First, I went to the Hebrew to see exactly what the word for serpent in Genesis 3 is. Then I did a little research on that word, how it was used and how often. Somehow that led me to a YouTube video where I wasted five minutes of morning study, devotion and meditation time watching a decapitated rattlesnake head try to bite. It was a long but informative video. Following that was a much less educational freak out video that lasted 21 seconds of a snake attempting to strike without a body. Of course, I had heard old tales of snakes biting after having their heads chopped off. I did grow up in Texas after all, and even had Old Timers tell me you should always bury a venomous snake head after killing one. Personally, I tended to not worry about it.
I don't like to kill snakes, so I didn't have many snakes to dispose of and worry about. I pretty much won't kill a non-venomous snake, and won't kill a venomous one unless it's in the yard or something like that, although even then I prefer to relocate. I cringe when I see people post photos of king snakes they killed in their yard while at the same time complaining of the overabundance of copperheads (which king snakes eat) in the area. But, I am getting off track, distracted, and chasing another topic once again. Back to the point....
Yes, there is one, and it has a spiritual application and everything. The second video looked possibly faked. I now think the resolution just sucked. So, I followed the trail to a few snake sites to get some scientific, factual answers to the question of are snakes dangerous and can they strike after being decapitated? The answer is yes. Yes, they are.
Snakeeducation.com had this to say on the subject of dead snakes and dead snake bites: You may have heard someone say that a dead snake can still bite and this is Very True. The nerves in a snake have been recorded to still be active up to 9 hours after a snake was killed. The length of time had much to do with the snake type, and situation in which the snake was killed. In Old-School it was a common practice to cut the head off of a venomous snake but to understand that snake's head can still bite and still inject Venom into it's victim. Just because a snake looks dead doesn't mean the nerves are too.
And all that, led me to where I needed to go. Sometimes those snake,,,,er, rabbit trails of distraction take us to where God needs us to be or where we can hear the Spirit teaching us and showing us something that can help us and or take us deeper into relationship with God. Or maybe when that happens it's just another example of God working all things, including my attention shortcomings and distractions, to good for me. But the trail intersected with a scripture I read before the snake hunt began, I Peter 5:8-9 -
Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world.
Now, in these verses the lion is used to illustrate the enemy, which in no way is saying he's like Jesus, who is called the Lion of Judah. In Revelation Satan is called a dragon, and we started with the serpent in the garden. The point is not what creature is being used as a metaphor for the devil. Even if you are someone who believes the devil is himself a metaphor for hate, sin,, evil and things contrary to God and not a literal being, the point is that we need to be vigilant, wary, on guard, clear minded about the matter. There is a danger.
There is a danger. That's what connected all of this for me this morning. When I first read the I Peter verses, my thought was it seems silly to stay on guard against a defeated foe. Since Jesus defeated death and the devil on the cross, crushed the head of the serpent, it seems counter-productive to be concerned about the wiles of the enemy, of those things that Jesus has defeated and overcome, We have access to the same power that raised Jesus from the dead and should simply walk in that power, surrendered and submitted to that power. And that last sentence is truth, but it does not mean we can ignore the enemy.
No, we don't need to be afraid, and we don't need to be looking for the devil behind everything bad as if he is an all-powerful, all-knowing danger to the children of God. I'm sorry, but most times the devil not only didn't make you do it, he had nothing to do with it. That was all you and all me, choosing the old nature over the new and living for self rather than following Jesus.
But while Jesus defeated the serpent for us, and no, I do not think normal snake when I read that, but the analogy works, so....the spiritual time when the nerve endings are no longer active hasn't ended yet. Satan is dead and defeated, as is sin. They just don't know it yet. And while that means that it can't crawl up and get you anymore because of what Jesus did, it also means that if you reach out and grab it, perhaps pick it up and put it in your pocket, it can still strike you, and the venom will still bring death and destruction to your life. We don't become immune to the consequence of sin. We do not become powerful enough to play safely with the enemy. We are safer, because the serpent is dead. He hasn't the power any longer to do you harm by sneaking up on you or crawling into your refuge,. But he hasn't yet been rendered totally harmless and won't be until Jesus returns.
We all have areas where we've been in the vicinity of the enemy so much that we can't seem to stop getting bit, maybe it's when we're afraid, or hurting, or angry or confused, or something else, but we have situations where we naturally walk off the path through the danger zone instead of running to Jesus for our answer, pleasure, comfort, security, relationship, etc. And then we step on the snake head with our unprotected foot, feel the pain of the fangs and the sickness spreads as the toxic effects of sin our carried to every area of our life. If we will be wary of those areas and keep our eyes on Jesus, He will direct our paths and show us where to step to avoid the danger of dead but deadly fangs.
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