Genesis 3:15 promise of Satan's defeat

JESUS WAS HEAD-CRUSHER OF SATAN
EDITED BY GLENN PEASE
Genesis 3:15 15And I will put enmity between you and
the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he
will crush your head, and you will strike his heel."
BIBLEHUB RESOURCES
The DoomOf SatanAnd The Hope Of Man
Genesis 3:14, 15
W. Roberts
I. THE DOOM OF DEGRADATION (ver. 14).
II. THE DOOM OF HOSTILITY (ver. 15). Three stages:-
1. The enmity.
2. The conflict.
3. The victory. Lessons:-
1. See the wondrous mercy of God in proclaiming from the first day of sin,
and putting into the forefront, a purpose of salvation.
2. Have we recognizedit to the overcoming of the devil? - W.

Biblical Illustrator
I will put enmity betweenthee and the woman.
Genesis 3:15
The believer's conflict with Satan
R. P. Buddicom, M. A.
I. THAT THERE IS A CONTINUAL CONFLICT BETWEENSATAN AND
EVERY BELIEVER IN JESUS CHRIST, WHOM HE REPRESENTEDIN
THE FIRST PROMISE, ACCORDING TO THE PURPOSE AND GRACE
OF ALMIGHTY GOD.
II. In that stern combat which the Lord of glory, God manifest in the flesh,
was to wage with Satan, it was declaredthat the enemy should bruise the heel
of the seedof the woman, and that Jesus shouldnot get the victory
unwounded. And thus it is with His spiritual offspring; as "He was, so are
they in this world." We learn, therefore, secondly, THE CHRISTIAN'S
SUFFERING IN HIS CONFLICT WITH THE OLD SERPENT.
III. But although the conflictmay be fierce, and long, and stubborn, we are
not permitted to doubt on which side the victory will fall. Hence I would
observe, thirdly, THE ASSURANCE OF TRIUMPH GIVEN IN THE TEXT
TO THE SEED OF THE WOMAN — THE BELIEVING MEMBERS OF
CHRIST. Satanwill bruise their heel, but, as assuredly, they shall bruise his
head. As Jesus assumedhuman nature, that He might avenge Himself and His
people upon Satan, so shall they triumph in Christ. The God of peace shall
bruise Satan under your feet shortly, who are in Christ Jesus.
(R. P. Buddicom, M. A.)
The first promise
W. Arnot, D. D.

Here, in this verse, first springs a river which flows right through the broad
wilderness of Time, refreshing every generationas they pass; and will yet,
beyond the boundary, make glad foreverthe city of our God. In this verse the
gospelof grace takesits rise. If we saw only the tiny spring we should not be
able fully to estimate its importance. It is our knowledge ofthe kingdom in its
present dimensions and its future prospects that invests with so much
grandeur this first, short message, ofmercy from God to man. We know the
import of that messagebetterthan they who heard it first. And yet, as the
native on the mountains near the sources ofthe Nile can drink and satisfyhis
thirst from the tiny rill that constitutes the embryo river, while he who sails on
its broad bosomnear the sea cando no more; so those who lived in the earliest
days of grace might satisfytheir souls at the narrow stream then flowing, as
well as those who shall be found dwelling on the earth at the dawn of the
millennial day. From the feeble stream that burst through the stony ground
near the closedgate ofparadise righteous Abel freely drank the waterof life:
the same, and no more, shall they do who shall see the knowledge ofthe Lord
covering the earth in the latter day. God opened a spring in the desert as soon
as there were thirsty souls sojourning there. Here, as we have said, the gospel
springs. But this is not the beginning of mercy. Its date is more ancient; its
fountainhead is higher. "Godis love": there, if you will trace mercy to its
ultimate source — there Redemption springs, thence Redemption flows. One
or two things of an introductory charactermust be at leaststated, inasmuch
as they are essentialto the comprehensionof the main lesson. And the first of
these is the existence and agencyof an evil spirit, the enemy of man. "Didst
thou not sow goodseedin thy ground?" said the surprised and grieved
servants to their Master;"whence, then, hath it tares?" "Anenemy hath done
this," said the Lord. Man has been damagedby the impact of evil after he
came from his Maker's hands:and the damage, now that help has been laid
on the Mighty, may be removed. There is a healing for the deadly wound. The
enemy, in this text and in other instances all through the Scripture, is
impersonated as the serpent. Now a series oflessons directly practical.
1. There is a kind of friendship or alliance betweenthe destroyerand his
dupe. The rootof the ailment lies here. If the first pair had not entered into a
covenantwith the wickedone, there would not have been a fall. Neither at the

first nor at any subsequent period has the enemy come forward as an enemy,
declaring war, and depending on the use of force. Not the power, but the wiles
of the devil have we cause to dread. If either he or we should assume the
attitude of adversary, our cause were won.
2. Enmity must be engenderedbetweenthese two friends. The first and
fundamental necessityof the case is that the friendship should be dissolved. As
long as the adversaryby his wiles succeeds in making it sweet, andas long as
the dupe loves it, so long is the captive held. Nothing in heaven or earth can do
a sinner any gooduntil he has fallen out with his own sin!
3. God will put enmity betweena man and the enemy who has enticed, and so
overcome him. When createdbeings are involved in sin, as a law of their being
they cannot break off by an effort or wish of their own. The spirit that
launches once into rebellion againstGod, goes onhelplesslyin rebellion
forever, unless an almighty arm, guided by infinite love, be stretchedout to
arrestthe fallen — the falling star. It is profitable to remember that we are
helpless. It is only a cry out of the depths that will reachheaven, and bring
help from One that is mighty. "Lord, save me, I perish," is a prayer that
reaches the Redeemer's ear:it melts His heart, and moves His hand. To put
enmity betweena man and the devil who inhabits his heart — to change his
affections, so that he shall henceforthloathe what he formerly loved, and love
what he formerly loathed— this is God's prerogative. "Create in me a clean
heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me."
4. Notice now the relation which Christ our Redeemerbears to the breachof
peace betweena man and his Tempter. Over and above the promise that
enmity will be put betweenthe serpent and the woman, it is said in the text
that enmity will be put betweenhis seedand hers. We are guided by the Spirit
of inspiration in the interpretation of this clause. We know certainly from
Scripture "her seed" means first and chiefly the secondAdam, the Lord from
heaven. As enmity betweenthe two friends must be generated, and as only
God can efficiently kindle that enmity, so it is only through Christ the
Mediatorthat such a breach could be made. He is MediatorbetweenGod and
man, for reconciling the alienated;He is Mediatorbetweenman and Satan,
for alienating the united. As His acceptancewith the Father is our acceptance

with the Father, when we are found in Him; so His breachwith the adversary
is our breach, when we are found in Him. His two-fold mission is to break up
one friendship and begin another.
5. The part which Christians act in the quarrel. Christ was the first fruits in
this enmity; but, afterwards they that are Christ's. In Him the strife began;
and it is continued in His members after the Head is exalted. The feud is
hereditary, inextinguishable, eternal. The Church on earth is the Church
militant; that is, the Church soldiering. There is another wing of the grand
army, calledthe Church triumphant. Those who remain in the body wield the
sword: those who have been admitted into heavenwave the palm and wearthe
crown. The real business in hand for Christians is not heaven, but holiness.
The issue may be left in the Leader's hands: the duty of the soldiers is to stand
where they are placed, and strike as long as they see a foe. Until the trumpet
shall sound, calling the weary to rest, our part is to fight.
(W. Arnot, D. D.)
The beginning of the gospel
J. M. Gibson, D. D.
These words have been appropriately called the "Protevangelium," the first
gospel. At first sight it seems strange thatthese words should be considered
the beginning of the gospel. The form is not that of a gospelbut of a curse. It is
the first curse that we meet with in reading the Bible. But think a moment. On
whom, on what is it a curse? It is a curse on the greatadversaryof mankind.
It is a curse upon evil — on sin, and death and hell. It is a curse upon our
curse. You will observe, and it is well worth noticing, that there is no curse
pronounced upon the man, nor upon the woman either. But can the gospel
come in the form of a curse? It can — nay, it must. There are those who,
shutting their eyes to the terrible factof sin with all its dreadful consequences,
as they are seenin the world, please themselves and try to please others by
preaching a gospelofeasygoodnature, of love and mercy and goodwillto all
mankind — a sortof universal salvationon the easiestterms possible, or

without any terms at all. But sin and its terrible consequencesare fearful facts
that cannotbe ignored. "Love is the fulfilling of the law," and the end of the
gospel;but hatred — hatred of sin — is the only portal to true, and pure, and
holy love. When the Spirit, the Comforter, comes, whatis the first thing He
does? He convinces ofsin (John 16:8, 9).
I. As soonas we look at it, we recognize, speaking generally, A GREAT
CONFLICT ENDING IS VICTORY. Of this conflictthere is a threefold
presentation.
1. First, there is a personalconflict: "I will put enmity betweenthee and the
woman." Here it is worth while to notice that the Hebrew tense admits of a
present as well as a future interpretation. So it is not only, "I will put enmity";
but, "I am putting and will put enmity betweenthee and the woman." The
work is begun. The unholy alliance, into which Eve had been beguiled by the
Evil One, is alreadybroken. She is alreadya changed woman. She is no longer
on the serpent's side. She is on the Lord's side. There is enmity betweenher
and the serpent.
2. After the personal comes the generalconflict:"Enmity betweenthy seed
and her seed." What is meant by the two "seeds"?We would not have very
much difficulty in guessing, but we are not left to guess work. We are very
plainly told in the later Scriptures. Forexample, in the eighth chapter of the
Gospelof John, the Jews had been congratulating themselves on belonging to
the promised seed— "We be Abraham's seed" (verse 33). Our Saviour said,
in reply: "I know that ye are Abraham's seed;but ye seek to kill Me." Thatis
a strange thing for Abraham's seed. You may be Abraham's seedliterally, but
certainly not spiritually. "They answeredand said unto Him: Abraham is our
father. Jesus saithunto them: If ye were Abraham's children, ye would do the
works of Abraham." Notice how distinctly He recognizedthe spiritual sense of
the term, not the literal. "If ye were Abraham's children ye would do the
works of Abraham." "Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your
father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning. That is the reasonye
seek to kill Me." Or turn to Matthew 23:33, where, addressing the same kind
of people, the Saviour says — "Ye serpents, ye generationof vipers" (i.e., ye
seedof the serpents), "how can ye escape the damnation of hell?" Or take the

