“The Curse”

Genesis 3:14-19

 

14 The Lord God said to the serpent,

“Because you have done this, Cursed are you more than all cattle,

And more than every beast of the field; On your belly you will go,

And dust you will eat All the days of your life;

15 And I will put enmity Between you and the woman,

And between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head,

And you shall bruise him on the heel.”

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.”

17 Then to Adam He said,

“Because you have listened to the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree about which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat from it’; Cursed is the ground because of you;

In toil you will eat of it All the days of your life.

18 “Both thorns and thistles it shall grow for you;

And you will eat the plants of the field;

19 By the sweat of your face You will eat bread,

Till you return to the ground, Because from it you were taken;

For you are dust, And to dust you shall return.”

 

Other Scripture References:

John 8:44a

Genesis 4:7

Ephesians 5:22—25

Galatians 3:13

 

Quotes:

“[T]he verse probably refers to the godly descendants of the man and woman, influenced by God Himself, and the ungodly descendants of the man and woman, influenced by Satan.” (Dr. James Montgomery Boice)

“Here in Genesis 3:15 we have a prophecy of the cross when satan would strike the heel of Christ (the suffering on the cross), but Christ would strike Satan’s head (through His death and glorious resurrection).”    (Dr. R. Kent Hughes)

“Adam is depicted as a broken farmer whose very meals, which are derived from the grain of his agrarian life, are spoiled by the fatigue of his striving.  Like the woman’s painful childbirth, the man’s daily labors with their attendant woes are a perpetual reminder of sin’s rewards.” (Dr. K.A. Mathews)