Biblical Hebrew Forum

[John Ronning <ronning AT nis.za>]

Ben, you wrote:

>  is it not possible that
>  Eve was expecting an immediate follow-up on the Seed promise of 3:15, and
>  that she took her firstborn QaYiN to be that Seed of the Woman (herself)
>  who was to bruise the serpent's head?  It was not to be; but Eve in the
>  narrative scenario could well have hoped so.

I think it's good procedure to ask first (as you are doing)
how the initial hearers of an oracle would interpret it, and
then to see if such an interpretation is confirmed or
overthrown in subsequent passages.  I think it's also
correct to relate Gen 4:1 to Gen 3:15, but not a la Luther.

If you internalize the creation account, you hear a verbal
"echo" of it in Gen 3:15 (at least I did), w.r.t. the theme
of separation (hibdil...ben...uben days 1, 2, 4), 'ashit
ben...uben...uben...uben Gen 3:15, which might imply that
the curse on the serpent is also a promise of another
creation (the seed of the woman, separated from the seed of
the serpent, like light is separated from darkness, etc.). 
But it's hard to see how A&E could interpret the woman's
seed as anything but literal - i.e. it would be the human
race produced from them, of which Cain would be the first
addition.

I think this understanding of Gen 3:15 as a promise of a new
creation is verified in Eve's own words in Gen 4:1 - "I have
created a man with the Lord" i.e. she understands Cain as
this new creation, and she (naturally) views herself as
having a role in it (i.e. childbirth).  Of course, Eve lived
in a pre-critical age and so she didn't know that she wasn't
supposed to interpret Gen 3:15 in light of Genesis 1 because
the latter hadn't been written yet.

Genesis 4 overthrows her understanding of the oracle,
however, as Cain is shown to be the offspring of the serpent
(thus the seeds are to be interpreted morally, not
literally).  [I won't repeat myself on this from a month or
so ago].  Abel, on the other hand, is shown in Genesis 4 as
the seed of the woman, brought about by God's creative
activity (not the woman's).  Again, this is shown by
relating the passage to the creation account (again we must
forgive their pre-critical hermeneutics).  Note two further
echos from the creation account in Genesis 4:

1. syntactic - chiasm of indirect object (Andersen's term)
with God as subject (i.e. reversal of word order in the 2nd
half of the sentence)

day 1   wayyiqra' Elohim la'or yom welaxoshek qara' laylah

day 3   wayyiqra' Elohim layyabbashah 'erets ulemiqweh
hammayim qara' yammim

4:4b-5a wayyisha` Yhwh 'el Hebel ... we'el Qayin ... lo'
sha`ah

(I'd be interested to know if this precise syntax is used
anywhere else in the Bible besides Genesis 1 & 4 - I haven't
found it anywhere else).


2. God looks upon light, his 1st creation, likewise Abel
day 1   wayyar' Elohim 'eth ha'or, ki +ob (doesn't say he
looked at darkness, or the light and darkness together)

4:4b-5a (as above) the Lord looked upon Abel and his gift
(not upon Cain and his gift)


Eve seems to have learned the lesson that the promised seed
is spiritual (not mankind in general, but the righteous),
for she says at the birth of Seth "God has granted me
another seed in place of Abel, whom Cain killed" (i.e. it's
God's work to produce the seed).  Seth seems to be actually
named after the verb in Gen 3:15, as can even be brought out
in English ("I will set enmity").

Genesis 3 & 4 are thus complementary - Gen 3 is about the
identity of the tempter-serpent (seems to be an animal in v.
1, at end of the chapter seems more like the cherubim - i.e.
it's an evil angel).  Gen 4 is about the identity of the
woman's and serpent's offspring (literal interpretation at
beginning of chapter, moral interpretation at the end).

The theme of God's people as his new creation continues
throughout the OT and into the NT, seen in the call of
Abraham ("I will make you a great nation" - shown to be a
spiritual seed, not physical, as e.g. Ishmael), and in the
re-enactment of the 1st three days of creation at the
crossing of the Red Sea (showing Israel to be God's new
creation), creation themes in the crossing of the Jordan &
conquest, & the return from exile, etc., with the NT showing
the spiritual seed to be Christ's seed (as Isa 53:10, and
Gal 3:16, rightly interpreted).  Combined with the creation
terminology, we see celebrations of the fulfillment of Gen
3:15 (slaying of the serpent-dragon) in these events (e.g.
Psalm 74:12ff, Isa 51:9ff), as is not surprising if Gen 3:15
is rightly interpreted as a promise of a new creation (a
people in God's image, which does not happen naturally
because of the fall and corruption of man).


Blessings,

John