Is Genesis 3:15 A Messianic Prophecy?

"Steve" 

Is Genesis 3:15 A Messianic Prophecy?


I. Introduction

According to Christian apologists and missionaries, the Christian
messianic paradigm starts near the beginning of the "Old Testament"
portion of the Christian Bible, at Genesis 3:15. This passage has
been misapplied in an attempt to create a Christian messianic
scenario with a Messiah who is born of a virgin, the one who will
eventually defeat Satan and kill him, thereby purging all evil from
the world.


Since this is one of many passages used by missionaries when they
approach Jews in order to entice them to accept Jesus as their
Messiah and, thereby convert them to Christianity, it requires a
thorough analysis, according to Hebrew text, to demonstrate that it
has no such application as claimed.


II. The Verse Genesis 3:15

Table II-1 displays the verse Genesis 3:15 in three forms: The
Hebrew text is in the right column, the King James Version (KJV)
rendition is in the left column, and a Jewish translation is in the
middle column. The KJV translation includes references to passages
in the New Testament. [These reference notations are found in the
New American Standard Bible (NASB), but the corresponding passages,
quoted below the table, are taken from the KJV.]


Table II-1 – Genesis 3:15 in Hebrew text, Jewish translation, and KJV
translation

KJV Translation
Jewish Translation
Hebrew Text

Genesis 3:15

And I will put enmity(1) between thee and the woman, and between thy
seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head(2), and thou shalt bruise
his heel.
And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your
offspring/[seed] and her offspring/[seed]; they/[he] will strike your
head, and you will strike their/[his] heel.


(1) Revelation 12:17(KJV) - And the dragon was wroth with the woman,
and went to make war with the

remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and
have the testimony of Jesus Christ.

(2) Romans 16:20(KJV) - And the God of peace shall bruise Satan
under your feet shortly. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen.


In general, the two translations are consistent, and several
highlighted phrases will be discussed in detail in the analysis that
follows. It is interesting to note that the woman's seed is referred
to in the neuter gender, i.e., as an it, by the KJV.

III. The Christian Perspective on Genesis 3:15


According to the Christian point-of-view, this is a special verse
because it points to Jesus as being the seed of a woman (Eve), i.e.,
the reference here is to a spiritual child and not to a direct
physical/biological descendant, and that he will defeat (i.e., kill)
Satan (of whom the serpent is the metaphorical representation). This
interpretation is enhanced by Paul through his writings in the New
Testament, such as:


Galatians 3:16(KJV) –Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises
made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to
thy seed, which is Christ.


The Christian apologist and missionary will claim that, since it is
the man, not the woman, who passes on the seed, and since genealogies
in the "Old Testament" are listed through the man, why would this
scripture specifically refer to the seed of a woman? It must be
special, and it can only point to Jesus, who was the seed of a woman,
since he had no earthly father. According to the Christian
perspective, this verse is required in order to understand the
concept that the impact of Adam's and Eve's sin in the Garden of Eden
would be undone by a Messiah, who is this singular seed of a woman,
and who will bring salvation to both Jews and Gentiles. The
Christian apologist will go even further and claim that Genesis 3:15
even hints at the Virgin Birth because of the reference to a woman's
seed.

Thus, according to the Christian perspective, this passage is a
messianic prophecy.


IV. The Jewish Perspective of Genesis 3:15

Using strictly the Simple Reading (peshat in Hebrew) of Genesis 3:15,
the following conclusions may be drawn:

Y The woman (Eve) is the female progenitor of mankind. [The
Jewish Sages accept the notion that homo-sapiens existed before Adam
& Eve, but that these were not endowed with the soul that G-d
breathed into Adam's nostrils which, in a sense, renders them as
being sub-humans, or of the animal kingdom].

Y The enmity between snake and man, from mankind's perspective,
stems from the fact that in general, snakes are pests, even dangerous
pests. From a snake's perspective, it is an animal without the
ability to reason and, thus, it acts on natural instincts – it must
eat to survive, and its main job is to look for sustenance while
protecting itself from predators.

Y The respective references to seed, i.e., offspring, point to
mankind relative to Eve, and the family of snakes relative to the
serpent.

This is not a messianic prophecy by any stretch of the imagination.
Nothing in this verse refers explicitly to the Messiah other than in
the generic sense, that the Messiah will be a human being who
descended from Adam and Eve, i.e., someone of mankind. Other than
that, this verse describes the general notion that people will have
a dislike for snakes and hit them in the head, while snakes will bite
people in their feet.

V. Analysis of Genesis 3:15

Biologically it is, of course, a fact that the male, not the female,
passes the seed. There is no instance found in the Hebrew Bible were
this law of nature is violated. In fact, the usage of the concept of
seed of a woman is not unique to Genesis 3:15 and, therefore, there
is nothing special about the appearance of this phrase here.

In Table II-1, several phrases are highlighted in the original Hebrew
text, and the corresponding English phrases are highlighted in the
translated rendition. The first two phrases involve conjugated form
of the Hebrew noun (zera), and the remaining two phrases are the
Hebrew pronouns (atah), you, and (hu), he.

