The river of Eden.

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d Ecclus. 24.

25.

11 The name of the first is a Pison: that is it which compasseth the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold; 12 And the gold of that land is good there is bdellium and the onyx-stone.

13 And the name of the second river is Gihon: the same is it that Heb. Cush. compasseth the whole land of + Ethiopia.

all his enjoyments;) and of that life which he was to hope for in another world, if he proved obedient. Bp. Patrick. By means of this sacrament, had Adam gone happily through his probation, and persevered in obedience unto the end, he would have been admitted in the kingdom of heaven to that state of eternal life with God, for which he was always designed, and of which Paradise was the earthly resemblance. Bp. Horne.

tree of knowledge of good and evil.] A tree, which would make those that should eat of it sensible of good and evil. Bp. Wilson. It was so called, as being the appointed test of the obedience or disobedience of our first parents; procuring "good" or happiness in the former case; and “evil” or misery in the latter. Dr. Hales.

10. And a river went out of Eden &c.] It should seem that Paradise lay on the confluent stream of the rivers Euphrates and Tigris, but principally on the eastern bank; which divided into two branches above the garden, and two more below it. From the description of these rivers by the ancient historians and geographers, Major Rennell collects, that in ancient times they kept distinct courses to the sea, until the time of Alexander; although at no great distance of time afterwards they became united, and joined the sea in a collective stream. The Cyrus also and Araxes kept distinct courses in ancient times. This, however, does not invalidate a primeval junction of these rivers, before the deluge, which certainly produced a prodigious alteration in the face of the primitive globe. Besides, the changes in the beds of other great rivers, such as the Nile, the Ganges, and Barampooter, even in modern times, are known to be very great. Dr. Hales.

11.-Pison:] The westerly branch, by which the Euphrates empties itself into the Persian gulph. Both this river and the Gihon have long lost their names; the Greek and Roman writers calling them, after their parting, by the names which they had before they met, Euphrates and Tigris. Bp. Patrick, Dr. Wells.

-compasseth the whole land of Havilah,] That is, washes, with a winding stream, all one side of the land of Havilah; or of the eastern tract of Arabia Felix. Bp. Patrick, Dr. Wells.

12. And the gold of that land &c.] Arabia was famed for its gold, both as to its fineness and its quality; as also for its aromatic gums and pearls, whichever of these is intended by "bdellium :" and for its precious stones, whatever was the particular species signified by the word rendered "onyx-stone." Bp. Patrick, Dr. Wells.

13.-Gihon: The easterly channel of the two, into

The tree of knowledge forbidden.

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Il Or, eastward to Assyria.

14 And the name of the third river Before is Hiddekel: that is it which goeth toward the east of Assyria. And the fourth river is Euphrates. 15 And the LORD God took || the or, Adam. man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.

18 And the LORD God said, It which the Euphrates, after its conjunction with the Tigris, is again divided. Bp Patrick, Dr. Wells. Ethiopia.] Not the country so called in Africa, but another in Asia, adjoining to the easterly mouth of the Euphrates; called in Hebrew, as in the margin of our translation, Cush; by the Greeks and Latins Susiana; and now called by the Persians Chusistan, that is, the province of Chus. Bp. Patrick, Dr. Wells.

14. Hiddekel:] The Tigris. The word, which is rendered toward the east, should be rendered simply toward or before. For it has that signification, as well as the other; and so expresses better the course of the river, which does not run toward the east of the province, properly called, of old, Assyria; but does run before it, in respect to the place where Moses wrote. Bp. Patrick, Dr. Wells.

Euphrates.] In Hebrew Perath or Phrath. The course of it was so well known, that Moses gives no description of it. Bp. Patrick, Dr. Wells.

