bible romances.—4.
by g. w. foote.
the christian godhead is usually spoken and written of as a trinity, whereas it is in fact a quaternion, consisting of god the father, god the son, god the holy ghost, and god the devil. the roman catholics add yet another, goddess the virgin mary. god the devil, whom this romance treats of so far as his history is contained in the bible, is popularly supposed to be inferior to the other persons of the godhead. in reality, however, he is vastly their superior both in wisdom and in power. for, whereas they made the world, he has appropriated it almost entirely to himself; and, whereas they who created all its inhabitants, have only been able to lay down a very narrow-gauge railway to the kingdom of heaven, he has contrived to lay down an exceedingly broad-gauge railway to the kingdom of hell. few passengers travel by their route, and its terminus on this side is miserably small; but his route is almost universally patronised, its terminus is magnificent, and there is an extraordinary rush for tickets.
according to the christian scheme, the devil tempted adam and eve from their allegiance to god in the form of a serpent. he played the devil with eve, she played the devil with adam, and together they have played the devil with the whole human race ever since.
but let any unbiassed person read the genesaic story of the fall, and he will certainly discover no reference to the devil a serpent is spoken of as "more subtle than any beast of the field;" it is throughout represented simply as a serpent; and nowhere is there the faintest indication of its possessing any supernatural endowments.
the story of the fall contains clear relics of that tree and serpent worship which in ancient times prevailed so extensively over the east. the serpent was formerly regarded as the symbol of a beneficent god. in hindustan, says maurice, "the veneration of the serpent is evident in every page of their mythologic history, in which every fabulous personage of note is represented as grasping or as environed with a serpent." according to lajard, the word which signifies "life" in the greater part of the semitic languages signifies also "a serpent" and jacob bryant says that the word "ab," which in hebrew means father, has also the same meaning as the egyptian "ob," or "aub," and signifies "a serpent," thus etymologically uniting the two ideas. the tree and the serpent were frequently associated, although they were sometimes worshipped apart. the aryan races of the western world mostly worshipped the tree alone. the scandinavians had their great ash "yggdrasill," whose triple root reaches to the depths of the universe, while its majestic stem overtops the heavens and its branches fill the world. the grecian oracles were delivered from the oak of dodona, and the priests set forth their decrees on its leaves. nutpi or neith, the goddess of divine life, was by the egyptians represented as seated among the branches of the tree of life, in the paradise of osiris. the "hom," the sacred tree of the persians, is spoken of in the zendavesta as the "word of life," and, when consecrated, was partaken of as a sacrament. an oak was the sacred tree of the ancient druids of britain. we inherit their custom of gathering the sacred mistletoe at yule-tide, while in our christmas tree we have a remnant of the old norse tree-worship. during the middle ages the worship of trees was forbidden in france by the ecclesiastical councils, and in england by the laws of canute. a learned antiquary remarks that "the english maypole decked with colored rags and tinsel, and the merry morice-dancers (the gaily decorated may sweeps) with the mysterious and now almost defunct personage, jack-in-the-green, are all but worn-out remnants of the adoration of gods in trees that once were sacred in england."
now the serpent and the tree were originally both symbolic of the generative powers of nature, and they were interchangeable. sometimes one was employed, sometimes the other, and sometimes both. but in that great religious reformation which took place in the faiths of the ancient world about 600 years before the time of christ, the serpent was degraded, and made to stand as a symbol of ahriman, the god of evil, who, in the persic religion, waged incessant war against ormuzd, the god of beneficence. the persian myth of the fall is thus rendered from the zendavesta by kalisch:—
"the first couple, the parents of the human race, meshia and meshiane, lived originally in purity and innocence. perpetual happiness was promised them by ormuzd, the creator of every good gift, if they persevered in their virtue. but an evil demon (dev) was sent to them by ahriman, the representative of everything noxious and sinful. he appeared unexpectedly in the form of a serpent, and gave them the fruit of a wonderful tree, hom, which imparted immortality and had the power of restoring the dead to life. thus evil inclinations entered their hearts; all their moral excellence was destroyed. ahriman himself appeared wider the form of the same reptile, and completed the work of seduction. they acknowledged him instead of ormuzd as the creator of everything good; and the consequence was they forfeited for ever the eternal happiness for which they were destined."
