1
Sermon Notes
“The Curse of the Woman”
Genesis 3:16
February 14, 2016
Introduction
1) Looking at the fall of man (male & female) in Genesis 3.
2) It is ironic that this sermon happens to be on Valentine’s Day,
a) The preaching of God’s word should never conform to the world!
b) Besides, if one has a happy Valentine’s Day, let us thank God who gave us our spouses.
c) If not, let us understand the problem, put our trust in God and thank Him for our spouses.
3) After the fall, God curses three groups: The serpent/Satan (3:14-15), the woman (3:16)
and the man (3:17-19).
4) Today: The curse of the woman, which for many a strange if not difficult verse.
Things to Remember When Dealing with the Curses of Genesis 3
1) Adam's rebellion isn't some minor sin but rebellion against the Holy Triune God.
Rom 1:18-3:23
a) It is lawlessness and a complete lack of faith.
b) Because God is holy, just and good, He must punish wickedness.
c) It is amazing that God only curses Adam & Eve, instead of destroying them.
2) Evil is not the opposite of good, but evil is a corruption/twisting/perversion of good.
a) Evil cannot exist without good, but good can exist without evil.
i) Like a hole in a piece of paper corrupts the paper.
ii) The hole really exists, but it cannot exist without the paper.
While the paper can exist without the hole.
iii) Or like rust is a corruption of steel.
b) With the fall of Adam all creation (physical, spiritual, mental) is corrupted.
3) We, especially us moderns, start from a false belief in radical autonomy and hyper individualism.
a) We first think everything is primarily about us as individuals and our authority, dignity,
and meaning comes from ourselves and is unrelated to our Creator, those around us,
and the Lord’s creation.
b) The fall does not just affect us as individuals, but our relationships.
c) Our relation to each other as husband and wife is affected by the fall.
i) Marriage, as male and female becoming one, was ordained before the fall.
ii) From this relation comes the family and all of society, especially the church.
d) Our relation to the creation (especially the concept of "the land") itself is corrupted.
e) All these things become corrupted by the fall, and when we see evil in them we
shouldn’t be surprised.
5) The curse of the woman affects two broad areas: childbirth and her relation to her husband.
2
"Greatly multiply your pain in childbirth"
1) As women will attest, this is obviously true! But why?
2) Again the key to understanding this verse is to stop thinking individualistically.
3) The curse of the woman is paralleled with the curse of the man.
a) Man (male & female) is created in the image of God.
b) Because they are in the image of God, they are given creative abilities.
Gen 1:27
Gen 1:27-30; Ps 8
i) They are blessed and called to multiply and rule the earth.
ii) Adam is called to cultivate and keep the garden.
iii) While Eve makes Adam complete, for from her comes all the living.
Gen 1:28
Gen 2:5,15
Gen 2:22,3:20
iv) Their creative abilities (tilling the earth & giving birth) mirror
God’s creative powers of governing and giving life.
v) Their creative abilities also tie them together as one, for each one needs the other.
c) With the fall their curse parallels their blessing.
i) The man will now toil over cursed ground and will return to it.
(More about that next week.)
Gen 3:17-19
ii) And the woman will give birth in pain.
Gen 3:16
d) Both their “labors” are cursed.
i) The man’s labor of providing is cursed.
ii) And the labor of a woman (i.e. giving birth) is also cursed.
iii) Just as the English word “labor” is about “work” and “giving birth” so the same
word in Hebrew is used for “hard labor” of work and the “hard labor” of
childbirth.
• To Adam – “In toil (
• To Eve – “Your pain (
, ʿitstsabown) you will eat”
, ʿitstsabown) in childbirth”
Gen 3:17
Gen 3:16
e) Because of the lawlessness of man (male & female) their blessings are being corrupted.
“Yet your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.”
1) This is a very interesting and difficult verse. It could be taken two very different ways.
a) Option #1 – It is a curse, a twisting of natural order.
i) To over (and mis-) translate the verse . . .
ii) “Your craving will be for your husband and he will dominate you.”
b) Option #2 – It is simply a statement of fact and not a curse, if not a sign of God’s
continued mercy.
i) To over (and mis-) translate the verse . . .
ii) “Your affection will be for your husband, and he will watch over you.”
c) Both are mistranslations of the verse, but they convey the ambiguity in the Hebrew.
