An Author Interview from Books At a Glance
Welcome to another Author Interview at Books At a Glance. I’m Fred Zaspel, and I’m very pleased to be talking today with Brian Verret about his fascinating new book, The Serpent in Samuel: A Messianic Motif.
Brian, welcome to Books At a Glance, and congratulations on your new book!
Verrett:
Thank you so much for having me. I am delighted join you.
Zaspel:
First, just in broad terms, tell us what your book is all about. And set it up for us with the background from Genesis 3.
Verrett:
In Genesis 3, we have the Fall of man. The serpent leads Adam and Eve astray. In Genesis 3:15, God promises that the seed of the woman would overcome the serpent and its seed but not without suffering in the process. I, along with many others, take this to be a messianic reference. The idea is, in short, that though Adam failed in his duties before God by not resisting the serpent and bringing about the corruption of the world by his sin, this seed of the woman, the Messiah, would overcome the serpent by resisting its temptations and defeating sin, thereby reversing the effects of Adam’s sin and bringing about a renewed world.
The Bible is charged with his hope—that one day the Messiah would come and defeat evil forever. This evil is represented by various figures that the Bible presents as serpents. In my book, I was investigating to see if there was serpent language, ideas, or concepts that run throughout the joint-book of 1–2 Samuel. I investigated it, and I found that there is serpent material running throughout Samuel. It is not just randomly here or there, but it is an intentional motif that runs throughout 1–2 Samuel. My purpose in writing the book was to argue that 1–2 Samuel contains a serpent motif that stems from Genesis 3 and that the purpose of this motif is to heighten the reader’s expectations for when the Messiah would come, defeat the serpent, and rule as king in a renewed creation for the good of his people.
Zaspel:
Before we get to Samuel, highlight for us how this theme crops up elsewhere in the canon – first, in the Old Testament
Verrett:
It surfaces throughout the Old Testament. The first-time people tend to see it is with Cain and Abel. Eve births her children, but Cain kills Abel. Then the Lord gives her a new child, Seth. Interestingly, when Seth is born, Eve says that the Lord gave her another seed to replace Able. It is interesting that Eve calls both Abel and Seth her “seeds,” but she does not explicitly state that Cain is her “seed.” Why would that be the case? What the text is saying is that Abel and Seth are seeds of the woman, which is to say that they represent the Messiah. Cain, on the other hand, is against this messianic line and opposes God’s program. As the serpent brought about death and God told it “Cursed are you,” so too Cain brought about death and God told him, “Cursed are you.” He is not of the woman’s seed. Spiritually speaking, he is the son of the devil. He is the serpent’s seed.
One incredibly important instance of the serpent theme is the exodus narrative. In Exodus 1, there is a replay of Genesis 1. In Exodus 1, the Israelites are fruitful, multiplying, and filling the land (Ex 1:7), just like God told Adam and Eve to do (Gen 1:28). Just like the serpent opposed Adam in fulfilling God’s charge, Pharaoh opposed Israel. Also, as the serpent was crafty or wise in its dealings with Adam and Eve in Genesis 3:1, so too Pharaoh said he must “deal wisely” with Israel. Pharaoh’s “wise dealings” resulted in the death of Israelite children. Likewise, the result of Adam’s sin due to the serpent’s craftiness was death (Gen 2:17). Both accounts contain a figure who “deals wisely” in order to prevent God’s people from multiplying and filling the land with the result that death followed. The narrative of Exodus presents Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, as the serpent.
Also, in both stories, there are royal deliverers who will defeat the serpent. In Genesis 3, it is the seed of the woman. In Exodus 2, it is Moses. In this way, when Moses defeats Pharaoh and Egypt at the Red Sea, he becomes a picture or foreshadowing of the messianic seed of the woman to come. And what happens when God defeats Egypt through Moses in Exodus 14? There is a new creation. Just as the original creation had dry-land rising up out of the waters, so in Exodus 14, once again, there is dry-land emerging out of the Red Sea. This is a repeat of the original creation in Genesis 1. The defeat of the serpent entails a new creation.
It is because the Exodus narrative presents Pharaoh and Egypt as representatives of the serpent that later biblical prophets describe Egypt as a sea monster. Isaiah 51:9–10 presents Egypt’s defeat as the defeat of a sea monster. Within Isaiah, Egypt’s defeat foreshadows the defeat of the serpent from Genesis 3 as described in Isaiah 27:1 and 65:25. Within Isaiah, it is no coincidence that a new creation coincides with the serpent’s defeat (65:17, 25). Ezekiel 29:1–6 and 32:1–4 also present Egypt as a serpent-like sea monster.