every reader will at once perceive how similar this is to the hebrew story of the fall. the similarity is intelligible when we remember that all the literature of the ancient jews was put into its present form by the learned scribes who returned with the remnant of the people from the babylonish captivity, and who were full of the ideas that obtained in the persian religion as reformed by the traditional zoroaster.
as we have said, the hebrew story of the fall contains clear relics of tree and serpent worship. there is also abundant proof that during the long ages in which the jews oscillated between polytheism and monotheism this worship largely prevailed. even up to the reign of hezekiah, as we find in the second book of kings, the serpent was worshipped in groves, to the great anger of the king, who cast out the idolatry from among his people.
having explained the subject thus, let us now assume with orthodox christians that the serpent in eden was animated by the devil, or was indeed the devil himself incarnate.
we have already observed that the devil excels his three rivals in wisdom and in power. while they were toiling so strenuously to create the world and all that therein is, he quietly stood or sat by as a spectator. "all right," he might have murmured, "work away as hard as you please. you've more strength than sense. my turn will soon come. when the job is finished we shall see to whom all this belongs." when the work was completed and they had pronounced all things good, in stepped the devil, and in the twinkling of an eye rendered imperfect all that they had so labored to create perfect;'turning everything topsy-turvey, seducing the first pair of human beings, sowing the seeds of original sin, and at one stroke securing the wholesale damnation of our race. what were they about, to let him do all this with such consummate ease? surely they must have slept like logs, and thus left the whole game in his hands. he made himself the "prince of this world," although they created it; and if those may laugh who win, he was entitled to roar out his mirth to the shaking of the spheres.
besides being the prince of this world and of the powers of darkness, the devil is described as the father of lies. this, however, is a gross libel on his character. throughout the contest with his rivals he played with perfect fairness. and from genesis to revelation there can be adduced no single instance in which he departs from the strict line of truth. on one occasion when jehovah desired a lying spirit to go forth and prophesy falsely to his people, he found one ready to his hand in heaven and had no need to trouble satan for a messenger. the lord god had told adam, "of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, thow shalt not eat of it; for in the day that thou eatest thereof thow shalt surely die." nay, said the devil, when he began business "ye shall not surely die; for god doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil." every word of his speech was true. instead of dying "in the day" that he ate of the fruit adam lived to the fine old age of nine hundred and thirty years.
and after the "fall" the lord god said, "behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil." the devil's truthfulness is thus amply vindicated.
satan's visit to eve was paid in the form of a serpent. she manifested no astonishment at being accosted by such a creature. it may be that the whole menagerie of eden spoke in the human tongue, and that balaam's ass was only what the biologists would call "a case of reversion" to the primitive type. josephus and most of the fathers conceived of the serpent as having had originally a human voice and legs; so that if he could not have walked about with eve arm in arm, he might at least have accompanied her in a dance. milton, however, discredits the legs, and represents the serpent thus:
"not with indented wave,
prone on the ground, as since, but on his rear,
circular base of rising folds, that towered,
fold above fold, a surging maze, his head
crested aloft, and carbuncle his eyes;
with burnish'd neck of verdant gold, erect
amidst his circling spires, that on the grass
floated redundant."
very splendid! but the doctors differ, and who shall decide? what followed the eating of the forbidden fruit we have dealt with in "eve and the apple." we shall therefore at once come to the curse pronounced upon the serpent "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: and i will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel."
the final portion of this curse is flagrantly mythological among the hindoos, krishna also, as the incarnation of vishnu, is represented now as treading on the bruised head of a conquered serpent, and now as entwined by it, and stung in the heel. in egyptian pictures and sculptures, likewise, the serpent is seen pierced through the head by the spear of the goddess isis. the "enmity" between mankind and the serpent is, however, not universal amongst the zulus the snake is held in great veneration, as their dead ancestors are supposed to reappear in that form; and in ancient times, as we have already observed, serpents were actually worshipped.
the middle portion of the curse has not yet been fulfilled. the serpent lives on more nutritious food than dust. in the zoological gardens the inmates of the serpent-house enjoy a more solid diet the fact is, we have here an oriental superstition. kalisch points out that "the great scantiness of food? on which the serpent can subsist, gave rise to the belief, entertained by many eastern nations, that they eat dust." this belief is referred to in micah vii, 17, isaiah lxv., 25, and elsewhere in the bible. among the indians the serpent is believed to live on wind.