17.- thou shalt not eat of it:] It was fit to lay upon Adam this small restraint, to make him sensible, that though he had dominion over all things, yet he was not their Lord, but a servant of the Most High, who required this abstinence in token of his subjection, and to prove his obedience to Him. But still some ask, Why should his obedience be tried in such an instance as this? not considering that a trial of it could scarce have been made in any of the moral precepts, which there was no opportunity of violating. For what should tempt him to idolatry, or to take God's name in vain, or to murder his wife? How was it possible to commit adultery, when there was nobody but he and she in the world? How could he steal, or what room was there then for coveting, when God had put him in possession of all things? It had been in vain to forbid that, which could not be done and it had been virtue to abstain, not from that, to which there was no temptation, but from that, which invited them to transgress. I speak of them in the plural number, because it must be remembered that this prohibition was given, not to Adam only, but to Eve also, Chap. iii. 1, 2. Bp. Patrick. thou shalt surely die.] This does not signify, as appears by the event, that he should instantly die, but that he should become mortal; lose the immortality with which he was invested, Chap. iii. 19. Diseases, sicknesses, and pains, the forerunners of death, are included in this threatening. Bp. Patrick.

:

The threatening implies a promise, that if he did not eat of the fruit, he should not die, but live. This was the first covenant which God made with man. Bp. Beveridge.

18. And the Lord God said,] Or had said, before the

The making of woman,

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e Ecclus. 36. 24.

+ Heb. as before him.

|| Or, the

man.

+ Heb. called.

e

is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help † meet for him.

19 And out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto || Adam, to see what he would call them and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof.

20 And Adam † gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field; but for Adam there was not found an help meet for him.

21 And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he

delivery of this commandment, which was given to both. Bp. Patrick.

19.

It is not good] Not so comfortable an estate, that the man should live alone. I will make him an helper, of his own nature, meet for him. Bp. Hall, Adam] The Hebrew word, hitherto rendered Man, or the Man, is here rendered as a proper name. Dr. Wells. It is commonly thought that this name, given to the first man, signifies as much as red earth. But it is far more probable, that it imports elegant or beautiful. Bp. Patrick.

20. And Adam gave names &c.] The ancient and modern professors of Atheistical philosophy represent the faculty of articulate speech, or language, as the mere instinctive expression of the wants and desires of a herd of associated savages, gradually invented for mutual convenience of communication, and established by mutual consent. But our great Lexicographer justly remarks, that "language must have come by inspiration: a thousand, nay a million of children, could not invent a language: while the organs are pliable, there is not understanding enough to form a language; and by the time that there is understanding enough, the organs are grown stiff. We know, that after a certain age, we cannot learn a language." Boswell's Life of Dr. Johnson. This is confirmed by experience. Alexander Selkirk, when cast away on the desert island of Juan Fernandez, almost lost the use of his native tongue, after some years residence. The young savage, called Peter, caught in the woods of Hanover, several years ago, though soon tamed and reconciled to society, never could be taught to speak. And lately, the young savage of Aveyron, in France, though put under the care of the celebrated Sicard, master of the deaf and dumb school, has never yet been observed to utter an articulate sound, not even to express his most urgent wants.

It is remarkable, that Adam was endued with the faculty of speech in his solitary state, and gave names to the animal tribes before the formation of Eve: Dr. Hales.

21. And the Lord God caused a deep sleep &c.] Adam was thus less sensible of bodily pain; at the same time that there was represented to his mind, both what was done to him, and the mystery of it, as appears by ver. 23, 24. Bp. Patrick.

and he took one of his ribs,] God did not form Eve out of the ground; as He had done Adam; but out of Adam's side, that He might create the greater love between him and her, as parts of the same whole. By

and the institution of marriage.

slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof;

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22 And the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, † made het Heb. a woman, and brought her unto the man.

builded.

this He also effectually recommended marriage to all mankind, as founded in nature and as the reunion of man and woman.

No mention is here made of God's breathing a soul into her as into him: for Moses only explains what is peculiar to Eve: the rest is supposed in the words, "I will make an help meet for him;" which the Latin Vulgate rightly translates, "like unto him." It was likewise said before, that both man and woman were made "in the likeness of God." Bp. Patrick.

22. And the rib-made he a woman,] Which was as easy for the Divine power to do, as to make the man himself out of the earth. Bp. Patrick.

and brought her unto the man.] Presented and gave her to him to be his wife. God Himself made the espousals (if I may so speak) between them, and joined them together in marriage. Bp. Patrick.

