The serpent has turned the heads of men. Now the head of the rebellion is to be crushed by a man. A man is to bring about the devil’s downfall.
God says: “He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel” (Genesis 3:15).
In Hebrew, the word ” bruise” in this verse is in the masculine third person singular. It must therefore be translated: “I will put enmity between your descendants and their descendants; he will crush your head”. This opens up the outlook of a Messiah who will break the power of evil.
The Catechism says: (410) This passage of the Book of Genesis [Gen 3:15] is called the “Protoevangelium” because it is the first announcement of the redeeming Messiah, as well as a battle between the serpent and the woman, and the final victory of a descendant of the woman.
The extraordinary offspring of the woman will overcome all the offspring of rebellion.
He is the offspring of the woman and not just any offspring of men. Jesus was not born of human procreation. His name means Saviour. He calls himself the Son of Man in reference to Daniel 7:13-14, which describes a Son of Man coming from heaven to earth to be worshipped by men.
God promises salvation through a person who is extraordinary and wounded.
Messiah images in the Torah
- God seeks us – Adam where are you?
- The possibility of a choice – Two trees in the Garden of Eden
- Neediness instead divinity – A new view
- God’s master plan – Salvation through a human being
- A divine clothing – God acts
- A world upside down – Kai and Abel
- Living in the presence of God – Enoch
- God is calling – Noah
- A king-priest like Melchizedek
- God visits Abraham
- Life through a sacrifice – Isaac
- The ladder to heaven – Jacob
- New identity from Jacob to Israel
- Messiah Ben Joseph – Joseph the son of Jacob
- Shiloh, whom all nations will serve – Blessing on Judah
- Moses, the prototype of the Saviour
- References to Jesus in Moses
- The Passover Lamb
- The pillar of cloud and fire
- God wants to be with us – The tabernacle / The temple
- The snake on a pole – An image of a new beginning
- The rock in the desert – Faith is not a method
- A prophet greater than Moses
- A star from Jacob – Bileam