And I [1. Jehovah God]
Genesis Chapter 3 Verse 15 or Ge 3:15
will put enmity between you [2. Satan the Devil]
and the woman [“Jerusalem above”]
and between your offspring [“Satan’s Children”]
and her offspring [“4. Jesus Christs” and his “Brothers”].
He will crush your head [3. Satan’s Destruction],
and you will strike him in the heel [“Satan’s Attack and his End”]”
Reading the verse before, it is clear that Jehovah is talking to the “serpent”
Then Jehovah God said to the serpent …
Ge 3:14
How do we know that the serpent is Satan, the Devil?
Some scholars understand “the serpent” literally as an animal. Consequently, they understand the phrase “I put enmity between you and the woman” in the way that humanity, specifically women, have fear and animosity towards snakes.
That many humans fear snakes is true, but human’s enmity, as biblical scholar Adam Clarke points out, is even stronger towards other animals:
… nor is there any proof that men hate serpents more than they do other noxious animals. Men have much more enmity to the common rat and magpie than they have to all the serpents in the land, because the former destroy the grain, etc., and serpents in general, far from seeking to do men mischief, flee his approach, and generally avoid his dwelling …
Adam Clarke Commentary
In fact the Bible itself gives enough evidence that God’s curse was actually not addressed to the serpent, but towards a spirit creature who obviously used the serpent similar to a speaking puppet.
So down the great dragon was hurled, the original serpent, the one called Devil and Satan, who is misleading the entire inhabited earth; he was hurled down to the earth, and his angels were hurled down with him
Re 12:9
The last book of the Bible, written about 1600 years after Genesis 3:15, helps to identify the “serpent”. The Book of Revelation explains: The “original serpent” of Genesis 3 is “the one called Devil and Satan”.
You are from your father the Devil, and you wish to do the desires of your father. That one was a murderer when he began, … he is a liar and the father of the lie
Jo 8:44
Also, Jesus indirectly confirms this.
The Devil (which means “slanderer”) “began”, when he slandered the first time Jehovah by saying: “For God knows that in the very day you eat from it, your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and bad” (Ge 3:5). Satan implied that God is a liar by saying “God knows” (that it is not true that they would die).
Using a lie, the serpent “seduced” (2Co 11:3) Eve to try from the fruit of the “tree of the knowledge of good and bad”.
Jehovah God clearly commanded Adam to not eat from that tree. Eating from this fruit would mean death for him (Ge 2:17). Eve too was fully aware of this command (Ge 3:2, 3).
Satan became the “father” or inventor of the lie by saying to Eve: “You will certainly not die.” (Ge 3:4). Through this lie Satan indirectly killed Adam, Eve and their offspring (Ro 5:12).
… as the serpent seduced Eve by its cunning, your minds might be corrupted … And no wonder, for Satan himself keeps disguising himself as an angel of light
2Co 11:3,14
Also Paul gives clues about the “serpent” who seduced Eve. In the same chapter, he mentions that one of Satan’s methods to trick humans is “disguising himself as an angel of light”.
This is what the Devil did to Eve by pretended to be her benefactor, but in reality, having cruel intentions.
Facts about Satan the Devil
- Devil is not a name, but a title which derives from the Greek word di·aʹbo·los and means “slanderer” (it-1 pp. 621-622 Devil).
- The Greek word sa·ta·nas means “resister”, as he became a resister of God’s purpose (it-2 pp. 866-870 Satan).
- “Satan” is mentioned by that name only 18 times in the Hebrew Scriptures but more than 30 times in the Christian Greek Scriptures