The first humans have disobeyed God. And to make matters worse, as we saw in the previous post, they have also abdicated their priestly office, refusing to stand in the gap for each other. When God questions them in turn, the man leaves the woman to fend for herself while the woman points to the serpent. Realizing that the humans are refusing to fulfill their priestly vocation, God turns his attention to the serpent.

Hebrew text:

14 וַיֹּאמֶר֩ יְהוָֹ֨ה אֱלֹהִ֥ים׀ אֶֽל־הַנָּחָשׁ֮ כִּ֣י עָשִׂ֣יתָ זֹּאת֒ אָר֤וּר אַתָּה֙ מִכָּל־הַבְּהֵמָ֔ה וּמִכֹּ֖ל חַיַּ֣ת הַשָּׂדֶ֑ה עַל־גְּחֹנְךָ֣ תֵלֵ֔ךְ וְעָפָ֥ר תֹּאכַ֖ל כָּל־יְמֵ֥י חַיֶּֽיךָ׃

15 וְאֵיבָ֣ה׀ אָשִׁ֗ית בֵּֽינְךָ֙ וּבֵ֣ין הָֽאִשָּׁ֔ה וּבֵ֥ין זַרְעֲךָ֖ וּבֵ֣ין זַרְעָ֑הּ ה֚וּא יְשׁוּפְךָ֣ רֹ֔אשׁ וְאַתָּ֖ה תְּשׁוּפֶ֥נּוּ עָקֵֽב׃ ס

Transliteration:

14 way·yō·mer  Yah·weh ’ĕ·lō·hîm  ’el- han·nā·ḥāš kî  ‘ā·śî·ṯā zōṯ ’ā·rūr ’at·tāh  mik·kāl hab·bə·hê·māh, ū·mik·kōl  ḥay·yaṯ haś·śā·ḏeh; ‘al- gə·ḥō·nə·ḵā  ṯê·lêḵ, wə·‘ā·p̄ār tō·ḵal kāl- yə·mê ḥay·ye·ḵā. 

15 wə·’ê·ḇāh  ’ā·šîṯ, bê·nə·ḵā  ū·ḇên hā·’iš·šāh, ū·ḇên  zar·‘ă·ḵā ū·ḇên zar·‘āh; hū  yə·šū·p̄ə·ḵā rōš, wə·’at·tāh tə·šū·p̄en·nū  ‘ā·qêḇ. s 

NIV:

14 So the Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, “Cursed are you above all livestock and all wild animals! You will crawl on your belly and you will eat dust all the days of your life. 

15 And 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.”

Study:

God does not ask the serpent why he did what he did. This is because it serves no purpose to ask a subordinate to explain himself when the superior has refused to accept responsibility. The humans were supposed to bear God’s image to the rest of creation, including the serpent. The buck stopped with them. But they had refused to accept responsibility. They had refused to fulfill their priestly role. 

However, God does hold the serpent responsible for what it had done and curses it. There is another interesting word play here. While the serpent was introduced as being ‘crafty’ (עָרוּם, arum) now God tells the serpent that it is ‘cursed’ (אָר֤וּר, arur). Its being cursed was precisely the outcome of its bring crafty. In other words, it was too clever for its own good!

The curse that God announces is that the serpent would now crawl on its belly. Some have taken this to mean that the serpent used to move in some other way prior to this. They have speculated that the serpent might have originally had legs or wings. However, we know that snakes do not literally eat dust. And if that part of the curse is clearly not literal then there is no reason to insist that the earlier clause should be taken literally. Moreover, since God does not mention making the serpent mute should we not expect talking snakes?

This right away brings up the question, “What then was the curse pronounced on the serpent?” The curse is the enmity God places between the serpent and humans. Till now the humans had interacted with fear or animosity toward the serpent. But from now on they will be against each other. 

Once again, as in the way the serpent is introduced as being ‘crafty’ (עָרוּם, arum) to warn the reader beforehand about the underhanded motives of the serpent, so also now the reader is told that the present relationship between the serpent and humans is one of enmity and antagonism. The serpent cannot be trusted because it is the enemy of humans. Once again, we can recognize the polemic nature of the text. The text is telling us that we cannot trust the serpent because it is fundamentally against humans. Hence, even when the serpent is revered and worshipped, as in many pagan religions, we are to view this as another instance of a successful deception by the serpent. By elevating itself and encouraging humans to worship it the serpent is acting out its enmity against humans.

