The figure is of overwhelming tempest and darkness, anticipating once again that

which the Saviour Himself said was the hour and the power of darkness. The word

reappears in Gen. 49: 17 in a duplicated form. Shephiphon "Dan shall be a serpent by

the way (nachash as in Gen. 3: 1, the only other chapter in Genesis where nachash is

used), an adder (shephiphon, derived from the same word that is translated `bruise' in

Gen. 3: 15), that biteth the horses heels (aqeb the word translated `heel' in Gen. 3: 15),

so that his rider shall fall backward".

Here we have light upon the wording of this great primeval promise. Many expositors

have turned to the story of the heel of Achilles, in illustration of this figure, but it is well

to remember that Achilles was unknown when the promise was made in Eden, and is

evidently a Greek adaptation of the original record. The references to the "heel" (Heb.

aqab) and "to supplant" or "take by the heel" (Heb. aqab) are interesting. The two other

references to the heel in Genesis are 25: 26, where we read of Jacob, that his hand took

hold on Esau's heel, and Gen. 49: 19 where it is translated "at the last" in the sentence

"he shall overcome at the last"; which the R.V. renders "he shall press upon their heel".

This last reference it will be noted is in the vicinity of the reference to the adder and the

heel already considered.

In the light of these passages, Gen. 3: 15 seems to say that the conflict of the two

seeds, and pre-eminently between Satan and Christ, will be intense, overwhelming as

with darkness and tempest; that the attack of the serpent will be like that of the adder

that biteth the horses heels, and the emphasis upon the idea of supplanting that the

heel-catcher indicates, gives further light upon the intention of the Serpent both in his

attack in Eden and down the ages. He is, in intention, the great Supplanter. The head is

the vulnerable part of a snake, but the Saviour in giving this fatal blow, receives one

almost as deadly. He must be bruised in the heel who attacks this shephiphon, this

nachash, this adder. In the light of Rom. 16: 20, and of the book of the Revelation we

can rejoice that ultimate victory is assured.