All great questions. I will share the thoughts that I have come up with so far and do so with great humility knowing full well that I might be totally wrong and thus I am just throwing out thoughts and they might just be that and no more. I do, however, appreciate the spirit that CT Russell used in approaching the scriptures, with an open mind, devoid of any pre-conceived ideas, and let the scriptures interpret themselves.
So, my ideas are not meant to trigger or offend anyone, just to offer a fresh perspective and see where it goes.
That been said, here's where I am coming from and what led me to my conclusions: I love all of Jehovah's creation and view it as sacred. I take seriously my duty to be a good steward of this earth and the animal kingdom that has been placed under my care. Therefore, I personally am pained when I read of the animal sacrifices that were required under the Mosaic law and in such great quantities as was done at the inauguration of Solomon's temple.
So I prayed to Jehovah about it and asked him why a God of Love could allow his beautiful creation to be slaughtered in such a way and why? When I see a deer in the mountains (like I did today) it is truly a breath-taking and awe-inspiring moment. They are astounding creatures. I do not think to hunt it like many of my neighbors do.
So I took a second look at a couple of accounts in the scriptures and here's what stood out to me:
Genesis 3:1,
Now the serpent was the most cautious
* (or craftiest, shrewdest) of all the wild animals of the field that Jehovah God had made.
Genesis 1:14-18
14 Then Jehovah God said to the serpent: “Because you have done this, you are the cursed one out of all the domestic animals and out of all the wild animals of the field. On your belly you will go, and you will eat dust all the days of your life. 15 And I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your offspring and her offspring. He will crush your head, and you will strike
* him in the heel.”16 To the woman he said: “I will greatly increase the pain of your pregnancy; in pain you will give birth to children, and your longing will be for your husband, and he will dominate you.”17 And to Adam he said: “Because you listened to your wife’s voice and ate from the tree concerning which I gave you this command,‘You must not eat from it,’ cursed is the ground on your account. In pain you will eat its produce all the days of your life. 18 It will grow thorns and thistles for you, and you must eat the vegetation of the field. 19 In the sweat of your face you will eat bread
* until you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken.For dust you are and to dust you will return.”
Okay, so let's unpack that last grouping: we've always been taught that there are three judgments written there: V. 14, 15--Satan, v.16--Eve, v.17-19--Adam.
What, though, if in actuality, there are actually FOUR people judged here? What if verse 14 applies to the SERPENT just as the verse says, and then verse 15 Jehovah speaks invisibly to SATAN and then on the Eve and Adam? What if verse 14 is to be taken literally that the serpent had to now go on its belly whereas before it crawled with legs or even flew and now it had a new physical limitation?
Evidence for this is found in two ways:
1) Other versions of this Bible verse say this:
New International Version
14 So the Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this,
“Cursed are you
above all livestock
and all wild animals!
(So all the other animals were cursed, but the serpent was ESPECIALLY cursed)
This thought permeates in all other translations that the New World Translation:
New Living Translation
Then the LORD God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, you are cursed more than all animals, domestic and wild. You will crawl on your belly, groveling in the dust as long as you live.
English Standard Version
The LORD God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock and above all beasts of the field; on your belly you shall go, and dust you shall eat all the days of your life.
Berean Standard Bible
So the LORD God said to the serpent: “Because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock and every beast of the field! On your belly will you go, and dust you will eat, all the days of your life.
King James Bible
And the LORD God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou
art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life:
New King James Version
So the LORD God said to the serpent: “Because you have done this, You
are cursed more than all cattle, And more than every beast of the field; On your belly you shall go, And you shall eat dust All the days of your life.
New American Standard Bible
Then the LORD God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, Cursed are you more than all the livestock, And more than any animal of the field; On your belly you shall go, And dust you shall eat All the days of your life;
NASB 1995
The LORD God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, Cursed are you more than all cattle, And more than every beast of the field; On your belly you will go, And dust you will eat All the days of your life;
NASB 1977
And the LORD God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, Cursed are you more than all cattle, And more than every beast of the field; On your belly shall you go, And dust shall you eat All the days of your life;
Legacy Standard Bible
And Yahweh God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, Cursed are you more than any of the cattle, And more than every beast of the field; On your belly you will go, And dust you will eat All the days of your life;
So the implication as that ALL the other animals were also cursed, but the Serpent was especially cursed.
Here's a possible reason WHY:
2)
The Insight on the Scriptures, Volume 2, under the article "Sovereignty", subheading "
A failure to develop love and appreciation", paragraph 2:
As for Eve, the person approached first, she certainly had not appreciated her Creator and God, and she had not taken advantage of her opportunity to know him. She listened to the voice of an inferior, ostensibly the serpent, actually the rebellious angel. The Bible does not allude to any surprise on her part at hearing the serpent talk. It does say that the serpent was “the most cautious of all the wild beasts of the field that Jehovah God had made.” (Ge 3:1) Whether it ate of the forbidden fruit of “the tree of the knowledge of good and bad” and then appeared to be made wise, able to speak, is not stated. The rebellious angel, using the serpent to speak to her, presented (as she supposed) the opportunity to become independent, “to be like God, knowing good and bad,” and succeeded in convincing her that she would not die.—Ge 2:17; 3:4, 5; 2Co 1
1:3.
(continued in next comment since the text is too long)