03-CHAPTER THREE - INTERLUDE - Gen_3:15

CHAPTER THREE -

INTERLUDE -Genesis 3:15

Today we turn off the main highway of Nimrod long enough to consider, for background, one of the most wonderful statements ever to fall upon the ears of man: the words of Genesis 3:15. Here they are:

"And I will put enmity between thee (the serpent) and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel."

Those that know tell us that the word "bruise" means to "lie in wait for."

GOD spoke these words to the serpent, through which the Devil had accomplished the Fall, in the Garden of Eden, in the presence of Adam and Eve.

An examination of most of the commentaries will disclose that this verse has not received the exhaustive treatment it should have received. When you get to Genesis 3:15, most of the brethren are napping, delivering a "devotional," or gone to lunch. And so, for the most part, we shall have to move on our own and do the best we can.

Like every other verse of Scripture, the verse must be considered in its context. Adam was the federal head of the human race, and when he went down in sin he carried the human race with him. It is a universal thing. The penalty of sin was death and still is, and always will be.

Against that background of the universal race struggling under universal death, GOD gives the promise of Genesis 3:15.

(1) The serpent would procreate a race (the words, of course, are addressed to Satan through the serpent, as our Lord addressed Satan through Simon Peter).
(2) The woman would procreate a race.
(3) There would be eternal enmity between the two races, United Nations or no United Nations, World Council of Churches or no World Council of Churches.
(4) The seed of the serpent would ’lie in wait for’ the seed of the woman, and the serpent’s seed would bruise the heel of the woman’s seed - extremely painful, but not fatal.
(5) The seed of the woman would ’lie in wait for’ the seed of the serpent; and He would seize him and crush his head. When your head is crushed, it’s all over as far as this world is concerned.

The "seed" of the woman would be a man. " . . . thou shalt bruise HIS (caps mine) heel." The man would be a supernatural man; He would be the seed of the woman, not the seed of the man. That means a miracle. That means a virgin birth. That man would be the World Deliverer. He would be the one, and only, universal character. He would be the very greatest character the world ever saw, so truly great that but one term could begin to describe Him: WONDERFUL. ("Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, WHICH IS CHRIST" - Galatians 3:16, Caps mine.)

Here is a world idea.

There is an abundance of evidence from which to deduce the proposition that Adam and Eve understood the import of these words as fully as any commentator or theologian that ever lived. As a matter of fact, the general knowledge in the Garden of Eden was just about as superior as the general knowledge in our modern theological schools. Adam could learn about as much from his conversation with GOD as a young theologue can learn from his conversations with his professor.

One piece of evidence that Adam and Eve fully understood the import of these words, and a convincing piece, is the 20th verse of that same chapter: "And Adam called his wife’s name Eve; because she was the mother of all living." The verse must be considered in its context - the sentence of death, and the promise in the 15th verse. The promise was, to go back a few steps, that the seed of the woman, not the seed of the man, would crush the serpent’s head. Eve means "life." When Adam called her Life, he was thinking of her in the profound sense of her being the mother of the World Deliverer.

This world idea, originating in the Garden of Eden, was handed down from generation to generation. It was the greatest idea floating over the hopelessly corrupt antediluvian world. It was the chief topic of conversation in the Ark. It was the chief topic of conversation when those families came out of the Ark. The British have never become half so excited over the approaching birth of an heir apparent to the Throne, and Americans have never been half so excited over an approaching Presidential election.

This idea spread all over the world. Traces of it are found everywhere. ¹

The whole ancient world believed that a grand Deliverer would come into the world and crush the serpent’s head.

The next thing in importance to the World deliverer, obviously, is the family of the woman who would be His mother. That family would be the most famous family of history, and the woman would be the most famous mother and wife ever to live. The Deliverer - His mother - Her husband (but not the Deliverer’s father). What a family that would be!

Things brings us to Shem, the eldest son of Noah. In the first place Shem means "name" or "renown." What was Noah’s prophecy concerning Shem? ". . . Blessed be the Lord God of Shem . . ." "God . . . shall dwell in the tents of Shem . . ." (Genesis 9:26-27).

Shem was a renowned name. Shem was associated with the world idea. The World Deliverer would come of the lineage of Shem: He might even be born in Shem’s day; Shem’s wife might be His mother. Who knew?

And what was Noah’s prophecy concerning Nimrod’s family? " . . . Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren."

Since this is our day of interludes and digressions, I want us to stop here long enough to get one thing straight.

Noah had no authority to pronounce a blessing upon Shem or a curse upon Canaan. That prerogative belonged to GOD alone. Here Noah is not a judge; he is a Divinely inspired prophet. The HOLY SPIRIT, knowing the true character of Shem, and knowing the true character of the Hamites, inspired Noah to prophecy their history before they made it.