23. This is now bone of my bones, &c.] Now indeed have I found, what I could not see before among all God's creatures, a fit helper for me; even another self. Bp. Hall.

she shall be called Woman,] Partake of my name, as she doth of my nature. For he called her Isha, as he was called Ish. Bp. Patrick.

24. Therefore shall a man leave &c.] Dwell with his wife, rather than with his father and his mother, and be joined to her in the closest and most inseparable affection, as if they were but one person, and had but one soul and one body; an obligation arising from the singular union of the flesh of our first parents, one of whom was taken out of the other. Bp. Patrick.

-wife:] Not wives. All this must be from express revelation; for otherwise Adam knew not what a father or a mother was, nor that the affections of children and parents were great: and yet that the ties of husband and wife would be greater. But it appears from our Saviour's words, Matt. xix. 4, that this revelation was from God; that it is founded upon the law of nature, for one man to have one woman only; for God knew, and none else could know, the evil consequences of unlimited mixture, and that the number of males and females should be so nearly equal, that many of them would be deprived of the comforts of marriage, if it were otherwise than as God ordained. Bp. Wilson.

25.- were not ashamed.] Because they were innocent, and had done nothing as yet to be ashamed of. Bp. Kidder.

If we consider seriously what God is; how great,

The serpent

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4004.

+ Heb. Yea, because, &c.

CHAP. III.

1 The serpent deceiveth Eve. 6 Man's shameful fall. 9 God arraigneth them. 14 The serpent is cursed. 15 The promised seed. 16 The punishment of mankind. 21 Their first clothing. 22 Their casting out of paradise.

deceiveth Eve.

2 And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden:

3 But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.

a

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almighty, and wise He appears to be by the creation of this heaven and this earth; and how beneficent and gracious He is to man: if further we consider what man was in his original state, how dignified and distinguished above all other visible creatures: we cannot now, in this our present forlorn condition, make any doubt of the reasonableness and justice of confessing and repenting of those sins, whereby we have degraded our nature, and offended so great, so gracious a Being, our Maker, our Benefactor, and our God. And to make us thoroughly sensible why we ought to repent, was the main design of the inspired writer, in describing to us the original and happiness of mankind, and the great riches of the Divine Goodness. That very "shame," which in a state of innocence we were strangers to, but which we now inherit by a natural descent, ought to excite our repentance and self-abhorrence. Wogan.

Chap. III. We have here an account of the state of man, both before and after his fall: that he was created in the image of God, and placed in Paradise, in a state of trial, in order to a greater happiness and an immortal life, if he should keep the covenant which God made with him and his posterity,

This covenant, through the temptation of the devil, he broke; and was therefore turned out of Paradise, became subject to sin, and to the punishment of sin, which is misery, afflictions, and death after all: and this was the occasion of that universal corruption, which we see in the world. But then this transgression gave occasion to God to manifest, together with his justice and holiness in the punishment of sin, another of his glorious perfections, his infinite goodness and mercy.

For seeing man in this deplorable condition, He had compassion on him, and forthwith made him this promise of life and comfort, "That the Seed of the woman," one who was not to have a man for his father, "should bruise the head of that serpent," the devil, which had beguiled her. Bp. Wilson.

دو

Ver. 1. -the serpent] That this was the devil's act, in the serpent, we have the authority of Christ himself, who says, "He was a murderer from the beginning,' John viii. 44; plainly in allusion to this seduction of our first parents, and the mortality thereby induced. The same appears also from the Apostle, who calls the devil or Satan, "the great dragon, that old serpent, which deceiveth the whole world." Rev. xii. 9; xx. 2, 10. And the author of the Book of Wisdom, ch. ii. ver. 24, who was well acquainted with the doctrines of the Jewish Church, tells us, "Through envy of the devil came death into the world." Bp. Beveridge, Dr. Kennicott.

more subtil] And therefore a fitter instrument for the devil, who made use of him; and also a more.

5 For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.

1 Tim. 2. 14,

perfect resemblance of his craft and wiliness. Bp. Kidder. Yea, hath God said, &c.] The best interpreters understand this to have been spoken interrogatively, Hath God indeed said? or, Dost thou think God meant absolutely by saying, &c.? Pyle.

