Quote:God's clever, talking serpent. 3:1
Quote:Gen 3:1 Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, “Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’?”
"Now the serpent" translates to:
nachash in the Hebrew.
naw-khawsh'; from H5172; a snake (from its hiss):—serpent. (see root)
The root word is:
nâchash, naw-khash'; a primitive root; properly, to hiss, i.e. whisper a (magic) spell; generally, to prognosticate:—× certainly, divine, enchanter, (use) × enchantment, learn by experience, × indeed, diligently observe.
I found it really interesting to look at the root of this word. See... While we have many words, often with multiple meanings, the Hebrew language does not. So, strangely enough... In an effort to make things more clear we often times make them more discombobulated.
Their one word can mean a whole plethora of different things... Depending on how it is translated. In thinking about the root definition of this I was reminded of a run in I had once with a witch. Well that is what she called herself. This was actually only six years ago... maybe. I was hardly a "practicing Christian" at the time.
Actually it was right around the time I had made my decision to drink myself to death. So I honestly didn't give two hoots about much of anything at the time. We worked together in a greasy spoon type of restaurant and in one of our very few passing conversations she mentioned she was a witch.
She had actually hated me from day one. Would almost be seething when I entered the room most of the time. Nevertheless, an occasional conversation would happen... Usually out of sheer boredom... Lol So, I asked her about "being a witch". She told me she tried... But wasn't a very good one.
Then explained how in the past she had tried to put a curse on someone and it had ended up coming back on her... Worse than she had put out on them. I agreed that perhaps witchcraft was not something that would work well for her, and left it at that. A friendship never blossomed between us... Primarily because she hated me and didn't want to be my friend... Lol
So anyway, eventually I left that job, grateful to finally get away from such a negative force that this woman just kinda "put out there"... All the time... God knows I didn't need any help with that! But I ran into her a few months later. Why she was so eager to tell me this, I may never know... But man... She came bustling up to me like she had some life changing news for me or something.
Well, I guess it was pretty life changing for her... Lol Apparently, after I quit she felt "safe" to put a curse on me due to the distance quitting put between us or something. Unfortunately it backfired in a much bigger way this time. She lost her job, her car, and was on the verge of being evicted. She didn't blame me though. She actually apologized for how she had treated me for the entire year and a half we worked together.
I say all that to say this... People don't dabble with spiritual things for no reason. It is all very real whether someone chooses to believe it or not. Not saying that to scare anyone, by any means. It just is what it is, and curses can work on unbelievers, as well as some who believe they are believers, but are not.
It is certainly nothing to toy with. Every action has an equal and opposite reaction... whether it is seen or not. So whether this was a literal snake or not I do not know, nor do I care to guess. All I can share is what I do know... From my own experience.
In working with horses I found out there is a much "higher" way of communicating than the average person realizes. Things I think we used to do, but no longer find the time to do... Or perhaps they are things we no longer feel are "necessary" due to this wide world of web where we are forced to communicate with no one physically.
Trust me... This effects all our relationships whether we realize it or not. Body language speaks volumes... But it doesn't say everything... It is only the doorway into what someone really wants to say, but can't put into words. I hope you will bear with me while I try to explain here and share yet another story.
A couple of years ago, when we were trying to start up the Rescue and Rehabilitation Facility to run my Equine Assisted Therapy program I came across a little paint pony. His name was Flash. The Horse Rescue I was volunteering for to learn the ropes had rescued him a few years earlier and had unsuccessfully adopted him out several times due to behavior issues. Lol
I have to laugh... I mean the little dude did have a BIG attitude! He could easily drag a 250 lb adult male pretty much anywhere he wanted... and that usually included into a few tree's, fences, and walls! Lol Of course I didn't know all that at first... The horror stories came after I fell in love with him and decided to adopt him.
He was a cute little bugger...
Anyway, the first time I met him was after his third or fourth time of being returned on the night prior. He hadn't been in the pasture with any of the other horses yet. So, I turned him out and watched "short man's syndrome" play out right before my eyes.
He went to every single horse in that pasture and challenged them. Then when the head of the herd, Bela, got sick of it he began chasing Flash everywhere. If he even looked at the herd Bela would go after him. After about ten minutes of this Flash came running full tilt to the gate, wide eyed and terrified. Bela, was making another charge at him, hoping to corner him where I was.
I opened the gate and pulled him out before Bela made mince meat out of him. We tried him in a pasture with just a few other horses. There were 15 in the first pasture. All was fine until they ran out of hay. Then it became sport to chase him again. So finally we put him in with a blind horse, a miniature, and a senior horse... Strangely enough... The combination worked... Finally... Lol
It was that day I fell in love with him. When he came running up to the gate so terrified. I knew somewhere under all that fear and craziness was a strong, confident pony who was just lost and scared. I determined myself to help him... To find a way to help him.
It was difficult at first. The place he was being fostered did not have a round pen, or anywhere really to work with any of the horses. The woman who owned the place was scared of him and any interaction she had with him usually resulted badly, only making things worse. I began using a lunge line to exercise him, and was able to earn a little trust and respect with him.
We had just signed a lease for a big chunk of property in the area and had actually been talking about going 50/50 with the Horse Rescue on it because they said they were looking to downsize from 40 horses... Spread out over a couple of different counties to be able to have them all in one place. It would have worked out well for all of us, we thought.
However, after we signed the lease and committed financially they backed out. So we had already moved onto the property and had them bring the four horses we had decided to adopt to the property for us. I was then able to work more consistently with Flash. But progress with him was very slow.
