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Genesis 3:1

Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, has God said, you shall not eat of every tree of the garden?

All Commentaries on Genesis 3:1 Go To Genesis 3

Augustine of Hippo

AD 430

The serpent signifies the devil, who was certainly not simple. His cleverness is indicated by the fact that he is said to be wiser than all the beasts. The serpent was not said to be in paradise, though the serpent was among the beasts that God made. For paradise signifies the happy life, from which the serpent was absent, since it was already the devil. He had fallen from his beatitude because he did not stay in the truth. And we must not be confused as to how the serpent could speak to the woman, when she was in paradise and it was not. The serpent entered the paradise spiritually and not bodily, as the apostle suggests: “You were living by the principles of this world, obeying the ruler who dominates the air, the spirit who is at work in those who rebel.” .

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Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation - 2 Peter 1:20