Bruised heels, and crushed heads

[saladfingers]

What is the Jewish exegesis for the statement that the Lord made in the Garden to Eve, when He said " He will bruise you heel, but you will crush his head"?

Christians believe that this is the first messianic prophecy in the Bible.

[Tanakh Keeper]

I assume you are referring to G e n 3:15. Like all their interpretations, Christians are wrong on this one. The correct translation is

And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed: they [literally he] will strike your head, and you will strike their [literally his] heel.

Nothing in this verse refers to a messiah, nor to any specific individual. It does refer to all the offspring of Eve, which is all humankind. The verse describes the general notion that people will have an aversion to snakes and hit them in the head, while snakes will bite people in their feet.

Grammatically "Her seed" is a generic reference to all of humankind since the text speaks of Eve's descendents. A pluraity of descendents is meant since there is no specific reference to a single individual, thus "they" is a more accurate English translation than "he". To facilitate the translation of a generic woman's seed, see G e n 16:10 and 24:60. G e n 16:10 And the angel of the Lord said to her [Hagar], “I will greatly increase your seed and they will not be counted for abundance. G e n 24:60 And they blessed Rebecca and said to her, “May you come to be thousands of myriads, and may your seed inherit the gate of his foes. In both of these verses, "her seed" doesn't refer to a specific person, but rather to a multitude of people. There are no pointers in the text to a specific person.

Any time an individual is meant by "her seed", the Hebrew text provides a clear indication of whom is being referred to.
G e n 4:25 And Adam knew his wife again, and she bore a son and named him Seth, for “God has provided me [Eve] another seed in place of Abel, for Cain had killed him. The text clearly refers to Seth.
1S a m 1:11 She [Hannah] made a vow and said, “Lord, Master of Legions, if You take note of the suffering of Your maidservant, and You remember me, and do not forget Your maidservant, and give Your maidservant male offspring, then I shall give him to the Lord all the days of his life, and a razor shall not come upon his head. The text specifically refers to Samuel.

Therefore this verse (G e n 3:15) is not a messianic prophecy.

[sylvius]

What is the Jewish exegesis for the statement that the Lord made in the Garden to Eve, when He said " He will bruise you heel, but you will crush his head"?

Christians believe that this is the first messianic prophecy in the Bible.

Certain Christians do believe so.

But what do you believe?

I got another, my own, view.

Yes it is messianic.

The Messiah's head was crushed

Adam, after eating the forbidden fruit, accused the woman, while the woman accused the snake, making out of him the bête noire, even the incorporation of all evil.

Jesus took that on him.

In NT it was a woman who anointed Jesus's head, the immediate cause of his execution.

John 3:14-15 hints at this:

And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.