To compare the Biblical narrative to modern novels as it relates to characters, the primary protagonist throughout is the woman’s offspring (Gen. 3:15). It is the woman’s offspring who will deal with the serpent. However, Scripture is unique in comparison to a novel because, like the serpent’s offspring, the woman’s offspring is not necessarily restricted to a particular actor. Many actors could potentially fill this role. In fact, the expectations of the Messiah are largely built through the literary presentation of actors who are portrayed as possible candidates for the role.
As in Part 2, I will use the terms actors and roles for ease of understanding.
Before we start looking at portraits of the woman’s offspring, let’s back up and notice something important in Genesis 3:15 which will be key when we discuss the plot in the Scriptural metanarrative. God speaks to the serpent in Genesis 3:15. We later find out that the serpent is Satan (Rev. 12:9). He is not a human. Although he is called a beast in the Eden narrative (Gen. 3:1), his appearance elsewhere in Scripture confirms that he is an elohim (supernatural creature). In contrast to this, the woman (Eve) is a human.
While the serpent’s offspring can be either human (see Part 2) or supernatural (e.g. Rev. 12:7-9) and become his offspring through their actions and allegiances, the woman will physically reproduce more of her kind. And so, the offspring that we’re looking for is distinctly human, which brings us to the first potential candidate for the offspring of the woman, Cain.
The failure of Cain’s parents (Adam and Eve) was a failure to rule over the serpent (see chapter 17 of The Epic Gospel We’ve Forgotten). Cain is Eve’s first offspring named in the Scriptural narrative. Like his parents, Cain is given the opportunity to rule over a beast. This time, the beast is called Sin, and God explicitly instructs Cain to “rule over it” (Gen. 4:7).
As in Genesis 3, God’s wisdom indicates that humans were to rule over the beasts (“serpent,” Gen. 3:1). Man’s wisdom (which was really the serpent’s wisdom) resulted in humans being ruled by the beasts. (James calls man’s wisdom “earthly” and connects it with demonic influence—James 3:15.)
The first portrait of the woman’s offspring is an actor who fails to fill the role. Cain ultimately becomes the offspring of the serpent. (Compare John 8:44 with Cain’s murder of Abel.) However, this actor’s role-switching reveals both a hope and a hole to be filled in the role of the woman’s offspring. Cain’s narrative builds on the hope of a serpent slayer in Genesis 3 by adding to the job description. In addition to a human who strikes the serpent’s head, we need someone who rules over sin rather than being ruled by sin and chooses God’s wisdom rather than their own (or sin’s or the serpent’s).
Ironically, in this same narrative, Abel also contributes to the role of the woman’s offspring. Although, this is a portrait of the role that we can only see retrospectively. Abel’s death is the first narrated in Scripture, and Abel is murdered at Sin’s command. Abel’s murder also comes about due to Cain’s apparent jealousy because Abel offered a sacrifice that was pleasing to God. Can you think of another Actor Who fills the role of the woman’s offspring, is murdered by the forces of darkness (1 Cor. 2:8; Luke 22:3) and offered the ultimate sacrifice that was pleasing to God (Heb. 9-10)?
Note how the overlaying of just the first two failure narratives in Scripture provide the initial sketches of a role that will be fleshed out throughout the whole Hebrew Bible (Old Testament). The book of Judges makes a similar contribution to the portrait of the role of the woman’s offspring by painting the inverse or negative image (like the negative image in photography) of the role. The book closes with an inversion of what the woman’s offspring needs to be.
In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.
Judges 21:25 ESV
From this, we can see that what is needed is a king who does what is right in God’s eyes rather than his own (Luke 22:42), thereby leading the way for others to follow in his footsteps. As in Genesis, Judges paints the need for a ruler who will choose God’s wisdom. Through the portrayal of various actors, the book also provides connection points to the crushing of the serpent’s head (see Part 2) and victory over the powers of darkness through self-sacrifice (Samson, Judges 16).
Other actors and roles emerge throughout the Old Testament and add to the portrait of the woman’s offspring and the expectation of the Actor to come Who will fill the role. Noah, Moses, Joshua, Saul, David, Elisha, the Servant in Isaiah, the Prophet to come (Deut. 18:18), a Priest (Ps. 110:4), a King (2 Sam. 7:12-13), a “son of man” (Dan. 7), and others all add to the job description, building the expectation of a human—an offspring of the woman—who can fill the role, thereby dealing with sin and the serpent at its source.
Up Next: Reading Scripture Like a Novel: Plot
Epic Gospel 