The Serpent Loses Its Limbs and a Curse That Still Holds Mercy

"Upon your belly you shall go" (Genesis 3:14). At the hour the Holy One, blessed be He, said this to the serpent, the ministering angels came down and cut off its hands and its feet, and its cry went from one end of the world to the other. The serpent thus came to teach about the downfall of Egypt, as it is said, "Her sound shall go like the serpent's" (Jeremiah 46:22), and it turned out itself to be the source from which we learn. The Holy One, blessed be He, said: you caused My creatures to walk on their bellies upon their dead, so you too "upon your belly you shall go." Even the curse of the Holy One, blessed be He, contains a blessing within it. Had the Holy One, blessed be He, not said to it "upon your belly you shall go," how would it have fled to a wall and been saved? "And dust you shall eat" (Genesis 3:14): not dust from every side, but it splits and burrows down until it reaches rock or virgin soil, and there it draws up the sinews of the earth and eats. In the time to come all will be healed except the serpent and the Gibeonites. The serpent, as it is written, "and the serpent, dust shall be its bread" (Isaiah 65:25). The Gibeonites, as it is written, "and those who serve the city shall serve it out of all the tribes of Israel" (Ezekiel 48:19). "To the woman He said" (Genesis 3:16). Rabbi Shmuel bar Nachmani said: any woman who solicits her husband will have children the like of whom did not exist even in the generation of Moses. For in the generation of Moses it is written, "Provide for yourselves men, wise and known" (Deuteronomy 1:13), yet "understanding" men we do not find. But concerning Leah it is written, "To me you shall come in" (Genesis 30:16), and it is written, "of the sons of Issachar, those who knew understanding" (1 Chronicles 12:32). Is that so? But did not Rabbi Yitzchak say: with ten curses was Eve cursed, as it is written, "To the woman He said, I will greatly multiply" (Genesis 3:16), these are the two drops of blood, the blood of menstruation and the blood of virginity; "your toil," this is the trouble of raising children; "and your conception," this is the trouble of pregnancy; "in pain you shall bear children," as its plain sense; "and to your husband shall be your desire," this teaches that a woman longs for her husband at the hour he goes out on the road; "and he shall rule over you," this teaches that the woman demands in her heart while he demands openly, and this is a good trait in women. When I said [she solicits], I meant that she makes herself agreeable before him. These [other curses] number seven. When Rav Dimi came he said: she is wrapped like a mourner, and shut off from all people, and confined in prison. What is this? If you say because she is forbidden seclusion with men not her own, he too is forbidden seclusion with women not his own. Rather, that she is forbidden to two men [in marriage]. It was taught in a baraita: she grows her hair long like Lilith, sits and passes water like an animal, and becomes a bolster for her husband. And the other [tanna holds] these are a credit to her, as Rabbi Chiyya said: what is meant by "who teaches us from the beasts of the earth" (Job 35:11)? This is the mule, which kneels and passes water.