Another Look at Genesis 3:13-15

 

Mary and the Christ Child with Angels and Saints George and Theodore, c. 600 AD 

(St. Catherine's Monastery)

Dr. Alice C. Linsley

The most primitive model of the Mother of the Son of God is found among the early Hebrew at Nekhen on the Nile (4000-3000 BC). Nekhen predates the building of the Great Pyramids at Giza and the step pyramid of King Djoser (Third Dynasty). The oldest known tomb, with murals on its plaster walls, is located at Nekhen and dates to c. 3500–3200 BC.

Nekhen is the oldest known site of Horite Hebrew worship. That is where the Narmer Palette was found. It dates to c. 3100 BC. At the top of the Palette are two images of Hathor wearing the bovine horns. Among the early Hebrew, Hathor was venerated as the mother of Horus, the son of the High God. In Ancient Egyptian the Son of the High God was called HR, meaning Most High One. 

Nekhen predates the building of the Great Pyramids at Giza and the step pyramid of King Djoser (Third Dynasty). The oldest known tomb, with murals on its plaster walls, is located at Nekhen and dates to c. 3500–3200 BC.

The people of Nekhen were cattle herders. The bull's horns were often show cradling the solar orb, a symbol of the presence of the High God. Hathor was shown with the Sun resting in the horns. This represented her conception of the Son of God by divine overshadowing, as was fulfilled in the Virgin Mary's conception of Jesus. In answer to Mary's question, the Angel Gabriel explained, "The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the Holy One to be born will be called the Son of God."

Hathor overshadowed and wearing the blue of the divine ones.

This belief of the early Hebrew (4200-2000 BC) is found in the canonical Scripture in Genesis 3:13-15, the first Messianic prophesy of the Bible. That prophesy concerns the Woman, her Child, and the Serpent. This passage is called the "proto-Evangelium" or the proto-Gospel. It speaks of the eventual victory of the Woman and her divine Son over all God's adversaries.

The passage appears slightly different in the various translations. The Greek speaks of how He will bruise the serpent's head. The Latin speaks of how She (ipsa) will bruise the serpent's head. The Hebrew speaks of how the Woman's offspring shall strike the Serpent's head and the Serpent's offspring shall strike at their heel. In the Hebrew the Woman and her Son are both targets of the Serpent's attacks (cf. Rev. 12).

The early Messianic expectation was expressed in the 4200-year-old Pyramid Texts: "Horus has shattered (tbb, crushed) the mouth of the serpent with the sole of his foot" (Utterance 388). 

Psalm 110:1 expresses God victory through His Son. "The Lord says to my Lord: 'Sit at My right hand until I make Your enemies a footstool for Your feet.'" This was expressed 1000 years earlier in Passage 148 of the Coffin Texts: "I am Horus, the great Falcon upon the ramparts of the house of him of the hidden name. My flight has reached the horizon. I have passed by the gods of Nut. I have gone further than the gods of old. Even the most ancient bird could not equal my very first flight. I have removed my place beyond the powers of Set, the foe of my father Osiris. No other god could do what I have done. I have brought the ways of eternity to the twilight of the morning. I am unique in my flight. My wrath will be turned against the enemy of my father Osiris and I will put him beneath my feet in my name of 'Red Cloak'." 

The Horite and Sethite Hebrew believed that the Son of God would be miraculously conceived by divine overshadowing. They also believed that in His repose he would proclaim glad tidings to those in Hades. A Horite Hebrew song found at the royal complex at Ugarit speaks of Horus (HR) who descends to the place of the dead "to announce good tidings." (cf. The Apostles' Creed)

The basic pattern of the Messiah's saving work is found in the early texts of the Nilotic Hebrew. A reference to the third day resurrection is found in the Pyramid Texts: "Oh Horus, this hour of the morning, of this third day is come, when thou surely passeth on to heaven, together with the stars, the imperishable stars." (Utterance 667) 

In the Egyptian Book of the Dead, Horus is called the "advocate of his father" (cf. 1 John 2:1).

Related reading: BIBLICAL ANTHROPOLOGY: The Golden Calf in Anthropological Context; Why Nekhen is Anthropologically Significant; Solar Imagery of the Proto-Gospel; The Substance of Abraham's Faith; Revelation 12: The Woman, the Child, and the Dragon; The Story Behind Osiris; BIBLICAL ANTHROPOLOGY: Hebrew Names and Titles