And I will put enmity, &c.— If it be evident, that the former part of this sentence principally refers to the natural serpent; it seems no less so, that the latter part refers principally to the spiritual one. For though it is undeniable, that there is a natural enmity between the serpentine and the human race; though, as it is asserted, their juices* are alike destructive to each other: yet it does not appear worthy the majesty of God, or of the Scripture, and by no means adequate to the circumstances of our fallen parents, to suppose, that God should only pronounce a ceaseless enmity between mankind and serpents, and declare, that men should sometimes bruise their heads, destroy their lives, yet not without harm to themselves, as the serpents would avenge themselves by bruising their heels. On this account it will not admit of a doubt, but in these words there is an immediate reference to that prime source of comfort to fallen man, his redemption and conquest over Satan and sin, by Jesus Christ, the seed of the woman; peculiarly the seed of the woman, as being incarnate of a pure virgin. And though it cannot be asserted, how much of this original promise and prophecy our first parents understood, yet it is reasonable to believe, that they understood enough to raise their drooping spirits, and to fix their faith and hope upon their future and promised Deliverer. We who have lived to see this prophecy fulfilled, have opportunities to understand it in the clearest manner.
* That prince of Naturalists, the elder Pliny, who, as a heathen, must have been disinterested, asserts, that if the human spittle do but enter the serpent's mouth, it presently dies. See Nat. Hist. lib. Genesis 7:2. How true this is, I know not: how deadly the serpent's poison is to man we all know.
I will put enmity between thee and the woman— By these words is expressed that enmity and contest which then began (and will only cease, when death is swallowed up in victory) between Satan and his seed, that is, all wicked angels and wicked men, and the woman and her seed, that is, Jesus Christ, and all pious and true believers. It may be observed, that the sacred writer says, I will put enmity between thee and the WOMAN: not the man, whence one would be led to suppose, that the true seed of the woman, Jesus Christ, was more immediately referred to. See Matthew 3:7; Matthew 23:33. 1 John 3:10.
It shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel— It, the seed, (Christ, who is also called the seed of Abraham, see Galatians 3:16.) shall bruise thy head, destroy thee, and work thy total overthrow. The phrase of bruising the head, expresses the total destruction of the serpent, whose life and power, it is known, lie in the head. And thou shalt bruise his heel, shalt wound and crush his lower and inferior part; that is, shalt put to death and destroy him in the body, whose divine nature shall raise him from death, triumphant over Satan and the grave, and leading captivity captive: for he was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.
As the present poisonous, groveling state of the serpentine kind is a proof to us of the original curse; so the great veneration in which serpents were held among the heathens, in the idolatrous world, is a great collateral proof of this account: since no rational solution can be given of the introduction of so extraordinary a worship, except that which this history affords. It would be long to enumerate the instances of serpentile worship, which prevailed in all parts of the earth, in AEgypt, Greece, Italy, America, &c.