The Seed of the Woman
As we have considered the first chapter of Luke in our current sermon series, have you wondered why it was important for Jesus to be born of a virgin? Or what prompted Mary and Elizabeth to respond to their situations with joy and awe instead of bewilderment? How would they have understood the idea of the Messiah, God’s anointed rescuer? Some of our questions find answers in the theological concept of “seed of the woman.”
Hope for deliverance from the slavery of sin touches each page of the Old Testament, starting almost as soon as sin enters the story of the world. As God curses the serpent in Genesis 3:15, we learn that humans and the serpent will be locked in ongoing conflict.
“And I will put enmity
Between you and the woman,
And between your seed and her Seed;
He shall bruise your head,
And you shall bruise His heel.”
(NKJV)
The seed of the woman (or, as some versions translate it, her “offspring”) will one day battle the serpent (i.e. evil) and crush it. This surprising, near-apocalyptic language refers to a specific snake-crusher, the Messiah. Through the curse-blasting Messiah, blessing will be experienced by Israel and, through Israel, the rest of the nations. Hope is sustained through millennia of suffering because God shares the end of the story at the beginning.
Expectation builds throughout Scripture – every son born of a woman has the potential to become the foretold serpent-crusher! Each woman is offered a divine opportunity to reverse the curse once and for all through this special assignment. But what is the very next thing we see after the promise? Genesis 3:16 says:
To the woman He said:
“I will greatly multiply your sorrow and your conception;
In pain you shall bring forth children;
Your desire shall be for your husband,
And he shall rule over you.”
(NKJV)
Her very ability to conceive and bear this serpent-crusher will be filled with grief and pain.
There are two primary directions that this theme is experienced in Scripture.
First, we see the blessing brought by various crushers of heads and serpents in the Old Testament stories. In Judges 4-5, Jael pounds a tent peg through the head of the enemy general Sisera (which sure sounds snake-like, doesn’t it?) and the prophetess Deborah sings jubilantly that Jael is “blessed among women.” In 1 Samuel 17, David rescues the Israelite army by slinging a stone into the head of Goliath, who is wearing scaled armor (note: scaled like a snake!). Snake-crushers like this prefigure the Messiah but ultimately cannot end the curse.
Second, the “seed of the woman” theme appears in stories of overcoming barrenness to bring about the promised line of the Messiah. Spread throughout Genesis, the stories of the patriarchs’ wives (Sarah, Rebekah, and Leah and Rachel) introduce the recurrence of difficulty conceiving in Scripture. How can God promise Abraham that he will be a great nation with countless descendants when the first three generations have so many stories of childlessness? There is more here to discuss than a short post will allow, but the main point is that God is the one to counter the curse, and He alone receives the glory and honor for the hope of future generations. Note how the story of each matriarch gives special credit to God for conception (see Genesis 21:1-2, 25:21, 29:31, 30:1-2, 30:21-22).
Matthew’s genealogy lists multiple women, all Gentiles, who participated in the Messianic line. Two are of note for tracing this theme. Tamar, in Genesis 38, is wrongfully withheld from continuing Judah’s family line. She demonstrates her incredible commitment to carrying on the family line through means that are commended by the biblical text, despite their shocking nature to modern audiences. Without Tamar’s ingenuity, Judah would have zero descendants and there would be no King David! Ruth, who lost her husband and her homeland, became the great grandmother of King David through her dedication to the Israelite people (and, most specifically, her bereaved mother-in-law, Naomi). Take special note of two key points. First, in Ruth 4:11-12, the community blesses the marriage of Ruth and Boaz, wishing that their family grows like Rachel and Leahs and becomes like Perez, Tamar’s son. This highlights the history of blessing in God’s family. Note also Ruth 4:13, where God intervenes to enable her to conceive her son Obed: “The Lord gave her conception, and she bore a son.”
Mary enters the scene against the backdrop of this history, surrounded by a culture anticipating the coming Messiah. Both she and Elizabeth (along with the women of their Israelite community) hope that they might participate in continuing the blessed storyline of the Messianic promise. The Holy Spirit, in an act of high favor and beautiful grace, intervened in Mary’s childbearing in a unique way, inviting her to bear the snake-crusher by her seed. Though not scarred by the deep sorrow of her predecessors like Tamar, Ruth, and even Elizabeth, Mary still recognized the incredible gift of bearing the Messiah. At long last, the snake-crusher had finally entered the world! And he did so through the seed of a woman.
In all this, God’s faithfulness is apparent throughout the Old and New Testament through vivid stories recalling patterns of grace. The Gospel writers illuminate these patterns by calling us back to repetitive patterns in the Old Testament. By highlighting the stories of these two women, Elizabeth and Mary, Luke demonstrates how Jesus fulfills the role of Messiah by being born of a woman. Stay alert as we continue to see how Jesus will begin to crush the head of the serpent (I.e. evil) in our study of Luke. And be alert to how Christ is crushing the evil in our stories as well. How can we respond to this beautiful promise with anything but praise?
Submitted By: Julie Morey