The Pulpit Commentary — Genesis — Section 143

elmply accepting tho admission, nnd po.asing difficulty than the cursing of the earth (ver, on, " following up tho tranegreseion even to 17), or of the fig tree (Matt. xi. 21 ). Creatures tho root-not tho psychological merely, but can be cursed or blessed only in accordance the historical" (Lange): What is this that with their natures. The reptile, therefore, thou haat done 1 Or, "Why hast thou dono bciug neither a moral nor responsible crea- thiel" (LXX., Vulgate, Luther, De Wettc). ture, could not be cursed in the sense of being " But tho Hebrew phraso has more vehe- rnado susceptible of misery. But it might mence ; it is the lnngnagc of one who won- be cursed in the sense of being deteriorated ders as at something prodigious, and ought in its nature, and, as it were, consigned to rnthcr to bo rendered, ' How hast thou done a lower posi lion in the scale of being. Ancl this 1' " (Calvin). And the woman said as tho Creator h,is a perfect right to assign (following tho example of her guilty bus• to his creature the specific place it shall band, omitting any notice of her sin in occupy, ancl function it shall subserve, in tempting Adam, and transferring the blame creation, the remanding of the reptile to an of her own disobedience to the reptile), The inferior position could not justly be construed serpent beguiled me. Literally, caused me into a violation of the princi?les of right, to forget, hence beguiled, from i1~~' to forgot while it might serve to Gods intelligent crea.tures as a visible symbol of his displeasure a thing (Lam. iii. 17), or person (J er. xxiii. against sin (cf. eh. ix. 5; Exod. x.xi. 28-36). 39; Stanley Leathes,' Gram.,' App.197); or, Above. Literally, from, i. e. separate and caused me to go astray, from ~tvJ (unused apart from all cattle (Le Clerc, Von Bohlen, in Kai), kindred to i1~:;i, perhap~ 'to err, to Tuch, Knobel, Keil) ; and neither by (Gcse- go astray (Gcsenius, Fiirst); ,j1ranfrr• (LXX.), nius, De Wette, Baumgarten) nor above (Luther, A. V., Rosenmiiller, Delitzsch), as if 0(111rar1Jr1Ev (2 Cor. xi. 3). And I did eat. the other creatures were either participators "A forced confession, but no appearance of in or the instruments of the serpent's male- contrition. ' It's true I did eat, but it was diction. All cattle, and above (apart from) not my fault'" (Hughes). every beast of the field. The won.ls imply the Ver. 14.-Confession having thus been materiality of the reptile and the reality of made by both delinquents, and the arch-con- the curse, so far as it was concerned. Upon triver of the whole mischief discovered, the thy belly. 'E1ri rri rrnj0Ea aov £al TP £01>..i<f Divine Judge proceeds to deliver sentence, (LXX.); "meaningwithgreatpain and diffi- And the Lord God said unto the serpent. culty." "As Adam's labour and Eve's con- Which he does not interrogate as he did the ception had pain and sorrow added to them man and woman, "because (1) in the ani- (vers. 16, 17), so the serpent's gait" (Ains- mal itself there was no sense of sin, and (2) worth). Shalt thou go. '' As the wonn to the devil he would hold out no hope of steals over the earth with its length of body," pardon" (Calvin); "because the trial has now 11 as a mean and despised crawler in the dust," reached the fountain-head of sin, the purely having previoiu!y gone erect (Luther), and evil purpose (the demoniacal) having no been possessed of bone (Josephus), and ca- deeper ground, and requiring no further in- pable of standing upright and twining itself vestigation" (Lange). Because thou haet round the trees (Lange), or at least h:ni.ng done this. I. e. beguiled the woman. The undergone some transformation as to external incidence of this curse hns been explained as form (Delitzsch, Keil); though the languago -1. The serpent only (Kalisch). 2. The may import nothing more than that whereas devil only (Macdonald). 3. Partly on the the reptile had exalted itself against man, serpent and partly on Satan (Calvin). 4. it was henceforth" to be thrust bnck into its Wholly upon both (Murphy, Bush, Ca.nd- proper rank," "recalled from its insolent lish). The difficulties attending these dif- motions to its accustomed mode of going," ferent interpretations have thus been con- and " at the same time condemned to per- cisely expressed : --,- " 1. Quidam statuunt petual infamy" (Calvin). As applied to maledictionem latam in serpentem solum, Satan this part of the curse proclaimed his quia hie confertur cum aliis bestiis, non in further degradation in the scale of being in diabolum, quia is antea maledictus erat. 2. consequence of having tempted roan. 11 Than Alii in diabolum so!um, quin. brutus serpens the serpent trailing nlong the ground, no non poterat jus~ puniri. 3. Alii applicant emblem can moro nptly illustrate the charac- ver. 14 ad serpentem, ver. 16 in diabolum. ter anu condition of the apostate spirit who At vero tu et te idem sunt in utroque versu. once occupied o. pince among the angels of 4. Alii existirno.nt eam in utrumque latam " God, but bas been cast down to the earth, (Medus in 'Poli Commentar. ,' quotod by rreparatory to his deeper plunge into the Lange). The fourth opinion seoms most fiery lake (Rev. xx. 10 ; Macdonald). And nccorclnnt with the lnngu~e of the maledic- dust shalt thou eat. I. e. mingling dust tion. Thou art ouraed. The cursing of the with all it should eat. "The great scanti- irrationlll creaturo sho11ld occasion no more ness of food ou which serpents can subsist GENESIS, I' 6G TH'E BOOK OF GENESIS. LcH. m. 8-19.