The devil in these words seems to question the kindness of God, in that He did not permit to man the eating of every tree in the garden. Bp. Kidder.

2.

-We may eat of the fruit &c.] She seems to have understood him, as if he thought God had forbid them to eat of any fruit in the garden. And indeed the foregoing question is ambiguous. Bp. Patrick.

4. Ye shall not surely die:] As before he called in question God's kindness to man, so does he here deny God's veracity or truth: and deserves the character, which our Saviour gives him, of "a liar," John viii. 44. Bp. Kidder. From this first lie that was told in the world by the devil himself, he seems to be more particularly called by our Saviour, "The Father" of lies. Dr. Wells.

Unbelief is not only a great sin of itself, but one great cause of all other sins. It may be truly called the Mother of sin, as the devil is the Father: for it was that, which by his instigation brought forth sin at first into the world; and it is that which still maintains and keeps it. When the old serpent assaulted our first parents, the first attack he made was upon their faith; and when that was once shaken, he soon overcame them. Bp. Beveridge.

5. For God doth know &c.] The first accuser that ever was in the world was a false accuser; and that was the devil. He was "a liar from the beginning;" and the first false report he raised, was of the Most High: unjustly accusing God Himself unto our mother Eve, in a few words, of no fewer than three great crimes at once, Falsehood, Tyranny, and Envy. He was then a slanderous accuser of his Maker: and he hath continued ever since a malicious accuser of his brethren. Bp. Sanderson.

your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods,] The eyes of your understanding, which are now halfshut, shall be fully opened, and ye shall be full of divine knowledge, like your Maker. Bp. Hall. Or, like the angels of God, who are frequently called " gods" in Scripture. Bp. Patrick.

Be our ends and aims what they will, unless we arm ourselves with strong resolutions beforehand, not to do any thing we know to be unlawful upon any terms, seem it otherwise never so expedient; and then afterwards use all our best prayers and endeavours by God's grace to hold our resolutions, we are gone. Satan is cunning, and we are but weak, and he will be too hard for us, if he do but find us at all staggering in our resolutions to

Man's shameful fall.

God arraigneth

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b

7 And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed figleaves together, and made themselves aprons.

8 And they heard the voice of the

do nothing but what is lawful; or lending an ear to any persuasions, for the doing of any thing that is unlawful. By this very means he overcame our first mother Eve; and prevailed with her to taste of the forbidden fruit, though it were unlawful, by persuading her that it was expedient. This one is a sure ground for us to build upon; to a good Christian that desireth to make conscience of his ways, nothing can be truly expedient, that he knows to be unlawful. Bp. Sanderson.

knowing good and evil.] An Hebrew phrase, signifying as much as to know every thing, or a very enlarged knowledge, as in 2 Sam. xiv. 17 and 20. And on the contrary, to know or speak neither good nor evil, is to know or speak nothing at all, Deut. i. 39; Gen. xxxi. 29. Pyle.

6. And when the woman saw &c.] She could conclude that it was good for food, only by the serpent's eating of it before her eyes, and by seeing that he did not thereupon die, as God had threatened so she gave him credit and distrusted God's word. Bp. Wilson.

did eat,] Her sin was great and various; being guilty of ambition, incredulity, ingratitude, curiosity, inordinate desire, open rebellion against God, and the drawing aside of her husband, and the involving of him in sin, and their posterity in misery also. Bp. Kidder.

and gave also unto her husband with her ] Besides the aggravations common to both our parents, Eve adds one more to her weight, in that she was not content to sin herself alone, but she allured, and drew her husband also into the like horrible transgression with her whereby she was not only guilty of her own personal sin, but of her husband's also. And this added so much to her former sins, that St. Paul speaks of her, as if she had been the only transgressor; Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression." 1 Tim. ii. 14. So great and horrible a thing it is in the eye of God, to be the cause or mover of another's sin. Jos. Mede.

