Free The Discovery of Genesis by C. H. Kang, Ethel R. Nelson

all-wise and all-loving? The choice was theirs.

     
     
    One might think that since there were only two people in existence, Adam and Eve would usually be in each other’s company. The word to go . (see page 50), shows just this. There were two persons who were lords , with dominion over the whole earth. But one day as Eve had left Adam’s side to pass through the middle of the garden, she suddenly heard a strange voice. It was not Adam’s voice, and the sound of it arrested her, and she stopped, curious to know from whence it came. She looked with amazement into the branches of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil where a beautiful serpent rested. Was this creature also able to speak? Lucifer, in the guise of a serpent, had been waiting for just this opportunity when Eve might be alone, for the couple often passed by this tree.
    Is it possible that the serpent, which allowed itself to be the medium for Lucifer, actually had wings at this time, and was able to stand upright? Such could be inferred from the Genesis story, for when God afterward cursed the creature for its part in the temptation of Eve, He said, “Because you have done this, cursed are you above all cattle, and above all wild animals; upon your belly you shall go , and dust you shall eat all the days of your life” (Genesis 3:4). This statement suggests that its punishment was a new crawling posture. Might it formerly have been able to fly? The Chinese primitive for reptile certainly supports this. One could hardly guess from the pictograph that this upright figure represents today’s concept of a crawling snake!
    In analyzing the word picture for reptile , one sees a standing snakelike body. Attached to the left side are three strokeswhich can indicate either hair or feathers. Neither are ordinarily considered a natural part of snake anatomy, however feathers are certainly an integral part of wings. But the word for wings is, and one wing on the snake body could conceivably be written. Some ancient forms of this radical actually suggest a pair of wings:or. The reptile also appears to have two eyesin its head. And so the Chinese depict a rather wise-looking and versatile creature!

     

     

     
     
    There can be no doubt that the ancient Chinese had an accurate knowledge of the temptation of Eve by the devil, or Lucifer, in the agent of the serpent. The word devil , clearly describes her encounter with him. First of all, one recognizes that this key represents something alive or moving when seeing the “p’ieh”at the top of the radical. The garden is noted, as well as a man . A new primitiveindicates privately or secretly. Putting the story together, one sees the complete representation of the devil’s seduction of the woman. He moved into the Garden in the disguise of a serpent to speak privately with the voice of a man to Eve.

     
     

     
    It would seem that in this radical for the devil the ancient Chinese had nicknamed him the “secret garden man,” whereas Adam is characterized either as a “dust man” in the word first , or as a “fieryman” in the word fire .
    This word devil is frequently qualified in another charactermeaning tempter or demon. Note here that the devil is hidden under two trees , which specifies that site of the two special trees in the middle of the Garden of Eden. Above the trees is a covering which records that the devil took refuge under the cover of the trees (and was also camouflaged with the serpent as his medium), when he tempted Eve.

     

     

     
     

     
    The devil began his conversation with Eve by posing a question, “Did God say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree of the garden?’” (Genesis 3:1). As Eve answered, she probably began to wonder why God had placed the restriction. “God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die’” (Genesis 3:3). The serpent then very daringly declared to the woman, “ You