that the serpent "goes" upon its "belly" is, of course, a fact. before the curse it must have moved about in some other way. milton's poetical solution of the difficulty we have already given. during the middle ages those seraphic doctors of theology, who gravely argued how many angels could dance on the point of a needle, speculated also on the serpent's method of locomotion before the "fall." some thought the animal had legs, some that it undulated gracefully on its back, and others that it hopped about on its tail. the ever bold delitzsch decides that "its mode of motion and its form were changed," but closes the controversy by adding, "of the original condition of the serpent it is, certainly, impossible to frame to ourselves a conjecture." all this is mere moonshine. geology, as colenso remarks, shows us that the serpent was the same kind of creature as it is now, in the ages long before man existed on the earth.
why the serpent was cursed at all is a question which no christian can answer. the poor animal was seized, mastered, occupied, and employed by the devil, and was therefore absolutely irresponsible for what occurred. it had committed no offence, and consequently the curse upon it, according to christian doctrine, was a most brutal and wanton outrage.
having done such a splendid stroke of business in eden, the devil retired, quite satisfied that the direction he had given to the affairs of this world was so strong and certain as to obviate the necessity of his personal supervision. fifteen centuries later the human race had grown so corrupt that god (that is, the three persons in one) resolved to drown them all; preserving, however, eight live specimens to repeople the world. how the devil must have laughed again! he knew that noah and his family possessed the seeds of original sin, which they would assuredly transmit to their children, and thus prolong the corruption through all time. short-sighted as ever, jehovah refrained from completing the devastation, after which he might have started afresh. so sure was the devil's grip on god's creation that, a few centuries after the flood, there were not found ten righteous men in the whole city of sodom, and no doubt other cities were almost as bad.
according to the bible, the devil's long spell of rest was broken in the reign of king david, the man after god's own heart, but a very great scoundrel nevertheless. the second book of samuel (xxiv., 1) tells us that "again the anger of the lord was kindled against israel, and he moved david against them to say, go, number israel and judah." now the first book of chronicles (xxi, 1) in relating the same incident says, "and satan stood up against israel, and provoked david to number israel" who shall reconcile this discrepancy? was it god, was it satan, or was it both? imagine david with the celestial and infernal powers whispering the same counsel into either ear! a scotch minister once told us that this difficulty was only apparent. the devil, said he, exercises only a delegated power, and acts only by the express or tacit permission of god; so that it matters not which is said to have provoked david. yes, but what of the consequences? because the king, despite all protests, took a census of his people, the lord sent a destroying angel, who slew by pestilence seventy thousand of them. where, in the whole history of religion, shall we find a viler sample of divine injustice?
besides, if the devil acts in all cases only by god's permission, the latter is responsible for all the former's wrongdoing. the principal, and not the agent, must bear the guilt. and this suggests a curious problem. readers of "robinson crusoe" will remember that when man friday was undergoing a course of theological instruction, he puzzled his master by asking why god did not convert the devil. to his unsophisticated mind it was plain that the conversion of the devil would annihilate sin. robinson crusoe changed the subject to avoid looking foolish, but man friday's question remains in full force. why does not god convert the devil? the great thomas aquinas is reported to have prayed for the devil's conversion through a whole long night. robert burns concludes his "address to the deil" with a wish that he "wad tak a thought an' men'." and sterne, in one of his wonderful strokes of pathos, makes corporal trim say of the devil, "he is damned already, your honor;" whereupon, "i am sorry for it," quoth uncle toby. why, oh why, we repeat, does not god convert the devil, and thus put a stop for ever to the damnation of mankind? why do not the clergy pray without cease for that one object? because they dare not. the devil is their best friend. abolish him, and disestablish hell, and their occupation would be gone. they must stick to their dear devil, as their most precious possession, their stock-in-trade, their talisman of power, without whom they were worse than nothing.