parable of the tares (Matthew 13:38): "The goodseedare the children of the
kingdom. But the tares are the children of the wickedone." Perhaps most
definite of all is a passagein the 3rd chapter of the 1stEpistle of John. Read
from the 8th verse: "He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil
sinneth from the beginning. Forthis purpose the Sonof God was manifested,
that He might destroythe works of the devil." Then follows something like a
definition of the two seeds. "Inthis the children of God are manifest, and the
children of the devil: whosoeverdoethnot righteousness is not of God, neither
he that loveth not his brother. Not as Cain, who was of that wickedone and
slew his brother." You see how plainly it is stated that the seedof the serpent
are those who follow the deeds of the serpent; they are those who inherit the
wickednessoftheir father the devil, as it is put here. And, of course, if the seed
of the serpent are those who inherit the wickedness ofthe evil one, the seedof
the womanare those that inherit the saintliness of the woman. It is as plain as
anything can be, that it is the spiritual, and not the literal, seedthat is meant;
that characteris in view, and not simple descent.
3. Notonly is there a personaland a generalconflict, but there is a specialone.
"Thee and the woman" — personal. "Thy seedand her seed" — general. "It"
(or he, because the pronoun is masculine) "shall bruise thy head, and thou
shalt bruise his heel" — special. Now, Ido not say that Christ is very plainly
indicated here. The time had not yet come for this. The hope of the coming
personalSaviour was only gradually unfolded. But I do say that certainlines
are drawn which, when produced, are found to converge onChrist, who
occupies the point of sight, awayon the distant horizon. Observe, further, that
it is only at this point that victory comes in: "I will put enmity betweenthee
and the woman," only conflict there; no victory. "And betweenthy seedand
her seed," onlyenmity, no victory. But come to the point of sight, and there is
not only conflict, but victory — "He shall bruise thy head." Apart from the
Captain of our Salvation, there was nothing for us but defeat. Though victory
is finally assuredto all the true seedof the woman, it will be His victory, made
theirs by faith.
II. Let us now look at THE FACTS IN HISTORY, TO WHICH THE
PROPHECYPOINTS, AND WHICH CONSTITUTEITS FULFILMENT. In
the first place, we see the development of this conflict right along from the

time of its first beginning; "from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of
Zacharias, slainbetweenthe temple and the altar";and from the days of the
first martyr, Stephen, down to the present time, when in heathen lands
converts still must seal, at times, their testimony with their blood, and when in
Christian lands "those that will live godly in Christ Jesus must suffer" certain
kinds of persecution, and keepup a constant conflictwith the powers of evil.
The conflict will go on, and will not ceaseuntil the lastof Satan's captives
shall be rescuedfrom his graspand brought as sons to glory; when there shall
be the greatgathering of the people around Shiloh, the Prince of Peace,the
Captain of our Salvation. But of all that long conflict, the crisis, the decisive
action, is that to which our attention is speciallycalledin the prophecy — the
conflict that the Lord Jesus had to wage againstthe powers of darkness and
the machinations of evil men when He was here upon the earth. Our Saviour,
having takenour place, had this warfare to fight all through His life. Have
you not often askedyourself the reasonof the greatdifference betweenthe
death of the Lord Jesus and the death of so many martyrs, who endured
unheard of tortures without flinching or uttering a cry? Had the Masterless
courage than the servants? Was He less able to endure suffering than Stephen,
or any of the martyrs? Oh, no! It was because He had sufferings to bear that
none of them had any knowledge of. He had their battle to fight as well as His
own. As the Captain of their Salvationand ours, He stoodin the front and
thickestof the battle, and by His strong agonygained the victory for them and
us. Now that He has gained the victory, that victory is securedfor all the rest,
who may well face death in any form bravely, now that the Captain of their
Salvationhas conquered all its terrors for them. It is securedfor all the seed;
and we have a picture of its consummationin the book of Revelation, where is
celebratedin thrilling imagery the final victory of the saints of the Lord "by
the blood of the Lamb." But while victory has been securedfor us, it must also
be accomplishedin us. There must be a conflict and a victory in every human
heart. There is not only the specialconflict, which the Lord Jesus so
victoriously waged, and the generalconflictending so triumphantly for all the
seed, but there must be a personalconflict in eachindividual soul.
(J. M. Gibson, D. D.)

Christ the conqueror of Satan
The promise plainly teaches that the Delivererwould be born of a woman,
and, carefully viewed, it also foreshadowsthe Divine method of the
Redeemer's conceptionand birth. So also is the doctrine of the two seeds
plainly taught here — "I will put enmity betweenthee and the woman,
betweenthy seedand her seed." There was evidently to be in the world a seed
of the woman on God's side againstthe serpent, and a seedof the serpent that
should always be upon the evil side even as it is unto this day. The church of
God and the synagogue ofSatan both exist.
I. THE FACTS. The facts are four, and I call your earnestattention to them.
1. The first is, enmity was excited. Satancounted on man's descendants being
his confederates, but God would break up this covenantwith hell, and raise
up a seedwhich should war againstthe Satanic power. Thus we have here
God's first declarationthat He will set up a rival kingdom to oppose the
tyranny of sin and Satan, that He will create in the hearts of a chosenseedan
enmity againstevil, so that they shall fight againstit, and with many a
struggle and pain shall overcome the prince of darkness. The Divine Spirit has
abundantly achievedthis plan and purpose of the Lord, combating the fallen
angelby a glorious man: making man to be Satan's foe and conqueror.
2. Then comes the secondprophecy, which has also turned into a fact, namely,
the coming of the champion. The seedof the woman by promise is to
champion the cause, and oppose the dragon. That seedis the Lord Jesus
Christ. The conflict our glorious Lord continues in His seed. We preach
Christ crucified, and every sermon shakes the gates of hell. We bring sinners
to Jesus by the Spirit's power, and every convert is a stone torn down from
the wallof Satan's mighty castle.
3. The third factwhich comes out in the text, though not quite in that order, is
that our Champion's heel should be bruised. Do you need that I explain this?
You know how all His life long His heel, that is, His lowerpart, His human
nature, was perpetually being made to suffer. He carried our sicknesses and
sorrows. Butthe bruising came mainly when both in body and in mind His
whole human nature was made to agonize;when His soul was exceeding

sorrowfuleven unto death, and His enemies pierced His hands and His feet,
and He endured the shame and pain of death by crucifixion. Before the throne
He looks like a lamb that has been slain, but in the power of an endless life He
liveth unto God.
4. Then comes the fourth fact, namely, that while His heel was being bruised,
He was to braise the serpent's head. By His sufferings Christ has overthrown
Satan, by the heel that was bruised He has trodden upon the head which
devised the bruising.
II. Let us now view over EXPERIENCEAS IT TALLIES WITH THESE
FACTS. He means to save us, and how does He work to that end?
1. The first thing He does is, He comes to us in mercy, and puts enmity
betweenus and the serpent. That is the very first work of grace. You beganto
hate sin, and you groanedunder it as under a galling yoke; more and more it
burdened you, you could not bear it, you hated the very thought of it. So it
was with you: is it so now? Is there still enmity betweenyou and the serpent?
Indeed you are more and mere the swornenemies of evil, and you willingly
acknowledge it.
2. Then came the Champion, that is to say, "Christ was formed in you the
hope of glory." You heard of Him and you understood the truth about Him,
and it seemeda wonderful thing that He should be your substitute and stand
in your room and place and stead, and bear your sin and all its curse and
punishment, and that He should give His righteousness, yea, andHis very self,
to you that you might be saved.
3. Next, do you recollecthow you were led to see the bruising of Christ's heel
and to stand in wonderand observe what the enmity of the serpent had
wrought in Him? Did you not begin to feel the bruised heel yourself? Did not
sin torment you? Did not the very thought of it vex you? Did not your own
heart become a plague to you? Did not Satan begin to tempt you? Did he not
inject blasphemous thoughts, and urge you on to desperate measures;did he
not teachyou to doubt the existence ofGod, and the mercy of God, and the
possibility of your salvation, and so on? This was his nibbling at your heel. He
is at his old tricks still. He worries whom he can't devour with a malicious joy.

4. But, brethren, do you know something of the other fact, namely, that we
conquer, for the serpent's head is broken in us? How say you? Is not the
powerand dominion of sin broken in you? Do you not feel that you cannotsin
because you are born of God? Some sins which were masters of you once, do
not trouble you now. Oftentimes the Lord also grants us to know what it is to
overcome temptation, and so to break the head of the fiend. I ought to add
that every time any one of us is made useful in saving souls we do as it were
repeatthe bruising of the serpent's head. In all deliverances and victories you
overcome, and prove the promise true — "Thou shall tread upon the lion and
adder: the young lion and the dragonshall thou trample under feet. Because
he hath set his love upon Me, therefore will I deliver him: I will sethim on
high, because he hath known My name."
III. Let us speak awhile upon THE ENCOURAGEMENT whichour text and
the contextyields to us; for it seems to me to abound.
1. I want you, brethren, to exercise faith in the promise and be comforted. The
text evidently encouragedAdam very much. Adam actedin faith upon what
God said, for we read, "And Adam calledhis wife's name Eve (or Life);
because she was the mother of all living" (verse 20). She was not a mother at
all, but as the life was to come through her by virtue of the promised seed,
Adam marks his full conviction of the truth of the promise though at the time
the womanhad borne no children.
2. Notice by wayof further encouragementthat we may regardour reception
of Christ's righteousness as aninstalment of the final overthrow of the devil.
3. Next, by way of encouragementin pursuing the Christian life, I would say
to young people, expectto be assailed. If you have fallen into trouble through
being a Christian be encouragedby it; do not at all regret or fear it, but
rejoice ye in that day, and leap for joy, for this is the constanttokenof the
covenant.
4. Still further encouragementcomes from this. Your suffering as a Christian
is not brought upon you for your own sake;ye are partners with the great
SEED of the woman, ye are confederateswith Christ. You must not think the
devil cares much about you; the battle is againstChrist in you. I have heard of

a woman who was condemnedto death in the Marian days, and before her
time came to be burned a child was born to her, and she cried out in her
sorrow. A wickedadversary, who stood by, said, "How will you bear to die for
your religion if you make such ado?" "Ah," she said, "Now I suffer in my own
person as a woman, but then I shall not suffer, but Christ in me." Norwere
these idle words, for she bore her martyrdom with exemplary patience, and
rose in her chariotof fire in holy triumph to heaven. If Christ be in you,
nothing will dismay you, but you will overcome the world, the flesh, and the
devil by faith.
5. Last of all, let us resistthe devil always with this belief, that he has received
a broken head. I am inclined to think that Luthers way of laughing at the
devil was a very goodone, for he is worthy of shame and everlasting
contempt. Luther once threw an inkstand at his head when he was tempting
him very sorely, and though the actitself appears absurd enough, yet it was a
true type of what that greatReformerwas all his life long, for the books he
wrote were truly a flinging of the inkstand at the head of the fiend. That is
what we have to do: we are to resisthim by all means.
( C. H. Spurgeon.)
The curse of Satan including a blessing to man
A. Fuller.
There are four things here intimated which are eachworthy of notice —
1. The ruin of Satan's cause was to be accomplishedby one in human nature.
This must have been not a little mortifying to his pride. If he must fall, and
could have had his choice as to the mode, he might rather have wished to have
been crushed by the immediate hand of God: for howeverterrible that hand
might be, it would be less humiliating than to be subdued by one of a nature
inferior to his own. The human nature especiallyappears to have become
odious in his eyes. It is possible that the rejoicings ofeternal wisdom over man
was knownin heaven, and first excitedhis envy; and that his attempt to ruin

