rejected the earthly kingdom because he knew something greater.

To Christian mythology, the Serpent is synonymous with Satan.  So jealous at the new humans, Satan in the guise of the Serpent, convinced Eve to commit sin against God by eating the forbidden fruit.

In some (gnostic) mythology, the Serpent in the garden which tempted Eve is the same as the Logos of the "true God."  The mythology says that humanity was enslaved by the Craftman, or YHWH, and that the Word descended and removed the ignorance of the first couple by offering gnosis in the sense of the fruit.  Genesis 3:5: "'For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.'"

Christ, the Snake and the Crucifixion

As discussed in the previous post, Jesus was the Messiah who knew the real Kingdom of God and did not accept YHWH's offer of an earthly kingdom.  As the son of David, Jesus was looked on as a son of YHWH but was flogged when he did wrong.  Wrong, in this sense, was to not deliver the Jews from their enemies.

For his "crimes," Jesus was crucified.  But I illustrate the picture to the left to another crucifixion in the Bible: that of a snake.

In Numbers, we read of a tale that the Israelites, once again, complain about their journey.  They're angry at no food or water.  YHWH responds by sending poisonous snakes to kill the complainers.  Knowing that they "sinned," the Israelites beg forgiveness to Moses and YHWH told him to make a snake and put him on a stick.  Whoever was bitten by a snake would look at this snake and be saved.

It isn't hard to see this with Christ, and Christians have done that.  They say that by looking at Jesus, they would be saved from their sin.  But the problem with this logic is that the very thing the Isrealites were being saved from, a snake's bite, was the thing that also saved them.  If Christ saves, looking on him must cure something he (or his fellow "snakes") caused.

The bronze snake was made to remind the people of their God.  It is a jealous parent's plea to listen to them, and no one else.  The Jews would look on the dead Jesus and turn away from him, since they had seen his "sin" and would not commit the same.  The followers Jesus then are the snakes, and when a good Jew is "poisoned" with his teaching, he is to look on Jesus and his crucifixion and be "healed" of the "sin."

Deuteronomy 21:22–23:  "And if a man has committed a crime punishable by death and he is put to death, and you hang him on a tree, his body shall not remain all night on the tree, but you shall bury him the same day, for a hanged man is cursed by God. You shall not defile your land that the Lord your God is giving you for an inheritance."

This is one of the passages used to deny Jesus by the Jews.  And it is true.  The supposed Messiah was hung on the wooden crucifix and was cursed by YHWH.  When Jesus still wouldn't accept the messiahship after being flogged, he had to die.  It was the hope that this would be the end of Jesus' message and for a while it was.  His followers scattered and had he not been "risen," we may have never known Jesus existed.  There is no mention of him until a generation after he died.

Jesus' Temptation and the Devil

I have trouble with the temptation of Jesus because, with the rest of scripture, it says some pretty startling things.

When Jesus was baptised and compelled by the Holy Spirit to go into the desert.  It was there that he was given the famous three temptations of the devil.  Depending on which Gospel you read, the order of the temptations differ.  While this may not seem significantly important, I believe it is and for this post will be using Matthew's recording.