Is this (isomams) the post in question?:
I am reproducing below a daily Scriptural text and comment from earlier this year dealing exactly with Genesis 3:15. I am doing so in seeking to address specifically one particular component of the verse, pertaining to "the woman." The allegation continues to proliferate that the woman spoken of in Genesis 3:15 was Eve. I respectfully acknowledge that everyone is entitled to their own opinion. However, I strongly disagree with this view. The comments below contain my own present best understanding of the matter, formulated after much deliberation and prayerful pondering over the entirety of the Bible's message to us from God.
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Good Morning, Everyone! Hibye Daily Scriptural Text for Tuesday, April 24, 2007:
15 "And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her Offspring; He will bruise and tread your head underfoot, and you will lie in wait and bruise His heel."
--Genesis 3:15, The Amplified Bible.
Complementary Scriptures:
1 NOW THE serpent was more subtle and crafty than any living creature of the field which the Lord God had made. And he [Satan] said to the woman, Can it really be that God has said, You shall not eat from every tree of the garden?
2 And the woman said to the serpent, We may eat the fruit from the trees of the garden,
3 Except the fruit from the tree which is in the middle of the garden. God has said, You shall not eat of it, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.
4 But the serpent said to the woman, You shall not surely die,
5 For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing the difference between good and evil and blessing and calamity.
6 And when the woman saw that the tree was good (suitable, pleasant) for food and that it was delightful to look at, and a tree to be desired in order to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate; and she gave some also to her husband, and he ate.--Genesis 3:1-6, ibid.
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7 And [YHWH] said to Satan, From where did you come? Then Satan answered [YHWH], From going to and fro on the earth and from walking up and down on it.
8 And [YHWH] said to Satan, Have you considered My servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, one who [reverently] fears God and abstains from and shuns evil [because it is wrong]?
9 Then Satan answered [YHWH], Does Job [reverently] fear God for nothing?
10 Have You not put a hedge about him and his house and all that he has, on every side? You have conferred prosperity and happiness upon him in the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land.
11 But put forth Your hand now and touch all that he has, and he will curse You to Your face.
--Job 1:7-11, ibid.
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4 Then Satan answered [YHWH], Skin for skin! Yes, all that a man has will he give for his life.
5 But put forth Your hand now, and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse and renounce You to Your face.--Job 2:4, 5, ibid.
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21 So just as sin ruled over all people and brought them to death, now God’s wonderful grace rules instead, giving us right standing with God and resulting in eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.--Romans 5:21, New Living Translation.
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26 But the Jerusalem above is free, and she is our mother.
...
31 Therefore, brothers, we are not children of the slave but of the free woman.
--Galatians 4:26, 31, ibid.
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My comment: The first prophecy in the Bible. There has never been much serious dispute about that. However, that is just about where the across-the-board agreement ends.
Who is "the woman"? (Some say it was Eve. Most have other ideas.)
Who is "the serpent" (mentioned beginning in verse one)?
--Some (including me) say it was-and-is Satan the Devil, employing a literal snake as a ventriloquist would employ a puppet, so as to deceive Eve.
--Others say it was just a talking snake.
Who is the "Offspring" of "the woman"? (Capital "O" in AMP.)
--Some (including me) say it was the only-begotten Son of God, who later was born as the man, Christ Jesus.
--Others have different ideas, I suppose.
And, finally, who is the "offspring" of "the serpent"? (Lower-case "o" in AMP.)
--A bunch of little baby snakes slithering around all over the place?
--Or, as Jesus said, "those who do the works of their father, the Devil"?--See John 8:44-48.
Yes, the account of events in the Garden of Eden is quite brief; and, somewhat cryptic. I am certain that fact reflects the Creator's far-sighted Wisdom.
Let's talk about the entity God identified as "the woman" in the prophecy. We glean that Eve understood it to mean that God was referring to her, since she later exclaimed (at the birth of Cain), "With the Lord's help, I have had a baby boy." (Genesis 4:1, New International Readers Version.) Presumably, she made a similar proclamation at the birth of Abel, who was later murdered by Cain. Then, at the birth of her third son, Seth, the Bible again records her statement:
"God has given me another child. The child will take the place of Abel, because Cain killed him."
