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our time and study, but we have limitations, and so pass to the great primeval promise
Gen. 3: 15:
"I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it
shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise His heel."
In this prophetic promise lies concealed the conflict of the ages, the death of the cross,
the triumph of the Saviour at the end, and the presence of two seeds. On the first day of
creation God had divided the light from the darkness (Gen. 1: 4), so now He divides the
seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent, "I will put enmity". This word translated
"put" occurs next in Gen. 4: 25 where we read "God . . . . . hath appointed me another
seed instead of Abel, whom Cain slew". In the slaying of Abel we have the conflict of
the two seeds set forth, anticipating by 4,000 years the death of Christ, whose blood
speaketh better things than that of Abel. Cain "was of that wicked one", the fruit of the
Serpent's seed.
The word enmity is the translation of the Hebrew ebah spelled in Hebrew aleph, yod,
beth, he. Enemy is oyeb, aleph, yod, beth, and the name of the patriarch Job is spelled
aleph, yod, vav, beth. Moses was inspired to use the same word in Gen. 3: 15 for
enmity, that he employed when writing the prelude to the book of Job* (* - See the
Booklet "Job, or the Enigma of the Ages"). While the seed of the woman thus spoken of
in this great promise speaks of the Lord Jesus Christ, we must never forget that it
includes also the true seed, those who were to be ultimately delivered from the authority
of darkness. This we can prove by referring to Rom. 16: 20. When Paul wrote the
epistle to the Romans, Christ had died, been buried, had risen again, ascended, and was at
the time of writing seated at the right hand of the Father "from henceforth expecting till
His enemies be made His footstool". Yet Paul could write to the believers in Rome:
"The God of peace shall BRUISE SATAN UNDER YOUR FEET shortly"
(Rom. 16: 20).
This is conclusive evidence that in Gen. 3: 15 Christ and His people are indicated by
the woman's seed, and Satan and his followers are indicated by the Serpent's seed. We
will return to this most vital teaching of Scripture later, but at the moment we must
continue our examination of the terms used in Gen. 3: 15. When we read of the
bruising of the head and of the heel, our thoughts naturally travel to Isa. 53:, where
the Saviour is set forth as "bruised for our iniquities" and where it is written "it pleased
the Lord to bruise Him". We must however recognize that something different is
intended in Gen. 3: 15, if only because the word there translated "bruise" is peculiar.
In Isa. 53: 5, 10 the Hebrew word is daka, but in Gen. 3: 15 the Hebrew used is shuph,
and whether we understand the meaning of the two words or not, it is evident on the
surface, that they spring from entirely different roots. Shuph occurs elsewhere only in
Job and the Psalms:
"He breaketh me with a tempest" (Job 9: 17).
"Surely the darkness shall cover me" (Psa. 139: 11).