The First Prophecy: Genesis 3:14-15
Jesus is the ultimate answer to God’s curse. When Jesus dies upon the cross, it looks like Satan has won. When Jesus rises from the dead, Satan knows he has lost.
God deals with the serpent. This is a great moment to look at an interesting writing technique frequently employed by ancient writers. The technique is called a chiasm (or chiasmus). This technique was specifically used in societies where the majority of people could neither read nor write, so it helped them remember the story. A chiasm happens when the first half of the story focuses on a specific sequence of details and the second half of the story concludes using the reverse order.
For example, notice that God comes to Adam, who blames Eve, who blames the serpent. There’s our order: Adam, Eve, serpent. When it comes to God’s curses, God deals with the serpent, then Eve, then Adam. That’s a chiasm, because the order of the ending is reversed from the order of the beginning. Chiasms are all over the bible (and all over ancient writings in general).
This story was written to be remembered. The story of the fall of humanity is a story where it is important to get the details right. God not only wants us studying His Word, but he wants us to remember it. God’s Word works best when it is written on our hearts even more than being written on paper.
As for God’s cursing of the serpent, there is a certain obligation to reference the fact that most human beings have an almost irrational dislike of snakes. They don’t have legs, yet they move. They often hide in hard-to-see corners because they’re ambush predators, but that also means they frequently scare us because we don’t see them until we’re too close for comfort. There are many reasons human beings typically don’t like snakes, and this part of the story gives ultimate sense to the irrational fear. God cursed the snake, and part of that curse is that they would be at odds with humanity.
There is a far deeper meaning to this passage than explaining why humanity hates snakes in general. God says the offspring of the woman will bruise the snake’s head and the snake will bruise his heel. Here, in the very story of the fall and how sin entered the world, we hear God already unveiling His plan of redemption. What does God mean by the woman’s offspring?
The Son of Man becomes a popular reference to God’s Messiah, and in Christian circles we believe the Son of Man to be Jesus. Jesus is the ultimate reference in God’s pronouncement. Satan bruises Jesus’ heel by manipulating humanity to crucify Him. Jesus ultimately bruises Satan’s head by taking Satan’s attempt to defeat Him and turning it into the act that brings complete restoration to our relationship with God. Jesus is the ultimate answer to God’s curse.
