“The serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field that the Lord God had made. It said to the woman: Did God actually say: You shall not eat of any tree of the garden?” (Genesis 3:1). “The serpent was…cunning” – it is written: “For with great wisdom is great anger, and he who increases knowledge increases pain” (Ecclesiastes 1:18). By increasing wisdom a person increases anger against himself; by increasing knowledge he brings pain upon himself.
Solomon said: Because I increased wisdom for myself I increased anger against myself, and because I increased my knowledge I brought pain upon myself.1It is because Solomon was so wise that he became overconfident and transgressed (see Bamidbar Rabba 10:4). Have you ever heard anyone say: ‘This donkey is afflicted by a cold?’ [Or:] ‘So many inflammations afflict him.’ [Of course not.] Where is suffering found?
It is among human beings.2Who have intelligence. Rav said: A Torah scholar does not require forewarning.3In order to incur liability for sinning. Most people are not punished unless they have been forewarned that they are committing a forbidden act, but the Torah scholar already knows that what he is doing is forbidden. Rabbi Yoḥanan said: It is like fine linen garments that come from Beit She’an; if they get a bit dirty they are ruined [and it is a great loss].
But the linen garments of Arbel, what is their quality, and what is their value?4Being of lower quality, they are not ruined by a little stain, and in any event even if they do get ruined, they do not cost much. Rabbi Yishmael taught: In accordance with the camel, so is its burden.5The stronger the camel, the more weight is placed on it. This is a metaphor for what was said before: The higher one’s status is, the greater one’s liability.
This is the ordinary way of the world: If two people enter a restaurant, and one says: ‘Bring me a piece of roast meat, white bread, and fine wine,’ and the other says: ‘Give me bread and beets.’ This one ]the first man] eats and suffers,6From eating too much rich food. and that one [the second man] eats and does not suffer. The food is too much for this one, but it is not too much for that one. It is taught in the name of Rabbi Meir: The downfall of the serpent was in accordance with its greatness – The more cunning, the more cursed.
Rabbi Hoshaya Rabba said: It [the serpent]7Before it was punished and reduced to its current form. stood erect like a reed, and it had legs. Rabbi Yirmeya ben Elazar said: It was a heretic.8It said blasphemous things about God (Genesis 3:4–5). Rabbi Shimon ben Elazar said: It was like a camel. The world lost a great benefit, as were it not so [that the serpent was punished], man would have been able to send merchandise with it and it would have been able to come and go [by itself].9Due to its superior intelligence.