Hmmm so do I get to decide which is poetry or do we have a committee for that? hehe

mel

I think that is academic. It doesn't really matter if it is poetry or not. If God says "I love you" in poetry, as He does in the Pslams, it carries the same message as when Jesus said it in a secret meeting in the middle of the night (John 3:16).

In first two chapters of Genesis God says He created the world in six literal days and rested on the seventh. Many Hebrew scholars say the language used was poetic, but that doesn't take away from its clear meaning. Later we find God saying the same thing in a thundering voice from a mountain top (Exodus 20). Both passages carry the same message.

So whether or not something is poetic does not impact what it is saying.

So snakes do eat dirt after all?


mel

Where did the idea that pre-sin snakes had wings come from?


Tom

Tom's question re" Serpents flying before sin entered this world".


"Patriarch & Prophets" p.53, Vol.3 "Spiritual Gifts" p. 39-40
"Story of Our Redemption" p. 32

No, snakes eat only other live creatures..sometimes their eggs.

In ancient mythology, serpents had wings; and as don/aldridge pointed out, Ellen White writes of the original serpents of Adam's day having wings. When in Gen. 3: 14 God cursed the serpent and said from then on it would move about on its belly, it appears to lend credence to the concept that serpents originally had wings.

EGGzactly so Gen 3:14 is poetry as Shane said or symbolism or what? :-)

mel

Yes, it is written as poetry, but then so is the very next verse, which is the first promise of salvation through the coming Messiah. Both are highly symbolic yet they also point to literal truths. In the case of Gen. 3: 14, the essential truth is that man's rebellion against God had a tragic affect even on the animal kingdom. I believe the serpents once literally had wings, but it is not a point of any importance to our salvation.

For another interesting perspective - Did the Serpent Have Legs?

Tom