The Skull Crushing
Seed
Of the Woman:
Inner-Biblical Interpretation of
Genesis 3:15’
by
James Hamilton
After Adam and Eve
had sinned
in the
Garden of Eden,
God cursed the serpent, who had tempted them,
(Genesis 3.14-15)
and
pronounced judgment
on
Eve
(Genesis 3.16) and Adam (Genesis 3.17-19).
To the serpent, he said,
Because you have done this,
cursed are you
above all livestock and above all beasts of the field;
on your belly you shall go, and dust you shall
eat all the days of your life. I will put enmity between
you and the woman, and between
your offspring and her offspring;
he shall bruise your head,
and you
shall bruise his heel.”
James Hamilton,
Professor of Biblical Theology
at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary,
writes,
“God’s first act of judgment in the Bible
is accompanied by his
first
promise of salvation,
and the
salvation will
come
through the judgment.
As the serpent is cursed,
he is told that he will proceed
on his belly
and that he will eat dust
(Gen 3:14).
Further, enmity is placed between
him and the woman,
and between his
seed and the seed of the woman.
This enmity will
issue in the
seed of the woman crushing
the
head of the serpent
(3:15).”