3
2) The language is ambiguous.
a) The word for “rule” is a general term for governing.
i) It can mean “rule, have dominion, reign, have authority, have charge, control.”
ii) It can be a very positive word.
• In Genesis 1:18 the sun and the moon “govern” the day and night.
• It is what God and the Messiah does.
Job 25:2; Is 40:10; Micah 4:2; Zech 6:13
• It is what good kings do.
iii) It also describes what evil and pagan rulers do.
2Sam 23:3
Judg 14:4; 15:11; Dan 11:3-5
iv) It can just mean to have “control” over something.
b) The word for “desire” is found only three times in the Bible.
Dan 11:43
Gen 3:16; 4:7; SoS 7:10
i) In the Song of Songs it is used positively for a man desiring his lover.
(Which is an allegory of Christ desiring His church!)
SoS 7:10
ii) The only other reference is in Genesis 4:7, which interestingly also uses
the same word for “rule,” which seems to be a parallel of Genesis 3:16.1
3) Which one is it?
a) Pastor Doug’s favorite theological answer; “Yes!”
b) Not only is the Bible the inspired, infallible, inerrant written
word of God, but so are all the words in the Scriptures.
Ps 119; Matt 5:18; 22:31;
2Tim 3:16; 2Pet 1:19-21
c) The ambiguity is intentional.
Deut 29:29
d) When both concerns are heard it brings greater meaning to the text.
e) Obviously, after the fall, relations between men and women become broken and twisted.
i) The cursing of the woman (v.16) is clearly surrounded by the other cursing passages:
That of the serpent (v.14-15) and that of the man (v.17-19).
i) Evil men dominate and abuse their wives, who are a gift from God
and who should be loved just as Christ does His church.
ii) Foolish women place their desire in godless men, justifying their evil
because “they are in love,” which is a perversion of the biblical virtue,
because godly love “does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices
with the truth.”
1
Gen 2:23
Eph 5:29
1Cor 13:6
Many modern theologians think the parallel between Gen 3:16 and Gen 4:7 clearly shows that Gen 3:16 is something more than a
curse. Note the similar language is similar . . .
Gen 3:16
“Yet your desire will be for your husband,”
Gen 4:7
“sin is crouching at the door; and its desire is for you,”
Gen 3:16
“And he will rule over you.”
Gen 4:7
“but you must master (or “rule over”) it.” (Same word in the Hebrew.)
To quote C. John Collins, “In Genesis 4:7 it is plain that ‘desire for’ someone is ‘desire to master’ that person, while the ‘ruling’ is
not a punishment but the necessary remedy. If we apply this to 3:16, we conclude that God describes a condition of human
marriages that is all too familiar, namely, competition for control. The proper remedy is a return to the creational pattern of the
man’s leadership – loving, not dominating.” (Genesis 1-4; A Linguistic, Literary, and Theological Commentary, 160.)
4
f) Yet there is also hope in this passage.
i) It is interesting to note the differences in the cursing section of the woman:
• The word “curse” is not directly used with the woman, unlike for the
serpent (v.14) and the man (v.17).
• There is no specific charge brought against the woman, unlike the
serpent (v.14) or the man (v.17).
ii) Each of the three cursing sections also contains hope.
• With Satan there is the promise that Christ (the seed
of the woman) will crush the serpent on the head.
Gen 3:15;
Rom 16:20
• With Adam He will “eat bread” which for the Christian
one cannot help but hear Christ, “the bread of life.”
Gen 3:19
John 6:35,48,51
iii) It is a blessing to marry a godly man and to place one’s natural desires in him
and have him “rule” or “watch” over you.
Conclusion
1) For those who have godly spouses, rejoice, God has blessed you greatly.
2) For those who do not have godly spouses, or have difficulties in their marriage,
trust in God, love your spouse, and understand that the difficulties you experience
are because we live in a fallen world.
3) Let everyone remember that marriage is one of the great biblical allusions to the Gospel.
4) The Lord Jesus is our perfect bridegroom, who rules over His bride
the church, with great affection and lovingkindness.
5) Therefore, in all that we do, let us desire Him.
Ephesians 5:21-33
Revelation 19:7-9
Matthew 25:1-13