The Serpent

Daniel, you're a beast! Good questions!!! This shows your committment to this process, and I am inspired by the depth of your inquiry. I will try to wrestle with each of your questions.
First, the Serpent. When I read about the Serpent in the beginning of chapter three, I am immediately caught off guard. It seems and feels fantastical. A talking snake! I think it is important to note that the Serpent not only speaks, as opposed to a talking parrot, but appears to be sentient and capable of reasoning. Simply put, the Serpent is intelligent. The notion of a Serpent with human-like cognitive ability is disturbing, and certainly challenges my reading of the text. I feel as though I have entered a parable or an Aesop fable. It is difficult to take this literally.
I immediately ask myself: What does the existence of the Serpent tell me about God? It remains to be seen whether the God of Genesis is in fact omnipotent and omniscient. I admit, I come to the text wanting to believe these things about God....but the Serpent, in a way, also instills doubt into the reader about the nature of God. Chapter 3 begins by saying that "the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made." The implication here is that God made the serpent more cunning. In this context, it seems to refer to "the serpent" in plural. It's crazy to think of all these crafty, sneaky little snakes running amuck in the Garden of Eden. but we are then immediately introduced to one serpent in particular. The word "cunning" is peculiar, especially if we believe that God made the Serpent so. At this point, we could certainly raise questions about the inteligence of animals before the Fall. Was this Serpent the only talking, reasoning animal in the Garden??
Finally, if God made the Serpent more cunning, why does being "cunning" mean questioning God's authority....and does it have to mean this necessarily? What were the Serpent's intentions? And where did those intentions come from? and why do the Serpent's intentions seem subversive?
Adam and Eve seem like pawns in this entire scenario. If God made all things good, what reason would they have to not trust the Serpent? Why does God create a cunning creature that is in the business of royaly fucking things up?? This also raises the question of free will? The Serpent seems to be a free agent, scheming against God and humanity? But why and how? This is a mystery.

raj