We get more information from the Moses account compared with the Genesis account regarding Adam, Eve, and Lucifer in the Garden of Eden. However, careful study of the Genesis account can draw similar conclusions, although some parts are missing from the Genesis account.
We will start with Genesis chapter 3, where a “serpent” appears in the Garden. By reading the account in Moses 4, we already know that the serpent is Satan, but let’s dig out some of the symbolism.
Jewish tradition held that the serpent was originally the most beautiful of God’s creations. The Midrash, used to discover hidden meanings and bits of wisdom from the Bible, portrays the serpent in the Garden of Eden much different than the crawling, despised creature it became after the Fall. It was portrayed more as a magnificent, intelligent, and upright creature having wings and an appearance that resembled shiny gold. The brilliant, luminous appearance would match the Hebrew origin of the word Lucifer, which means “light bearer.”
The symbol of a serpent was also used to represent Jesus Christ. Moses made a “fiery serpent” and set it on a pole. Those who looked upon the brazen serpent were healed from the bites of poisonous serpents. Thus, we can look to God and live! (see Numbers 21:8-9; 1 Nephi 17:41; Alma 37:47). As Lucifer spoke “by the mouth of the serpent,” (Moses 4:7) he attempted to usurp Christ’s authority.
The Hebrew word for serpent in Genesis 3 is nachash, but there is another word for serpent used in other Old Testament passages. The Hebrew word saraph appears as seraphims in Isaiah 6, where he receives his calling as a prophet. The Hebrew word saraph means “fiery serpent.” But these seraphim are majestic beings surrounding the throne of God in a divine council setting. They have wings, hands, faces, and they speak. They appear to be like the ancient Jewish concept of the original serpent before the Fall and its subsequent curse.
Isaiah 6 introduces the Hebrew word and concept of a cowd (pronounced sode), or a divine, heavenly council or assembly. The Hebrew word cowd is translated as assembly in Psalm 89:7: “God is greatly to be feared in the assembly of the saints, and to be had in reverence of all them that are about him.” The entire phrase of “them that are about him” is the single Hebrew word cabiyb, which means “circuit or circle.” It would be like the theophany experienced by Lehi with “God sitting upon his throne, surrounded with numberless concourses of angels in the attitude of singing and praising their God” (1 Nephi 1:8).
Isaiah 6 is a divine council theophany scene where heaven is going to be intervening with earth. The seraphim are symbolic members of the heavenly assembly. The council comes together to fix a “great forsaking” of covenant Israel (Isaiah 6:12). They need a messenger to go down and remedy this problem. The question is posed: “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Isaiah answers the call saying, “Here am I; send me.” (Isaiah 6:8). This is the formula for a messenger.
In Moses 4:1, Lucifer makes a similar plea: “Behold, here am I, send me, I will be thy son, and I will redeem all mankind, that one soul shall not be lost, and surely I will do it; wherefore give me thine honor.” The first-person pronouns repeated six times reveals his motives. By contrast, Jehovah said, “Father, thy will be done, and the glory be thine forever” (Moses 4:2). We can falsely read this as if the Father was thinking, “Hmm . . . what shall I do here?” But this verse makes it clear that Jehovah was “Chosen from the beginning.”
The concept of a divine council (cowd) is affiliated with how to detect true messengers, or those sent from the council. In Jeremiah 23, there is a test to determine true prophets or true messengers from God:
“For who hath stood in the counsel of the Lord, and hath perceived and heard his word? who hath marked his word, and heard it?”
“I have not sent these prophets, yet they ran: I have not spoken to them, yet they prophesied. But if they had stood in my counsel, and had caused my people to hear my words, then they should have turned them from their evil way, and from the evil of their doings.” (Jeremiah 23: 18, 21-22)
Here we see a King James translation shortcoming. The word counsel in this verse is cowd, so it should be council (not counsel). The definition of cowd is a council, assembly, or circle of familiar friends. They are familiar friends who you should be able to trust.
Conclusion: The symbolism of a pre-Fall serpent is not that of a snake. Snakes don’t have wings, faces, or legs. The original serpent was a beautiful being, who stood upright in the presence of God. The seraphim were symbolic members of a premortal divine council. Lucifer was “an angel of God who was in authority in the presence of God, who rebelled against the Only Begotten Son whom the Father loved and who was in the bosom of the Father, (and) was thrust down from the presence of God and the Son” (D&C 76:25). He used the symbolism of the serpent in an attempt to usurp Christ’s authority and to deceive using his previous, but now lost, authority held by members of God’s divine council.
He became Satan. He became a snake. He lost his legs—the ability to stand in the presence of God. He lost his wings, a major source of power, and was relegated to an earthy underworld where he could only crawl on his belly.
If he ever tempts you, remember, he doesn’t have a leg to stand on.
