Mary as the New Eve (The Women who battle’s the serpent)
In the beginning of Genesis, we see a sinless Adam and Eve interestingly placed in a garden but when we reference elsewhere in scripture we see that this is no ordinary garden but a temple on a mountain top within this earthly Kingdom of God. To see this we notice the river that flowed out of Eden (water flows downhill ) (Gen 2:10), faced the east (Gen 3:24) as did future temples in scripture (1 Kings 6:23, Ezekiel 47:1) with Cherubims who guarded God presence, and decked with jewels of gold, onyx, bdellium (Gen 2:11-12 confirmed by Ezekiel 28:13 which says ” You were in Eden, the garden of God; every precious stone was your covering, sardius, topaz, and diamond, beryl, onyx, and jasper, sapphire, emerald, and carbuncle; and crafted in gold were your settings and your engravings” . Also we see that Cherubims only guard God himself and so the tree of life in the garden that was prohibited after the fall was guarded by Cherubims, the tree of life in Genesis and the food of life was Christ; and since then the whole story has been a journey back to the tree and to the bread of life.
Whats God plan? God is very repitituous and plans on sending a New Adam (1 Cor 15:45) and a new Eve to do what the first failed to do !
Adam is then told to “keep” the garden which is the Hebrew word “shamar” used elsewhere in referencing the priest guarding the temple (Numbers 3:7-8, 8:26, 18:5-6). The point here is a few, one Adam is:
- being depicted as a son of God,
- Priest of God
- a King
- and a husband.
Like wise Eve is:
- Daughter of God
- Wife
- Queen
- Mother of all of the old creation that became subject to death
Not too soon after the story starts the Devil tempts the two by way of distrust asking them “Did God really say”. Satan placed doubt to Gods character and sowed distrust. Soon after the fall, God condemned Satan and his fate along with Adam and Eve but he immediately gave them the first good news. Some have called this prophecy the “protoevangelium” or the first good news. God foretold that a “Women” and her seed would be at enmity with Satan (Gen 3:15, ESV) and from her would come a seed that would defeat the serpent and rule the world, fixing that which Adam and Eve broke.
The passage in question reads as thus ” I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel” (Ge 3:15, ESV).
First thing to note is he word “he shall bruise your head”. The word he in hebrew “הוּאhu or הִיא hi” can denote either sex. Often its translated as he referencing Christ but it has also been translated she shall bruise or crush your head referencing Mary. We shall remember that the Devil defeated both and it would make sense that the new Adam and Eve would participate in the Devils defeat.
We should pause and note that to be at “enmity” with Satan would imply that you could not have any connection to him such as sin which is a subtle but important fact. We also should note the connection of the “Women and her seed” are at enmity. The women is connected directly with the seed. This while not completely explicit will follow more passages (Greek version) in the New Testament that suggest Mary has been preserved from sin by the power of God alone. If one reads the scriptures after the fall one starts to see a Godly lineage and evil lineages. One starts to follow the seeds of the family of God. The people such as Noah, Abraham and their offspring who offer sacrifice while other lines of the human race commit great evil liken to La’mech (Gen 4:24, ESV). The continuous reading always seems to ask the question where is this “Women” and her “seed” that will destroy the serpent?
So if you read the bible through and even just what we have said you will see that God plans on rectifying the fall but how? God will send the Women and her seed or the New Adam and the New Eve to pass the original test that our first parents failed to do.
New Testament look at the new Adam and Eve (Woman and the seed)
Lukes Gospel Account:
Luke is no doubt a historian and expert of ancient historiography seen by his method to seek eye witness accounts of events. The ancient greeks even knew that the Jews were known for their reliable history. Luke makes sure to alert his audience to this fact.
Luke appears to have the priority within his Gospel to show that the long-awaited messiah had arrived to restore Israel foretold by the prophets (Is 11:10-12, 49:6; Ezek 39:25-29). At the time Herod was king of Palestine and was very ambitious to gain favor so he initiated the rebuilding of the second temple (Hahn,S. 2009). It appears that Herod wanted religious glory and to be seen as a type of divinely appointed figure. It was in this context, with a counterfeit ruler such as Herod and the expectation of a messiah that Luke opens his Gospel with certain key words that signal to the reader God has come.
Zechariah as (Hahn,s.2010) notes has the Hebrew meaning of “Yahweh has remembered” and Elizabeth that means “My Gods Oath”. One familiar with the Old Testament scriptures would recall not only the prophets promise of a last and future messiah but the “oath” promised to Abraham and David that one day Yahweh would bless all the families of the world. Also Luke makes it a point to show that Jesus will come from the line of David as prophesied in the Old Testament via Mary and Joseph’s marriage (Lk 1:27). Also as (Nichols,2015) points out is the correlation of Daniels seventy weeks in Dan 9:24 and the seventy weeks from when Gabriel entered temple in beginning of Luke Gospel to the birth of Christ denoting the time assigned to the deliverance of Israel.
The point of all this geneology and references to the long awaited messeiah is also to signal to the reader that the “seed” which all of salvation history has been waiting for has arrived but again the seed is directly tied to the “women” who brings the seed forth, for the threat to serpent was that both would play a role in defeating him.
As 1 Cor 15:45 says ” Thus it is written, “The first man Adam became a living being”; the last Adam (Jesus) became a life-giving spirit.”
