Matthew Poole and continuators on Genesis 3:15

15. And I will put enmity between thee and the Woman and between thy Seed and her Seed : It shall bruise thy head , and thou shalt bruise his heel .

Though now you be sworn Friends, leagued together against me:

And the Man too, but the Woman alone is mentioned, for the Devils greater confusion. 1. The Woman, whom, as the weaker Vessel, thou didst seduce, shall be the great occasion of thy overthrow. 2. Because the Son of God who conquered this great Dragon and old Serpent, Rev. 12. 9. Who came to destroy the works of the Devil, 1 Iohn 3. 8. was made of a Woman, Gal. 4. 4. without the help of man, Esa. 7. 14. Luk. [illegible: 1+ letters]. 34, 35.

Literally, this Serpent, and for his sake, the whole seed or race of Serpents, which of all Creatures are most loathsome and terrible to mankind, and especially to Women: Mystically, that evil Spirit which seduced her, and with him the whole society of Devils (who are generally hated and dreaded by all men, even by those that serve and obey them, but much more by good men,) and all wicked men who, with regard to this text, are called Devils and the Children or seed of the Devil, Iohn 6. 70. and 8. 44. Acts 13. 10. 1 Iohn 3. 8.

Her off-spring, first and principally, the Lord Christ, who with respect to this text and promise is called by way of eminency, the Seed, Gal. 3. 16, 19. whose alone work it is to break the Serpents head, i. [illegible: 1+ letters]. to destroy the Devil, Heb. 2. 14. Compare Iohn 12. 31. Rom. 16. 20. Secondly, and by way of participation, all the members of Christ, all believers and holy men, who are called the Children of Christ, Heb. 2. 13. and of the Heavenly Ierusalem, Gal. 4. 26. All the members whereof are the Seed of this Woman: And all these are the implacable enemies of the Devil, whom also by Christs merit and strength they do overcome.

The principal instrument both of the Serpents fury and mischief and of his defence, and the principal seat of the Serpents life, which therefore men chiefly strike at, and which being upon the ground a man may conveniently tread upon and crush it to pieces. In the Devil this notes his Power and Authority over men, the strength whereof consists in Death, which Christ, the blessed seed of the Woman, overthroweth, by taking away the sting of death which is Sin, 1 Cor. 15. 55, 56. and destroying him that had the power of death, that is, the Devil, Heb. 2. 14.

The part which is most within the Serpents reach, and wherewith it was bruised, and thereby provoked to fix his venemous Teeth there: But a part remote from the Head and Heart, and therefore its wounds though painful, are not deadly, nor dangerous, if they be observed in time. If it be applyed to the seed of the Woman, Christ, his heel may note, either his humanity, whereby he trod upon the Earth, which indeed the Devil by Gods permission, and the hands of wicked men, did bruise and kill: or his Saints and Members upon the Earth, whom the Devil doth in diverse manners bruise, and vex and afflict, while he cannot reach their head Christ in Heaven, nor those of his members who are or shall be advanced thither.

Marginal references: Matt. 3. 7. and 13. 38 and 23. 3[illegible: 1+ letters]. John 8. 44. Acts 13. 10. [illegible: 1+ letters] John 3. 8.; Psal. 132. 11. Isi. 7. 14. Mic. 5. 3.; Som. 16. 20. Heb. 2. 14. 1 John 5. 5. Rev. 12. 7, 17.