Chronological timeline of texts tagged with Universal Animal Speech
About This Tag
Many Second Temple Jewish texts suggest that the snake in the Garden of Eden could speak not because it was unique or supernatural, but because all animals were originally able to speak the same universal language as humans. The idea appears in works like Jubilees, Philo, and Josephus, which describe a time before the loss of animal speech.
Note: Dates shown in this timeline are approximate and based on scholarly estimates.
Back to TagGenesis 3:1 / LXX Genesis 3:1
750–400 BCE
Genesis 3:1
Hebrew Bible
1 Now the serpent was shrewder than any of the wild animals that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Is it really true that God said, ‘You must not eat from any tree of the orchard’?” 2 The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit from the trees of the orchard; 3 but concerning the fruit of the tree that is in the middle of the orchard God said, ‘You must not eat from it, and you must not touch it, or else you will die.’”
300–201 BCE
LXX Genesis 3:1
Septuagint
1 Now the serpent was the wisest of all the brutes on the earth, which the Lord God made, and the serpent said to the woman, Why has God said, Do not eat of every tree of the garden? 2 And the woman said to the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden, 3 but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God said, You shall not eat of it, neither shall you touch it, for fear that you might die.
170–125 BCE
Jubilees 3:28
Pseudepigrapha
27 And on that day on which Adam went forth from the Garden, he offered as a sweet savour an offering, frankincense, galbanum, and stacte, and spices in the morning with the rising of the sun from the day when he covered his shame. 28 And on that day the mouth of all beasts, and of cattle, and of birds, and of whatever walks, and of whatever moves, was closed, so that they could no longer speak: for they had all spoken one with another with one lip and with one tongue. 29 And He sent out of the Garden of Eden all flesh that was in the Garden of Eden, and all flesh was scattered according to its kinds, and according to its types to the places which had been created for them. 30 And to Adam alone He gave (the wherewithal) to cover his shame, of all the beasts and cattle.
93–94 CE
Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews 1.40
Classical
4 God therefore commanded that Adam and his wife could eat from all the rest of the plants, but should avoid the Tree of Knowledge; and foretold that if they touched it, it would lead to their destruction. But while all the living creatures had one language at that time, the serpent, which then lived together with Adam and his wife, showed an envious disposition at his assumption of their living happily and in obedience to God’s commands. And thinking that if they disobeyed them, they would fall into misery, he persuaded the woman, out of a malicious intention, to taste the Tree of Knowledge, telling them that in that tree was the Knowledge of Good and Evil; and that when they obtained it, they would lead a happy life, indeed a life not inferior to that of a God.
170–125 BCE
Jubilees 3:28
Pseudepigrapha
27 And on that day on which Adam went forth from the Garden, he offered as a sweet savour an offering, frankincense, galbanum, and stacte, and spices in the morning with the rising of the sun from the day when he covered his shame. 28 And on that day the mouth of all beasts, and of cattle, and of birds, and of whatever walks, and of whatever moves, was closed, so that they could no longer speak: for they had all spoken one with another with one lip and with one tongue. 29 And He sent out of the Garden of Eden all flesh that was in the Garden of Eden, and all flesh was scattered according to its kinds, and according to its types to the places which had been created for them. 30 And to Adam alone He gave (the wherewithal) to cover his shame, of all the beasts and cattle.
20–50 CE
Philo, On the Creation 156
Classical
So, having laid these down as boundaries, so to speak, in the soul, God then, like a judge, began to consider which side men would naturally incline to most. And when he saw that the disposition of man tended toward wickedness and was only slightly inclined to holiness or piety, the qualities by which an immortal life is secured, he drove them out, as was only natural, and banished him from paradise, giving no hope of any later restoration to his soul, which had sinned so desperately and irremediably. For even the occasion of the deceit was highly blameworthy, and I must not pass over it here. It is said that the serpent, the ancient poisonous and earthborn reptile, spoke with the voice of a man. Once, coming to the wife of the first created man, he reproached her for her slowness and excessive prudence in delaying and hesitating to pick the fruit, which was completely beautiful to look at, exceedingly sweet to enjoy, and also most useful as a means by which men could distinguish between good and evil. And she, without any inquiry, prompted by an unstable and rash mind, agreed to his advice, ate of the fruit and gave some of it to her husband. This conduct suddenly changed both of them from innocence and simplicity of character to every kind of wickedness, and the Father of all was indignant at it. For their actions deserved his anger, since they passed by the tree of eternal life, the tree that could have given them perfect virtue and through which they could have enjoyed a long and happy life, and preferred a brief and mortal (I will not call it life, but) time full of unhappiness; and so he assigned them a fitting punishment.