Hi
,
Having considered the issue around fangs and venom, the question I'd like to consider now it this: When did the snake get its venom? Or, was it originally created with it (like the spider's probably was)?
Last week, we looked at some of the things that changed genetically at the time of the curse. The serpent was assigned to crawling on its belly and eating dust. The woman's offspring will crush his head, but the snake will strike his heel!
Consider the constrictors, another type of snake. These include boas, anacondas, and pythons. These snakes do not use venom. However, their "squeeze" is just as lethal! Once a constrictor strikes and has seized its prey, it rapidly winds its body around it and squeezes. Most people think that death is caused by suffocation or crushing. Actually, it's a bit more "humane" than that. The constriction usually causes
the heart to stop before things break, so the creature dies fairly quickly.
Snakes swallow their prey whole. However, when constrictors do this, they should die! As prey begins to be swallowed, the air passages of the snake get shut off, and the heart should become so pressurized that it stops! But, these things don't happen! These snakes have hearts that can move, and also breathing tubes (called a glottis) that extend out of the sides of their mouth when swallowing large
prey. Furthermore, snakes have only one lung - the right one. Some have a small left lung that does not function. Is there a reason for this?
Remember that God genetically modified women, certain plants, and the snake, at the time of the curse. So, here is where my thoughts are taking me on all this:
The following is my opinion only!
I propose that when God cursed the serpent (and, that word means "snake"), He modified many of them genetically in different ways, making them dangerous to us, and to the rest of creation. Remember that the snake was reduced to being cursed above any other creature (Gen. 3:14). He altered the snake's anatomy so that it no longer has limbs, and has to slither on the ground. To do this,
God perhaps removed or reduced the left lung, since there was now no room for it. He also gave the snake the ability to bite to kill! After all, if creatures ate plants at the beginning, what was the use of its venom? It certainly didn't need it to eat with. What was the use of the constrictor's ability to squeeze an animal to death? It certainly didn't need that to eat plants. What would be the purpose of a
moveable heart, and an extendable glottis?
My personal opinion is that the devil used what might have been one of the most beautiful creatures God made (like the devil, himself). God cursed it, changing it into something lethal, abhorrant, and scary - like sin! As such, Jesus needs to "crush" the head of Satan. Figuratively, He did so at the cross, and that that will also be Satan's final demise!
