Curses for the Genders (Genesis 3)

Curses for the Genders

When humanity had sinned God cursed the man, woman and the serpent.

We will here look at the curses given to the man and woman specifically since these reveal how people often work. They show how the relation between the two sexes often are. This is not the ideal, since it came from a curse. But it is what it is and God Himself had given these curses for a reason.

In fact, in the curse for Adam He explicitly says it was for his own good.

For the woman it is said:

[Gen 3:16 NKJV] 16 To the woman He said: "I will greatly multiply your sorrow and your conception; In pain you shall bring forth children; Your desire [shall be] for your husband, And he shall rule over you."

For this article the last part is especially interesting.

The wife would desire the husband. Closely related to this and what may explain which kind of desire this is, is that the husband would rule over the wife.

Now this rule has often been abused. But when it is within God’s law it is a curse that can be turned into a blessing. In this way proper order is kept in the family that could else be more unstable.

This curse seems to have been implanted in our nature. It has been natural for the husband to rule and for the wife to be the more submissive party. The fact this goes hand in hand with a desire shows that something in nature is meant.

Now that we know how the curse is implemented we must take great care to not abuse this.

The wife will have an inclination to be more submissive and to have a desire for her husband, but let her watch out for her to lose her identity in her husband.

The husband will have an inclination to be the head of the family and to rule, but woe is him if he abuses this natural position.
A curse was also given to Adam:

[Gen 3:17-19 NKJV] 17 Then to Adam He said, "Because you have heeded the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you, saying, 'You shall not eat of it': "Cursed [is] the ground for your sake; In toil you shall eat [of] it All the days of your life. 18 Both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you, And you shall eat the herb of the field. 19 In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread Till you return to the ground, For out of it you were taken; For dust you [are], And to dust you shall return."

The curse for Adam had to do with work. He would have to work to keep alive and in the end he would die anyway.
This is natural for the husband as well. Though a woman can work and have a job (this is recorded in Proverbs), it is the husband that is the one who was to toil all the days of his life to provide for himself, and for his family too in this case. Many hardships, thorns and thistles would be found in this toil.

But these were brought forth for you.

It is for our own good. In this way we are kept busy, away from too much sin, and we are molded to long for a place without much hardships.

These principles in the curses are seen in everyday life. But God gave them for a reason and it is good to have some self-knowledge and knowledge about what God intends for us.