and man himself; and possibly also some angels who minister on earth. God alone seems to be excluded from this comparison, as the Creator of all; for the comparison is urged in the fullest and widest sense, asserting that this “Serpent was the most intelligent among all living beings on the earth which the Lord God has made.” That this important extension of the comparison is correct, is confirmed by the wording of ver. 13 in this same chapter. Here the serpent is declared accursed “above all beasts” (בְהֶמָה,
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