the human race was an act of revenge. If so, there was a peculiar fitness that
from man should proceedhis overthrow.
2. It was to be accomplishedby the seedof the woman. This would be more
humiliating still. Satan had made use of her to accomplishhis purposes, and
God would defeat his schemes through the same medium: and by how much
he had despisedand abused her, in making her the instrument of drawing her
husband aside, by so much would he be mortified in being overcome by one of
her descendents.
3. The victory should be obtained not only by the MessiahHimself, but by all
His adherents, blow if it were mortifying for Satan to be overcome by the
MessiahHimself, consideredas the seedof the woman, how much more when
in addition to this every individual believer shall be made to come near, and as
it were set his feet upon the neck of his enemy?
4. Finally: though it should be a long war, and the cause of the serpent would
often be successful, yetin the end it should be utterly fumed. The "head" is
the seatof life, which the "heel" is not: by this language therefore is
intimated, that the life of Christ's cause should not be affectedby any part of
Satan's opposition; but that the life of Satan's cause shouldbe that of Christ.
(A. Fuller.)
Blessings throughMessiah
A. Fuller.
Through the promised Messiaha greatmany things pertaining to the curse
are not only counteracted, but become blessings. Under His glorious reign,
"the earth shall yield its increase, andGod, our own God, delight in blessing
us." And while its fruitfulness is withheld, it has a merciful tendency to stop
the progress ofsin: for if the whole earth were like the plains of Sodom in
fruitfulness, which are comparedto the garden of God, its inhabitants would
be as Sodomand Gomorrah in wickedness. The necessityof hard labour too
in obtaining a subsistence, whichis the lot of the far greaterpart of mankind,

tends more than a little, by separating men from eachother, and depressing
their spirits, to restrain them from the excessesofevil. All the afflictions of the
present life contain in them a motive to look upwards for a better portion: and
death itself is a monitor to warn them to prepare to meet their God. These are
things suited to a sinful world: and where they are sanctified, as they are to
believers in Christ, they become realblessings. To them they are but light
afflictions, and last but for a moment; and while they do last, "work for them
a far more exceeding and eternal weightof glory." To them, in short, death
itself is introductory to everlasting life.
(A. Fuller.)
It shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel. —
Bruising the head of evil
Homilist.
That there were two grand opposing moral forces at work in the world, "the
seedof the womanand the seedof the serpent," is manifest from the following
conceptions:—
1. The universal beliefs of mankind. All nations believe in two antagonistic
principles.
2. The phenomena of the moral world. The thoughts, actions, and conductof
men are so radically different that they must be referred to two distinct moral
forces.
3. The experience of goodmen.
4. The declarationof the Bible. Now in this conflict, whilst error and evil only
strike at the mere "heel" of truth and goodness,truth and goodnessstrike
right at the "head." Look at this idea in three aspects:—
I. AS A CHARACTERISTIC OF CHRISTIANITY. Evil has a "head" and its
"head" is not in theories, or institutions, or outward conduct; but in the moral
feelings. In the liken and dislikes, the sympathies and antipathies of the heart.

Now it is againstthis "head" of evil, that Christianity, as a system of reform,
directs its blows. It does not seek to lop off the branches from the mighty upas,
but to destroy its roots. It does not strike at the mere forms of murder,
adultery, and theft; but at their spirit, anger, lust, and covetousness. This its
characteristic.
II. AS A TEST OF INDIVIDUAL CHRISTIANITY. Unless Christianity has
bruised the very "head" of evil within us it has done nothing to the purpose.
1. It may bruise certain erroneous ideas, and yet be of no service to you.
2. It may bruise certain wrong habits, and yet be of no real service to you.
III. AS A GUIDE IN PROPAGATING CHRISTIANITY. The greatfailure of
the Church in its world-reforming missionmay be tracedto the wrong
direction of its efforts.
(Homilist.)
God's great patience, not withstanding man's provocations
J. Spencer.
Suppose a man should come into a curious artificer's shop, and there with one
blow dash in pieces such a piece of art as had costmany years'study and
pains in the contriving thereof. How could he bear with it? How would he take
on to see the workmanshipof his hands so rashly, so wilfully destroyed? He
could not but take it ill and be much troubled thereat. Thus it is that as soon
as God had setup and perfectedthe frame of the world, sin gave a shrewd
shake to all; it unpinned the frame, and had like to have pulled all in pieces
again;nay, had it not been for the promise of Christ, all this goodly frame had
been reduced to its primitive nothingness again. Man by his sin had pulled
down all about his ears, but God, in mercy, keeps it up; man by his sin
provokes God, but God, in mercy, passethby all affronts whatsoever. Oh, the
wonderful mercy — oh, the omnipotent patience of God!
(J. Spencer.)

The first promise
The first promise (Genesis 3:15)is like the first small spring or head of a great
river, which the farther it runs the bigger it grows by the accessionof more
waters to it. Or like the sun in the heavens, which the higher it mounts the
more bright and glorious the day still grows.
( J. Flavel..)
First things
H. O. Mackey.
What delight there is to us in first things! The first primrose pushing through
the clods telling of winter gone, and summer on the way: the first view of the
sea in its wondrous expanse of power: the first sense ofpeace that came by a
view of Christ as Saviour. A certainauthoress who became very famous,
speaks ofthe exquisite sense ofdelight she felt when she beganher first
literary work in the reviewing of books:the opening of the first parcel was as
the "bursting of a new world" on her eyes.
(H. O. Mackey.)
The gospelpreachedin paradise
The words are considerable —
1. Forthe person who speakeththem, the Lord God Himself, who was the first
preacherof the gospelin paradise. The draught and plot was in His bosom
long before, but now it comethout of His mouth.
2. Forthe occasionwhenthey were spoken. When God hath been but newly
provokedand offended by sin, and man, from His creature and subject, was
become His enemy and rebel, the offended God comes with a promise in His
mouth. Adam could look for nothing but that God should repeat to him the

whole beadroll of curses whereinhe had involved himself, but God maketh
known the greatdesign of His grace. Once more, the Lord God was now
cursing the serpent, and in the midst of the curses promiseth the great
blessing of the Messiah. Thus doth God "in wrath remember mercy"
(Habakkuk 3:2). Yea, man's sentence was not yet pronounced. The Lord God
had examined him (ver. 8-10), but before the doom there breaketh out a
promise of mercy. Thus mercy gets the start of justice, and triumpheth and
rejoicethover it in our behalf: "Mercyrejoicethagainstjudgment" (James
2:13).
3. They are considerable for their matter, for they intimate a victory over
Satan, and that in the nature which was foiled so lately. In the former part of
the verse you have the combat; in the text the success.(1)The conflict and
combat: "And I will put enmity betweenthee and the woman, and between
thy seedand her seed." I shall not consider the conflict now as carried on
betweenthe two seeds, but betweenthe two heads, Christ the Prince of life,
and the devil "who hath the power of death" (Hebrews 2:14). It was begun
betweenthe serpentand the woman; it is carried on betweenthe seedof the
woman and the seedof the serpent: but the conflict is ended by the
destruction of one of the heads;the prince of death is destroyedby the Prince
of life.(2) The successand issue of the combat. Where observe —(a) What the
seedof the womandoth againstthe serpent, "He shall bruise thy head";(b)
What the serpent doth againstthe seedof the woman, "Thou shalt bruise his
heel."(α)There is something common to both; for the word bruise is used
promiscuously both of the serpentand the seedof the woman. In this war, as
usually in all others, there are wounds given on both sides;the devil bruiseth
Christ, and Christ bruiseth Satan.(β)There is a disparity of the event, "He
shall bruise thy head," and "Thou shalt bruise his heel";where there is a
plain allusion to treading upon a serpent. Wounds on the head are deadly to
serpents, but wounds on the body are not so grievous or dangerous;and a
serpent trod upon, seekethto do all the mischief it can to the footby which it
is crushed. The wound given to the head is mortal, but the wound given to the
heel may be healed. The seedof the woman may be cured, but Satan's power
cannot be restored. The devil cannotreachto the head, but the heel only,
which is far from any vital part. (1st.) For the first clause, "It shall bruise thy

head." The seedof the womancrushed the serpent's head, whereby is meant
the overthrow and destruction of his powerand works (John 12:31;1 John
3:8). The head being bruised, strength and life is perished. (2nd.) For the
other clause, "Thoushalt bruise his heel."Where —(1)Note the intention of
the serpent, who would destroy the kingdom of the Redeemerif he could; but
he can only reachthe heel, not the head.(2) The greatnessofChrist's
sufferings; His heel was bruised, and He endured the painful, shameful,
accurseddeathof the cross. Doctrine:That Jesus Christ, the seedof the
woman, is at enmity with Satan, and hath entered the lists with him; and
though bruised in the conflict, yet He finally overcomethhim, and subverteth
his kingdom.
I. That Jesus Christis the seedof the woman. That He is one of her seedis
past doubt, since He was born of the Virgin, a daughter of Eve. That He is
"The seed," the most eminent of all the stock, appearethby the dignity of His
Person, Godmade flesh (John 1:14; 1 Timothy 3:16). As also by His
miraculous conception(Luke 1:35; Matthew 1:23). Now, if you ask what
necessitythere was that the conquerorshould be the seedof the woman,
because the flesh of Christ is the bread of life, and the food of our faith? I
shall a little insist upon the conveniencyand agreeablenessofit.
1. That thereby He might be made under the law, which was given to the
whole nature of man (Galatians 4:4).
2. That He might in the same nature suffer the penalty and curse of the law, as
well as fulfil the duty of it, and so make satisfactionforour sins, which as God
He could not do. He was "made sin for us" (2 Corinthians 5:21), and was
"made a curse for us" (Galatians 3:13; Philippians 2:8). "He became obedient
to death, even the death of the cross."
3. That in the same nature which was foiled He might conquer Satan.
4. That He might take compassionof our infirmities, having experimented
them in His own person (Hebrews 2:17, 18).
5. That He might take possessionofheaven for us in our nature (John 14:2, 3).

