Where sin began

Interestingly, God addresses the serpent first because that is ultimately where the sin began

We need to remember that before satan’s fall, he was an angel of the highest rank and prestige. He was described as beautiful, and yet, in Isaiah 14, Scripture tells us that satan’s fall had to do with his desire to be equal, or even greater, than God. Therefore, God speaks to the serpent, then Eve, and lastly Adam, but God only curses the serpent/satan because he had “done this”

The Curse

Before the fall, the serpent didn’t look like a snake as we know it today because that was its punishment for having to crawl on its belly. It was likely then that pre-sin, the serpent was also beautiful and majestic and had some sort of legs, or even wings, which all the other three types of animals had (we went through these earlier in Genesis), but from that point onwards, God changed the appearance of the serpent, and so, was true of the serpent as an animal, to eat dust, but it is also true of Satan. To eat dust has the idea of total defeat (Isaiah 65:25, Micah 7:17). This is because God’s judgment on Satan is for him always to know defeat. He will always reach for victory but always fall short of it!

The Result of Sin

We can see that God never actually talks to satan because God knows that he is a liar, and so, God curses him straight away:

“Then the Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, you are cursed more than all animals, domestic and wild. You will crawl on your belly, groveling in the dust as long as you live. And I will cause hostility between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring. He will strike your head, and you will strike his heel.””

Genesis 3:14-15

This is why the second part of the curse is addressed to satan, because it is the result of what will happen because of the sin

The phrase “you will strike his heel” refers to satan’s repeated attempts to defeat Christ during his life on earth. “He will crush your head” foreshadowed satan’s defeat when Christ rose from the dead – a strike on the heel will hurt but is not deadly in comparison to having a crushing blow to the head

How incredible is it that God back in Genesis 3 was revealing His plan to defeat satan and offer salvation to the world through His son, Jesus Christ

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