_Yet now the Serpent was more subtil than any __beast of the field which the Lord God had made_.—Many instances are given of the subtilty of Serpents, in hiding their heads when struck at; rolling themselves up; stopping their ear at the voice of the charmer; putting off their skin; lying in sand of the same colour as themselves; biting the feet of horses; and many such things. But it does not appear now to be more subtil than many other creatures, whatever it might be when first created.—The words therefore may be rendered, _That Serpent_, _that particular Serpent_, was made more subtil than any beast of the field—not naturally, but through Satan being in it; for though a real Serpent, yet not that only, but as possessed and used by Satan, as an instrument of his, to accomplish his designs, as evident from its having the faculty of speech and the use of reason, employed in a very artful and sophistic manner. Nor is it rational to suppose that human nature, in the height of its glory and excellency, should be out-witted by a creature so inferior to it. The Scripture always alledges the fall of man to the seduction of the Devil, who, on that account, is called the Serpent, the old Serpent, the Devil and Satan. _He said unto the Woman_. She being alone, he took the advantage of it—not the Serpent, but Satan in it, just as the Angel spoke in _Balaam’s_ Ass. It is very probable that good Angels appeared in Paradise to our first Parents, in one form or another, and conversed with them—it may be in human forms, and it may be in the form of a beautiful flying Serpent, which looked very bright and shining, and that sort called the Seraph. Hence angels bear the name of Seraphim, as some have thought; so that it might not be at all surprising to Eve to hear the Serpent speak, it being what she might have been used to hear, and might take it to be a good angel sent to her with a message from God. Good Matthew Henry remarks upon the Passage, that the Devil chose to act his part in a Serpent, because it is a specious creature, has a spotted dappled skin, and then went erect. Perhaps it was a flying Serpent, which seemed to come as a messenger from the upper world—one of the Seraphim, for the fiery Serpents were flying—_Isaiah_ xv, 29. Many a gay temptation comes to us in fine colours, which are but skin deep, and appears to come from above, for Satan can seem an angel of light.