l escape from the
doom which has come upon them in consequence of the fall of man, the
serpent--the instrument used in the temptation--shall, agreeably to the
words in the sentence of punishment, "All the days of thy life," remain
condemned to a perpetual abasement, thus prefiguring the fate of the
real tempter, for whom there is no share in the redemption.

The opinion which has been again of late defended by _Hofmann_ and
_Baumgarten_, that the serpent had before the fall the same shape as
after it, only that after the fall it possesses as a punishment what
before the fall was its nature, stands plainly opposed to the context.
Even _a priori_, and in accordance with Satan's usual mode of
proceeding, it is probable that he, who loves to transform himself into
an angel of light, should have chosen an attractive and charming
instrument of temptation. This view loses all that is strange in it, if
only we consider the change of the serpent, not as an isolated thing,
but in connection with the great change which, after the fall of man,
affected the whole nature (comp. Gen. i. 31, according to which the
entire animal creation had, previously to the fall, impressed upon it
the image of man's innocence and peace, and the law of destruction did
not pervade it, Gen. iii. 17; Rom. viii. 20); and if only we keep in
mind that, before the fall, the whole animal world was essentially
different from what it is now, so that we cannot by any means think of
forming to ourselves a distinct Image of the serpent, as _Luther_ and
others have done.

The serpent is thus, by its disgusting form, and by the degradation of
its whole being, doomed to be the visible representative of the kingdom
of darkness, and of its head, to whom it had served as an instrument.
But the words, when applied to the head himself, give expression to the
idea: "extreme contempt, [Pg 26] shame, and abasement shall be thy
lot." Thus _Calmet_ remarks on this passage: "This enemy of mankind
crawls, as it were, on his belly, on account of the shame and disgrace
to which he is reduced." Satan imagined that, by means of the fall of
man, he would enlarge his kingdom and extend his power. But to the eye
of God the matter appeared in a totally different light, because, along
with the fall, He beheld the redemption.

Ver. 15. "_And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and
between thy seed and her seed; and it shall bruise thy head, and thou
shalt bruise its heel._" I