--Genesis 4:25, ibid.
But, just because that was Eve's impression doesn't necessarily make it so, does it? Now, we are all familiar with WTB&TS's explanation, that "the woman" is "God's heavenly (or, 'universal') organization." Not surprising from a religious entity which is ever driving to maintain an "organizational paradigm."
Everyone here on our DB gets to express their own prayerfully-considered understanding of the Scriptures.
Here is how I understand "the woman"; and, "the seed of the woman."
YHWH had a Definite Purpose for this earth and mankind, before the entrance of sin and death. It represented His Will. Without the interference of Satan and the original human transgression, "God's Will" would have been done on earth, as it is in heaven, right from the outset. I submit that God's Purpose, -- His Loving Will, -- is that to which He is "Married." It is "His Woman"; "His Wife."
Now, if a human were to start talking like that (speaking of an aspect of themself as a separate entity), they would be quickly diagnosed as suffering from Delusional Grandiosity and rushed off to a padded room. But, not so with God. God is God! He IS Grand! Back to my point, prior to the introduction of sin with its consequence, death for all mankind, there would have been no such need for any "seed" to come forth from "the woman." There would have been no call for The Word, The Lo'gos, to willingly give up his heavenly residence alongside God, his Father, and humbly take the form of a man (Philippians 2:5-11), for the express Purpose of putting God's Will once again in "Accomplishment Mode." (See John 19:30, and 1 John 3:8-b.) The "seed" of "the woman," -- Jesus Christ, -- participated in the creation of all things and all persons, both spirit and human. He was as fully invested in the glorious accomplishment of his Father's Will as was the Father, Himself. I can imagine, in my mind's eye, that when God called a heavenly meeting to discuss the new developments here at the earth (following the fall), that He may have asked if there were any volunteers for what would prove to be a most trying mission. I can further imagine The Word, -- unique among them all as the only one born directly out of God (the rest were created), -- speaking up immediately and saying, in effect:
Father, please don't even think about allowing anyone other than me to go and perform this mission. I am the one who has been alongside you before there was any other person or thing. I want this as much as You do. Please. Let me be the "instrumentality for the Full, Final, and Complete Accomplishmment of Your Will." I am ready. Willing to accept any sacrifice that it may require from me.
8 This He caused to abound toward us in all wisdom and good sense, 9 in that He made known to us the Sacred Secret of His Will. It is according to His Good Pleasure which He Purposed in Himself 10 for an administration at the full limit of the appointed times, namely, to gather all things together again in the Christ, the things in the heavens and the things on the earth. [Yes,] in him.--Ephesians 1:8-10, New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures.
(This was our Daily Scriptural Text on February 9 of this year.)
http://www.paradisecafediscussions.net/s...hp?tid=541
And, ... some four thousand years later, power of the Most High overcame the virgin Mary, and she became pregnant without having had intercourse with a man. God had miraculously transferred the life-force of His heavenly only-begotten Son to her womb, so that "the seed of promise" could be born as a man without defect. Born in every way the equal of Adam. So that "the seed" could redeem and bring to reconciliation Adam, Eve, and all of their penalized offspring.
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Additionally, I briefly want to discuss the serpent Satan's statement at Genesis 4:4. (You might note that The Amplified Bible does offer the bracketed editorial comment that the serpent was, indeed, Satan, in Genesis 4:1, quoted above.) Anyway, Satan said:
You shall not surely die.
The footnote on that expression in the New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures (with References) says, ... Literally, "not dying you will die."
What Satan said to Eve amounted to, ... "Oh, sure. It will look like you die. But, you won't really die. You will experience a change; a passage to a better place. You will live on."
So, if and when you hear various parties trying to persuade you that mankind doesn't "really" die when they do die, you can reflect on the source of their information. A peaceful condition of rest, with no more troubles and no more strife, awaiting the coming resurrection is entirely consistent with a Loving Creator, don't you think?
Have A Teeee - rrrriffff - ic Tuesday, Everybody!
"The Seed" -- "The Sprout" -- "The Twig" -- IS Our Redemption!
Much LOVE to ALL! Love isomam
