(Gen 3:9-15.20)

Genesis 3:9 But the Lord God called the man and said to him, "Where are you?"

Genesis 3:10 He answered, "I heard your footsteps in the garden: I was afraid, for I am naked, and I hid myself."

Genesis 3:11 He resumed, "Who let you know that you were naked? Did you eat of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?"

Genesis 3:12 The man answered, "The woman whom you placed beside me gave me of the tree, and I ate of it."

Genesis 3:13 The Lord God said to the woman, "What have you done?" The woman answered, "The serpent deceived me, and I ate."

Genesis 3:14 Then the Lord God said to the serpent, "Because you have done this, you shall be cursed more than all cattle and more than all wild beasts; on your belly you shall walk and dust you shall eat all the days of your life.

Genesis 3:15 And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed: and she shall crush thy head, and thou shalt bruise her heel.

Genesis 3:20 And the man called his wife Eve, because she was the mother of all the living.

"But the Lord God called the man, and said unto him, Where art thou?" The voice of God now passes through a heart hardened by sin, which receives it in fear. Those who have denied Love no longer believe in Love and need to create for themselves a defence, a barrier. And this barrier is in a conscience that, having opened itself to the knowledge of good and evil, filters through it the Word of God. Adam does not accept a confrontation with God in the nakedness that comes to him from sin, openly and with an open mind. He responds at a distance and, above all, by keeping himself well hidden in the midst of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

It takes only a few leaves to conceal one's nakedness from one's fellow man; it takes more than that to hide one's misery from the Author of life! And why this, if not because he fears being punished by God? He no longer grasps the Lord's Love. There is still no judgement or condemnation, only the loving gaze of a Father who has lost sight of his children and calls them out loud, to see where they are, if they need his help. He does not ask them, in a threatening tone, what they have done, but simply where they have gone.

But by now Adam's heart is far from the Lord, he no longer distinctly hears his Word, but only his voice, and he hears it threateningly. He responds to God, but from his hiding place, not as one who is sought, but as one who is wanted. He defends himself before he is even blamed.

"He answered, I heard thy footsteps in the garden: I was afraid, for I am naked, and I hid myself". Before the sin he heard the Word of God and was not afraid of it, he was naked and did not hide. Now everything has changed: he no longer feels God's Love and no longer accepts his reality of being naked, that is, created from nothing and clothed by God. The Lord would have him acknowledge his guilt and make him confess his disobedience, to take care of him.

It was not God who made Adam burdened with his nakedness: it was his disobedience that made his own being created from nothing unbearable to him and drove him into hiding, under the illusion that he could clothe himself with his own garment, acquiring the knowledge of good and evil.

"And the man answered: The woman whom thou hast set before me gave me of the tree, and I did eat of it". Adam not only places all the blame on Eve, but even holds the most beautiful gift against God. Adam does not repent, but accuses the Lord of being responsible for his evil. With God, actions are always the person's. Responsibility is always personal. Temptation does not free us from our personal responsibility. In sin, however, one is also blind to our personal responsibility and wants to place it all on others.

"The Lord God said to the woman: What have you done? The woman answered, The serpent deceived me, and I have eaten". Could there have been a different attitude in she who formed with Adam one flesh? This is the difference between the sinner and the saint. The sinner always excuses his sins. He always removes all responsibility from himself. The saint, on the other hand, knows how to take responsibility for even the smallest venial sin. For the saint, the blame for what happens is always his own, never that of others. 

Who forced Eve to listen to the serpent's voice? All that is missing is for Eve to accuse God of having created the serpent. In this tragic game of Adam and Eve competing not in acknowledging their guilt, but in discharging their guilt, the serpent is the final link, preventing man from breaking the bond of sin. There can be no redemption for Adam unless the power Satan has to bind all men to himself is first destroyed.

For God does not curse man, but he who is the father of all sin (v. 14). He who lifted up his head of rebel and renegade to seduce man, henceforth shall crawl on his belly; he who wanted to devour the creatures of the earth, henceforth shall devour the earth trodden down by his creatures. But with the condemnation of Satan is already the announcement of salvation for man.

"I will put enmity between thee and the woman, between thy seed and her seed: she shall crush thy head, and thou shalt bruise her heel. The sin that binds the accuser to the woman shall be broken, there shall be enmity between the children of the Devil and the children of Eve. And all this not by virtue of the woman, but by virtue of a woman, not by virtue of the sons, but by virtue of a Son. According to the immediate grammatical context it refers to Eve, but the logical and prophetic context prevents this. In fact, here we are dealing with an enmity that culminates in the crushing of the serpent, that is, of Satan and all the powers of evil. And this cannot be said of Eve, who is not only subject to the other party by reason of her sin, but is subject to her own husband. The prophecy breaks away from the immediate context, and therefore points to another woman, who is well known in the mind of God. Everything here is directed towards the future. The mother of Jesus is referred to. Humanity, the lineage (the seed) of the woman will overcome the adversary through her individual representative: the Redeemer, that is, the 'seed' of her - of Mary - who is the Christ.

The act of 'crushing the head' is attributed, in the Hebrew text, to the lineage or seed of the woman ('hu' = 'it'); in the Greek translation of the 'Septuagint' it is attributed to an individual person ('autòs' = 'he'); and in the Latin version of the 'Volgata', to the woman ('ipsa'= 'she'). Therefore, on these nuances, the Hebrew text has been read as a clash between the seed of the serpent and that perfect descendant of the woman who will be the Messiah. He will be able to crush the head of evil forever.

In the 'Christian reading', then, it has been thought, that to 'crush' the head of the serpent, and its evil offspring, is the 'Woman' par excellence, that is, the Mother of the Messiah, and therefore the Virgin Mary, Mother of Jesus Christ.Just as sin began with a woman, so salvation will have its beginning with a woman. He who made Eve lose her head, will lose his head crushed by the Son of a woman, Mary Most Holy. He can only lay snares at her heel, but not at her heart and will: he can hinder the path of salvation, but not prevail over it. 

 Argentino Quintavalle, author of the books 

- Revelation - exegetical commentary

- The Apostle Paul and the Judaizers - Law or Gospel?

Jesus Christ true God and true Man in the Trinitarian mystery

The prophetic discourse of Jesus (Matthew 24-25)

All generations will call me blessed

 Catholics and Protestants compared - In defence of the faith

(Buyable on Amazon)