The Old Testament Witness to Christ and His Kingdom, Mentor's Guide, MG09

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T H E O L D T E S T A M E N T W I T N E S S T O C H R I S T A N D H I S K I N G D O M

him and the Kingdom. The idea of promise is a significant concept in our society, from our common romance notions of engagement, “I’m promised to Sherri,” to the promissory notes associated with business and law. Truly, the idea of the promise is a significant and important notion in all of our modern day relationships: promises are made between nations, world leaders, militaries, business partners, family members, and contractors. Without the notion of making and keeping promises, our entire societal machinery would grind to a halt. One of the simplest and most direct ways of comprehending the biblical story is the motif of promise and fulfillment. In one sense the entirety of the Bible can be seen as a movement of the sovereign God, the God of Israel, Yahweh, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who makes a promise to the rebellious first human pair and the serpent who deceived Eve. In this text God makes a promise, a promise that will affect the serpent and the seed of the woman. In theological circles this promise is called the “ protoevangelium ,” the very first mention or telling of the Gospel message of salvation of humankind that occurs in Bible. Here God lays out the entire plan of salvation in a short passage that summarizes one of the most important ideas in Scripture. The setting of this episode related to the text is that tragic moment when the first human pair, Adam and Eve, are caught in their shameful admission of eating the fruit of the knowledge of the Tree of Good and Evil against the direct commandment of the Lord. The serpent, who deceived Eve into her disobedient act, Eve, and Adam are all before the Lord who is calling down his judgment upon them. In speaking to the serpent, God makes a declaration about the future that literally makes this text the beginning of the end of the entire written revelation of Scripture. God here unequivocally states that his sovereign purpose for the serpent will be perpetual and unending hostility between the serpent and the seed of the woman, between its offspring and that of the woman. This “seed” would have his heel bruised by the serpent, but the serpent would have his entire head crushed in by the seed of the woman. This graphic image of the serpent and seed lies at the heart of the salvific vision of the Bible. God says that as a result of the voluntary human rebellion, he has established relationships in the universe which will perpetually be in place, unbroken hostility and enmity between the serpent and the seed of the woman, between its offspring and that of the woman. From the earliest readings of this text, Jewish scholars saw it as the first mention of the divine promise of the Messiah, this seed, this person who would come of the woman and yet would bring a brutal and final end to the serpent and its accursed

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