1. 15 contains what is commonly called the protoevangelium – the first statement of the gospel. We Christians have a tendency to read into the biblical text and this is one case. However, when the text says, “He will crush your head, and you will strike his heel” it is simply stating what will become the norm for interactions between humans and snakes. A snake that slithers on the ground cannot but strike at the lowest parts of the human body. And the best way to ensure that a venomous snake is no longer a threat is to cut off its head. The two words ‘crush’ and ‘strike’ in the NIV are deceptive since the Hebrew uses the same word שׁוּף (shuph). Most translations use the same word in both places and the NIV’s choice to use two words is clearly an instance of trying to force the meaning of the protoevangelium onto the text. However, the order in the text is enlightening. We have to remember that this is a part of the curse on the serpent and the text indicates that part of the curse on the serpent is that it will face unprovoked attacks from humans. Whereas humans were created to exercise God’s good rule over creation, thereby nurturing all the plants and animals, creating conditions within which each could thrive, now humans will be actively against the serpent. By deceiving the humans the serpent has forfeited the protection that it could expect from humans.

We can see this part of the curse being played out. Most snakes that are killed by humans are actually harmless and often even help control the populations of pests. However, the vast majority of humans, on seeing a snake, will want to kill it. Knowing that snakes have their homes underground, humans will actively seek out and kill snakes in any piece of land on which they plan to settle. Part of the curse on the serpent is this inexplicable fear of snakes which humans have that will drive them to actively seek and kill snakes. And because of this fear, for the most part, there is no coexistence between humans and snakes.

I would warn against seeing v. 15 as a protoevangelium in a superficial way. Let me make my case. As mentioned earlier, the Hebrew text uses the word שׁוּף (shuph) to describe both what the woman’s seed would do to the serpent and what the serpent would do to the woman’s seed. Now שׁוּף (shuph) occurs only four times in the bible, twice in Genesis 3.15. In the other two instances (Job 9.17, translated as ‘crushed’, and Psalm 139.11, translated as ‘hide’) it cannot be fatal. Contrary to some commentators,¹ the two instances of שׁוּף (shuph) cannot be taken to mean different things – fatal for the serpent and non-fatal for the woman’s seed (read Jesus) – for there is nothing in the text to suggest a difference. To read a difference in the text is to read into it from the rest of the bible. In my view, we can grant the author of Genesis some poetic license, however, and extend the meaning of שׁוּף (shuph) to include fatal wounds in both instances. The seed of the woman will fatally wound the serpent just as the serpent will fatally wound the seed. 

This is one and the same event in a plan of mutually assured destruction. In their battle, the serpent will kill the woman’s seed and the woman’s seed will kill the serpent. The verse does not promise anything beyond this, however, and we should be careful not to read anything more into it. Of course, from the rest of the bible we know that this is not the end of the story. While the serpent does manage to kill the woman’s seed, ultimately pointing to Jesus, it takes a special act of God to raise Jesus. And this part of the story is not in Genesis 3.15.

Prayer:

Our gracious, loving Father. We are grateful that you stepped in when we first sinned and turned our backs on you. We are thankful that you did not leave us to fend for ourselves. We are grateful that you have promised that you will do something to ensure that we are not helpless. We ask you to continue to empower us by your Spirit to resist the deception of Satan and to live lives that honor you. We ask you to empower us to live in light of the victory of Jesus, in whose name we pray. Amen.

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^{1. See Wayne Jackson. Crushing the Serpent’s Head: The Meaning of Genesis 3:15. (Accessed on 13 July 2019), Don Stewart. What Does Genesis 3:15 Mean? (Accessed on 13 July 2019), Derek Thomas. The Significance of Genesis 3:15. (Accessed on 13 July 2019) and Grant Richison. Genesis 3:15. (Accessed on 13 July 2019)↩}