Interesting topic. Good question.
I've always taken this to simply mean..."the serpent". (i.e a snake in the grass) Yes it was Satan, but also it was a "serpent".
Have you ever met a woman who liked snakes? I suppose there are some, but I would guess they are a small minority.
2 Cor 11:3; Rev 12:9; Rev 12:14-15; Rev 20:2;
On the other hand... it seems that Satan was created, not a creator. Yet there are those called his children... and it seems he is called their father.
John 8:41 "You are doing the deeds of your father." They said to Him, "We were not born of fornication; we have one Father: God."
John 8:42 Jesus said to them, "If God were your Father, you would love Me, for I proceeded forth and have come from God, for I have not even come on My own initiative, but He sent Me.
John 8:43 "Why do you not understand what I am saying? It is because you cannot hear My word.
John 8:44 "You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies.
Matt 23:13; "But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you shut off the kingdom of heaven from people; for you do not enter in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in.
Matt 23:14; ["Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you devour widows' houses, and for a pretense you make long prayers; therefore you will receive greater condemnation.]
Matt 23:15; "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you travel around on sea and land to make one proselyte; and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves.
