Genesis 3:9-19
|
Participant |
Divine Penalty |
Consequence |
|
Serpent |
Humiliation |
Defeat by Woman’s Seed |
|
Woman |
Painful Labor in
Childbirth |
Defeat in Conflict with
Husband |
|
Man |
Painful Labor in
Agriculture |
Defeat in Conflict with
the Ground |
God questions the man and
woman but not the serpent.
The Serpent has nothing to
learn from the Lord but there is hope yet for the man and woman.
The Serpent is cursed but
not the man and woman.
The blessing for the man and
woman has not been lost entirely.
Man and woman will continue
to receive the Lord’s attention and provision.
3:14
The punishments correspond
to the crime.
The serpent was more crafty
than the animals but now the serpent will crawl on its belly unlike the other
animals.
The word for “curse” is “arur” and is used to introduce a
decree and pronouncement of doom. The
power of this curse through out the Old Testament is from God.
The Hebrew word “ala” is used when men invoke misery
against a person or thing.
The Serpent’s Threefold
Curse:
1) Crawl on its belly (Called unclean and not for food
Lev. 11:41-43)
2) Eat dust “all the days of your life” since he enticed
the woman to eat the fruit.
a. Eating dust a sign of humiliation Mic 7:17, Ps. 72:9/
Isa. 49:23)
3) Ultimate destruction by the wounded “seed” of the
woman
The snake is to live in the
dust all the days of its life until it is ultimately destroyed by the woman’s
seed. The serpent will die but the woman
will become the source of life and live on.
3:15
The serpent caused the fall
of the woman so the woman will cause the overthrow of the serpent.
“Enmity”
is the intense hostility among nations during wartime. The result of such “enmity” is death and
killing. This word refers to life and
death struggle between two enemy combatants.
“Sup” is the Hebrew word translated
both “crush” and “strike”. The word
means to “bruise”.
The word “sup” means “to
break or smite to pieces and cause a great injury.”
The NIV distinguishes the
same word “sup” as “crush” since it is the head and “strike” since it is the
heel. The NIV distinction in the same
word is from the location of the strike.
“seed” or “zera” refers to
both a group (all who come from the woman) and to a future individual (the
Messiah who will crush the serpent)
3:16
No curse given to the woman.
The woman is not charged
with:
1) Deception like the serpent was (3:14)
2) Eating like the man was (3:17)
The woman was deceived but
the serpent and the man rebelled. (3:13; 1 Tim. 2:14; 2 Cor. 11:3)
The woman’s punishment will
involve salvation from sin and its consequences.
The man’s actions condemned
the human race.
Woman will be the source of
all life for the human race but also her child will defeat the serpent in a
final conflict.
The woman’s penalty affects
her two main roles:
1) As a partner with the man
2) As the bearer of children
1 Corinthians 11:12 –
Childbirth signals hope of a redeemer but also a reminder of the first sin.
“desire” refers to the
woman’s desire to control her husband but the man will maintain the headship.
3:17
The man was in charge of the
soil and the garden.
The man’s penalty is aimed
at his labor and at the soil.
The man will
1) suffer lifelong, toilsome labor
2) suffer death
God has dealt with the
serpent and the woman. The only one left
to be responsible is the man.
Man’s sin is the result of
the curse on the ground. The ground is
now in opposition to man.
Thorns and thistles are now
the natural product of the ground