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Bryan Bradley

Mrs.Akers

Hon English 9

19 Oct 2017

First there was God, in his image he formed Adam, and for his accompaniment, God

made Eve. Living in harmony and blissful ignorance within the sanctity of the Garden of Eden,

Adam and Eve had not a single thing to trouble them and nothing was ever asked of them save to

never, ever touch the forbidden fruit. Their existence was one of simplicity, blind obedience, and

ignorance. Enter the Serpent, Taking pity on the couple he convinced them to eat from the tree of

knowledge in an attempt to add some meaning or purpose to their lives but his efforts were met

with naught but hatred and disdain. Out of all the characters in the bible, the Serpent has suffered

the most by far and has given us the most important advancement we could have asked for,

wisdom.

To be frank, there is absolutely no scarcity of suffering and sacrifice within the pages of

the B.A.I.L. Examples include Jesus, Moses, Cain, Abel, Adam, and Eve. The list goes on but

compared to the suffering that the Snake of the garden has gone through, they've had it easy.

Upon hearing of Satan's transgressions toward Eve, God hands down a punishment Because

you have done this you are cursed alone of all cattle and creatures of the wild. On your belly you

will crawl, and dust you will eat all the days of your life. I shall put enmity between you and the

woman, between your brood and hers. They will strike at your head and you will strike their

heel(19). A harsh punishment to the Snake, but unlike most of the other punishments God

enacts the Serpent is the only one to receive it. We know this fact is at the forefront of God's
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mind as the first sentence he speaks is [...] you are cursed alone of all the cattle and the

creatures of the wild. Alone is a very rare way for one to suffer a punishment from God. In

Exodus every plague, although only deserved through the actions of one man, is suffered by the

entirety of the country. Similarly in the story of The Great Flood all of mankind, save for Noah,

is wiped out for the evil of a few people. The mere fact that in his punishment the Serpent was

forced to suffer alone speaks scores to how severe the punishment was meant to be. Another

thing that God does to punish the Snake was putting enmity between his ilk and the womans. On

top of stripping the Serpent of all extremities, all comfort in life, and forcing him to crawl across

the ground as an ultimate disrespect. God adds one last detail to Satans punishment. The final

nail in the coffin to solidify the Serpents place as the saddest case in the bible, was the fact that

after all he had suffered to gift humankind with its most prized possession, knowledge. He would

never receive any recognition for his sacrifice and contribution but only be met with enmity and

hatred from mankind.

So yes, it's apparent that the Snake of the garden has endured the most out of all the

characters in all the stories in the bible, but for what? Egypt suffered for the freedom of the jews

and Jesus suffered for the salvation of mankind but what did the sacrifice of the Serpent

accomplish? The answer to this is, quite ironically, given to us by God himself in the Book of

Genesis where he says, The man has become like one of us, knowing good and evil; what if he

now reaches out and takes fruit from the tree of life also, and eats it and lives for ever(19). The

wording in this quote is indicating that God is not talking to Adam and Eve but rather the

Serpent. He says that through eating the fruit that Adam and Eve have become more like them

and should they have eaten from both the trees they would have become entirely like them.
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Taking pity on the sad ignorance of the two in the garden, Satan made the willing sacrifice of his

own situation to offer some semblance of purpose and wisdom to the life of man. What Satan has

given man, in the words of God, is a piece of true divinity.

All things considered, the Serpent of the garden has well indeed suffered the most out of

any other holy figure in the B.A.I.L. and has received the least recognition. He has given

mankind a gift equal in enormity to his punishment. A tangible step towards the heavens and a

true taste of what it is like to be the god of one's own world.