Editorial April 23, 1960 Issue

HANDLING SERPENTS

Ralph E. Wagers

Human thought has long been accustomed to dealing with symbols and has become quite proficient in looking behind a particular symbol to see what it represents. Courage is symbolized by the lion. The cross has become the symbol of Christianity, and so on. In common with most others our language abounds in symbols and would be less descriptive, and certainly less interesting, without them.

In the Bible, evil is symbolized by the serpent. Jacob likened his son Dan to "a serpent by the way, an adder in the path, that biteth the horse heels, so that his rider shall fall backward" (Gen. 49:17). The horse or the rider, not the serpent, would be blamed for the difficulty. The serpent's subtle and ofttimes hidden ways of demoralizing men is referred to in Christian Science as animal magnetism. So Dan symbolizes animal magnetism.

Jesus spoke of taking up serpents. He indicated that this would be one of the signs that would characterize "them that believe," that is, those who understand the power of Christ, Truth, sufficiently to overcome deception, cast out devils, speak with new tongues, and heal the sick (see Mark 16:17, 18).

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