66

7. And the eyes of them both were opened,] They had no sooner transgressed than they began to reflect upon the guilt, and feel the fatal consequences of so doing. Their understandings were indeed "opened," not in the sense the tempter had promised; but in a manner that discovered to them their own folly, degeneracy, and shame. Pyle.

and they knew that they were naked;] Who knows not the story of Adam's fall? Who hath not heard of the sin of Eve our mother? If there were no Scripture, yet the unexampled irregularity of our whole nature, which all the time of our life runs counter to all order and right reason; the woeful misery of our condition, being a scene of sorrow without any rest or contentment; this might breed some general suspicion, that from the beginning it was not so: that He, who made us lords of his creatures, made us not so worthless and

9 And the LORD God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou?

10 And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.

11 And he said, Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of

vile as now we are; but that some common father to us all had drunken some strange and devilish poison, wherewith the whole race is infected. This poison, saith the Scripture, was the breach of God's commandment in Paradise, by eating of the forbidden fruit. Jos. Mede.

and they sewed fig-leaves together,] They twisted the branches of the fig-tree about them for coverings: as the true translation is. The fig-tree leaves in eastern countries are so broad, that a few will cover the body of a man. Pyle.

8. And they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the yarden] The sound of the Majestick Presence, or the glory of the Lord, approaching nearer and nearer to the place where they were. For the "walking" is to be referred to the voice, and not to the Lord. Bp. Patrick. hid themselves] Their very reason was so corrupted, as to think they could hide themselves, as wild beasts run into a wood when they see a man. Bp.

Wilson.

9.- the Lord God called unto Adam,] Emphatically called, JEHOVAH ELOHIM, God the Lord. By which, in the language of Philo, according to the opinion of all the ancient Fathers, is to be understood Gop the FATHER, speaking by CHRIST, the LOGOs, the WORD, or Son of God: the Messenger and Representative of the Father, the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person;" who appeared in, and spake from, the Shechinah, or cloud of glory; the same cloud of light, with its heavenly host of angels, from whence He communed with Adam, with Noah, with Abraham, and the Patriarchs; and communicated his will to, and conducted, the Israelitish nation. For of God the Father it is expressly said, "No man hath seen Him at any time," John i. 18; vi. 46. "Neither heard his voice at any time, nor seen his shape," John v. 37. Pyle.

Where art thou?] Such questions do not argue ignorance in Him that asks them; but are intended to awaken the guilty to a confession of their crimes. As appears from chap. iv. 9, " Where is Abel thy brother?" Of whom, when Cain stubbornly refused to give an account, the Lord said immediately, (to shew that He needed not to be informed,) "the voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground." Bp. Patrick.

10. — because I was naked;] They became sensible that they were divested of their inward purity; they also blushed at their bodily nakedness, of which before they were not ashamed. This shame was part of their punishment; and it is entailed upon their posterity, as a standing memorial of the sins that occasioned it, being an impression from God upon their spirits; for no other account can be given of its being so universal as it is. Bps. Patrick and Wilson.

11. And he said, Who told thee that thou wast naked?] Adam appears to have avoided a confession of the cause,

by acknowledging only the effect: he owned no more than that he hid himself, "because he was naked." But God, who knew that this discovery, or sense of his nakedness, could only arise from his transgression, interrogates him again thus: "Who told thee that thou wast naked?" No one could shew thee this: this must be thy own discovery, and is a strong presumption of thy loss of innocence. Dr. Kennicott.

12.-The woman whom thou gavest to be with me,] He throws the blame upon his wife, which however he did not intend should rest there, but recoil back upon his Creator. "I have eaten," says he, "but the woman gave me of the tree:" even the woman, "whom thou gavest to be with me," or to be my constant companion. Thus we are apt to excuse and palliate our faults; by laying that load upon others, with which we ought to charge ourselves. Dr. Kennicott, Bp. Patrick. From the beginning man hath always been apt to lay the blame of his faults where it can least lie, upon goodness and perfection itself. The very first sin that ever man was guilty of, he endeavoured to throw upon God. And his posterity are still apt to excuse themselves the same way. Abp. Tillotson.

13. And the Lord God said unto the woman, &c.] He from whom no secrets are hid, He that formed the heart of man, and knows all the works we do, He that searcheth and trieth the heart and reins, even He will first examine the fact, will first hear what miserable man can say for himself, before his sentence shall pass upon him not out of ignorance of what was done; for how should the omniscient God be ignorant? but out of his wonderful clemency and unspeakable moderation towards man: I say, towards man; for to him alone He shews this favour: for as for the serpent, we see He vouchsafes not to ask him one question, nor to wait for what he could say for himself, but presently without examination proceeds to judgment against him. Jos. Mede.

