The "Seed of A Woman:" A Kernel of Deception

 

 

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 the Hebrew text, to demonstrate that it has no such application as claimed.

 

II.            The Verse Genesis 3:15

 

Table II-1 shows side-by-side English renditions and the Hebrew text of the verse Genesis 3:15.  The King James Version (KJV) translation includes references to passages in the New Testament.  [These reference notations are from the New American Standard Bible (NASB).  The corresponding passages quoted below the table are from the KJV.]

 

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

 

 (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 (p^eshat 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 renditions.  The first two phrases involve conjugated forms 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

 

 

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

 

 

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:  v. 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 v. 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, and 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 and 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.

 

2. 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 against 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, that 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.