Genesis 3:1: The Serpent.

"Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made."

The Hebrew word here translated as serpent is "naw-khawsh" which does mean serpent. However, its root gives us a better understanding who our advisary is and how he works. Its root meaning is to whisper a spell. This is interesting because this is how he operates. He is constantly whispering into our inner conscience and attempting to persuade us into disobedience.

As a side note, in Samarian, "naw-khawsh" is "cachash" which means a liar or deceiver".

How does he know what to say? A further look, at what his name means, tells us that he learns by experience by diligently observing. He doesn't miss a lick. He and his cohorts know you better than the people around you. Therefore, when you see serpent here in chapter three, it means that Satan is very slick in how he does his job.

A great example of this is a snake charmer. He gets you so mesmerized on something that you don't see what his next step is until it's too late. That's why your best defense is not taking your eyes off of G-d.

He is "more subtle than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made." The word "awroom" translated here as subtle means cunning. And the phrase, "khahee min-nay kole saw-deh" translated here as "beast of the field" means "all of the living on earth". The first part of this verse means that Satan is more cunning than any of G-ds creation. Unfortunately, as we are about to see, he is very successful when he first tempts Eve.

"And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?"

One thing you can take to the bank is the fact that, above all things, Satan is consistent. His methods haven't changed for thousands of years. He certainly has fine tuned his skills but he hasn't changed his tactics. He tempts us with the same garbage he first tempted Eve. I guarantee the first thing that Satan and his cohorts says to us is the same thing he said to Eve. Did G-d really mean it that way? Couldn't he have meant it this or that way? The sad thing is that it works.

The front line defense for us is to follow the example of those in the U.S. Treasury Department. They tell their employees not to study the different counterfeiters and their methods but to study the real thing. Get to know it inside and out. That what G-ds Word says. We are to study and know G-ds Word as our own. That way, when Satan comes along and asks, "Did G-d really mean it that way?", we can say without a doubt, Yes he did. And tell Satan the same thing that Y'shua said to him when confronted him through Peter.

Get behind me Satan.