6. That after He had been a sacrifice for sin, and conquereddeath by His
resurrection, He might also triumph over the devil, and leadcaptivity captive,
and give gifts to men in the very act of His ascensioninto heaven (Ephesians
4:8).
II. That Christ is at enmity with Satan, and hath entered into the conflict with
him.
1. We must state the enmity betweenChrist and His confederates, andSatan
and his instruments.(1) There is a perfect enmity betweenthe nature of Christ
and the nature of the devil.(2) An enmity proper to His office and design. For
He Came "to destroy the works ofthe devil" (1 John 3:8); and was setup to
dissolve that sin and misery which he had brought upon the world.
2. The enmity being such betweenthe seeds, Christ sets upon His business to
destroy Satan's powerand works.(1)His power. Satan bath a two-fold power
over fallen man — legal and usurped.(2) His works. There is a two-fold work
of Satan — the work of the devil without us, and the work of the devil within
us.
III. That in this conflict His heelwas wounded, bitten, or bruised by the
serpent.
1. Certain it is that Christ was bruised in the enterprise;which showethhow
much we should value our salvation, since it costs so dear as the precious
blood of the Son of God Incarnate (1 Peter1:18, 19).
2. But how was He bruised by the serpent? Certainly on the one hand Christ's
sufferings were the effects of man's sin and God's hatred againstsin and His
governing justice;for it is said, "It pleasedthe Father to bruise Him" (Isaiah
53:10). Unless it had pleasedthe Lord to bruise Him, Satan could never have
bruised Him. On the Other side, they were also the effects ofthe malice and
rage of the devil and his instruments, who was now with the sword's point and
closing stroke with Christ, and doing the worsthe could againstHim. In His
whole life He endured many outward troubles from Satan's instruments; for
all His life long He was a man of sorrows, woundedand bruised by Satanand
his instruments (John 8:44). But the closing stroke was atlast; then did the

serpent most eminently bruise His heel. When Judas contrived the plot, it is
said, the devil entered into him (Luke 22:3). When the high priest's servants
came to take Him, He telleth them, "This is your hour, and the power of
darkness" (Luke 22:53). The powerof darkness atlength did prevail so far as
to cause His shameful death; this was their day.
3. It was only His heel that was bruised. It could go no further; for though His
bodily life was takenaway, yet His head and mediatory powerwas not
touched (Acts 2:36). Again, His bodily life was takenawaybut for a while.
God would not leave His soul in the grave (Psalm16:10). Once more, though
Christ was bruised, yet He was not conquered. So for Christians, He may
divers ways wound and afflict us in our outward interests, but the inner man
is safe (2 Corinthians 4:16).
IV. Though Christ's heel was bruised in the conflict, yet it endeth in Satan's
final overthrow; for his head was crushed, which noteth the subversion of his
powerand kingdom. To explain this, we must consider —
1. What is the powerof Satan.
2. How far Satan was destroyedby Christ. First: What is the powerof Satan?
It lieth in sin. And Christ destroyedhim, as He "made an end of sin, and
brought in everlasting righteousness, andmade reconciliationfor iniquities"
(Daniel 9:24). Secondly:How far was Satandestroyedor his head crushed?
1. Negatively.(1)Nonratione essentiae, notto take awayhis life and being. No;
there is a devil still, and shall be, even when the whole work of Christ's
redemption is finished (Revelation20:10; Matthew 25:41). Then eternal
judgment is executedon the head of the wickedstate.(2)Nonratione malitiae,
not in regardof malice;for the enmity ever continueth betweenthe two seeds,
and Satanwill be doing though it be always to loss, "The devil sinneth from
the beginning" (1 John 3:8). Therefore he is not so destroyed as if he did no
more desire the ruin and destruction of men. He is as malicious as ever.
2. Affirmatively, it remaineth that it is ratione potentiae, in regardof his
power. But the question returneth, How far is his powerdestroyed? for he still
governeth the wicked, and possessetha greatpart of the world. Therefore the

devils are called"The rulers of the darkness ofthis world" (Ephesians 6:12).
He molesteth the godly, whether consideredsingly or apart, or in their
communities and societies. Singlyand apart he may sometimes trouble them
and sorelyshake them as wheatis winnowed in a sieve. "Simon, Simon,
behold, Satan hath desiredto have you, that he may sift you as wheat" (Luke
22:31). And in their communities and societies."Manya time have they
afflicted me from my youth, may Israelnow say; many a time have they
afflicted me from my youth" (Psalm 129:1, 2).
Use 1. Thankfulness and praise to our Mediator.
1. Satan's designwas to dishonour God by a false representation, as if envious
of man's happiness (Genesis 3:5). And so to weakenthe esteemofGod's
goodness.Now in the work of our redemption God is wonderfully magnified,
and representedas amiable to man; not envying our knowledge anddelight,
but promoting it by all means, even with greatcare and cost(1 John 4:8).
2. To depress the nature of man, that in innocency stoodso near God. Now
that the human nature, so depressedand abasedby the malicious suggestions
of the devil, should be so elevatedand advanced, and be setup far above the
angelicalnature, and admitted to dwell with God in a personalunion, oh! let
us now cheerfully remember and celebrate this victory of Christ. Our praise
now is a pledge of our everlasting triumph.
Use 2. To exhort us to make use of Christ's help for our recoveryout of the
defectionand apostasyofmankind. Oh! let Satanbe crushed in you, and the
old carnalnature destroyed.
Use 3. To show us the nature of Christ's victory, and wherein it consisteth;not
in an exemption from troubles, nor in a total exemption from sin for the
present.
1. Notin an exemption from troubles. No; you must expectconflicts. Though
Satan's deadly power be takenaway, our heel may be crushed.
2. It is not a total exemption from sin. Necessaryvital grace is only absolutely
secured;yon shall receive no deadly wound to destroy your salvation. Use:

4. To animate and encourage Christ's servants in their war againstSatan's
kingdom, at home and abroad, within and without: "Notto give place to the
devil" (Ephesians 4:27). Christ whom we serve is more able to save than Satan
is to destroy.
( T. Manton, D. D..)
Man's restorationpromised
J. White, M. A.
The promise of the recoveryof mankind out of Satan's bondage, and from
under God's curse, contains in it these principal heads, all of them expressed
or implied in those few words, being so many grounds of our faith.
1. That God's promise of grace is every way free, not solicitedby Adam, and
much less deserved, as being made unto him now, when he had offended God
in the highest degree, and stoodin enmity againstHim, and therefore must
needs proceedfrom God's free will.
2. That it is certain and infallible, as depending, not upon man's will, but upon
God's, who speaks notdoubtfully or conditionally, but positively and
peremptorily, that He will do it Himself.
3. That it shall be constantand unchangeable:the inward hatred and outward
wars betweenSatanand the holy seedshall not cease till they end at lastin
Satan's total and final ruin.
4. That it shall not extend to all the seedof the woman according to the flesh,
but to some that are chosenout of her seed. Forsome of them shall join with
Satanagainsttheir own brethren.
5. The effect of this gracious promise shall be the sanctifying of their hearts,
whom God will save, manifestedin the hatred of Satanand all his ways;which
though they had formerly embraced, yet now they should abhor.
6. This work of sanctificationshall not be wrought upon them as a statuary
fashions a stone into an image; but God shall make use of their wills and

affections to stir them up and to setthem againstSatan, as this word —
enmity — necessarilyimplies.
7. Those affections shallnot be smotheredand concealedin the inward
motions of the heart, but shall outwardly manifest themselves in serious
endeavours for the opposing of Satanand his power, as the war here
mentioned and intimated by the wounds on both sides, necessarilysupposeth.
8. The work of sanctification, though it shall be infallible and unchangeable,
yet shall be imperfect, as is implied in the bruises which the godly shall receive
by Satan's hand, not only by outward afflictions, but by inward temptations,
which shall wound their souls by drawing them into divers sins, all implied in
that phrase of bruising the heel.
9. Those wounds which they receive at Satan's hands shall not be deadly, nor
quench the life of grace, whichthe devil shall not be able to destroy, as is
intimated in that part of the body which shall be wounded, which is the heel,
far enoughfrom any vital part.
10. The author of this work of sanctificationshallnot be themselves, but God
by His Spirit. For it is He that shall put enmity into their hearts againstSatan
and his seed, as the words import.
11. This work of sanctificationby the Spirit shall be establishedby their union
with Christ their Head, with whom they shall be joined into one body, as is
implied when Christ and His members are termed one seed.
12. By virtue of this union the holy seedshall have an interest in and a title to
all that Christ works. Forso, in effect, Christ's victory over Satanis called
their victory, when it is said the seedof the woman shall bruise the serpent's
head, that is, Christ and His members shall do it.
13. For the making way to this union and communion betweenChrist and His
members, He shall take on Him the very nature of man, so that He shall truly
and properly be called the seedof the woman.
(J. White, M. A.)

Lessons
H. Bonar, D. D.
1. Let us mark how God proceeds in His inquiries after sin. He first traces it
out stepby step, tracks it in all its windings, ere He utters one word of
judgment. His dealings hitherto had been with Adam, as the head of creation.
Therefore He speaks firstto him. Then from Adam sin is traced to the
woman, then from the woman to the serpent. By this process it was brought
solemnly before the conscienceofthe transgressors,that they might see what
they had done. Even in the order of judgment, how careful to mark His sense
of the different kinds of criminality! Such is a specimenof the way in which
He will judge the world in righteousness!
2. Let us mark the circumstances in which the sentence was given. It was
given in the hearing of our parents. It was not speciallydirected to them. They
were but hearers. Yet the scene was designedfor them. This curse on the
serpent was spokenin their ears, because"itcontained in it God's purpose of
grace towards them."(1)That God meant to save them, and not to give them
up to the snares of their enemy;(2) That they could only be savedby their
enemy being destroyed;(3) That this destruction would be attended with toil,
and conflict, and wounds;(4) That it was easyto ruin a world, but hard to save
and restore.
3. Let us mark how God hated that which Satan had done. "Because thouhast
done this," are the words of awful preface to the sentence. Godhad no
pleasure in the snare or the ruin it had wrought. His words are the expression
of deep displeasure againsthim who had done the horrid deed, and at the
deed which had been done. And let us not forget how much of that which
Satanhas since then been doomed to suffer, as wellas of that which be shall
hereaftersuffer, has its origin here. His sin, by means of which he succeeded
in casting man out of Eden, shall be the sin by which he himself shall be cast
wholly out of earth, to deceive the nations no more.
4. In undoing the evil God begins at its source. The drying up of the stream
will not do; the source must be reached. Sin was the real enemy, and love to

the sinner must proceedat once againstthis enemy, not resting till it is utterly
destroyed.
5. God shows that Satanshall not be allowedto triumph. His victory is only
temporary and partial. God is taking the sinner's side; and this is the
assurance thatSatan's victory shall be reversed!
6. God Himself undertakes man's cause. It is not, "there shall be enmity"; but
"I will put" it. God Himself will now proceedto work for man. The serpent's
malice and successhave but drawn forth the deeper love and more direct
interposition in man's behalf.
7. God promises a seedto the woman. All that this implied she could not know
at the time. But it is evidently declaredthat she was not to die immediately.
The salvationwas to come from God, and yet it was to come through man.
8. God is to put enmity betweenthe serpent and the woman, and betweenthe
serpent's seedand the woman's seed.(1)The enmity betweenSatanand the
Church. There can be no friendship with him, and no sympathy with his
works. Thus the distinction betweenthe Church and the world is as old as
Eden; and it is not merely distinction, it is hostility.(2) The enmity between
Christ and Satan; betweenHim who is the representative of heaven and him
who is the representative of hell; between Him who is the friend and him who
is the enemy of man.(3) The name given to the ungodly — "the seedof the
serpent." And it was this expressionthat Christ took up when He spoke of the
"generationofvipers," and saidto the unbelieving Jews, "Ye are of your
father the devil." By birth we are the serpent's brood, till grace transforms us,
and we become the woman's seed;then our friendship with the accursedrace
is forever broken.(4)The name of the Church — "the seedof the woman."
Yes, the seedof her who sinned, who "was in the transgression" — offspring
of Eve — of her who was first in apostasy. Whattender favour is thus shown
to her!(5) The name of Christ. The same as the Church's, the "seedofthe
woman." Yes, He was indeed "born of a woman" — the Son of Mary — the
Son of Eve — the Sonof her that had transgressed.
9. There is not only to be enmity, but conflict. That these two parties should
keepalooffrom eachother was not enough. There must be more than this.

