There are legs, and then there are legs.
The Instruction
Watchtower’s Governing Body encourages Jehovah’s Witnesses to imagine biblical events by visualizing the scenes as they read them.[1]
The Scene
For decades Watchtower taught that both Eve and the snake in Eden had legs.[2-4]
The Reaction
As you can imagine, these legs stirred quite a bit of imagination, if not outright fantasy. In fact, in 1961 Watchtower actually published an article expressly for the purpose of explaining that, though it was understood that Eve had legs, it was also reasonable to visualize legs on snakes.[5]
Particularly adolescent boys have quite vivid imaginations, and they love things like snakes and whatever. Many a pastime of Witness boys was spent imagining those legs in Eden.
But sometimes imagination gets a little liberal, and we have to get things back in hand.
In 2007 Watchtower informed the community of Jehovah’s Witnesses that, after all that imagination, the serpent in Eden did not necessarily have legs.[6] Fortunately, this did not completely spoil the long-held imagined view of the biblical event of Eve and the serpent. As it turns out, Eve did have legs.
So, apparently all that imagination of legs in Eden—perfect legs mind you—was not a complete waste of time and energy.
Marvin Shilmer
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References:
1. “…visualize the scenes you read in the Bible…”—(The Watchtower, February 1, 2010, p. 29)
2. Riches, published by Watchtower, 1936, p. 163.
3. The Truth Shall Make You Free, published by Watchtower, 1943, p. 89.
4. New Heavens and a New Earth, published by Watchtower, 1953, p. 81
5. “It, therefore, is reasonable to conclude that before God cursed it the serpent possessed legs that elevated it above the ground.”—(The Watchtower, June 1, 1964, p. 352.
6. “…we need not necessarily conclude that prior to this curse, serpents had legs.”—(The Watchtower, June 15, 2007, p. 31)
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