Foreknowledge does not determine character and acts.

This same thing is true, with reference to Judas Iscariot.

Judas did not become the man he became because the Bible prophets prophecied it; the prophets wrote his history, by inspiration of the HOLY SPIRIT, because they knew what it would be - despite three years of effort by the LORD JESUS CHRIST to influence Judas to change his course. GOD never has been, is not today, never will be, the Author of evil. "In Him there is no darkness at all." (1 John 1:5)

When GOD says "Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price" (Isaiah 55:1) - when GOD says that, I have no more sense than to believe that He means every word of it, and that that universal invitation includes every Hamite and every Judas Iscariot on earth!

It is easier for me to believe that a theologian can be mistaken in his deductions from the doctrine of GOD’s sovereignty, in which I believe with all my heart, than to believe that GOD was holding something back when He put these words into the mouth of His prophet Isaiah. I don’t believe in the crazy doctrine, You can and you can’t, you shall and you shan’t, you will and you won’t and you’ll be damned if you don’t.

The fact that Shem was a name of renown did not necessarily mean that Ham had to be a name of rebellion. The fact that GOD loved Shem and would honor him, did not necessarily mean that GOD hated Ham and would dishonor him.

The Hamites were not poor little underprivileged orphans, "more sinned against than sinning," as a lot of sentimental, juicy, Grand Ole Opry heads would have it. If I had the space I could produce here evidence which would show that the Hamites were a crowd of rascals from the time they wore knee breeches.

Ham, Nimrod’s grandpa, was a carnal, lustful, smart-alecky, wisecracking, unprincipled rogue who had no regard for GOD or anybody else. He hee-hawed all over the country about how Noah had got gloriously drunk, and how his drunken conduct was something the smart fellows should have seen. Old Cush, Nimrod’s daddy, was one of the arch scoundrels of the ancient world. If Karl Marx, Leon Trotsky and Joe Stalin had been back there, Cush would have taken them and organized a "Doctor’s Club." The old reprobate was the great original prophet of idolatry. His name means "Confounder." "Chaos" means Cush. (When I was a boy back in the Tennessee hills, we used to take biscuits and crumble them up in a cup of coffee. We called the concoction Cush. Interestingly enough, as I now look back, the stuff was "chaos," and it, also, was "confusion." If you don’t believe it, try it. And we had the coffee grounds mixed in too. We had several interesting "mixtures" in those days.)

Nimrod, like the son of a Kentucky fuedist, was brought up from his cradle to hate the very mention of Shem.

Nimrod knew all about the promise of Genesis 3:15 : He knew the significance of Shem’s name. As a boy he had hated and fought Shem’s boys, even as Gentile boys today will hate and fight Jewish boys. "You are a sheeny. You are a Christ-killer."

Old Cush was determined that his Nimrod would out-Shem every Shem the world ever heard of. Nimrod was determined that his daddy would not be disappointed.

What a glorious day it is! The whole world is talking about Nimrod, the son of Cush. He has become the mightiest hunter ever known. He has become the mightiest hero on earth. "I knew my Nimrod would show the Shemites what a son of Cush could do, Noah’s prophecy or no Noah’s prophecy. Look at my Nimrod; Look at his spear, his bow, his arrows, his skins of lion and tiger and bull. Look at the meek Shemites hanging around their tents like a little Willie hanging to his mammy’s apron strings."

Nimrod will not only route the Shemites; he himself will fulfill Genesis 3:15. Nimrod will be the World Deliver - A counterfeit deliverer. Old Cush will be the daddy, and Nimrod’s wife, biological order to the contrary notwithstanding will be the virgin mother.

Cush, Nimrod, and Mrs. Nimrod will be the names on earth. After it gets going good, old Cush will be a legend; Nimrod and his wife will handle everything by themselves; and when Nimrod kicks the bucket, Mrs. Nimrod will outdo them both.

¹ "There is hardly a people or kindred on earth in whose mythology it is not shadowed forth. The Greeks represented their great god Apollo as slaying the serpent Pytho, and Hercules as strangling serpents while yet in his cradle. In Egypt, in India, in Scandinavia, in Mexico, we find clear allusions to the same great truth. ’The evil genius,’ says Wilkinson, ’of the adversaries of the Egyptian god Horus is frequently figured under the form of a snake, whose head he is piercing with a spear. The same fable occurs in the religion of India, where the malignant serpent Calyia is slain by Vishnu, in his avatar of Chrishma; and the Scandinavian deity Thor was said to have bruised the head of the great serpent with his mace. The origin of this may be readily traced to the Bible.’" - Alexander Hislop, The Two Babylons, p. 60 (Loizeaux Brothers, New York, 1948).

~ end of chapter 3 ~

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