Genesis 3:14-15

“Because you have done this,
you are cursed above all livestock,
and above every animal of the field.
On your belly you shall go,
and you shall eat dust all the days of your life.
I will put enmity between you and the woman,
and between your offspring and her offspring.
He will bruise your head,
and you will bruise his heel.”

In cursing the serpent, God was actually cursing Satan. If we go to the very last book of the Bible, it is explained in very certain terms:

Revelation 12:9 :

The great dragon was thrown down, the old serpent, he who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world. He was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.

We know that it was Satan who was occupying the serpent and that it wasn’t actually an animal that deserved to be cursed. It does sound like God changed the bodies of serpents, though. I would not be too surprised if serpents used to fly and talk. I am sure I sound pretty strange right now, but, it doesn’t seem so strange when you watch movies today. I think that we all know in our minds that this could happen. We know that what God said here did happen because God said it did.

This curse shows us something amazing about God. Even though God was cursing Satan, He was loving mankind. This is perhaps the first glimpse of God’s grace! God made a promise that someday the offspring of the woman would harm the serpent’s head and that the serpent would only harm this man’s foot.

The Bible also tells us what this means when this was written about Jesus:

Hebrews 2:14-16 :

Since then the children have shared in flesh and blood, he also himself in the same way partook of the same, that through death he might bring to nothing him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and might deliver all of them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. For most certainly, he doesn’t give help to angels, but he gives help to the seed of Abraham.