“for out of the serpent’s roots will come forth a viper, and its offspring will be a fiery flying serpent”
(Isa 14:29, NKJV)
Three other names for the devil which are used in the Bible do not at first glance link to the names in the list of the previous teaching: Basilisk, Snake/Serpent and Leviathan.
According to Webster’s Dictionary a basilisk is “A fabulous serpent, called a cockatrice, and said to be produced from a cock’s egg brooded by a serpent. The ancients alleged that its hissing would drive away all other serpents, and that its … look was fatal.” A basilisk is thus, like the dragon, a mythical animal of the imagination. It is important to note that he makes a hissing sound, akin to that of a snake. In the original language the word basilisk was derived from the word for king -“According to Pliny, it was named from a crown-like spot on its head”, the International Standard Bible Encyclopedia explains.
The word serpent, as we come across it in a case like that of the garden of Eden (Gen 3) means “a snake (from its hiss): – serpent”. It is derived from the original root word, which means “to hiss, that is, whisper a (magic) spell; generally to prognosticate: – divine, enchanter, (use) enchantment”. The very nature of the snake thus lies in the sound that he makes. Prognosticate means “foreshow, foretell”, with clear undertones of being cursed, fortune telling, and prediction of the future. The hissing-sound is a manifestation of suggestion and imagination.
The devil’s other name is Leviathan. The word is derived from the original root word, which means “to join, be joined, to join oneself to, be joined unto”. Through his activities Leviathan enjoins you, branches his way into your being.
If we combine these three names of Satan, it forms an interesting nuanced image. Satan’s reign and power is executed through an imagined figure which he creates through language, imagination and suggestion. Through your way of thinking he enjoins you with himself, and then uses that to curse your identity, accusing you of matters that had happened in the past, and making you fearful of the future. The world that Satan creates in our way of thinking, is a false construct.
After Satan had seduced man and his wife with a vocabulary of an imagined world: Is that so? (Gen 3:1), Then the serpent said to the woman … (Gen 3:4), and promised her something which did not exist but which she desired, this imagining becomes perhaps the greatest trap for anyone wishing to have a relationship with the living God. It also becomes the greatest impetus behind the manifestation of the Evil one on earth. We read in Gen 6:5 – “Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” In Gen 8:21 Yahweh makes this sketch of man – “the imagination and thought of man’s heart are prone to evil”. This is our fallen state.
- Sela: Ask Yahweh to test your imagination with fire.
- Read: 2 Sam 7-9
- Examine how this has been fulfilled: 2 Sam 7:11, very important for this teaching (Tip: Heb 3:11
& 18)
