Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, "Did God really say, 'You must not eat from any tree in the garden'?" (Gen. 3:1.)
Some commentators believe that Satan merely appeared to Eve as a serpent, or that he possesed a poor creature with no say in the matter--but why then was the species cursed?
According to some Jewish legends, the animals of Eden could both speak and reason.
The serpent:
was not only the most subtle of all animals, but also very similar to man, for it had been endowed with hands and legs like him (Gen. R. xix. 1). And Satan spoke to the serpent: "Be my instrument, and through thy mouth will I utter a word which shall enable thee to seduce man" (Pirke R. El. xiii.). After some pleading the serpent succeeded in persuading Eve to eat of the forbidden fruit of the tree of knowledge—a fig-tree (Gen. R. xv. 7)—which the serpent had shaken for her (Ab. R. N. i. 4, ed. Schechter).
If this is true, the serpent was a willing instrument of Satan, and this would explain why the species is so closely identified with him:
So the LORD God said to the serpent, "Because you have done this, "Cursed are you above all the livestock and all the wild animals! You will crawl on your belly and you will eat dust all the days of your life. (Heb. "all the days of your lives"--Gen. 3:14.)
And it came to pass in our going on to prayer, a certain maid, having a spirit of Python, did meet us, who brought much employment to her masters by soothsaying, she having followed Paul and us, was crying, saying, `These men are servants of the Most High God, who declare to us a way of salvation;' and this she was doing for many days, but Paul having been grieved, and having turned, said to the spirit, `I command thee, in the name of Jesus Christ, to come forth from her;' and it came forth the same hour. (Acts 16:16-18, Young's Literal Translation.)
And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years (Rev. 12:20.)
Adam was to have dominion over the animals--to rule over them for their own good, but Satan used an animal to gain domion over man, and all creation again fell (as I believe it did when Satan first led the angels into sin--see The Forgotten Teachings of the Post Apostolic Church.)
According to the apocryphal legend contained in the Book of Jubilees:
...on that day was closed the mouth of all beasts, and of cattle, and of birds, and of whatever walks, and of whatever moves, so that they could no longer speak: for they had all spoken one with another with one lip and with one tongue. And He sent out of the Garden of Eden all flesh that was in the Garden of Eden, and all flesh was scattered according to its kinds, and according to its types unto the places which had been created for them.
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