There must be alienationand hatred; nay, there must be warfare, and that of
the most desperate kind. Satanand the Church must ever be at open
warfare.The worldand the Church must ever be foes to eachother.
1. The bruising of the heel of the woman's seed. It is not the woman's heel that
is to be bruised, but the heel of her seed;neither is it the woman that is to
bruise the serpent's head, but her seed — "it shall bruise thy head, and thou
shalt bruise his heel." It was an inferior part that was to be wounded, not a
vital one. Yet still there was to be a wound. The serpent's seedwas to have a
temporary triumph, and this was fulfilled when Jesus hung on the cross. Then
the heelwas bruised. Then Satanseemedto conquer. That was the hour and
powerof darkness. Then"He was wounded for our transgressions, He was
bruised for our iniquities." Then that wound was given which defeatedhim
who gave it, and began our victory.
2. The bruising of the serpent's head. It was his most vital as well as his most
honourable part that was to be bruised. An intimation this of utter defeatand
ruin. He has receivedmany a stroke. His deadly wound was given upon the
cross, in that very stroke by which he bruised the heel of the woman's seed. So
that from that moment our victory was secure, But the final blow is reserved
for the Lord's secondcoming. Then it is that the greatdragon, that old
serpent, is to be bound in chains, and shut up in the abyss.
(H. Bonar, D. D.)
The remedy
W. Adamson.
Nearthe manchaneel, which grows in the forests of the WestIndies, and
which gives forth a juice of deadly poisonous nature, grows a fig, the sap of
which, if applied in time, is a remedy for the diseasesproducedby the
manchaneel. God places the gospelofgrace alongside the sentence ofdeath.
(W. Adamson.)

COMMENTARIES
BensonCommentary
Genesis 3:15. I will put enmity, &c. — The whole race of serpents are, of all
creatures, the most disagreeable and terrible to mankind, and especiallyto
women: but the devil, who seducedthe woman, and his angels, are here
meant, who are hated and dreaded by all men, even by those that serve them,
but more especiallyby goodmen. And betweenthy seed — All carnaland
wickedmen, who, in reference to this text, are called the children and seedof
Satan; and her seed— That is, her offspring, first and principally CHRIST,
who, with respectto this promise, is termed, by way of eminence, her seed,
(see Galatians 3:16;Galatians 3:19,) whose alone work it is to bruise the
serpent’s head, to destroy the policy and powerof the devil. But also,
secondly, all the members of Christ, all believers and holy men, are here
intended, who are the seedof Christ and the implacable enemies of the devil
and his works, and who overcome him by Christ’s merit and power.
It shall bruise thy head — The principal instrument of the serpent’s fury and
mischief, and of his defence;and also the chief seatof his life, which,
therefore, men chiefly strike at, and which, being upon the ground, a man
may conveniently tread upon and crush to pieces. Applied to Satan, this
denotes his subtlety and power, producing death, which Christ, the Seedof the
woman, destroys by taking away its sting, which is sin.
Thou shalt bruise his heel — The part which is most within the serpent’s
reach, and on which, being bruised by it, the serpent is provokedto fix its
venomous teeth, but a part remote from the head and heart, and therefore
wounds there, though painful, are yet not deadly nor dangerous, if they be
observedin time. Understood of Christ, the seedof the woman, his heel
means, first, his humanity, whereby he trod upon the earth, and which the
devil, through the instrumentality of wickedmen, bruised and killed; and,

secondly, his people, his members, whom Satan, in divers ways, bruises, vexes,
and afflicts while they are on earth, but cannot reacheither Christ their head
in heaven, or themselves when they shall be advanced thither. In this verse,
therefore, notice is given of a perpetual quarrel commencedbetweenthe
kingdom of God and the kingdom of the devil among men: waris proclaimed
betweenthe seedof the woman and the seedof the serpent, Revelation12:7. It
is the fruit of this enmity, 1st, That there is a continual conflict betweenGod’s
people and him. Heaven and hell can never be reconciled, no more can Satan
and a sanctifiedsoul. 2d, That there is likewise a continual struggle between
the wickedand the good. And all the malice of persecutors againstthe people
of God is the fruit of this enmity, which will continue while there is a godly
man on this side heaven, and a wickedman on this side hell. But, 3d, A
gracious promise also is here made of Christ, as the deliverer of fallen man
from the powerof Satan. By faith in this promise, our first parents, and the
patriarchs before the flood, were justified and saved; and to this promise, and
the benefit of it, instantly serving God day and night, they hoped to come.
Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary
3:14,15 Godpasses sentence;and he begins where the sin began, with the
serpent. The devil's instruments must share in the devil's punishments. Under
the coverof the serpent, the devil is sentencedto be degradedand accursedof
God; detestedand abhorred of all mankind: also to be destroyedand ruined
at last by the greatRedeemer, signifiedby the breaking of his head. War is
proclaimed betweenthe Seed of the woman and the seedof the serpent. It is
the fruit of this enmity, that there is a continual warfare betweengrace and
corruption, in the hearts of God's people. Satan, by their corruptions, buffets
them, sifts them, and seeks to devour them. Heaven and hell can never be
reconciled, nor light and darkness;no more canSatan and a sanctifiedsoul.
Also, there is a continual struggle betweenthe wickedand the godly in this
world. A gracious promise is here made of Christ, as the Delivererof fallen
man from the powerof Satan. Here was the drawn of the gospelday: no
soonerwas the wound given, than the remedy was provided and revealed.
This gracious revelationof a Saviour came unasked, and unlooked for.
Without a revelation of mercy, giving some hope of forgiveness, the convinced
sinner would sink into despair, and be hardened. By faith in this promise, our

first parents, and the patriarchs before the flood, were justified and saved.
Notice is given concerning Christ. 1. His incarnation, or coming in the flesh. It
speaks greatencouragementto sinners, that their Saviour is the Seedof the
woman, bone of our bone, Heb 2:11,14. 2. His sufferings and death; pointed at
in Satan's bruising his heel, that is, his human nature. And Christ's sufferings
are continued in the sufferings of the saints for his name. The devil tempts
them, persecutes andslays them; and so bruises the heel of Christ, who is
afflicted in their afflictions. But while the heel is bruised on earth, the Head is
in heaven. 3. His victory over Satanthereby. Christ baffled Satan's
temptations, rescuedsouls out of his hands. By his death he gave a fatal blow
to the devil's kingdom, a wound to the head of this serpentthat cannot be
healed. As the gospelgains ground, Satan falls.
Barnes'Notes on the Bible
Here begins the judgment. Sentence is pronounced upon the serpent in the
presence, no doubt, of the man and woman. The serpent is not examined, first,
because it is a mute, unreasoning animal in itself, and therefore incapable of
judicial examination, and it was the serpent only that was palpable to the
senses ofour first parents in the temptation; and, secondly, because the true
tempter was not a new, but an old offender.
This sentence has a literal application to the serpent. The curse (Genesis 9:25,
see the note) of the serpent lies in a more groveling nature than that of the
other land animals. This appears in its going on its belly and eating the dust.
Other animals have at leastfeetto elevate them above the dust; the serpent
tribe does not have even feet. Other animals elevate the head in their natural
position above the soil: the serpent lays its head naturally on the sod, and
therefore may be saidto eatthe dust, as the wounded warrior bites the dust in
death. The earthworm is probably included in the description here given of
the serpentgroup. It goes upon its belly, and actuallydoes eat the dust. Eating
the dust, like feeding upon ashes, is an expressionfor signal defeatin every
aim. The enmity, the mode of its display, and the issue are also singularly
characteristic ofthe literal serpent.

It is the custom of Scripture jurisprudence to visit brute animals with certain
judicial consequences ofinjuries they have been instrumental in doing to man,
especiallyif this has arisenthrough the designor neglectof the owner, or
other responsible agentGenesis 9:5; Exodus 21:28-36. In the presentcase the
injury done was of a moral, not a physical nature. Hence, the penalty consists
in a curse; that is, a state of greaterdegradationbelow man than the other
land animals. The serpent in the extraordinary event here recordedexercised
the powers of human speechand reasoning. And it is natural to suppose that
these exhibitions of intelligence were accompaniedwith an attitude and a
gesture above its natural rank in the scale ofcreation. The effectof the
judicial sentence wouldbe to remand it to its originalgroveling condition, and
give rise to that enmity which was to end in its destruction by man.
However, since an evil spirit must have employed the serpent, since the animal
whose organs and instincts were most adapted to its purpose, and has
accordinglyderived its name from it as presenting the animal type most
analogous to its own spiritual nature, so the whole of this sentence has its
higher applicationto the real tempter. "Upon thy belly shalt thou go." This is
expressive of the loweststage ofdegradationto which a spiritual creature can
be sunk. "Dust shalt thou eat." This is indicative of disappointment in all the
aims of being. "I will put enmity." This is still more strictly applicable to the
spiritual enemy of mankind. It intimates a hereditary feud betweentheir
respective races, whichis to terminate, after some temporary suffering on the
part of the woman's seed, in the destruction of the serpent's power against
man. The spiritual agentin the temptation of man cannothave literally any
seed. But the seedof the serpentis that portion of the human family that
continues to be his moral offspring, and follows the first transgression without
repentance or refuge in the mercy of God. The seedof the woman, on the
other hand, must denote the remnant who are born from above, and hence,
turn from darkness to light, and from the powerof Satan unto God.
Let us now mark the lessons conveyed in the sentence of the serpent to our
first parents, who were listening and looking on. First. The serpentis styled a
mere brute animal. All, then, that seemedto indicate reasonas inherent in its
nature or acquired by some strange event in its history is thus at once
contradicted. Second. It is declaredto be lower than any of the other land