A. A Hebrew Primer on the Noun (zera)

The Hebrew noun (zera) is a compound noun, i.e., it can be used both
as singular and as plural, depending on the context of a passage.
This term appears in the Hebrew Bible a total of 230 times (229x
Hebrew, 1x Aramaic), in various conjugations, and it has the
applications shown in Table V.A-1.

Table V.A-1 – Applications of the noun (zera) in the Hebrew Bible

Pronunciation
Meaning
#
Example

ZEH-ra
Part of a plant's fruit from which a new plant will grow
27
Genesis 1:11

The sowing season
2
Genesis 8:22

Field crops and grain
11
Genesis 47:24

Progeny/Offspring
182
Genesis 7:3

Semen
8
Leviticus 15:32

An interesting fact about the usage of the noun (zera) in the Hebrew
Bible, which will be illustrated later, is that when used in
reference to (generic) offspring, the term is implicitly plural,
which is similar to such terms in the English language as chicken,
hair, and others. Yet, where it concerns an explicitly identified
offspring, the term is used strictly in the singular context.
Another interesting fact, which can be easily demonstrated, is that
when (zera) is used in reference to children in the Hebrew Bible, it
exclusively refers to progeny, i.e., biological descendants.


Table V.A-2 contains some etymology for the term (zera), which is
relevant to the verse being studied, Genesis 3:15, and to some of the
analysis that follows.


Table V.A-2 – The noun (zera) and some of its conjugated forms


Hebrew Root Noun

(zera)

Relevant Conjugated Forms of

Hebrew
Transliteration
Pronunciation
Conjugation
Meaning


zar'acha
zar-ah-CHA
2nd person, singular, masculine
your seed


zar'ech
zar-AYch
2nd person, singular, feminine
your seed


zar'ah
zar-AH
3rd person, singular, feminine
her seed


Considering the explanation given above, it should be evident that
the expression "her offspring/seed" ( , zar'ah) in Genesis 3:15 is a
generic reference to mankind, since the Bible is speaking of Eve's
descendants. Thus there is implied a plurality, which is likely to
be the reason that some Jewish translators[1] have used the pronoun
they instead of he, since this is not referring to any one specific
person exclusively!


To further illustrate this concept, several passages are presented,
which are similar to Genesis 3:15 in grammatical context as well as
in concept, as they include the notion of the seed of a woman. For
convenience, these passages are arranged in two distinct categories.

1. Category 1 – Generic Use of (zera)

Hagar, Sarah's maidservant and Abraham's concubine, receives this
blessing:

Genesis 16:10 - And the angel of the L-rd said to her [Hagar], "I
will greatly increase your seed ( , zar'ech) and they will not be
counted for abundance."

Note the context: This verse refers to no specific person or
individual. Rather, the reference here is to a multitude of people -
those emerging from Ishmael.

Rebecca, Isaac's future wife, receives the following blessing:

Genesis 24:60 - And they blessed Rebecca and said to her, "May you
come to be thousands of myriads, and may your seed ( , zar'ech)
inherit the gate of his foes."

Note the context: This verse refers to no specific person or
individual. Rather, the reference here is to a multitude of people
(those emerging from Esau and Jacob). In fact, compare the wording
of this verse to Genesis 22:17 below, where the same terminology (in
Hebrew) is used regarding what the `seed' (of Abraham) will
accomplish, clearly indicating a plurality:

Genesis 22:17 - That in blessing I will bless you, and in multiplying
I will multiply your seed ( , zar'acha) as the stars of the heaven,
and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and your seed ( ,
zar'acha) shall possess the gate of his enemies;

The next example demonstrates a situation of the absence of the seed
of a woman, where a childless daughter of a priest may return to live
in her father's house and partake of his bread:

Leviticus 22:13 - But if the priest's daughter is a widow, or
divorced, and has no offspring ( , zera), and has returned to her
father's house, as in her youth, she shall eat of her father's bread;
but no stranger shall eat of it.

Note the context: This verse refers to a woman without children,
i.e., it refers to the absence of offspring without specifying their
number.

Elkanah and his wife, Hannah, receive the following blessing from Eli
the Priest to "compensate" for dedicating their firstborn, Samuel, to
serve G-d:

1 Samuel 2:20-21 – (20) And Eli blessed Elkanah and his wife, and
said: "The L-rd give you seed ( , zera) of this woman for the loan
which is lent to the L-rd." And they went to their own home. (21)
So the L-rd visited Hannah, so that she conceived, and bore three
sons and two daughters. And the child Samuel grew before the L-rd.

Note the context: Verse 20 refers to no specific person or
individual. Rather, the reference here is to the five additional
children (not any specific one of them) that she bore after the birth
of Samuel, as noted in verse 21.



A final example contains a metaphorical reference, albeit one that
perfectly fits the grammatical and conceptual construct:



Isaiah 54:3 - For you [Zion] will burst out to the right and to the
left; and your seed ( , zar'ech) will inherit nations, and they will
settle desolate cities.

