The word “seed” is used six times in Genesis 1, twice each in verses 11, 12, and 29. None of these refers to a human being. The first use of the word for a human being comes in 3:15, which is the next time the word is used after chapter 1. Again the word is doubled: “enmity between your seed and her seed .”
The distinction and analogy between “seed” and “seed” is important. Fruit trees bearing seed are types of men – or, better, women – bearing seed.
The numerology is important too. The seventh use of the word is a reference to the seed of the serpent. As the seventh seed, he owns the first week of human history. But there’s another seed coming, “her seed,” the seed of the woman, the eighth seed who begins a new week.
The next time the word is used in Genesis is 4:25, to describe Seth. Neither Cain nor Abel is “seed.” But Seth is, and specifically he is a seed appointed by God, to replace Abel, the second second-born.
Dear Reader,
Can I be direct with you?
War abroad. Socialists on the rise. AI upending human life. Endless uproar online. The modern attention economy doesn’t want readers — it wants users enslaved to the tyranny of the present.
First Things is the antidote: literary excellence, timeless truths, and a fixed point of reference in a culture that has lost its bearings.
But we can’t do it without readers like you.
Our goal: Raise $150,000 by November 1 to sustain First Things in the year ahead.
Your gift anchors readers in the permanent things.
Make your Fall Campaign gift now using the button below.
If you have any questions or would like more information, please contact Giovanni Del Piero, Director of the Editor’s Circle, at gdelpiero@firstthings.com or 212-627-1985.
YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE
The Church in the Age of Therapy
In 1966, Philip Rieff wrote in The Triumph of the Therapeutic that “Religious man was born to…
Canada’s Deadliest Blind Spot
On September 20, the Daily Mail ran a story with the provocative headline, “Our 83-year-old Christian grandmother…
The Faithful Joy of Dolly Parton and Fulton Sheen
Dolly Parton and Fulton Sheen seem to have had little in common. She favored rhinestones; he wore…
