Episode 236 - "He will bruise your head" - Genesis 3:14-15

Gen. 3:14 The LORD God said to the serpent, “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.

15 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.”

Let’s begin with a brief review of our last episode. Adam and Eve disobeyed the LORD’s command not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. God had given Adam the clear command and the clear consequences of disobeying that command. The offense began with the serpent questioning and confusing God’s word, followed by impugning God’s character. The serpent used these methods to deceive Eve, and she ate, and she gave some to Adam, and he ate.

The LORD approached Adam first to interrogate and confront him. Adam attempted to redirect the blame onto God and Eve before confessing that he had indeed eaten the forbidden fruit. The LORD then questioned Eve, who redirected the blame to the serpent before confessing that she ate the fruit.

In verse 14, the LORD spoke to the serpent but did not question it. The serpent neither redirected blame nor confessed to any offense. The LORD simply pronounced judgment on the serpent.

I do not want to give much attention to the details of the first part of this curse because I don’t see how they inform our spiritual life. What I will say is that the New Testament Scriptures make it clear that the serpent is the devil himself. Many have suggested that the devil possessed or took on the form of a serpent to approach Eve and that the serpent was complicit and, therefore, deserved this curse.

I believe the most important thing we can glean from verse 14 is that God does not leave rebellion against his holy and righteous standard to go unpunished. God will not let evil go unchecked. This is an important principle to understand in appreciating the Good News of Jesus and his death on the cross. Jesus, in dying on the cross, took upon himself the just punishment for the sins of the world. This is known as substitutionary atonement. Since God is just, he cannot simply turn a blind eye to some sins. Jesus is the only one who could accomplish this because he is the only Son of God and was perfectly obedient to every command of his Father in Heaven. God sending his Son to this earth to accept the just punishment on our behalf not only reveals God’s justice by showing that he will not let any sin go unchecked, but it also shows his love and mercy toward us.

Enmity is an appropriate word to describe the common reaction most people have to snakes to this day. Snakes can be difficult to see lying in the grass, and it’s easy to get bit if we walk near or step on the snake by mistake. Conversely, people often have such an aversion to snakes that they will bludgeon or step on their heads to kill them. The question is, “Does this verse simply tell us about the ongoing conflict between humans and snakes?” I don’t think so. Many people understand this verse not only to remind us of the conflict between people and snakes but also to symbolize the conflict between spiritual forces. Based upon God’s original commandment that death would be certain if they disobeyed the LORD, we might expect God to strike Adam and Eve down right then and there. But that doesn’t happen, and God’s words about the seed of the serpent striking the heel of the woman’s seed, but the woman’s seed striking the head of the serpent seems to indicate that God has a plan, and the plot of this story is about to thicken. Who will this seed be, and when will he come to crush the head of the serpent?

In our next episode, the LORD returns to Eve and Adam to explain the consequences of their disobedience. Life would get tough for them, but hope becomes evident. Within these two verses, we learn some very important truths that are as valid today as they were then. First, God is just. Second, God is also merciful. By promising a seed that will crush the head of the serpent, there is an expectation and hope that God will set right the chaos and death that will result from this rebellious action by Adam and Eve.