animals; as being destitute of any members corresponding to feet or hands.
Third. It is not interrogatedas a rational and accountable being, but treated
as a mere dumb brute. Fourth. It is degraded from the airs and attitudes
which may have been assumed, when it was possessedby a serpent-like evil
spirit, and falls back without a struggle to that place of debasementin the
animal kingdom for which it was designed. Fifth. It is fated to be disappointed
in its aims at usurpation. It shall bite the dust. Sixth. it is doomedto ultimate
and utter defeatin its hostile assaults upon the seedof the woman.
All this must have made a deep impressionon our first parents. But two
things must have struck them with specialforce. First, it was now evident how
vain and hollow were its pretensions to superior wisdom, and how miserably
deluded they had been when they listened to its false insinuations. If, indeed,
they had possessedmaturity of reflection, and taken time to apply it, they
would have been strangely bewildered with the whole scene, now that it was
past. How the serpent, from the brute instinct it displayed to Adam when he
named the animals, suddenly rose to the temporary exercise of reasonand
speech, and as suddenly relapsedinto its former bestiality, is, to the mere
observerof nature, an inexplicable phenomenon. But to Adam, who had as yet
too limited an experience to distinguish betweennatural and preternatural
events, and too little development of the reflective powerto detectthe
inconsistencyin the appearance of things, the sole objectof attention was the
shameless presumption of the serpent, and the overwhelming retribution
which had fallen upon it; and, consequently, the deplorable folly and
wickednessofhaving been misguided by its suggestions.
A secondthing, however, was still more striking to the mind of man in the
sentence ofthe serpent; namely, the enmity that was to be put betweenthe
serpent and the woman. Up to a certain point there had been concordand
alliance betweenthese two parties. But, on the very opening of the heavenly
court, we learn that the friendly connectionhad been broken. For the woman
said, "The serpentbeguiled me, and I did eat." This expressionindicates that
the womanwas no longer at one with the serpent. She was now sensible that
its part had been that, not of friendship, but of guile, and therefore of the
deepestand darkesthostility. When God, therefore, said, "I will put enmity
betweenthee and the woman," this revulsion of feeling on her part, in which

Adam no doubt joined, was acknowledgedand approved. Enmity with the
enemy of God indicated a return to friendship with God, and presupposed
incipient feelings of repentance toward him, and reviving confidence in his
word. The perpetuation of this enmity is here affirmed, in regardnot only to
the woman, but to her seed. This prospectof seed, and of a godly seed, at
enmity with evil, became a fountain of hope to our first parents, and
confirmed every feeling of returning reverence for God which was beginning
to spring up in their breast. The word heard from the mouth of God begat
faith in their hearts, and we shall find that this faith was not slow to manifest
itself in acts.
We cannotpass over this part of the sentence without noticing the expression,
"the seedof the woman." Does it not mean, in the first instance, the whole
human race? Was notthis race at enmity with the serpent? And though that
part only of the seedof the woman which eventually shared in her present
feelings could be said to be at enmity with the serpent spirit, yet, if all had
gone well in Adam's family, might not the whole race have been at enmity
with the spirit of disobedience? Was notthe avenue to mercy here hinted at as
wide as the offer of any other time? And was not this universality of invitation
at some time to have a response in the human family? Does not the language
of the passageconstrainus to look forward to the time when the greatmass,
or the whole of the human race then alive on the earth, will have actually
turned from the power of Satanunto God? This could not be seenby Adam.
But was it not the plain import of the language, that, unless there was some
new revolt after the present reconciliation, the whole race would, even from
this new beginning, be at enmity with the spirit of evil? Such was the dread
lessonof experience with which Adam now entered upon the careeroflife,
that it was to be expectedhe would warn his children againstdeparting from
the living God, with a clearness andearnestness whichwould be both
understood and felt.
Still further, do we not pass from the generalto the particular in the sentence,
"He shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel?" Is not the seedof
the womanhere individualized and matched in deadly conflict with the
individual tempter? Does not this phraseologypoint to some pre-eminent
descendantof the woman, who is, with the bruising of his lowernature in the

encounter, to gain a signal and final victory over the adversaryof man? There
is some reasonto believe from the expression, "I have gottena man from the
Lord" Genesis 4:1, that Eve herself had caughta glimpse of this meaning,
though she applied it to the wrong party. The Vulgate also, in what was
probably the genuine reading, "ipse" (he himself) points to the same meaning.
The reading "ipsa" (she herself) is inconsistentwith the genderof the Hebrew
verb, and with that of the corresponding pronoun in the secondclause (his),
and is therefore clearly an error of the transcriber.
Lastly, the retributive characterof the divine administration is remarkably
illustrated in the phrase. The serpent, in a wily but dastardly spirit, makes the
weakersexthe objectof his attack. It is the seedof the womanespeciallythat
is to bruise his head. It is singular to find that this simple phrase, coming in
naturally and incidentally in a sentence uttered four thousand years, and
penned at leastfifteen hundred years, before the Christian era, describes
exactly and literally Him who was made of woman without the intervention of
man, that He might destroy the works ofthe devil. This clause in the sentence
of the tempter is the first dawn of hope for the human family after the fall. We
cannot tell whether to admire more the simplicity of its terms, the breadth
and comprehensivenessofits meaning, or the minuteness of its application to
the far-distant event which it mainly contemplates.
The doom here pronounced upon the tempter must be regarded as specialand
secondary. It refers to the malignant attack upon man, and foretells what will
be the issue of this attempt to spread disaffectionamong the intelligent
creation. And it is pronounced without any examination of the offender, or
investigationof his motives. If this had been the first offence againstthe
majesty of heaven, we humbly conceive a solemn precognitionof the case
would have taken place, and a penalty would have been adjudicated adequate
to the magnitude of the crime and analagous to the punishment of death in the
case ofman. The primary actof defiance and apostasyfrom the Creatormust
have been perpetrated without a tempter, and was, therefore, incomparably
more heinous than the secondaryactof yielding to temptation. Whether the
presence ofthe tempter on earth intimates that it was the place of his abode in
a state of innocence, or that he visited it because he had heard of the creation

of man, or that he was there from some altogetherdifferent reason, is a vain
and unprofitable inquiry.
Jamieson-Fausset-BrownBible Commentary
15. thy seed—notonly evil spirits, but wickedmen.
seedof the woman—the Messiah, orHis Church [Calvin, Hengstenberg].
I will put enmity betweenthee and the woman—Godcan only be said to do so
by leaving "the serpent and his seedto the influence of their own corruption;
and by those measures which, pursued for the salvationof men, fill Satan and
his angels with envy and rage."
thou shalt bruise his heel—The serpentwounds the heel that crushes him; and
so Satan would be permitted to afflict the humanity of Christ and bring
suffering and persecutionon His people.
it shall bruise thy head—The serpent's poison is lodged in its head; and a
bruise on that part is fatal. Thus, fatal shall be the stroke which Satanshall
receive from Christ, though it is probable he did not at first understand the
nature and extent of his doom.
Matthew Poole's Commentary
Vers. 15. Though now ye be sworn friends, leaguedtogetheragainstme,
I will put enmity betweenthee and the woman; and the man too, but the
woman alone is mentioned, for the devil’s greaterconfusion.
1. The woman, whom, as the weakervessel, thou didst seduce, shallbe the
greatoccasionofthy overthrow.
2. Becausethe Son of God, who conqueredthis greatdragon and old serpent,
Revelation12:9, who came to destroythe works of the devil, 1Jo 3:8, was

made of a woman, Galatians 4:4, without the help of man, Isaiah7:14 Luke
1:34-35.
Thy seed;literally, this serpent, and, for his sake, the whole seedor race of
serpents, which of all creatures are most loathsome and terrible to mankind,
and especiallyto women. Mystically, that evil spirit which seducedher, and
with him the whole societyofdevils, (who are generallyhated and dreaded by
all men, even by those that serve and obey them, but much more by good
men), and all wickedmen; who, with regard to this text, are calleddevils, and
the children or
seedof the devil, John 6:70, John 8:44, Acts 13:10 1Jo 3:8.
And her seed, her offspring; first and principally, the Lord Christ, who with
respectto this text and promise is called, by way of eminency,
the seed, Galatians 3:16, Galatians 3:19;whose alone work it is to break the
serpent’s head, i.e. to destroy the devil, Hebrews 2:14. Compare John 12:31
Romans 16:20.
Secondly, and by way of participation, all the members of Christ, all believers
and holy men, who are calledthe children of Christ, Hebrews 2:13, and of the
heavenly Jerusalem, Galatians 4:26. All the members whereofare the seedof
this woman; and all these are the implacable enemies of the devil, whom also
by Christ’s merit and strength they do overcome.
The head is the principal instrument both of the serpent’s fury and mischief,
and of his defence, and the principal seatof the serpent’s life, which therefore

men chiefly strike at; and which being upon him ground, a man may
conveniently tread upon, and crush it to pieces. In the devil this notes his
powerand authority over men; the strength whereofconsists in death, which
Christ, the blessedSeedof the woman, overthrowethby taking awaythe sting
of death, which is sin, 1 Corinthians 15:55-56;
and destroying him that had the power of death, that is, the devil, Hebrews
2:14.
The heel is the part which is most within the serpent’s reach, and wherewith it
was bruised, and thereby provokedto fix his venomous teeth there; but a part
remote from the head and heart, and therefore its wounds, though painful, are
not deadly, nor dangerous, if they be observedin time. If it be applied to the
Seedof the woman, Christ, his heel may note either his humanity, whereby he
trod upon the earth, which indeed the devil, by God’s permission, and the
hands of wickedmen, did bruise and kill; or his saints and members upon the
earth, whom the devil doth in diverse manners bruise, and vex, and afflict,
while he cannotreachtheir Head, Christ, in heaven, nor those of his members
who are or shall be advanced thither.
Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible
And I will put enmity betweenthee and the woman,.... Betweenwhom there
had been so much familiarity, not only while they had the preceding discourse
together, but before; for it is conjecturedby some (y), that she took a
particular liking to that creature, and was delighted with it, and laid it
perhaps in her bosom, adorned her neck with its windings, or made it a
braceletfor her arms; and being a peculiar favourite, the devil made choice of
it as his instrument to deceive her; but now being beguiled hereby, she
conceivedan antipathy againstit, and which is become natural betweenthe
serpent and man; man abhors the sight of a serpent, and the serpent the sight
of man; and the spittle of a man and the gallof a serpentare poison to each
other; and this antipathy is observedto be strongerin the female sex: and this

