Cheryl

Kerryn,

I forgot to answer this question:

Cheryl I am not sure how watertight the use of “he†in Gen 3:15 is for your argument… (My Greek is better than my Hebrew!) I do believe that the Scriptures are inspired by God. Yes Father knew that the Christ would be male, cos he knows everything from beginning to end. But does the ‘grammar’ itself really emphasise that the Messiah would be male through this one pronoun?

The prophesy came concerning Eve in Genesis 3:15 that her seed would crush the head of the serpent. Now if God wanted this to stay generic, he could have inspired this verse to read: Her seed shall bruise you on the head and you shall bruise her seed on the head. However the original is not generic but masculine. It is interesting that Catholics try to make this a prophecy about Mary. The 1899 Douay-Rheims Bible says:

I will put enmities between thee and the woman, and thy seed and her seed: she shall crush thy head, and thou shalt lie in wait for her heel.

However Genesis 4:1 proves that Eve understood this to be a prophesy concerning her having a male child. Genesis 4:1 says:

Genesis 4:1 Now the man had relations with his wife Eve, and she conceived and gave birth to Cain, and she said, “I have gotten a manchild with the help of the LORD.”

The words “the help of†are not in the original Hebrew. This verse literally says:

And Man knew Eve his wife; and she conceived, and bore Cain, and said, I have acquired a man with Jehovah. (Darby Bible)

The seminary prof who taught the bible study that I attended a year ago taught us that this verse in the original shows that Eve believed that the prophesy that was given to her had been fulfilled with the birth of Cain. This birth was not just a child but a manchild.

So yes, I do believe that a male child was promised to come through the seed of the woman and Eve believed God.  When her first male child was born she thought that this was the son that she got through Jehovah.
I hope that helps!

Cheryl