There are other examples of the serpent occurring throughout the Old Testament. I borrowed heavily from a friend of mine, Jesse Scheumann, who notes that in 1 and 2 Kings, it is only the Judean kings who are said to have mothers whereas the Israelite kings are motherless. Of course, we know that Israelite kings must have had mothers. This being the case, one should ask why is it that the author was only interested in mentioning the mothers of the Judean kings? The author does this because they represent the hope of the messianic line since the seed of the woman will come through Judah and David. Conversely, the text presents the kings of Israel as motherless since they are a rival line that is in rebellion against the messianic line of Judah. Since they are not the seed of the woman, this suggests that they are the serpent’s seed. Thus, the conflict between Israel and Judah within 1–2 Kings is similar in a few ways to that of Cain and Abel mentioned above.
Zaspel:
And the serpent theme in the New Testament – highlight for us where it crops up and how it climaxes.
Verrett:
The New Testament authors understood Jesus to be the promised seed of the woman. As such, he is always getting into trouble. Through his death and resurrection, he brings about the beginning of a new creation, but prior to this climactic event, he regularly encounters the devil and his seed, who are the Pharisees and other religious leaders opposing Jesus. John the Baptist calls the Pharisees and Sadducees a “brood of vipers” in Matthew 3:7. Jesus calls the Pharisees a “brood of vipers” in Matthew 12:34 and he denounces the scribes and Pharisees as “serpents” in Matthew 23:33. In Matthew 12:34 Jesus even tells the Pharisees, “You brood of vipers! How can you speak good, when you are evil?” Like the serpent in Genesis 3, the serpentine Pharisees are not fit to discuss matters of good and evil.
In John 8:31 and following, Jesus is speaking to individuals who do not hold to his word and are not true disciples. Though Jesus agreed that they were biologically descended from Abraham (v. 37), he also informed them that their spiritual father was the devil (v. 44). This is another way of referring to them as the seed of the serpent. Similar language and concepts occur in 1 John 3. In this chapter, those who follow Jesus are “born of God” but others are “born of the devil” (1 John 3:8–9). In this chapter, John’s primary example of one who is born of the devil is Cain (v. 12). When John identifies Cain as a child of the devil, he does this because he understands the serpent in Genesis 3 to be the devil with Cain being his evil spiritual offspring.
It is not just the gospel writers who see the opponents of Jesus and the church as the seed of the serpent. Paul follows suit in 2 Corinthians 6 and 11 as well as in Romans 16. In Romans 16:17–20, Paul warns the Roman Christians of false teachers. Like the serpent, these false teachers seek to deceive the naive with smooth speech regarding matters of good and evil. For this reason, Paul says that Christians should be “wise as to what is good and innocent as to what is evil” (v. 19). That Paul is referring to Genesis 3 in this context is evident because in verse 20 he references the serpent’s defeat under the foot of the seed of the woman by saying, “The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet.”
In the book of Revelation, this theme comes full circle. Jesus defeats the serpent, who is explicitly identified as the devil/Satan in Revelation 12:9 and 20:2. What happens as soon as Jesus fully defeats the serpent, casting it into the lake of fire at the end of chapter 20? We get a new creation in chapter 21. The Bible says, “Behold, I am making all things new” (21:5). The world was plummeted into sin, chaos, and corruption through sin under the devil’s influence and rule. By defeating the serpent, all that is reversed. Jesus makes all things new, and the story continues happily ever after.
Zaspel:
Okay, I thought it would be helpful to provide the kind of larger frame of reference because with this larger biblical purview in mind we won’t be surprised to find the serpent theme showing up in Samuel. So let’s narrow our focus to Samuel.
I can imagine that although some may acknowledge that the David and Goliath incident is broadly similar to the serpent-champion theme of Genesis, they might be suspicious as to whether you can establish the link exegetically. Highlight for us what you have to offer.
Verrett:
In my book, I suggest three different lines of evidence that point towards Goliath being a serpentine figure. First is his description; he is actually said to be wearing “scale armor” (1 Sam 17:5). This word “scales” is used exclusively for aquatic animals in the Old Testament. The author could have chosen several different ways to describe his armor that did not involve aquatic animals. In the Old Testament, it is not a big deal to blur the lines of a snake or certain aquatic animals since the word for “snake” in Hebrew seems to be a bit of a catchall term for slithery things whether they be on the ground or in the water (Isa 27:1). Besides wearing snake-like armor, the text mentions four times that his armor and equipment is bronze. One commentator asked, “Why does the author keep harping on bronze?” but gave no answer. It seems to me that the best explanation for the author’s fixation upon Goliath’s “bronze” equipment is because in Hebrew the word for “bronze” is almost identical to the word “snake.” The author intentionally repeats the word “bronze” to foster serpentine associations. This wouldn’t be the first time that the biblical narrative would be making a play on the words “bronze” and “serpent.” The same sort of thing occurs in Numbers 21 when God tells Moses to fashion a serpent and place it on a pole.
