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The Genesis Protevangelium (The Cosmic Double-Death of Re-Creation: Part 1)

The Primordial Prophecy of Genesis

In Christian tradition, the Genesis Protevangelium, or Proto-Gospel has long thought to be a prophecy relating to the Messiah (the Christ), pronounced after the serpent in the Garden of Eden (equated with “that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray” [Rev 12:9]), first tempted Eve, who then in turn tempted Adam to eat the forbidden fruit from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil.

Among the curses the Lord God pronounced upon humankind and creation, he also prophesied that;

And I will put enmity between thee and the woman,
and between thy seed and her seed;
it shall bruise thy head,
and thou shalt bruise his heel.
Genesis 3:15 KJV (Genesis Protevangelium)

controversy surrounding a Messianic interpretation of Genesis 3:15

Much controversy surrounds a Messianic interpretation of Genesis 3:15. According to Victor P. Hamilton, a Christian interpretation of Genesis 3:15 is divided into two theological camps: Those who accept the Messianic implication, while critical theologians interpret the Protevangelium exclusively in etiological terms, as a mythological explanation of the hatred between Humankind and the snake world^[1]. Within Judaism it is denied that the Protevangelium refers to the Messiah at all.

Traditional Jewish connection the Messiah with Genesis 3:15

However, There is evidence within the Jewish tradition that this esoteric passage of scripture was understood to have a Messianic implication, such as the Targums by Pseudo-Jonathan and Onkelos. In the Targum Pseudo-Jonathan we are told;

And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between the seed of your offspring and the seed of her offspring. And it shall be that when the offspring of the woman observe the precepts of the Torah, they will aim to strike you on the head; but when they abandon the precepts of the Torah, you will aim to bite them in the heel. However, for them there will be a remedy, but for you there will be no remedy. And they will make peace with the heel in the days of the messiah.
Targum Pseudo-Jonathan Emphasis: mine

The Targum Onkelos also expounds;

And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your son and her son. He will remember what you did to him in the beginning, and you shall be observing him in the end.
Targum Onkelos Emphasis: mine

According to Rabbinic tradition, ‘the end of the age’ is known as ‘Ikveta D’Meshicha’, The Heels (or footsteps) of the Messiah.

The Double-Death

For this article I wish to focus of the second portion of the Protevangelium, the double-death (or wounding of the seed of the woman and the serpent):

it shall bruise thy head,
and thou shalt bruise his heel.
Genesis 3:15 KJV (Genesis Protevangelium)

The Hebrew verb sup is used both times, when the “it” (the seed) “bruises” the serpent’s head, and the serpent “bruises” his heel. Hamilton comments that due to a lack of any evidence in the Hebrew readings, sup should be translated the same way both times [²], as opposed to many biblical translations that interpret sup in such a way as to allude to the ultimate victory of Christ.

The ultimate victory of Christ (or any other cosmic hero) is not the intended or revealed mystery here, but rather a simultaneous double-death, where the fate of the seed and the serpent are inextricably bound together, in a kind of cosmic unity, that reorders the catastrophic consequences of the fall, and recreates the cosmos beyond the primordial paradise of Eden.

Coming up in Part Two

In my next installment, I will look at three parallel myths from the Norse, Greek, and Celtic spheres of mythology, also involving a cosmic double-death, that hopefully will shed some light on the enigmatic Biblical prophecy of Genesis 3:15.

Bibliography

1. 1: Hamilton, Victor P, 1990, ‘The Book of Genesis Chapters 1-17‘, p.198 (Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing) (Back to Article)
3. 2: Hamilton, Victor P, 1990, ‘The Book of Genesis Chapters 1-17‘, p.197 (Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing) (Back to Article)

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