The Seed of The Serpent and The Seed of The Woman
Spiritual conflict is not, as so often appears, between the ways of God and the ways of this world, but between the seed of the serpent and the seed of the woman (38.13). The woman is Eve, the first woman. The serpent is the reprobate angel who "was thrown down into this perishing world, where his desired kingdom of god-like government was prepared for him" (5.19). Eve was defiled by the serpent entering into her private parts there to make an end of himself by mixing with her womanliness and to launch a new career of evil in this world. As a result, a man-child was born to her, Cain, whose father was not Adam. The fall was none of Adam and Eve's fault. Had they possessed the power to preserve their original condition, they would have used it (30.20). Eve is to be considered as an exemplar of everything innocence should be, not as an easily-deluded girl.
What, then, is all the fuss about an apple? "You cannot be so weak," says Reeve, "as to think that the law of eternal life and death depended on the eating of an apple from a natural tree." (33.22). It is not what goes into a man that defiles him, but what comes out of his heart. Thus, the tale of the apple is a mere euphemism as ancient Jewish writers were pained by overt reference to the genitals.
The curse upon Eve is temporal. That upon the serpent is eternal. The seed of the woman shall break the serpent's head. The sins of humankind are the frailties of free-will and are pardonable. That of the serpent is the sin against the Holy Ghost which is without absolution. But if Eve is not to blame, why is she cursed at all? Because that is what a knowledge between good and evil is. As to the serpent, what does it matter to him if he is cursed, seeing he was the devil in the first place?
Read more about this topic: A Divine Looking-Glass
Famous quotes containing the words seed, serpent and/or woman:
“Remember that the smallest seed of faith is of more worth than the largest fruit of happiness.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“One classic American landscape haunts all of American literature. It is a picture of Eden, perceived at the instant of history when corruption has just begun to set in. The serpent has shown his scaly head in the undergrowth. The apple gleams on the tree. The old drama of the Fall is ready to start all over again.”
—Jonathan Raban (b. 1942)
“Every time I embrace a black woman I’m embracing slavery, and when I put my arms around a white woman, well, I’m hugging freedom. The white man forbade me to have the white woman on pain of death.... I will not be free until the day I can have a white woman in my bed.”
—Eldridge Cleaver (b. 1935)