was not only true of the particular serpentthat deceivedEve, and of the
particular woman, Eve, deceived by him, but of every serpentand of every
woman in successive ages;and is also true of Satan and the church of God in
all ages, betweenwhomthere is an implacable and an irreconcilable hatred,
and a perpetual war:
and betweenthy seedand her seed;the posterity of Eve, mankind, and the
production of serpents, betweenwhom the antipathy still continues, and
mystically the evil angels and also wickedmen called serpents;and a
generationof vipers on the one hand, and the people of God on the other, the
seedof the church; the latter of which are hated and persecutedby the
former, and so it has been ever since this affair happened: and especiallyby
the seedof the woman may be meant the Messiah;the word "seed" sometimes
signifying a single person, Genesis 4:25 and particularly Christ, Galatians
3:16 and he may with greatpropriety be so called, because he was made of a
woman and not begottenby man; and who assumednot an human person, but
an human nature, which is calledthe "holy thing", and the "seedof
Abraham", as here the "seedof the woman", as well as it expressesthe truth
of his incarnation and the reality of his being man; and who as he has been
implacably hated by Satanand his angels, and by wickedmen, so he has
opposedhimself to all them that hate and persecute his people:
it shall bruise thy head; the head of a serpent creeping on the ground is easily
crushed and bruised, of which it is sensible, and therefore it is careful to hide
and coverit. In the mystical sense, "it", or"he, Hu", which is one of the
names of God, Psalm 102:27 and here of the Messiah, the eminent seedof the
woman, should bruise the head of the old serpentthe devil, that is, destroy
him and all his principalities and powers, break and confound all his schemes,
and ruin all his works, crushhis whole empire, strip him of his authority and
sovereignty, and particularly of his power over death, and his tyranny over
the bodies and souls of men; all which was done by Christ, when he became
incarnate and suffered and died, Hebrews 2:14.
And thou shall bruise his heel; the heelof a man being what the serpent can
most easilycome at, as at the heels of horses which it bites, Genesis 49:17 and
which agrees with that insidious creature, as Aristotle (z) describes it: this, as

it refers to the devil, may relate to the persecutions ofthe members of Christ
on earth, instigated by Satan, or to some slight trouble he should receive from
him in the days of his flesh, by his temptations in the wilderness, and agony
with him in the garden;or rather by the heel of Christ is meant his human
nature, which is his inferior and lowestnature, and who was in it frequently
exposedto the insults, temptations, and persecutions ofSatan, and was at last
brought to a painful and accurseddeath; though by dying he got an entire
victory over him and all his enemies, and obtained salvationfor his people.
The Targums of Jonathan and Jerusalemparaphrase this passageofthe days
of the Messiah, andof health and salvationin them: what is here delivered out
in a way of threatening to the serpent the devil, carries in it a kind intimation
of grace and goodwill to fallen man, and laid a foundation for hope of
salvationand happiness: reference seems to be had to this passagein Psalm
40:7 "in the volume", in the first roll, , as in the Greek version, at the head, in
the beginning "of the book, it is written of me, to do thy will, O my God."
(y) See the Universal History, vol. 1. p. 126. (z) Hist. Animal. l. 1. c. 1.
Geneva Study Bible
And I will put enmity between{o} thee and the woman, and betweenthy seed
and her seed; it shall bruise thy {p} head, and thou shalt {q} bruise his heel.
(o) He chiefly means Satan, by whose actionand deceitthe serpent deceived
the woman.
(p) That is, the powerof sin and death.
(q) Satan shall sting Christ and his members, but not overcome them.
EXEGETICAL(ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)
Cambridge Bible for Schools andColleges
15. and I will put enmity] The first meaning of this sentence refers to the
instinctive antipathy of mankind towards the serpent, and the frequently
deadly characterof the wounds inflicted by serpents upon human beings.

But this explanation does not exhaust the full meaning of the verse. The
narrator tells the story, not in the spirit of a compiler of folk-lore, but with the
purpose of embodying in it the truths of religion. The hostility betweenthe
serpent and the woman, betweenthe serpent’s seedand the woman’s seed,
typifies the unending conflict betweenall that represents the forces of evil on
the one hand, and all that represents the true and high destiny of mankind on
the other. Upon this antagonismJehovah has, as it were, setHis sealfrom the
very beginning. He has ordained it. There must be war betweenevery form of
evil and the children of man. This verse has been calledthe Protevangelium.
There is no prediction of a personalvictor, or even of an ultimate victory.
Commentators used to see in the words, “thou shalt bruise his heel,” a
prediction of the sufferings and crucifixion of our Lord, as “the seed” of the
woman; and in the words, “it shall bruise thy head,” the victory of the
Crucified and RisenSon of Man over the forces of sin and death. We are not
justified in going to the full length of this interpretation. The victory of the
Cross contains, in its fullest expression, the fulfilment of the conflict, which
God here proclaims betweenMankind and the symbol of Evil, and in which
He Himself espouses the cause of man. The Conflict and the Victory are
oracularly announced. But there is no prediction of the PersonalMessiah.
enmity] An unusual word in the Hebrew, occurring elsewhere in O.T. only in
Numbers 35:21-22, Ezekiel25:15;Ezekiel35:5. LXX ἔχθραν, Lat. inimicitias.
It denotes the “blood-feud” betweenthe man and the serpent-race.
bruise] The Hebrew word rendered “bruise” is the same in both clauses.
Suitable as it is in its application to the “crushing” of a serpent’s head beneath
a man’s foot, it is unsuitable as applied to the serpent’s attack upon the man’s
heel. Accordingly some scholars preferthe rendering “aim at,” from a word
of a similar root meaning to “pant” or “pant after.” So the R.V. marg. lie in
wait for (which, however, the root can hardly mean). The LXX has watch,
τήρησει and τήρησεις, probably with the same idea. Vulg. has conteret=
“shallbruise,” in the first clause;insidiaberis = “shaltlie in waitfor,” in the

secondclause. It has been conjecturedthat the root shûph = “bruise,” may
have had some specialsecondarymeaning in which it was used of the
serpent’s bite.
The Vulgate ipsa conteretcaput tuum is noticeable. By an error, it rendered
the Heb. masc. pronoun (“he” = LXX αὐτός)by the feminine pronoun “ipsa,”
ascribing to the woman herself, not to her seed, the crushing of the serpent’s
head. The feminine pronoun has given rise to some singular instances of
exegesisin honour of the BlessedVirgin Mary.
Pulpit Commentary
Verse 15. - And I will put enmity betweenthee and the woman. Referring -
1. To the fixed and inveterate antipathy betweenthe serpent and the human
race (Bush, Lange); to that alone (Knobel).
2. To the antagonismhenceforthto be establishedbetweenthe tempter and
mankind (Murphy); to that alone (Calvin, Bonar, Wordsworth, Macdonald).
And betweenthy seedand her seed. Here the curse manifestly outgrows the
literal serpent, and refers almost exclusivelyto the invisible tempter. The
hostility commencedbetweenthe womanand her destroyerwas to be
continued by their descendants - the seedof the serpent being those of Eve's
posterity who should imbibe the devil's spirit and obey the devil's rule (cf.
Matthew 23:33; 1 John 3:10); and the seedof the woman signifying those
whose characterand life should be of an opposite description, and in
particular the Lord Jesus Christ, who is styled by preeminence "the Seed"
(Galatians 3:16, 19), and who came "to destroy the works of the devil"
(Hebrews 2:4; 1 John 3:8). This we learn from the words which follow, and
which, not obscurely, point to a seedwhich should be individual and personal.
It - or he; αὐτος (LXX.); not ipsa (Vulgate, Augustine, Ambrose, Gregory the
Great; later Romishinterpreters understanding the Virgin) - shall bruise.

1. Shall crush, trample down - rendering ‫פּוׁש‬ by torero or conterere (Vulgate,
Syriac, Samaritan, Tuch, Baumgarten, Keil, Kalisch).
2. Shall pierce, wound, bite - taking the verb as - ‫ׁש‬ָׁ‫ׁש‬ ַ‫,פ‬ to bite (Furst, Calvin).
3. Shall watch, lie in wait = ‫ׁש‬ ָׁ‫א‬ ַ‫פ‬ (LXX., τηρήσει - Wordsworthsuggestsas the
correctreading τερήσει, from τερέω, perforo, vulnero - Gesenius, Knobel).
The word occurs only in two other places in Scripture - Job9:17; Psalm
139:11 - and in the latter of these the reading is doubtful (cf. Perowne on
Psalmin loco). Hence the difficulty of deciding with absolute certainty
betweenthese rival interpretations. Psalm91:13 and Romans 16:20 appearto
sanctionthe first; the secondis favored by the application of the same word to
the hostile action of the serpent, which is not treading, but biting; the
feebleness ofthe third is its chief objection. Thy head. I.e. the superior part of
thee (Calvin), meaning that the serpent would be completelydestroyed, the
head of the reptile being that part of its body in which a wound was most
dangerous, and which the creature itself instinctively protects; or the import
of the expressionmay be, He shall attack thee in a bold and manly way (T.
Lewis). And thou shalt bruise his heel. I.e. the inferior part (Calvin), implying
that in the conflicthe would be wounded, but not destroyed; or "the biting of
the heelmay denote the mean, insidious characterofthe devil's warfare" (T.
Lewis).
Keil and DelitzschBiblical Commentary on the Old Testament
The sentence follows the examination, and is pronounced first of all upon the
serpent as the tempter: "Becausethou hast done this, thou art cursed before
all cattle, and before every beastof the field." ‫,ןמ‬ literally out of the beasts,
separate from them (Deuteronomy 14:2; Judges 5:24), is not a comparative
signifying more than, nor does it mean by; for the curse did not proceedfrom
the beasts, but from God, and was not pronounced upon all the beasts, but
upon the serpent alone. The κτίσις, it is true, including the whole animal

creation, has been "made subject to vanity" and "the bondage of corruption,"
in consequence ofthe sin of man (Romans 8:20-21);yet this subjectionis not
to be regardedas the effectof the curse, which was pronounced upon the
serpent, having fallen upon the whole animal world, but as the consequenceof
death passing from man into the restof the creation, and thoroughly
pervading the whole. The creationwas drawn into the fall of man, and
compelled to share its consequences, becausethe whole of the irrational
creationwas made for man, and made subject to him as its head;
consequentlythe ground was cursedfor man's sake, but not the animal world
for the serpent's sake, oreven along with the serpent. The curse fell upon the
serpent for having tempted the woman, according to the same law by which
not only a beastwhich had injured a man was orderedto be put to death
(Genesis 9:5; Exodus 21:28-29), but any beastwhich had been the instrument
of an unnatural crime was to be slain along with the man (Leviticus 20:15-16);
not as though the beastwere an accountable creature, but in consequenceof
its having been made subject to man, not to injure his body or his life, or to be
the instrument of his sin, but to subserve the greatpurpose of his life. "Justas
a loving father," as Chrysostomsays, "whenpunishing the murderer of his
son, might snap in two the sword or daggerwith which the murder had been
committed." The proof, therefore, that the serpent was merely the instrument
of an evil spirit, does not lie in the punishment itself, but in the manner in
which the sentence was pronounced. When God addressedthe animal, and
pronounced a curse upon it, this presupposedthat the curse had regardnot so
much to the irrational beastas to the spiritual tempter, and that the
punishment which fell upon the serpent was merely a symbol of his own. The
punishment of the serpent correspondedto the crime. It had exalted itself
above the man; therefore upon its belly it should go, and dust it should eat all
the days of its life. If these words are not to be robbed of their entire meaning,
they cannot be understood in any other way than as denoting that the form
and movements of the serpent were altered, and that its presentrepulsive
shape is the effectof the curse pronounced upon it, though we cannot form
any accurate idea of its original appearance. Going upon the belly ( equals
creeping, Leviticus 11:42) was a mark of the deepestdegradation; also the
eating of dust, which is not to be understood as meaning that dust was to be its
only food, but that while crawling in the dust it would also swallow dust(cf.

