B'NAI NACHASH = SONS OF THE SERPENT PART 3

The word nachash is a very elastic term in Hebrew. It can function as a noun, a verb, or an adjective. When nachash functions as a noun it means “snake,” and so the traditional translation is possible—but it yields the contradiction with Ezekiel 28 and Isaiah 14 noted above.4 When nachash serves as a verb it means “to practice divination.”5 That meaning could also be possible in Genesis 3 due to the deception or going on—Lucifer claiming to have the “real” word from God. When a verb receives an article attached to it, the action of the verb is then transformed into a person doing the action. Hence the word ha-nachash would then best be translated “the diviner.” The third option—the adjectival meaning of nachash—is the solution to the contradiction problem. When nachash serves as an adjective, it's meaning is “shining bronze” or “polished” (as in “shiny”). By adding the definite article to the word, ha-nachash would then quite easily mean “the shining one.” Angelic or divine beings are elsewhere described in the Bible as “shining” or luminous, at times with this very word, nachash.6 We often don't think about how common this vocabulary of “shining brilliance” is for angels and other divine beings. The Bible abounds with descriptions of such beings as “flashing” or “as lightning,” or uses the brilliance of jewels to describe the blazing
appearance of such beings. This has important ramifications for solving the “snake” problem.