emaining earth, cursed for the sake of man (Gen. iii. 17),
but it is cursed because "it has done this." Punishment presupposes
being created in the image of God, and, according to chap. i., such
a creation is peculiar only to man. But as soon as we assume the
co-operation of an invisible author of the temptation, by whom the
serpent was animated, everything which is here threatened against the
visible instrument acquires a symbolical meaning. The degradation
inflicted upon the latter,--the announcement of the defeat which it is
to sustain in the warfare with man,--represent in a figure the fate of
the real tempter only. The instrument used by him in the temptation is
at the same time the symbol of the punishment which he is destined to
endure.

Although it be said that the serpent should be "cursed above all
cattle," etc., this does not necessarily imply that the other animals
are also cursed, any more than the words, "subtle above all the
beasts," imply that all other beasts are subtle. It is certainly not
always necessary that the whole existing difference should be pointed
out. The sense is simply: Thou shalt be more cursed than all cattle. In
a similar manner it is said, in the song of Deborah, concerning Jael,
"Blessed above women shall Jael be," Judges v. 24; for this does not
imply that all other women are blessed, but means only that, whether
they be blessed or not, Jael, at all events, is the most blessed.

The _eating of dust_ must not be interpreted literally, as if the
serpent were to feed upon dust; but, since it is to creep on the
ground, it cannot be but that it swallow dust along with its food. Thus
we find in Ps. cii., in "the prayer of the afflicted," ver. 10, "For I
have eaten ashes like bread," used of occasional swallowing of ashes.
As an expression of deepest humiliation, the [Pg 25] licking of dust is
used in Mic. vii. 17, where it is said of the enemies of the Church,
"They shall lick dust like the serpent." In Is. xlix. 23, compared with
Ps. lii. 9, the licking up the dust of the feet is likewise inflicted
upon the humbled enemies. If, undoubtedly, there be, even in these
passages, a slight reference to the one before us, the allusion to it
is still plainer in Is. lxv. 25, where it is said, "And dust shall be
the serpent's meat." Of the denunciation in Gen. iii. 14, 15, the
eating of dust alone shall remain, while the bruising of the heel shall
come to an end. And while all other creatures shal