Why do people think the serpent in genesis was 'the devil'?

In Genesis, the serpent tempts Eve. Nothing in the book suggests that the serpent was 'the devil' in disguise, nor does it imply 'the devil' was controlling the serpent. Further, when it was all over, God punished the serpent and it's offspring to...

crawl on their bellies and 'eat dust' - which would obviously make no sense if it was really the devil in disguise.

Why then, when the story clearly states it was a serpent, and never makes any mention of Satan or any devil, do so many people equate the serpent with 'the devil'?

neal, in Job, Satan asks God for permission to test Job, and God gives it. That hardly sounds like the behavior of two enemies. Satan (literally 'the adversary') is the adversary of MEN in the OT, including in Job, not the adversary of God.

Gnostics believe the serpent was prometheus. We are all enslaved in this shadow world by the demiurge=Yahweh, Satan is his "hatchetman." The Kingdom of God inside us as the remnant of the Light Universe carried here by Adam. Jesus as the Melchizedek who came to remind us why we are here. To spread the light.

I'm certain the truth lends itself to those who truly seek it, and these ancient texts were meant to guide the way, but the machinations of man has intervened somewhere between then and now, and we are left to our own devices to decipher what they were telling us.

Saint said: "The Serpent was not Satan at all it was Lilith. The estranged first wife of Adam that would not submit as he wanted and so she left. God cursed her to become the mother of Demons. Lilith came back to the Eden valley and found a way into the garden. She found Eve and tempted her with carnal knowledge, then when she was satisfied that Eve had an understanding of sex she told her to seek out Adam. When Eve performed sex with Adam he was suddenly aware of a use for his genitals that he had not known before. When God came to Adam and asked him why he was ashamed of his nakedness, Adam told God the reason. In his anger that his prized creations had been tainted he cast them out of the Garden and pushed them out of the Eden Valley. He sent the Angel Gabriel to find and destroy Lilith yet she was unable to locate her."

HOW IN THE WORLD DID YOU EVER COME UP WITH THIS CONVOLUTED STORY???

ACCORDING TO THE BIBLE THIS NEVER HAPPENED.