In the hebrew bible, the book of genesis refers to a serpent who triggered the expulsion of adam and eve from the garden in eden. In sending out the twelve, jesus said to them, behold, i send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves. The talking snake should not be confused with satan, as can be seen by gods punishment of snakes for this ones role in the fall genesis 3. Coots continued to handle snakes, he said, because its in the book of matthew. What does it mean to be wise as serpents and harmless as doves matthew 10. Jesus followers are to be bright, insightful, strategic, smart, clever, and wise.
Matthew 10 commentary the bible study new testament. Matthew 23 a warning against hypocrisy 1 then jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples. Do not put the lord your god to the test matthew 4. Christian bible study resources, dictionary, concordance and search tools. First, the practice of handling snakes for the purpose of proving ones faith or proving gods protection is a violation of gods command not to put him to the test. The niv says, shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves. A thorough revision of the highly successful encyclopedia of snakes, chris mattisons new book is the only one of its kind to deal in detail with snakes from around the world. Matthew phillips is the author of everything but snakes 3. Trying to force gods hand by requiring that he perform an obvious miracle is more than foolish.
In other words, we wont stupidly muddle through when opposed. What does it mean to be wise as serpents and harmless as. They were of devilish nature, inherited from their very birth the disposition and character of satan. Declaration of the sentence on these pharisees and their generation. Comprehensive, uptodate, and richly illustrated with some 200 color photographs, the new encyclopedia of snakes is the best singlevolume reference on snakes. In such circumstances, two qualities are not only essential. Learn about the unique purpose of matthew bibleproject. There is no mention of satan in the garden of eden. Just as moses wrote five books of the torah genesisdeuteronomy, so matthew presents five major discourses by jesus.