Serpent

The serpent (Hebrew nachash; Greek ophis) is one of the most theologically laden creatures in Scripture. In the Garden of Eden the serpent appears as the subtlest creature God had made, the instrument through which the temptation of Eve and the Fall occurred (Gen. 3:1–15). God cursed it to crawl on its belly and placed enmity between the serpent's seed and the woman's seed — a text read in Christian tradition as the protoevangelium, the first promise of the Redeemer who would crush the serpent's head (Gen. 3:15). Bronze and copper serpents were used in antiquity as healing symbols; Moses made a bronze serpent (Nehushtan) that healed those bitten by fiery serpents (Num. 21:8–9), which Jesus cited as a type of his own lifting-up on the cross (John 3:14–15). Revelation identifies the serpent of Eden with Satan: "that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan" (Rev. 12:9; 20:2), bringing the biblical serpent narrative full circle to its eschatological resolution.