Vers. 15. Though now ye be sworn friends, leagued together against me, I will put enmity between thee and the woman; and the man too, but the woman alone is mentioned, for the devil's greater confusion.
1. The woman, whom, as the weaker vessel, thou didst seduce, shall be the great occasion of thy overthrow.
2. Because the Son of God, who conquered this great dragon and old serpent, Revelation 12:9, who came to destroy the works of the devil, 1 John 3:8, was made of a woman, Galatians 4:4, without the help of man, Isaiah 7:14 Luke 1:34-35. Thy seed; literally, this serpent, and, for his sake, the whole seed or race of serpents, which of all creatures are most loathsome and terrible to mankind, and especially to women. Mystically, that evil spirit which seduced her, and with him the whole society of devils, (who are generally hated and dreaded by all men, even by those that serve and obey them, but much more by good men), and all wicked men; who, with regard to this text, are called devils, and the children or seed of the devil, 1 Thessalonians 6:70, 1 Thessalonians 8:44, Acts 13:10 1 John 3:8. And her seed, her offspring; first and principally, the Lord Christ, who with respect to this text and promise is called, by way of eminency, the seed, Galatians 3:16, Galatians 3:19; whose alone work it is to break the serpent's head, i.e. to destroy the devil, Hebrews 2:14. Compare 1 Thessalonians 12:31 Romans 16:20. Secondly, and by way of participation, all the members of Christ, all believers and holy men, who are called the children of Christ, Hebrews 2:13, and of the heavenly Jerusalem, Galatians 4:26. All the members whereof are the seed of this woman; and all these are the implacable enemies of the devil, whom also by Christ's merit and strength they do overcome. The head is the principal instrument both of the serpent's fury and mischief, and of his defence, and the principal seat of the serpent's life, which therefore men chiefly strike at; and which being upon him ground, a man may conveniently tread upon, and crush it to pieces. In the devil this notes his power and authority over men; the strength whereof consists in death, which Christ, the blessed Seed of the woman, overthroweth by taking away the sting of death, which is sin, 1 Corinthians 15:55-56; and destroying him that had the power of death, that is, the devil, Hebrews 2:14. The heel is the part which is most within the serpent's reach, and wherewith it was bruised, and thereby provoked to fix his venomous teeth there; but a part remote from the head and heart, and therefore its wounds, though painful, are not deadly, nor dangerous, if they be observed in time. If it be applied to the Seed of the woman, Christ, his heel may note either his humanity, whereby he trod upon the earth, which indeed the devil, by God's permission, and the hands of wicked men, did bruise and kill; or his saints and members upon the earth, whom the devil doth in diverse manners bruise, and vex, and afflict, while he cannot reach their Head, Christ, in heaven, nor those of his members who are or shall be advanced thither.