It is in man's nature to sin, but man always has a chance to do Teshuva. When Adam and Chava ate the fruit, Hashem asked them what had happened. If they answered honestly, they would have been doing Teshuva. When they lied, Hashem saw that they hadn't done Teshuva and then He punished them. The same with Cain. When he killed his brother, Hashem asked Cain 'were is your brother'. Only after Cain lied did Hashem punish him.
The only character not given a chance to do teshuva is the snake. Since man is created in the image of Hashem, they are able to do Teshuva. The snake, who is just a small creature in nature, was not created in the image of Hashem. He is not given a chance to do Teshuva.
Adding to Emunah's idea about the snake not getting to do Teshuva may be teaching us a lesson saying that things that are smaller than us or have less power are things we shouldn't let them try to order us a round, we, being in the image of Hashem have to prove that we can be what Hashem wants and not be afraid and let things or people take advantage of us.
ReplyDeleteI would like to suggest a different way to understand this. Instead of the snake not being able to ,this idea doesn't make a lot of sense anyway. Animals were not intended to cause problems for man. MAn was intended to care for animals. So, the fact that the snake is trying to trip them up and has the capability to do so bothers me. Why did the snake have such an advanced form of intelligence that it was able to confuse human beings?
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