He really was a fearful little guy. It took me three months to get him to lead like a normal horse. He just wasn't capable. Once a human hand clicked a lead rope on him, his entire body stiffened, his eyes got as big a saucers, and his head went straight in the air. He was ready to go. He rope burned my hands more than once.
There was no point in trying to hold him if he decided to bolt. Unless you liked being battered and bruised that is... Lol This really was a painstakingly slow process with him. I had to stop allowing anyone else to lead him for a while because any kind of crossed signal sent this little dude into a frenzy.
My first three months with him went like this... Seven days a week... When it was time to go out to the pasture and I would hook him with the lead rope I got the terrified reaction. This baffled me because I always took a very passive approach with him. Aggression just didn't work.
I would walk to the end of the lead rope, tug lightly on it, and encourage him quietly, actually whispering almost... to come out of his stall. For the first week or so he would just stand there and snort at me for about five minutes, uncertain of what I wanted. Then he would take a step, snort, and resume his original position.
Then another step... Then another... At first it would take me 45 minutes just to get him to walk the 150 feet from his stall to the round pen, or pasture. Sometimes he bolted, but usually only if something startled him. But day by day, I gained more of his trust. Earned more of his respect.
I worked him in the round pen almost every day which helped open the lines of communication further. See... In the round pen is where I find out a horses story. I am sure that sounds fruity... But it's true. No I am not an animal psychic. I can't read their minds... But I can understand what they are saying through their body language.
All of how Flash presented himself told his story really. When the world wrote him off as a stubborn, dangerous pony that was all he could display. He knew that is what was expected of him, so he was only doing what he believed he was being asked to do. Negative or not. When someone came in his life and changed the expectation... He changed.
Though teaching him he could change was a tedious process. Lol Another thing we did was keep the mares and geldings separate for a while. It changed the dynamics of everything for Flash. The Rescue just kept on bringing more horses at first. We ended up with 22 total at one point.
Since there were no longer females to impress the fighting stopped and he actually bonded with a couple of the other geldings. It was perhaps the most amazing thing I have ever watched... Seeing this fearful little pony growing in confidence day by day. I think it helped me in some ways I don't even realize yet.
After a couple of months we introduced him, and the other males, to the rest of the "herd" the Rescue had brought over, and he did fabulously! He didn't let anyone bully him, and tried no shenanigans himself. It also helped that my step son's horse Hank had taken in the position of body guard for Flash... Lol He was a paint, mule mix I think.
No one messed with Hank. Even Bela didn't try challenging him. But horse to human... He was as sweet as could be with a splash of stubbornness. Every once in a while when he was feeling spunky, Hank would sneak up beside Flash, grab his halter in his teeth and take off running... Dragging poor unsuspecting Flash all over the field! It was hilarious! When Flash would finally break free he'd be a squealing and bucking all over the place and get the entire herd going!
Lol Good times... Good times... By the end of three months Flash was a whole different pony. Almost anyone could lead him effortlessly. I say almost because he, like all horses, is extremely sensative to the emotions of those around him.
So if you were afraid of him... He was afraid of you. If you were angry about anything... Relevant to him or not, he could easily revert to the fearful behavior because he honestly didn't understand you weren't angry AT him. PTSD in horses. It's real. I still believe in my heart that if I could have rescued him from that Rescue eventually he could have overcome his past completely.
It saddens me to say I will never know. I had him almost broke too. We had a saddle on him three times in the last few weeks. I just hadn't found the courage to climb on him yet... Lol Well, actually I couldn't have anyway because I had fractured my tibia right below the knee. I wasn't even supposed to be up on it at all at the time... Lol
Here's the thing though... I really couldn't believe all that was happening to me at the time. It was like a dream almost. In my heart I saw our epic failure coming... Long before it arrived. I was torn between worlds at the time. I just don't know how else to explain it. I wanted desperately to find my way back to a sense of hope... And purpose in my life.
I had been drowning in my own grief... With a large twist of whiskey for five years when this opportunity presented itself. Horses. I have never been able to resist them... Lol So, when I met Flash, I don't know... I guess I just knew inwardly that somehow if I could help him, I could help myself. Finding Flash gave me a sense of having something to fight for again in my life.
Because honestly speaking here, I didn't really feel like anyone was fighting for me anymore by that point, so I was closer to giving up fighting for myself than I think I even knew. I connected with Flash in a way I had connected with no other horse in my life time, and I did it on purpose.
I had always felt I had a special connection to horses. An unnatural ability with them even. At the age of 15 I was riding a horse as a camper at the camp I went to that most of the staff wouldn't even go near. The horseback director was the only other person who rode him.
But me and him... We "got" each other. There was an understanding between us that went far beyond words. It happened multiple times over the years, with multiple horses. Flash was different though because for the first time I began to wonder if it was a gift of some sort.
So instead of going haphazardly at this with him, which has been my usual chosen route to most anything... Lol I took every single step intentionally... Every single breath intentionally... Every single moment with him intentionally. I learned how to read him, and through doing that... I learned how to communicate with him in a way he could understand.
By the end lunging him was no work at all. I didn't even have to use verbal commands or the whip. It was all done with the tiniest of body movements and he knew exactly what I wanted and did it without hesitation. all of this has been very difficult to put into words... But what I learned through all of it is the foundation for the Equine Assisted Therapy Program I want to do.
To teach people how to listen with everything but their ears. It's what I had to do to find my healing. It's what Flash had to do to find his. I know this will work for others too. With all my heart I know it. So the communication that happened that day, back in the garden... I don't necessarily believe was a verbal exchange with a literal snake.
I actually think the writer was describing more of the character of the one Eve was talking to, regardless of what "it" was.
Bwaaaaaahahaha! Joking! Only joking! 