Cursed beyond all cattle

[Eagle&Child]

Trying to be concise:How does Judaism interpret Almighty God's curse upon the serpent in the Book of Genesis.? W h o is predicted in the notion that God will put enmity between the snake and the woman's descendants? Who will crush the head of the fallen creature whilst it lies in wait for the heel ?

When did Christianity first assume this was a Messianic prophecy and did Judaism substantiate it ?

I use as balancing argument the way in which the Suffering Servant of Isaiah under a different focus may not be Jesus Christ at all but the nation.
There are also dubious scholarly wrangles that the virgin who conceives has no connection with Our Lord's mother.

I am Christian. (Both fundamentalist Christians and Reform Rabbis have told me off and expressed little interest in this main question, I hope I have not wasted any one's time )

 

[Sephania]

This may interest you. http://www.aish.com/torahportion/moray/Mans_Duality.asp

v'eivah ashit bein'kha u-vein ha-ishah u-vein zarakha u-vein zarah hu y'shupeikh rosh v'atah t'shupenu aqeiv (And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; it shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel) (Genesis 3:15):

Our master explained this verse hints at the comment of the Midrash that the verse (Psalms 49:6): "why should I fear in times of trouble, when the iniquity of my persecutors surrounds me"(lamah ira bi-mei ra avon aqevai y'subeini) is referring to the days of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Hakippurim. King David is saying here that he need not fear for his soul because of the great sins that he had committed, because for those sins he could gain forgiveness by repenting with all his heart. What caused him great dread, however, were the sins committed routinely and to which, as a result, he had become accustomed. Of those sins he did not even think about repenting. This is what was meant by "he shall bruise your head" (hu y'shupeikh rosh), which means that when a person repents on Rosh Hashanah for his great sins he bruises the head of the serpent, i.e., Satan, the instigator and seducer, and frustrates Satan's efforts. But G-d tells the serpent "you shall bruise his heel" (v'atah t'shupenu aqeiv), which means that the Satan is able to snare man in those transgressions that he does routinely, which are very difficult to repent of, because after constant repetition, the transgressions begin to seem as if they were permissible.

Serpents became the enemy of Israel in the wildernes, Moshe had to fashion a brazen serpent and mount it on a pole for healing................

 

[Flavius]

This may interest you. http://www.aish.com/torahportion/moray/Mans_Duality.asp

v'eivah ashit bein'kha u-vein ha-ishah u-vein zarakha u-vein zarah hu y'shupeikh rosh v'atah t'shupenu aqeiv (And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; it shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel) (Genesis 3:15):

Our master explained this verse hints at the comment of the Midrash that the verse (Psalms 49:6): "why should I fear in times of trouble, when the iniquity of my persecutors surrounds me"(lamah ira bi-mei ra avon aqevai y'subeini) is referring to the days of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Hakippurim. King David is saying here that he need not fear for his soul because of the great sins that he had committed, because for those sins he could gain forgiveness by repenting with all his heart. What caused him great dread, however, were the sins committed routinely and to which, as a result, he had become accustomed. Of those sins he did not even think about repenting. This is what was meant by "he shall bruise your head" (hu y'shupeikh rosh), which means that when a person repents on Rosh Hashanah for his great sins he bruises the head of the serpent, i.e., Satan, the instigator and seducer, and frustrates Satan's efforts. But G-d tells the serpent "you shall bruise his heel" (v'atah t'shupenu aqeiv), which means that the Satan is able to snare man in those transgressions that he does routinely, which are very difficult to repent of, because after constant repetition, the transgressions begin to seem as if they were permissible.

Serpents became the enemy of Israel in the wildernes, Moshe had to fashion a brazen serpent and mount it on a pole for healing................

Very cool

 

[SolomonVII]

The snake mounted on a pole may an allusion to the future death of Christ on the cross, and whoever looks to the cross becomes saved from the bite of the poisonous snakes sent down by G-d for the peoples transgressions in the Sinai. Whoever looked up to the snake hanging on the cross would be saved from the bites.

Of some interest would be the fact that with the placing of the snake on the crucifix and its descent with Christ into Hell, there is no return. Christ, who bore our iniquity as he bears the snake with Him into the eternal destruction of Hell, resurrects. No mere mortal is capable, cut off as we had been from the Tree of Life, can do this. Only because Jesus is G-d Himself can this be so.

Another intersting Biblical allusion to this idea would be the idea of Noah letting loose the raven and the dove into the destroyed world. The dove returns with an olive branch. The olive branch, symbolic of both the branch of Jesse and the oil of the Anointed One has strong symbolic connotations of the role that Jesus plays in this regard.

 

[Eagle&Child]

Keep the responses coming. The Jewish brethren are making a lot of sense.

 

[SolomonVII]

Just scanning through the article in the link posted, it is very easy to make the link between the snake, who bruises your heel, and Jacob, who was a heel grabber by his very nature- ie he was born doing it.
Perhaps resentment comes into play here as well.

 

[Sephania]

Yes! now we may know the origin of the myth of Achilles?

What I want to know is how a reptile with or without legs could have been classified as "cattle".

 

[D.W.]

What I want to know is how a reptile with or without legs could have been classified as "cattle".

too!

G-d Bless,
Dan

 

[SolomonVII]

Yea, I'm a little confused on the title of this too. I'm not sure what direction that the Op want this thread to be taken.

 

[Sephania]

He is called a "beast of the field"

1 Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made.

The serpent receives his punishment first, then Havah and then Adam:

14 And the LORD God said unto the serpent: 'Because thou hast done this, cursed art thou from among all cattle, and from among all beasts of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life.

Where there no reptiles then?

Seems beasts and cattle and creeping things were all different things
24 And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so. 25 And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind: and God saw that it was good. Genesis 2:20
And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field; but for Adam there was not found an help meet for him.

This makes it more difficult http://bible.crosswalk.com/Lexicons/Hebrew/heb.cgi?number=0929&version=kjv

See under definition and usage.

 

[muffler dragon]

Just as a point of clarification to solomon:

You stated:

Of some interest would be the fact that with the placing of the snake on the crucifix and its descent with Christ into Hell, there is no return. Christ, who bore our iniquity as he bears the snake with Him into the eternal destruction of Hell, resurrects. No mere mortal is capable, cut off as we had been from the Tree of Life, can do this. Only because Jesus is G-d Himself can this be so.

Christ did not descend into Hell, it was Hades. The difference is important enough to state.

m.d.