Micah7:17; Isaiah49:23). Although this punishment fell literally upon the
serpent, it also affectedthe tempter if a figurative or symbolicalsense. He
became the object of the utmost contempt and abhorrence; and the serpent
still keeps the revolting image of Satan perpetually before the eye. This
degradationwas to be perpetual. "While all the rest of creationshall be
delivered from the fate into which the fall has plunged it, according to Isaiah
65:25, the instrument of man's temptation is to remain sentencedto perpetual
degradationin fulfilment of the sentence, 'allthe days of thy life.' and thus to
prefigure the fate of the real tempter, for whom there is no deliverance"
(Hengstenberg, ChristologyGenesis 1:15). - The presumption of the tempter
was punished with the deepestdegradation;and in like manner his sympathy
with the womanwas to be turned into eternal hostility (Genesis 3:15). God
establishedperpetual enmity, not only betweenthe serpent and the woman,
but also betweenthe serpent's and the woman's seed, i.e., betweenthe human
and the serpent race. The seedof the woman would crush the serpent's head,
and the serpent crush the heel of the woman's seed. The meaning, terere,
conterere, is thoroughly establishedby the Chald., Syr., and Rabb.
authorities, and we have therefore retained it, in harmony with the word
συντρίβειν in Romans 16:20, and because it accords betterand more easily
with all the other passages inwhich the word occurs, than the rendering
inhiare, to regardwith enmity, which is obtained from the combination of ‫פּוׁש‬
with ‫.פאׁש‬ The verb is construed with a double accusative, the secondgiving
greaterprecisionto the first (vid., Ges. 139, note, and Ewald, 281). The same
word is used in connectionwith both head and heel, to show that on both sides
the intention is to destroy the opponent; at the same time, the expressions
head and heel denote a majus and minus, or, as Calvin says, superius et
inferius. This contrastarises from the nature of the foes. The serpent can only
seize the heelof the man, who walks upright; whereas the man cancrush the
head of the serpent, that crawls in the dust. But this difference is itself the
result of the curse pronounced upon the serpent, and its crawling in the dust is
a sign that it will be defeatedin its conflictwith man. Howeverpernicious may
be the bite of a serpent in the heel when the poison circulates throughout the
body (Genesis 49:17), it is not immediately fatal and utterly incurable, like the
cursing of a serpent's head.

But even in this sentence there is an unmistakable allusion to the evil and
hostile being concealedbehind the serpent. That the human race should
triumph over the serpent, was a necessaryconsequenceofthe original
subjection of the animals to man. When, therefore, God not merely confines
the serpentwithin the limits assignedto the animals, but puts enmity between
it and the woman, this in itself points to a higher, spiritual power, which may
oppose and attack the human race through the serpent, but will eventually be
overcome. Observe, too, that although in the first clause the seedof the
serpent is opposedto the seedof the woman, in the secondit is not over the
seedof the serpentbut over the serpentitself that the victory is said to be
gained. It, i.e., the seedof the woman will crush thy head, and thou (not thy
seed)wilt crush its heel. Thus the seedof the serpent is hidden behind the
unity of the serpent, or rather of the foe who, through the serpent, has done
such injury to man. This foe is Satan, who incessantlyopposes the seed of the
woman and bruises its heel, but is eventually to be trodden under its feet. It
does not follow from this, however, apart from other considerations, thatby
the seedof the woman we are to understand one solitary person, one
individual only. As the woman is the mother of all living (Genesis 3:20), her
seed, to which the victory over the serpent and its seedis promised, must be
the human race. But if a direct and exclusive reference to Christ appears to be
exegeticallyuntenable, the allusion in the word to Christ is by no means
precluded in consequence. In itself the idea of ‫,ערז‬ the seed, is an indefinite
one, since the posterity of a man may consistof a whole tribe or of one son
only (Genesis 4:25;Genesis 21:12-13), and on the other hand, an entire tribe
may be reduced to one single descendantand become extinct in him. The
question, therefore, who is to be understood by the "seed" whichis to crush
the serpent's head, canonly be answeredfrom the history of the human race.
But a point of much greaterimportance comes into considerationhere.
Against the natural serpent the conflictmay be carriedon by the whole
human race, by all who are born of a woman, but not againstSatan. As he is a
fore who canonly be met with spiritual weapons, none can encounter him
successfullybut such as possessand make use of spiritual arms. Hence the
idea of the "seed" is modified by the nature of the foe. If we look at the
natural development of the human race, Eve bore three sons, but only one of
them, viz., Seth, was really the seedby whom the human family was preserved

through the flood and perpetuated in Noah:so, again, of the three sons of
Noah, Shem, the blessedof Jehovah, from whom Abraham descended, was the
only one in whose seedall nations were to be blessed, and that not through
Ishmael, but through Isaac alone. Through these constantlyrepeated acts of
divine selection, which were not arbitrary exclusions, but were rendered
necessaryby differences in the spiritual condition of the individuals
concerned, the "seed,"to which the victory over Satanwas promised, was
spiritually or ethically determined, and ceasedto be co-extensive with physical
descent. This spiritual seedculminated in Christ, in whom the Adamitic
family terminated, henceforwardto be renewedby Christ as the second
Adam, and restoredby Him to its original exaltationand likeness to God. In
this sense Christis the seedof the woman, who tramples Satan under His feet,
not as an individual, but as the head both of the posterity of the woman which
kept the promise and maintained the conflict with the old serpentbefore His
advent, and also of all those who are gatheredout of all nations, are united to
Him by faith, and formed into one body of which He is the head (Romans
16:20). On the other hand, all who have not regardedand preserved the
promise, have fallen into the power of the old serpent, and are to be regarded
as the seedof the serpent, whose head will be trodden under foot (Matthew
23:33;John 8:44; 1 John 3:8). If then the promise culminates in Christ, the
fact that the victory over the serpent is promised to the posterity of the
woman, not of the man, acquires this deeper significance, thatas it was
through the womanthat the craft of the devil brought sin and death into the
world, so it is also through the woman that the grace ofGod will give to the
fallen human race the conqueror of sin, of death, and of the devil. And even if
the words had reference first of all to the fact that the woman had been led
astrayby the serpent, yet in the fact that the destroyer of the serpentwas born
of a woman (without a human father) they were fulfilled in a waywhich
showedthat the promise must have proceededfrom that Being, who secured
its fulfilment not only in its essentialforce, but evenin its apparently casual
form.
END OF BIBLEHUB RESOURCES

Advent Day 1: Jesus Came to Crush the Head of Satan
"I will put enmity betweenyou and the woman,
and betweenyour offspring and her offspring;
he shall bruise your head,
and you shall bruise his heel."
Genesis 3:15
On the sixth day of creation, God made Adam and Eve. Theywere createdto
worship God, enjoy his creation, care for his creation, and multiply and fill
the earth. God provided abundantly for all of their needs. He createdthe
garden of Eden, placedAdam in it and createdEve to join him. Godtold
them that the fruit trees in the garden were for them. They could feaston all
the trees, exceptone. Adam wasn't told why or given any kind of reason. God
simply saiddon't eatfrom the Tree of the Knowledge of Goodand Evil.
But, one day Eve decidedto listen to someone else. In Genesis 3 the serpent,
who we know as Satan, beganto twist the words of God and convince her that
God was keeping something goodfrom her that she should have. After all,
why wouldn't you want to be wise and know good and evil, she thought. So,
she took some of the fruit from the forbidden tree and then gave some to her
husband.

Immediately their eyes were opened, they realizedtheir sin and that they were
exposedbefore God. They tried to run and hide from God, but it was of no
use. When he approaches them, he asks them to tell him what they did. And,
after they answeredhim, he doesn't address Adam and Eve first. Instead, he
turns his attention to this devious and deceptive serpent and part of what he
said to him was, "I will put enmity betweenyou and the woman, and between
your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall
bruise his heel" Gen. 3:15.
As the Scriptures move forward through thousands of years we track with
this promised, head crushing, offspring of Eve through Seth, Noah, Abraham,
Isaac, Jacob, Judah, and King David.
Then, when we turn to Matthew 1 we find out that Josephwas a descendant of
King David, tracing his line all the way back to Jacob, Isaac,Abraham, Noah,
and Adam and Eve, making Jesus a descendantof King David. Jesus is the
long awaitedpromised offspring from Genesis 3:15. And, we know that he
has a job to do: he must crush the head of Satan.
But, he doesn'tcrush it in the wayanyone would expectwith a powerful
military victory or a physical fight. In fact, Jesus doesn'tappear victorious at
all. He died on a cross. But, on the cross, Jesuscrushes any hope of victory
that Satanhad by bearing the condemnation for the sin of all of God's people.
None of them would be cut off from eternity by his cunning deception. He
crushed the head of Satanby allowing his own body to be beatenand
crucified. But, when he rose from the grave, Satantook his position under his
heel.
http://www.jonathanrbrooks.com/2015/12/advent-day-1-jesus-came-to-crush-
head.html

The God of Peace WillSoonCrush SatanUnder Your Feet
Resource by John Piper
Scripture: Romans 16:17–20 Topic:Satan
I appeal to you, brothers, to watch out for those who cause divisions and
create obstaclescontraryto the doctrine that you have been taught; avoid
them. 18 For such persons do not serve our Lord Christ, but their own
appetites, and by smooth talk and flattery they deceive the hearts of the naive.
19 For your obedience is knownto all, so that I rejoice overyou, but I want
you to be wise as to what is goodand innocent as to what is evil. 20 The God of
peace will sooncrush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus
Christ be with you.
Up till now in the book of Romans, Paul has never mentioned the devil (except
indirectly in passing in Romans 8:38 where he said that neither “angels nor
rulers” canseparate us from the love of God in Christ). In view of how much
he treats the truth of justification in chapters 3-5 and the Christian life in
chapters 6-8, that silence about Satanshould caution us againstmaking too
much of the devil in how we fight the fight of faith.
Satan’s One Mention in Romans:He’s Doomed
Those who think of all struggles in terms of conflicts with the devil to be
fought in face-to-facecombatmust wonderhow Paul could write fifteen
chapters about salvation and Christian living and not mention the Satan.
Paul’s silence till now does not mean that Satanis insignificant, or that he can
be trifled with. But it does mean that we deal with Satanmainly indirectly
rather than keeping him in our mind and going toe to toe (see in addition 2
Timothy 2:24-26).

Genesis 3:15 promise of Satan's defeat

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