James Trimm’s Nazarene Commentary on Bereshit Chapter 3
3:4-5
4 And the serpent said unto the woman, You shall not surely die,
5 For Elohim does know, that in the day you eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened. And you shall be as Elohim, knowing good and evil.
(Gen. 3:4-5 HRV)
Nachmanides, in his commentary to Gen. 2:9, writes:
…You may think the serpent was lying to her [saying “you shall be as gods”] (in Gen. 3:5), but our tradition admits he told the truth; and see “the YHWH Elohim said, ‘Now that the man has become like one of us knowing good and bad’” (Gen. 3:22). The explanation that seems best to me is that man would have done what was naturally proper for him to do, just like the heavens and all their host, surely, reliably, and without emotion; but the fruit of that tree engendered will and desire, so that those who ate it could choose a thing or its opposite, good or bad. That is why it was called “the tree of knowledge of good and bad,…”
(See further comments to Gen. 2:9 and Yochanan 10:23-26)
3:14-15
14 And YHWH Elohim said unto the serpent: Because you have done this, cursed are
you from among all cattle, and from among all beasts of the field. Upon your belly shall you go, and dust shall you eat all the days of your life.
15 And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed. They shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise their heel.
(Gen. 3:14-15 HRV)
This passage makes a very surprising reference to the seed not of a man, but of a woman. Targum Psuedo-Jonathan reads:
And it shall be that when the sons of the woman study the Torah diligently and obey its injunctions, they will direct themselves to smite you on the head and slay you; but when the sons of the woman forsake the commandments of the Torah and do not obey its injunctions, you will direct yourself to bite them on the heel and afflict them. However, there will be a remedy for the sons of the woman, but for you, serpent, there will be no remedy. They shall make peace with one another in the end, in the very end of days, in the days of the King Messiah.”
The Targum Yerushalami interprets as follows:
“And it shall be that when the sons of the woman study the Torah diligently and obey its injunctions, they will direct themselves to smite you on the head and slay you; but when the sons of the woman forsake the commandments of the Torah and do not obey its injunctions, you will direct yourself to bite them on the heel and afflict them. However, there will be a remedy for the sons of the woman, but for you, serpent, there will be no remedy. They shall make peace with one another in the end, in the very end of days, in the days of the King Messiah.”
Both of these targums interpret the “seed” of the woman as those who study the Torah and obey it, however in doing so they “make peace with one another” and these are described as “the days of King Messiah.” Thus the Targums identify Torah Observant Israel with the Messiah in this passage as the “seed” of the woman.
The Midrash Rabbah makes this identification of the “seed” of the woman as the Messiah clear in its comment to Gen. 23:5 referring to the naming of Seth it says:
“And she called his name Seth: For God has appointed me another seed, etc. R. Tanhuma said in the name of Samuel Kozith: [She hinted at] that seed which would arise from another source, viz. the king Messiah.”
(Genesis Rabbah 23:5)
There can be little doubt that the “seed which would arise from another source” here is Eve’s “seed” mentioned in Genesis 3:15, the seed of a woman, the Messiah.
Thus we may see from the Torah itself that Messiah would not have a human father, but would instead be the “seed” of a woman.
3:22
And YHWH Elohim said: Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil. And now, lest he put forth his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat, and live forever,
(Gen. 3:22 HRV)
See comments to Gen. 3:5 and Yochanan 10:23-26)
23 Therefore YHWH Elohim sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the earth from whence he was taken.
24 So He drove out the man. And He placed at the east of the garden of Eden, the
cheruvim and the flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way to the tree of life.
(Gen. 3:23-24 HRV)
Had it not been for the Fall of Adam, you and I would never have been born, as is pointed out in the Zohar:
For indeed, if Adam had brought offspring with him out of the Garden of Eden, these would never have been destroyed, the light of the moon would never have been darkened, and all would have lived for ever; and not even the angels would have equalled them in illumination and wisdom, as we read, “In the image of God he created him” (Gen. I, 27). But since, through his sin, he left the Garden by himself and bore offspring outside it, these did not endure in the world, and this ideal was, therefore, not realised.’ Said R. Hizkiah: ‘How could they have begotten children there, seeing that, had the evil inclination not enticed him to sin, Adam would have dwelt for ever in the world by himself and would not have begotten children?
(Zohar 1:60b-61a)
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