The second line of evidence that I pointed to was Goliath’s death. There is debate as to whether David’s stone struck Goliath in the forehead or not. The least one could say is that there is language within the Samuel narrative that makes it sound like the stone struck Goliath in the forehead. The author presents Goliath’s stone induced injury in this way in order to allude to the serpent from Genesis 3 which would suffer a blow to the head. It is also noteworthy that Goliath fell facedown. Thus, at the moment David decapitated Goliath’s head, his belly was on the ground and his mouth was to the dirt. Once again, this is reminiscent of God’s promise to the serpent in Genesis 3:14 that the serpent would go on its belly and eat of the dust.
Third, I argued that other Scriptures alluded to and/or interpreted the Goliath narrative with the understanding that he is serpentine. I focused primarily upon Habakkuk 3:13–14. These verses seem to me to be a poetic interpretation of the David and Goliath story. I argued that Habakkuk 3:13–14 presented the David and Goliath story as a foreshadowing of the Messiah defeating the serpent from Genesis 3. Why did Habakkuk see in David’s victory over Goliath the defeat of a serpent? The best explanation is because he saw in Goliath’s defeat a picture or foreshadowing of the serpent’s defeat from Genesis 3.
Zaspel:
And who is this Nahash character, and in what ways does he link to the serpent theme?
Verrett:
Within the book of Samuel, Nahash is the king over the Ammonites. He shows up first in 1 Samuel 11. Nahash in Hebrew is identical with the Hebrew word for serpent. His name is literally, “King Snake,” or “Mr. Snake.” His name shows up a few times throughout the book of Samuel, and so I wanted to investigate every occurrence of his name.
Upon investigating these instances, I found that the author of Samuel consistently applies serpent language and images to those named “Nahash.” In 1 Samuel 11, Nahash, king Serpent, comes to destroy Israel, but God uses Saul to rescue Israel. In that instance, Saul impressively defeats Nahash, the serpent. Intriguingly, Saul does nothing good the rest of the book. Why would Saul look so great when he is defeating Nahash, Mr. Serpent, and then do nothing good afterward? My short answer was that within the book of Samuel when someone defeats Mr. Snake or his offspring, the reader should be wondering if that person is the promised one from Genesis 3:15. The author immediately lets his readers know that Saul is not the promised one who will live a morally upright life over temptation and evil as promised in Genesis 3:15.
There is the same basic pattern in 2 Samuel 10. In this chapter David defeats Hanun, the son of Mr. Snake. This makes Hanun the seed of the serpent. After defeating Hanun, David basically does nothing good the rest of the narrative. In fact, in the very next chapter, the narrative tells the story of David and Bathsheba. In that story, David repeats the sin of Eve from Genesis 3. Like the forbidden fruit, Bathsheba is off-limits. Nevertheless, he sees that she looks good, and so he takes her for himself just like Eve saw that the fruit looked good and took it for herself. In these two instances the king of Israel defeats Mr. Snake or his son and then does nothing good throughout the rest of the narrative. The reason this occurs is to show that neither Saul nor David were ultimately the promised serpent slaying seed of the woman from Genesis 3:15.
Zaspel:
Tell us about this theme in connection with 2 Samuel 23.
Verrett:
In 2 Samuel 23:1–7, we read David’s deathbed words. In these verses he is prophesying about his coming messianic seed. At least this is how one of the targums as well as an Old Greek textual tradition understood David, and I think that this messianic interpretation is well-founded. In 2 Samuel 23:1–7 David discloses that his seed will one day defeat the serpent. Though the word serpent does not appear here, David provides a description of the serpent. The apostle Paul in 2 Corinthians alludes to this text and likewise understands it to refer to the devil (2 Cor 6:15), whom he later identifies as the serpent (11:3). On his deathbed, David is looking forward to the day when God would raise up his seed to do what Adam, Saul, and he had failed to do: overcome the temptation and ways of the serpent. According to David’s prophecy, when his seed overcomes the serpent, the result is a new creation. Gone is the darkness of night, and in its place is the light of morning. Gone are the thorns that Adam had to till in Genesis 3:18, and in their place grows the grass from Genesis 1:11–12. The negative effects brought on by the serpent are overturned and the Messiah, the seed of David, will reign forever for the good of his subjects.
Zaspel:
We’re talking to Brian Verrett about his excellent new book, The Serpent in Samuel: A Messianic Motif. It’s a fascinating read and a genuine contribution showing excellent research tying into a very important biblical theme. Buy a copy and learn what the books of Samuel are all about!
Brian, thanks much for your good work and for talking to us today.
Verrett:
My pleasure! Thank you so much for having me on.