What is this that thou hast done?] Who would not think this rather the speech of a familiar and condoling friend, than of so great a Judge, so greatly offended? Here is no word of asperity, but of lenity: no menacing, no upbraiding terms; but only, "What is this that thou hast done?" Jos. Mede.

and the woman said, The serpent beguiled me,] My weakness was deceived by the cunning of the devil. Thus she also threw the blame upon another. But God, no doubt, convinced them both of the greatness of their guilt, and the miserable condition into which they were fallen by their transgression, before He ended this discourse with them. This shews the infinite mercy of the Creator of all, who would not abandon them, but sought after them to "save" them, when they had "lost" themselves. Bp. Patrick.

beguiled] This first act of the devil is that wherein we may behold, " as in a glass," the art he still useth to tempt us to sin, and bring us to utter destruction. His practice is uniformly to "beguile." sents all things fair to our face, and suffers not evil to appear before us in its own deformed shape; for then every man would fly from it. When he would tempt a

He pre

The serpent is cursed.

14 And the LORD God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life:

15 And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy

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man to covetousness, he calls it thrift; and the same is the case with other vices. This is what the Scripture saith, "Satan is transformed into an angel of light," 2 Cor. xi. 14. Jos. Mede.

me,] The devil assaults us where he finds us weakest, as here, in this first sin, he attempts the woman, the weaker vessel. "The serpent beguiled me:" for he knows this is the readiest way to overcome. Jos. Mede.

Let the fatal example of the fall of Eve be a warning to others, how they listen to sophistry in opposition to divine truths. For though the tempter, since that time, has no more made use of serpents, in such a way, yet he has other instruments proper to work with, and often does the same thing by the tongues or pens of serpentlike men. Dr. Waterland.

14. And the Lord God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, &c.] Namely, because he had beguiled the man and woman, which God hath made, and caused them to transgress his great commandment. He therefore that is the cause and occasion of another's sin is as hateful to God as the doer, and is liable to as great or rather a greater punishment. Nay, the serpent's doom is first read to him, as if he were the archoffender: for which same reason the woman's sentence comes next, because she had been a sin-maker, and was guilty, not only of her own personal sin, but of her husband's also. The same might be confirmed from the quality of their several judgments; in that the serpent alone is doomed to be "cursed," and no such sentence is pronounced either upon the man or upon the woman. Jos. Mede, Bp. Patrick.

thou art cursed &c.] What follows has a reference to the serpent, the instrument; and to Satan, who made use of that creature. As an argument of the detestableness of the sin, and a constant memorial of it, the abused beast is "cursed." Compare Exod. xxi. 28, 32; Levit. xx. 15, 16; and Gen. ix. 5.

The curse upon the serpent consisted, 1, in bringing down his stature, which was probably in great measure erect before this time: "upon thy belly shalt thou go;" or, "upon thy breast,' as some versions have it: 2dly, in the meanness of his provision, "and dust shalt thou eat," inasmuch as creeping upon the ground, it cannot but lick up much dust together with its food: 3dly, in that "enmity," which hereafter ensued between this creature and mankind: for the wisest naturalists among the heathens (proper witnesses in the present case) have agreed, that there is a mortal enmity between the human and the serpentine species. Bps. Patrick and Kidder, Dr. Kennicolt.

15. I will put enmity &c.] This last particular more peculiarly refers to the devil or Satan, who made use of the serpent as an instrument, and is called a serpent, Rev. xii. 9; xx. 2. Thy seed;" that is, The apostate spirits, and all those that in wickedness resemble their father, the devil, John vi. 70; viii. 44; Acts xiii. 10. "Her seed;" that is, the Messiah or Christ, (who is peculiarly the seed of the woman, Isa. vii. 14; Gal. iii. 16; iv. 4;) and his members, Eph. vi. 11, 12; Rev. xii. 13. "It shall bruise thy head;" that is, the seed of the