In tying the second, third and fourth chapters of Genesis together, so that they read like a single story, I think it is important to use the characters at hand, if at all possible, to interpret the meaning of any symbols or types in the story itself. For example, the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent. "Seed" here is intended to imply children. What kind of children? Literal physical children born from sexual union? Had the story instead declared a rivalry between the seed of the man and the seed of the serpent, then there would be some question as to the womans role in the production of the seed (meaning sexual reproduction). Would we be able to infer that she has sexual intercourse with both (Adam and the serpent, a serpent being an obvious phallic symbol in other cultures) and produce an offspring to each? Possibly! But by separating the seed of the woman (an obvious differentiation from the man) from the seed of the serpent, something other than sexual reproduction is implied, as I think the author is carefully constructing here. The woman and her offspring are separated and set in opposition to the serpent and his offspring. It is better described, in my opinion, as a spiritual reality, or a behavioral or cultural dicotomy that is being played on. The seed of the serpent is LIKE the serpent (in behavior) because he does what the serpent does. The seed of the woman is the seed of righteousness because he is somehow more human (in behavior) than the one who acts like a serpent. This human behavior has already been linked (in Genesis 2) to the image and purpose of God, and to the representation of Gods authority on the earth through Adam, so the association of God to righteous Abel (as the seed of the woman) and the serpent to unrighteous Cain is easy to make. Considering behavior a type of "image", I think is the key to understanding these verses.
Jesus seems to take a similar view on the Genesis account story when He tells the following parable.
Mat 13:24-30 He put out another parable to them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field. (25) But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed darnel among the wheat and went his way. (26) But when the blade had sprung up and had produced fruit, then the darnel also appeared. (27) So the servants of the householder came and said to him, Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? Then where have the darnel come from? (28) He said to them, An enemy has done this. The servants said to him, Then do you want us to go and gather them up? (29) But he said, No, lest while you gather up the darnel you also root up the wheat with them. (30) Let both grow together until the harvest. And in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, First gather together the darnel and bind them in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into my granary.
Obviously this is about the introduction of sin into the world, the wheat being the righteous (those who obey the voice of God) and weeds (darnel) being the unrighteous (those who do not obey the commands), and the development of both until the end of the age. The same symbols and subject matter are found in the story from Genesis 2, 3 and 4. The enemy is the serpent, the weeds are the "seed" of the serpent, the wheat are the "seed" of the woman, the righteous, those who obey the voice of God, and God is the man who sows them (the good seed) in His feild. This is made even more clear by the rebuke of Adam by God at the end of Genesis 3. God declares that he would work the ground and it would produce for him both good (Abel = herb of the field) and bad (Cain = thorns and thistles), showing further that the sexual union of Adam and the woman would produce two kinds of offspring who will be from the same blood-line but very different in terms of spiritual parenthood. Am I saying that this rebuke by God is only symbolic of Cain and Abel (both the "seed" of Adam) and has no literal interpretation? No, in fact I think there is an interesting interplay on words and meanings here and that the meaning is both literal and symbolic. However, the symbolic is highlighted quite beautifully by the use of the word "seed" to refer to generations of men and by launching the story into chapter 4 where we see the "seed" turn up one righteous and one unrighteous offspring rather than describing Adams hard work in the fields.
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