Note the context: This verse refers to no specific person or
individual. Rather, the reference here is to an entire nation
(Israel), clearly implying a plurality.

2. Category 2 – Specific Use of (zera)

Another category of verses in the Hebrew Bible utilizes the concept
of the seed of a woman, but in a different way – in the singular
sense, where a specific offspring or descendant is clearly identified
in the surrounding text. Here are passages which illustrate this
application.

When Eve gives birth to Seth following the loss of Abel she says:

Genesis 4:25 - And Adam knew his wife again, and she bore a son and
named him Seth, for "G-d has provided me [Eve] another seed ( , zera)
in place of Abel, for Cain had killed him."

Note the context: This verse refers specifically to Seth.

Hannah prays to be able to bear a son:

1 Samuel 1:11 – She [Hannah] made a vow and said, "L-rd, Master of
Legions, if You take note of the suffering of Your maidservant, and
You remember me, and do not forget Your maidservant, and give Your
maidservant male offspring ( , zera anashim), then I shall give him
to the L-rd all the days of his life, and a razor shall not come upon
his head."

Note the context: This verse refers specifically to the (future)
prophet Samuel, who is named later in the passage:

1 Samuel 1:20 – And in due course, Hannah conceived and bore a son,
and she called his name Samuel, "For I have asked him of the L-rd".

So, the question is: "Into which of these two categories does
Genesis 3:15 fit?". In other words, does Genesis 3:15 belong in
Category 1, the group characterized by Genesis 16:10, 24:60,
Leviticus 22:13, 1 Samuel 2:20-21, & Isaiah 54:3 – verses that
clearly and unambiguously (at least in the Hebrew text) refer to
unidentified multitudes of humans? Or, does Genesis 3:15 belong in
Category 2, the group characterized by Genesis 4:25 & 1 Samuel 1:11 –
each of which clearly and unambiguously (at least in the Hebrew text)
refers to a specific individual (Biblical personality) that is
identified, by name, nearby?

Given these examples of the use of seed of woman in the Hebrew Bible,
it should be possible to determine to which of these two very
distinct categories Genesis 3:15 belongs. The choice is clear –
after all, that was the entire point of this detailed analysis –
Genesis 3:15 belongs in Category 1, the group in which (zera) is
used in the generic plural sense.

A Possible Christian Counter-argument

There are Christian apologists and missionaries who use the wording
of Genesis 3:15, where the singular pronouns he [ (hu) referring to
Eve's seed] and you [ (atah) referring to the serpent's seed] are
applied, to defend the Christian perspective. In other words, the
claim is that this verse speaks of an individual in each case – the
he (it in the KJV) refers to the Messiah, and the you refers to Satan.

This might have been a reasonable argument for including Genesis 3:15
in Category 1, were it not for the fact that the Hebrew Bible comes
to the rescue again. The pronouns – (hu), he, and (atah), you –
appear many times in the Hebrew Bible, and are used interchangeably
in both the singular and plural context, i.e., as they and [plural]
you. To be sure, the singular applications are the most common ones
for both pronouns, yet the plural occurs as well.

Examples (from the Torah) of (hu) in the plural context are:

Exodus 1:6,10 – (6) And Joseph died, and all his brothers, and all
that generation (ha'dor ha'hu).

(10) Come on, let us deal wisely with them; lest they multiply, and
it may come to pass, that, when there would be any war, they too (gam
hu) should join our enemies, and fight against us; and so get them
out of the land.

Examples of (atah) in the plural context are:

Exodus 33:3 - To a land flowing with milk and honey; for I will not
go up in the midst of you since you (atah) are a stiff-necked people;
lest I consume you in the way.

Deuteronomy 9:6 - And you shall know that, not because of your
righteousness, the L-rd, your G-d, gives you this land to possess it;
for you (atah) are a stiff-necked people.

Examples such as the above clearly demonstrate the plural application
of the singular Hebrew pronouns (hu), he/they, and (atah), you/pl.
you, and these add credence to the correct translation of Genesis
3:15 – the one using they and the implicit [plural] you.

Y Conclusion: Genesis 3:15 is not a messianic prophecy!

VI. Summary

The application of the term (zar'ah), her seed, in Genesis 3:15 is
to denote Eve's generic descendants, i.e., humanity, since Adam and
Eve are considered as the progenitors of all of us according to the
account of Creation in Genesis. The incredible quantum leap of faith
required in order to accept and believe the claim that Genesis 3:15
is a messianic prophecy, which the seed of Eve referred to therein
can be distinctly and unambiguously identified as pointing at a
specific individual, Jesus, is simply astonishing.

Within the realm of Jewish theology, this verse could certainly be
understood to include the Messiah at some point "down the road"
since, according to the teachings of the Hebrew Bible, he is expected
to be a flesh and blood human being, a descendant of King David, and,
thus, a descendant of Adam and Eve as well. But this is in no way a
unique identification and pointer to the Messiah, to that specific
individual whose coming is foretold in the Hebrew Bible.

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