3:16 To the woman He said, "I will greatly multiply your pain in childbirth, in pain you will bring forth children; Yet your desire will be for your husband, And he will rule over you."
Note that God pronounced a curse on the serpent in 3:14 and He will curse the ground in 3:17. But God does not use the word curse toward Adam or Eve, His beloved creation that has disobeyed Him. In fact, nowhere in the Bible that I am aware of is the word “curse” used regarding all of humanity in regard to Adam’s and Eve’s fall.
The Law did pronounce curses for disobedience to it (read them one after another throughout Deuteronomy 27-30), and that affected everyone because everyone failed at keeping The Law.
And consider the following:
- Deuteronomy 30:19: "I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. So choose life in order that you may live, you and your descendants”
- 2 Chronicles 34:24: “Thus says the LORD, ‘Behold, I am bringing evil on this place and on its inhabitants, even all the curses written in the book which they have read in the presence of the king of Judah.’”
- Galatians 3:10, 13: “For as many as are of the works of the Law are under a curse ; for it is written, ‘cursed is everyone who does not abide by all things written in the book of the law, to perform’… 13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us-for it is written, ‘cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree’”
But that is different from the event here in Genesis. The text here is written more as God describing the consequences of their sins than of curses.
The consequences of Eve’s sin consisted of 3 things:
- Childbirth pain
- Desire for her husband
- Her husband ruling over her
1. CHILDBIRTH PAIN: Fitting 7 to 10 pounds of humanity through the area out of which he or she must exit the mother and enter the world seems like it could be nothing but painful, whether before the Fall or after it.
It is certainly not clear in the text, but it’s not unreasonable to wonder if reproduction before the Fall would have been similar to the one example of reproduction we’ve read about – when Adam became Adam and Eve. God made that happen and it was likely a pain-free event. So, there is at least a chance that the entire way of reproducing changed at the Fall.
On the other hand, the Hebrew word for “pain” here (עִצָּבוֹן
`itstsabown) can mean physical pain, but it can also legitimately be translated pain, labor, hardship, sorrow, or toil. Interestingly, this is the same exact word translated “toil” in
3:17 when God said “
in TOIL you will eat of [the ground] all the days of your life.”
I used to believe that in this verse God was telling Eve that she would experience deep regret and sorrow as she reproduced because of the futility of bringing another fallen human bring into a cursed world. But even though “sorrow” could fit into the rest of v.16, it doesn’t seem to me to fit into v.17. And because the verses are back-to-back, I tend to think the word would mean the same thing in each. “Labor” or “hardship” seems to be the only concept that fits in both verses.
So I think God said to Eve, “I will increase your labor in childbirth; in labor you will bring forth children.” Reproducing won’t be as easy as “splitting the Adam” anymore. It will require labor.
2. DESIRE FOR HER HUSBAND: You just can’t sidestep the similarity (though many have tried) between God’s words to Eve in 3:16 and God’s words to her son Cain just 15 verses later in
4:7.
God told Eve “
your desire will be for your husband, And he will rule over you.”
God told Cain, “
[sin’s] desire is for you, but you must master it.”
The Hebrew word translated “desire” is the same in both of these verses (
teshuqah, תְּשׁוּקַת) and is only used one other place in the Bible –
Song of Solomon 7:10, “
I am my beloved's, And his desire is for me.”
The Hebrew word that the NASB translates “rule” in 3:16 and “master” in 4:7 are the same word (
mashal, מָשַׁל). It is much a more common word, occurring 81 times in the Old Testament. It simply means to govern or have authority over something.
Here’s an English comparison of those two verses:
In Gen 3:16:
- Desire belongs to Eve
- Desire is for her husband
- Ruling is done by Adam
- Rule is over Eve
In Gen 4:7:
- Desire belongs to sin
- Desire is for Cain
- Ruling is done by Cain
- Ruling is over sin
Eve and sin are both in the position of desiring someone that can rule over them.
Adam and Cain are both in the position of ruling over something that desires them.
It is unclear what it means for Eve to desire Adam. Even among conservative Bible teachers there is a wide range of beliefs about what it means.
The most common interpretations are:
a. SEXUAL DESIRE However it is her husband which Eve craves and desires, not his sexuality – similar to 4:7. Sexuality has not entered into this story anywhere and I don’t see any reason to insert it eisegetically. Yes, childbirth has entered into the story, but that does not equal sexuality. Childbirth in this context appears as a grace God bestowed on humanity rather than as a consequence of sex.
b. DESIRE TO DOMINATE HER HUSBANDThis was first suggested by Susan T. Foh in 1975 in reaction to Women’s Lib. This could be inferred from the text since its corollary in this statement is her husband’s authority over her. In other words, the verse could be understood to say “You will desire authority over your husband, yet your husband will have authority over you instead.”
c. IDOLATROUS DESIREThe viewpoint that makes the most sense to me begins by recognizing that God said Eve will desire
her husband, not desire
his authority. If the text said “Your husband will rule over you and you will desire your husband,” I would be more swayed by Susan Foh. But the rule comes after the desire in this verse.
My tentative conclusion: I believe b and c above are both legitimate interpretations, but I believe C is a little stronger.
I believe Eve’s desire is an idolatrous longing for her husband to provide for her the things she was created to desire from God alone.
3. HE WILL RULE OVER YOU:If I’m correct about this, then Adam’s rule over her in this verse is a desire to provide those things for Eve rather than turning her toward God.