Jesus like the first Adam was also tested in a garden (Mt 26:36-46) and faced the serpent when he fasted for forty days in dessert and placed all his trust in God.
Unlike Eve who when tested said no to God by her disobedience, Mary when met by an angel of God said yes when she said “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word “(Lk 1:38).
This is why in the 2nd Century St. Irenaeus of Lyon’s said “The knot of Eve’s disobedience was untied by Mary’s obedience: what the virgin Eve bound through her disbelief, Mary loosened by her faith“.
John’s Gospel Account
In John’s Gospel account many have noticed that John sets it up his Gospel as a new creation account see John 1(in the beginning…) and how John says the next day three times after the phrase in the beginning then he changes to the third day which is really when added to the other days is the 7th day. Never the less John does not call Mary by her name instead he calls her “Women” ! (As a side note calling someone women is not disrespectful in the culture at the time but was actually a respectful way to address a female).
Here in the Gospel of John Jesus, the “seed” calls his mother “Women” along with the creation imagery the author is signaling to us the seed or the New Adam and the women or the new Eve have arrived to bring about the defeat of the serpent. A new creation is occuring in order to redo the old creation that fell by the first Adam and Eve.
The first Ever enticed the first Adam to take the fruit which brought about the first sin whereas Mary interceded for the people at the wedding for new wine bringing about a miracle. More than just turning water into wine this account announces the bridegroom has arrived to save his bride ushering in the new messianic banquet (Is 25:6-8, Amos 9:11-15, 2 Baruch 29). There is also a deeper meaning of Christ bringing new water (baptism) and new wine (his blood in Eucharist) which is the fruit of the tree of the cross that gives eternal life.
It is said that God defeated Satan using the same three things he used:
- Virgin
- Tree
- Death
Qoutations of the Early Christians showing they saw Mary as the New Eve
“In accordance with this design, Mary the Virgin is found obedient, saying, “Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word.” But Eve was disobedient; for she did not obey when as yet she was a virgin. And even as she, having indeed a husband, Adam, but being nevertheless as yet a virgin (for in Paradise “they were both naked, and were not ashamed,” inasmuch as they, having been created a short time previously, had no understanding of the procreation of children: for it was necessary that they should first come to adult age, and then multiply from that time onward), having become disobedient, was made the cause of death, both to herself and to the entire human race; so also did Mary, having a man betrothed [to her], and is nevertheless a virgin, by yielding obedience, become the cause of salvation, both to herself and the whole human race. And on this account does the law term a woman betrothed to a man, the wife of him who had betrothed her, although she was as yet a virgin; thus indicating the back-reference from Mary to Eve, because what is joined together could not otherwise be put asunder than by inversion of the process by which these bonds of union had arisen; so that the former ties be canceled by the latter, that the latter may set the former again at liberty. And it has, in fact, happened that the first compact loses from the second tie, but that the second tie takes the position of the first which has been canceled. For this reason, did the Lord declare that the first should in truth be last, and the last first. And the prophet, too, indicates the same, saying, “Instead of fathers, children have been born unto thee.” For the Lord, having been born “the First-begotten of the dead,” and receiving into His bosom the ancient fathers, has regenerated them into the life of God, He having been made Himself the beginning of those that live, as Adam became the beginning of those who die. Wherefore also Luke, commencing the genealogy with the Lord, carried it back to Adam, indicating that it was He who regenerated them into the Gospel of life, and not they Him. And thus also it was that the knot of Eve’s disobedience was loosed by the obedience of Mary. For what the virgin Eve had bound fast through unbelief, this did the virgin Mary set free through faith” (Irenaeus of Lyons. (1885). Irenæus against Heresies. In A. Roberts, J. Donaldson, & A. C. Coxe (Eds.), The Apostolic Fathers with Justin Martyr and Irenaeus (Vol. 1, p. 455). Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Company.)
2nd Century by St. Justin Martyr
[Jesus] became a man by the Virgin, in order that the disobedience which proceeded from the serpent might receive its destruction in the same manner in which it derived its origin. For Eve, who was a virgin and undefiled, having conceived the word of the serpent, brought forth disobedience and death.
But the Virgin Mary received faith and joy, when the angel Gabriel announced the good tidings to her that the Spirit of the Lord would come upon her, and the power of the Highest would overshadow her: wherefore also the Holy Thing begotten of her is the Son of God; and she replied, ‘Be it unto me according to your word.’ (Dialogue with Trypho, 100, A.D. 160)
St. Irenaues of Lyon
[W]hat is joined together could not otherwise be put asunder than by inversion of the process by which these bonds of union had arisen; so that the former ties be canceled by the latter… […] [I]t was that the knot of Eve’s disobedience was loosed by the obedience of Mary. For what the virgin Eve had bound fast through unbelief, this did the virgin Mary set free through faith. (Against Heresies, III.22.4, A.D. 180)
For just as [Eve] was led astray by the word of an angel, so that she fled from God when she had transgressed His word; so did [Mary], by an angelic communication, receive the glad tidings that she should sustain God, being obedient to His word. And if the former did disobey God, yet the latter was persuaded to be obedient to God, in order that the Virgin Mary might become the patroness of the virgin Eve.
And thus, as the human race fell into bondage to death by means of a virgin, so is it rescued by a virgin; virginal disobedience having been balanced in the opposite scale by virginal obedience. (Against Heresies, V.19.1, A.D. 180)
