In the Bible I find far greater meaning behind what happened with the snake compared to the Gilgamesh snake story. Within the text of Genesis you can see God's great plan already starting to form. No trace of a plan is found within the Gilgamesh epic at least that I can see; please tell me if there is one. .
Man fell. But God had a plan, a great plan, which was redemption. God assumed the liabilities of man's transgressions and redeemed him from Satan's dominion. God had a plan to give life back to man. God's plan allowed man's nature to be changed back into harmony with God's nature. God could not ignore man's transgressions. Justice demanded that the penalty for man's crime be paid, but man himself was unable to pay it. Therefore, because man couldn't save himself, God had to provide a Redeemer. Recall in Genesis where it states, "I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will strike your head, and you will strike his heel." (Gen. 3:15) I prefer the KJV where they use the word bruise instead of strike. I think it has far greater meaning within it and I think this is the word that was chosen to be used in this text. No sooner had man fallen under the dominion of his enemy, Satan, than God began to speak forth His plan concerning a Coming One. This One, the seed of the woman (for it was prophesied that a woman would give birth to a child independent of natural generation) would break Satan's dominion over man! This One would set man free! This One would bruise the head of the serpent. The reason I like the word choice bruise instead of strike is because I have heard that in some Oriental languages, "bruising the head" means breaking the lordship of a ruler. When God spoke those words to Satan in Genesis 3:15, Satan had just come into the dominion meant to belong to man. But god spoke forth that this wonderful Seed of woman would come to break Satan's lordship.