Genesis 3:14-15

Genesis 3:14-15

[14] And the LORD  God  said  unto the serpent,  Because thou  hast done  this, thou art cursed  above all cattle,  and above every beast  of the field;  upon thy belly  and dust  shalt thou eat  all the days  of thy life:  [15] And I will put  enmity  between thee and the woman,  and between thy seed  it shall bruise  thy head,  and thou shalt bruise  his heel. 

What does Genesis 3:14-15 Mean?

Contextual Meaning

God"s judgment on each trespasser (the snake, the woman, and the man) involved both a life function and a relationship. [1] In each case the punishment corresponded to the nature of the crime.
"Curses are uttered against the serpent and the ground, but not against the man and woman, implying that the blessing has not been utterly lost. It is not until human murder, a transgression against the imago Dei, that a person (Cain) receives the divine curse ..." [2]
1.The snake had been crafty (Heb. "arum), but now it was cursed (Heb. "arur). It had to move on its belly ( Genesis 3:14). Some commentators take this literally and conclude that the snake had legs before God cursed it. [3] Others take it figuratively as a reference to the resultant despised condition of the snake. [4]
2.It would eat dust ( Genesis 3:14). Since snakes do not literally feed on dust, many interpreters take this statement figuratively. Eating dust is an expression used in other ancient Near Eastern writings to describe the lowest of all forms of life. In the Bible it also describes humiliation and total defeat (cf. Psalm 44:25; Psalm 72:9; Isaiah 25:12; Isaiah 49:23; Isaiah 65:25; Micah 7:17).
God revealed later through Isaiah that serpents will eat dust during the Millennium ( Isaiah 65:25). Presently snakes eat plants and animals. Perhaps God will yet fulfill this part of what He predicted here in Genesis concerning snakes in the millennial kingdom. This is a literal interpretation. If this is correct, then perhaps we should also take the former part of the curse literally, namely, that snakes did not travel on their bellies before the Fall. Alternatively Isaiah may have meant that serpents will be harmless after God lifts the curse on creation in the Millennium.
3.There would be antagonism between the serpent and human beings ( Genesis 3:15 a). This obviously exists between snakes and people, but God"s intention in this verse seems to include the person behind the snake (Satan) as well as, and even more than, the snake itself.
". . . the seed of the serpent refers to natural humanity whom he has led into rebellion against God. Humanity is now divided into two communities: the elect, who love God, and the reprobate, who love self ( John 8:31-32; John 8:44; 1 John 3:8). Each of the characters of Genesis will be either of the seed of the woman that reproduces her spiritual propensity, or of the seed of the Serpent that reproduces his unbelief." [5]
4.Man would eventually destroy the serpent, though the serpent would wound man ( Genesis 3:15 b). This is a prophecy of the victory of the ultimate "Seed" of the woman (Messiah) over Satan (cf. Revelation 19:1-5; Galatians 3:16; Galatians 3:19; Hebrews 2:14; 1 John 3:8). [6] Most interpreters have recognized this verse as the first biblical promise of the provision of salvation (the protoevangelium or "first gospel"). [7] The rest of the book, in fact the whole Old Testament, proceeds to point ahead to that seed.
"The snake, for the author, is representative of someone or something else. The snake is represented by his "seed." When that "seed" is crushed, the head of the snake is crushed. Consequently more is at stake in this brief passage than the reader is at first aware of. A program is set forth. A plot is established that will take the author far beyond this or that snake and his "seed." It is what the snake and His "seed" represent that lies at the center of the author"s focus. With that "one" lies the "enmity" that must be crushed." [8]
"The text in context provides an outline that is correct and clear in pattern but not complete in all details. Numerous questions are left unanswered. When Christ died on the cross and rose from the dead, the details of the climax were filled in and specified, but the text does not demand to be reinterpreted. Nor does it demand interpretation in a way not suggested in context." [9]
God cursed all animals and the whole creation because of the Fall ( Romans 8:20), but He made the snake the most despicable of all the animals for its part in the Fall.
"Words possess power. God"s words of blessing and of curse are most powerful. They determine our lives." [10]