This paper argues that Gen 3:15 has three main interpretive threads in Matthew. Some scholars have made important contributions to the study of Gen 3:15. These include Ojewole who observes it being the center of a chiastic structure highlighting the problem of sin and especially its resulting “enmity.” Hamilton reveals many initial fulfillments of this OT theme. Ronning and Van Pelt note the echo between Gen 3:15 and the actions of Jael and the woman-with-the-millstone and then link them with Golgotha. McGregor Wright, along with Justin Martyr and Irenaeus, joins the protoevangelium with Mary’s virginal conception. These theologians have not examined how this promise is specifically fulfilled in Matthew, however.
Three types of Gen 3:15 intertextuality are seen in Matthew. Firstly, the seed of the woman contrasts with the seed of the serpent. These intertexts often include hostility (ἐχθρός or the word group; cf. ἔχθρα, Gen 3:15). Matthew alludes to this type in “brood of vipers,” “love your enemies,” “shrewd as the serpents,” “one’s foes,” “this generation,” Satan’s kingdom, and the parables of the weeds, mustard seed, and especially the sower with the two sowers and their seed (σπέρμα; cf. Gen 3:15). Jesus’ enemy-love command importantly diverges from OT “enemies” noted by Foerster.
Secondly, Jesus is the victorious, head-crushing seed of the woman (Christus Victor). Innertexture includes 1:18-25, 13:43, and 22:44, with its conclusion at Golgotha in 27:33 echoing Judg 9:53. Jesus is the Seed of the Woman crushing the Serpent and evil, however Jesus is victorious by dying as the seed of the Serpent as witnessed in interwoven allusions from the Judges 4-5 narrative (cp. Jdt 13:18; LAB 30-33, 37; Ant. 5, 7.5):
1. 27:33 Golgotha/skull, κρανίον (kranion)/ גֻּלְגֹּ֫לֶ (gulgoleth) (Judg 9:53)
2. 27:34, 48 drink (Judg 4:19; 5:25)
3. 27:35 stake into skull/ground (Judg 4:21, 5:26)
4. 27:35 dividing clothes among soldiers (Judg 5:30)
5. 27:45 darkness (σκότος/σκοτόω) came over (Judg 4:21b)
6. 27:51, 54; 28:2, 4 earthquakes/quaking (γῆ ἐσείσθη, Judg 5:4, 5)
7. 27:36, 64, 65, 66; 28:4 request to stand guard at entrance of tomb/tent (Judg 4:20)
8. 28:1 dawn, beloved (Judg 5:31)
9. 28:6 “He is not here.” (Οὐκ ἔστιν ὧδε)/“There is not.” (Οὐκ ἔστιν) (Judg 4:20)
10. 28:5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 17 seeking (ζητέω)/come in (δεῦτε)/beholding (ιδού, ὁράω) (Judg 4:22)
11. forty years of calm (cf. 70 CE; cf. Judg 5:31)
Lastly, the story of Jael is a narrative pattern crucifixion/resurrection intertext (Substitutionary Atonement). Like Sisera, Jesus is given a drink, clothes are divided, darkness comes over the land, and God’s actions cause shaking. Pivoting from the Sisera story, though, Jesus is resurrected out of his tomb of death. Like Barak who comes and beholds the dead Sisera, the women come with the rising sun to see the tomb but rather than Jael saying the words to someone who comes, “He (there) is not” (Οὐκ ἔστιν), the angels proclaim, “He is not here” (Οὐκ ἔστιν ὧδε). Unlike Barak, the women see an empty tomb and Jesus as alive.