Monday, February 12 Jehovah God said to the serpent: “Because you have done this, you are the cursed one.”​—Gen. 3:14.

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Monday, February 12

Jehovah God said to the serpent: “Because you have done this, you are the cursed one.”—Gen. 3:14.

 

The characters in the account recorded at Genesis 3:14, 15 include a “serpent” and the “offspring” of the serpent. A literal snake could not have understood what Jehovah said in the garden of Eden. So the object of Jehovah’s judgment must have been an intelligent creature. Who? Revelation 12:9 leaves no doubt on this matter. There “the original serpent” is clearly identified as Satan the Devil. When the Bible speaks of offspring in a figurative sense, it is referring to those who think and act like their symbolic father. So the offspring of the serpent is made up of spirit creatures and humans who, like Satan, resist Jehovah God and oppose His people. That would include the angels who abandoned their assignments in heaven in Noah’s day as well as wicked humans who behave like their father the Devil.—Gen. 6:1, 2; John 8:44;1 John 5:19; Jude 6. w22.07 14-15 ¶4-5