Get ready, because the answer might surprise you.
Our source today is "The Midrash of Philo," a fascinating, often overlooked text. Here, we find a unique take on the serpent in the Garden of Eden, and his infamous temptation of Eve. The serpent, you see, uses the plural word "gods" when addressing Eve, even though there is only one true God. Why? What's the deal?
Now, you might think this is a minor detail, a simple grammatical choice. But according to the Midrash of Philo, it's anything but. The text suggests that the serpent, in his cunning, possessed a "prescient wisdom." He foresaw the future, a future where the belief in multiple gods would become widespread among humanity. Think about that for a moment. The very notion of polytheism, of numerous deities, is first uttered not by a sage, not by a prophet, but by the most "virulent and vile of beasts."
Isn't that a powerful image? The idea of multiple gods, according to this midrash, isn't rooted in reason or divine inspiration, but in the primal, earthly realm of serpents and creatures lurking in the shadows. The text even states that it is "the inseparable sign of a being endowed with reason to look upon God as essentially one being, but it is the mark of a beast to imagine that there are many gods."
But the serpent's deception doesn't stop there. He speaks with "great art," the midrash tells us. He doesn't just promise knowledge of good and evil; he omits the crucial part: God's approval of good and rejection of evil. The serpent only mentions the mere knowledge of these opposing forces, conveniently leaving out God's moral judgment.
And again, the use of the plural "as gods" is not accidental. It hints at the existence of both a "bad and a good God," a duality that further complicates the concept of the divine. This idea of particular gods having knowledge of contrary things contrasts sharply with the Supreme Cause, which transcends all others.
So, what does all this mean? Why does this Midrash focus on the serpent's choice of words? Perhaps it’s suggesting that the belief in multiple gods, in its essence, is a distortion of the true nature of the divine. It's a primal, instinctual understanding of the world, devoid of true reason and moral guidance. It’s a concept born from the shadows, whispered by a serpent, and ultimately, a deviation from the path of monotheism.
It makes you wonder, doesn't it? How deeply ingrained are these ancient ideas in our understanding of divinity? And how much does the language we use shape our perception of the sacred?