the devil's adventures in the book of job are very amusing. one day there was a drawing-room or levée held in heaven. the sons of god attended, and satan came also among them. he seems to have so closely resembled the rest of the company that only god detected the difference. this is not surprising, for the world has seen some very godly sons of god, so very much like the devil, that if he met one of them in a dark lane by night, he might almost suspect it to be his own ghost. god, who knows everything, as usual asked a number of questions. where had satan been, and what had he been doing? satan replied, like a gentleman of independent means, that he had been going to and fro in the earth, and walking up and down in it. "well," said the lord, "have you observed my servant job? what a good man! perfect and upright i'm proud of him." oh yes, satan had observed him. he keeps a sharp eye on all men. as old bishop latimer said, whatever parson is out of his parish the devil is always in his. "doth job fear god for nought?" said satan. "he is wealthy, prosperous, happy, and respected; you fence him about from evil; but just let trouble come upon him, and he will curse thee to thy face." this was a new view of the subject; the lord had never seen it in this light before. so he determined to make an experiment. with god's sanction satan went forth to afflict job. he despoiled his substance, slaughtered his children, covered him with sore boils from head to foot, and then set on his wife to "nag" him. but job triumphed; he did not curse god, and thus satan was foiled. subsequently job became richer than ever and more renowned, while a fresh family grew up around his knees. "so," say the christians, "all's well that ends well!" not so, however; for there remains uneffaced the murder of job's children, who were hurriedly despatched out of the world in the very midst of their festivity. when the celestial and infernal powers play at conundrums, it is a great pity that they do not solve them up above or down below, and leave the poor denizens of this world free from the havoc of their contention.
in the new testament, as in the old, the devil appears early on the scene. after his baptism in jordan, jesus was "led up of the spirit in the wilderness to be tempted of the devil." when he had fasted forty days and nights he "was afterward hungered." doctor tanner overlooked this. the hunger of jesus only began on the forty-first day. the devil requests jesus to change the stones into bread, but he declines to do so. then he sets him "on a pinnacle of the temple" in jerusalem, and desires him to throw himself down. jesus must have been exceedingly sharp set in that position. meanwhile, where was the devil posted? he could scarcely have craned his neck up so as to hold a confabulation with jesus from the streets, and we must therefore suppose that he was sharp set on another pinnacle. a pretty sight they must have been for the jews down below! that temptation failing, the devil takes jesus "up into an exceeding high mountain, and showeth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them." this is remarkably like seeing round a corner, for however high we go we cannot possibly see the whole surface of a globe at once. "all these things," says satan, "will i give thee if thou wilt fall down and worship me." what a generous devil! they already belonged to jesus, for doth not scripture say the earth is the lord's and the fulness thereof?—a text which should now read "the earth is the landlords' and the emptiness thereof." this temptation also fails, and the devil retires in disgust.
what a pretty farce! our burlesques and pantomimes are nothing to it. satan knew jesus, and jesus knew satan. jesus knew that satan would tempt him, and satan knew that jesus knew it. jesus knew that satan could not succeed, and satan knew so too. yet they kept the farce up night and day, for no one knows how long; and our great milton in his "paradise regained" represents this precious pair arguing all day long, satan retiring after sunset, and jesus lying down hungry, cold and wet, and rising in the morning with damp clothes to renew the discussion.
soon after jesus went into the country of the gergesenes, where he met two fierce men possessed with devils whom he determined to exorcise, the devils (for the devil had grown numerous by then), not liking to be turned adrift on the world, without home or shelter, besought jesus to let them enter the bodies of an herd of swine feeding by. this he graciously permitted. the devils left the men and entered the swine; whereupon the poor pigs, experiencing a novel sensation, never having had devils inside them before, "ran violently down a steep place into the sea, and perished in the waters." whether the devils were drowned with the pigs this veracious history saith not. but the pigs themselves were not paid for. jesus wrought the miracle at other people's expense. and the inhabitants of that part took precisely this view of the case. for "the whole city came out to meet jesus: and when they saw him, they besought him that he would depart out of their coasts." no doubt they reflected that if he remained working miracles of that kind, at the end of a week not a single pig would be left alive in the district. entering in genesis, the devil appropriately makes his exit in revelation. the twelfth chapter of that holy nightmare describes him as "a great red dragon, having seven heads, and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads; and his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth." what a tail! the writer's ideas of size were very chaotic. bringing a third part of the stars of heaven to this earth, is much like trying to lodge a few thousand cannon-balls on the surface of a bullet.
finally the devil is to be "bound for a thousand years" in hell. let us hope the chain will be strong; for if it should break, the pit has no bottom, and the devil would go right through, coming out on the other side to renew his old tricks.
such is the romance of the bible devil. was ever a more ludicrous story palmed off on a credulous world? the very clergy are growing ashamed of it. but there it is, inextricably interwoven with the rest of the "sacred" narrative, so that no skill can remove it without destroying the whole fabric. the devil has been the church's best friend, but he is doomed, and as their fraternal bond cannot be broken, he will drag it down to irretrievable perdition.
