Is there a talking snake in the Bible?

You may have heard arrogant celebrities or activist atheists such as Bill Maher express sarcastic comments towards Christians about believing in a “talking snake”.  There is an active campaign by activist atheists, to insult and belittle Christians in an attempt to characterize the religion as based on nonsense.  To the contrary, it is the activist atheists who expose their ignorance and lack of intellect when making these types of comments, exhibiting a lack of understanding of Old Testament and New Testament literature.  [Note this picture of Mr. Maher is one of the few times I agreed with some of his statements (along with some about Islam).]

The author of Revelations, even back in 81 to 96 AD when it is estimated Revelations was written, uses metaphor and figure-of-speech when he writes “The huge dragon, the ancient serpent, who is called Devil and Satan, who deceived the whole world, […]” [Revelation, 12:9].  Figure-of-speech (or figurative language) is used to call attention to a reality, or truth, or historical fact, it is not used to explain fiction or fantasy.  In other words, figurative language is used to express a truth more impressively (to get attention).  Again in Revelation, 20:2 the writer exclaims “He seized the dragon, the ancient serpent, which is the Devil or Satan, […]”.  The Bible contains many examples of writers using figurative language to associate animals to people because of a shared character or behavioral trait:

John (the Baptist) referred to Jesus Christ as a lamb, [John 1:29]: “Behold the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.”

[Revelation 5:5]: Jesus is “the lion of the tribe of Judah”

[Genesis 49:9]: “Judah, like a lion’s whelp, […]”

[Genesis 49:17]: “Let Dan be a serpent by the roadside, a horned viper by the path […]”

[2 Timothy 4:17]: “And I was rescued from the lion’s mouth.” [the lion being Nero]

[Luke 13:32]: “Go and tell that fox […]” [the fox being Herod]

In Hebrew the term for serpent can also mean “a shining one”, “fiery serpent”, or “to enchant”, among other meanings.  2 Corinthians 11:2 makes reference to the “serpent”, and in 11:13 and 11:14 when referring to false apostles notes “even Satan masquerades as an angle of light” (i.e. the shining one).  Ezekiel 28:12-13 refers to Satan as being the king of Tyre and identifies his presence in the garden of Eden: “In Eden, the garden of God, you were, […]”.

We cannot believe the first woman, the only “created” woman, would converse with a literal snake or be fascinated and charmed into changing her behavior by a lower life form.  An angel of light, however, possessing charm and supernatural power could easily entice and deceive Eve into bad behavior.  

Therefore since Satan is sneaky and deceiving like a snake (“serpent”), and as dangerous and destructive as a dinosaur (“dragon”), these animals were used to describe him.

Verses 14 and 15 in Genesis 3 tend to confuse the matter since the physical traits of a snake are identified.  “On your belly shall you crawl, and dirt shall you eat” figuratively means having to resort to deceitful unclean (unethical, immoral) behavior or enticement of such behavior, and possibly humiliation at having to do so after having been a glorious angel before being banned by God.

Hypocatastasis is a figure of speech that implies a representation or comparison.  Unlike a metaphor that spells out both elements, hypocatastasis only mentions one and implies the second.  The “serpent” in Genesis [3] is not a “talking snake”, it is the fallen angel known as Satan.