(123) But this I must needs say, that Moses has written very rightly, though the true understanding or meaning, out of what the earth proceeded, remained hidden to Moses, and to them that have come after him in the letter, for the spirit has kept it hidden to this very time.

(20) And in one place, Moses writes, "He made the devil a serpent those whom he has in his generation." Also, in the book which is called "Exodus," it is written thus: "He contended against the magicians, when the place was full of serpents according to their wickedness; and the rod which was in the hand of Moses became a serpent, (and) it swallowed the serpents of the magicians."

(3) And God cursed the serpent, and was wroth with it for ever. . . .

(6) But the spirit in Moses meaneth here quite another sort of water, which the devil can neither understand nor comprehend: But if it should have been declared so long a time ago, then the devil would have learned it from man, and had without doubt strowed his hellish chaff also into it.

(2) This description sheweth once more that the dear man Moses was not the original author thereof; for it is written very obscurely and baldly, though indeed it has a very excellent understanding and meaning.

(45) The serpent is true to the principle of wisdom, for it tempts man to the knowledge of himself. Therefore the knowledge of self resulted from man's disobedience to the Demiurgus, Jehovah. How the serpent came to be in the garden of the Lord after God had declared that all creatures which He had made during the six days of creation were good has not been satisfactorily answered by the interpreters of Scripture. The tree that grows in the midst of the garden is the spinal fire; the knowledge of the use of that spinal fire is the gift of the great serpent. Notwithstanding statements to the contrary, the serpent is the symbol and prototype of the Universal Savior, who redeems the worlds by giving creation the knowledge of itself and the realization of good and evil. If this be not so, why did Moses raise a brazen serpent upon a cross in the wilderness that all who looked upon it might be saved from the sting of the lesser snakes? Was not the brazen serpent a prophecy of the crucified Man to come? If the serpent be only a thing of evil, why did Christ instruct His disciples to be as wise as serpents?

(1) ALTHOUGH in the writings of Moses the spirit has kept the deepest mysteries secret, hidden and concealed in the letter, yet all is so very regularly described that there is no defect at all in the order thereof.