Genesis 3
Genesis 3:16
Then God told the woman,
" When you become pregnant,
you will have much trouble.
And when you give birth to children,
you will have great pain.
You will have desire for your husband,
but he will rule [control] over you."
Then God told the woman,
" When you become pregnant,
you will have much trouble.
And when you give birth to children,
you will have great pain.
You will have desire for your husband,
but he will rule [control] over you."
In Part 1 we saw Adam & Eve thinking about the Devil's lies,
deciding for themselves
what is right and
what is wrong,
the two of them becoming gods for themselves,
and experiencing shame and guilt
in their separation from God.
In Part 2 saw God's explain
His punishment on the Devil,
His promise for sending our Savior, Jesus Christ,
and that war between Jesus and the Devil on the cross,
that crushes the Devil's power.
Now in Part 3 we begin to see how sin touches our every-day life
and how sin damages our union with other people.
Genesis 3:16
First God said to the woman,
"I will cause you to have much trouble
when you are pregnant,
and when you give birth to children,
you will have great pain."
We all know about pain women feel
during natural childbirth.
A friend of mine asked a group of women,
"Childbirth feels how?"
One woman answered, and told the man:
"Grab your mouth lower lip."
The man did it.
Then the woman said,
"Now pull your lip over your head."
Ouch!
But a mother's pain for her children includes much more
than labor during birth.
One popular translation for this verse says,
"I will increase your sorrow,
and your conception."
Not all women are happy about having a baby.
Many say, "I hope I'm not pregnant!"
Grief? Yes!
Then after the baby is born, the emotional pain continues.
Birth really-is the easy part.
Raising children, teaching them to become good,
that's the hard part.
And while parents raise their children, who suffers most?
Mom? or Dad? Yes, Mom.
One Bible verse in Proverbs says,
A wise son makes his father happy - proud,
but a foolish son makes his mother sad - grief. (Proverbs 10:1)
If children succeed, Dad will brag about them.
And if children rebel, Dad knows how to let them go.
But mother holds her feelings,
and carries pain for her children all her life.
Sin influences not only a woman's relationship with her children.
Sin also ruins her relationship with her husband.
The 2nd thing God told Eve,
"You will have desire for your husband,
but he will rule over you."
Now, be careful! That verse is easy to misunderstand.
That first line: "You will have desire for your husband."
That word "desire" means what?
?Does "desire" here mean fall in love? Sweetheart?
Positive emotions? Sex?
Sorry, no.
The Hebrew language has several different words
that mean "desire."
But the Hebrew word that we find here in Gen. 3:16
appears only 3 times in the whole Bible.
The first time is here, God speaking to Eve.
The 2nd time is in the next chapter,
in that story about two brothers, CAIN and ABEL,
Adam & Eve's first two sons.
Maybe you know that story.
ABEL worships God with his sacrifice,
But his older brother CAIN only gives a sacrifice
but he has no true faith, no true worship.
CAIN becomes jealous against his brother.
God speaks His warning to CAIN.
deciding for themselves
what is right and
what is wrong,
the two of them becoming gods for themselves,
and experiencing shame and guilt
in their separation from God.
In Part 2 saw God's explain
His punishment on the Devil,
His promise for sending our Savior, Jesus Christ,
and that war between Jesus and the Devil on the cross,
that crushes the Devil's power.
Now in Part 3 we begin to see how sin touches our every-day life
and how sin damages our union with other people.
Genesis 3:16
First God said to the woman,
"I will cause you to have much trouble
when you are pregnant,
and when you give birth to children,
you will have great pain."
We all know about pain women feel
during natural childbirth.
A friend of mine asked a group of women,
"Childbirth feels how?"
One woman answered, and told the man:
"Grab your mouth lower lip."
The man did it.
Then the woman said,
"Now pull your lip over your head."
Ouch!
But a mother's pain for her children includes much more
than labor during birth.
One popular translation for this verse says,
"I will increase your sorrow,
and your conception."
Not all women are happy about having a baby.
Many say, "I hope I'm not pregnant!"
Grief? Yes!
Then after the baby is born, the emotional pain continues.
Birth really-is the easy part.
Raising children, teaching them to become good,
that's the hard part.
And while parents raise their children, who suffers most?
Mom? or Dad? Yes, Mom.
One Bible verse in Proverbs says,
A wise son makes his father happy - proud,
but a foolish son makes his mother sad - grief. (Proverbs 10:1)
If children succeed, Dad will brag about them.
And if children rebel, Dad knows how to let them go.
But mother holds her feelings,
and carries pain for her children all her life.
Sin influences not only a woman's relationship with her children.
Sin also ruins her relationship with her husband.
The 2nd thing God told Eve,
"You will have desire for your husband,
but he will rule over you."
Now, be careful! That verse is easy to misunderstand.
That first line: "You will have desire for your husband."
That word "desire" means what?
?Does "desire" here mean fall in love? Sweetheart?
Positive emotions? Sex?
Sorry, no.
The Hebrew language has several different words
that mean "desire."
But the Hebrew word that we find here in Gen. 3:16
appears only 3 times in the whole Bible.
The first time is here, God speaking to Eve.
The 2nd time is in the next chapter,
in that story about two brothers, CAIN and ABEL,
Adam & Eve's first two sons.
Maybe you know that story.
ABEL worships God with his sacrifice,
But his older brother CAIN only gives a sacrifice
but he has no true faith, no true worship.
CAIN becomes jealous against his brother.
God speaks His warning to CAIN.
"CAIN, you are angry. Why?
Your face is sad. Why?
If you do well, I will help you.
But if you don't do well,
sin is near your door, crouching....
Sin has desire for you,
but you must rule over it." (Genesis 4:6,7)
Your face is sad. Why?
If you do well, I will help you.
But if you don't do well,
sin is near your door, crouching....
Sin has desire for you,
but you must rule over it." (Genesis 4:6,7)
That's a clear picture!
God describes sin same as a lion ready to grab and kill a deer.
Or the picture is same as a gang of thieves hiding,
waiting for a person to walk past them.
God told CAIN:
"Sin is near your door, crouching.*
Sin has desire for you."
Desire here means what?
Fall in love? Sweetheart? Friends? NO!
God tells CAIN: "Sin wants you for its lunch!"
Sin has desire for you,
but you must rule over it.
That's exactly the same way
God uses that same word...
God describes sin same as a lion ready to grab and kill a deer.
Or the picture is same as a gang of thieves hiding,
waiting for a person to walk past them.
God told CAIN:
"Sin is near your door, crouching.*
Sin has desire for you."
Desire here means what?
Fall in love? Sweetheart? Friends? NO!
God tells CAIN: "Sin wants you for its lunch!"
Sin has desire for you,
but you must rule over it.
That's exactly the same way
God uses that same word...
|
God said to Eve:
"You will have desire for your husband, but he will rule over you." |
God said to Cain:
"Sin has desire for you, but you must rule over it." |
Many English Bible translators misunderstand Gen. 3:16,
and they incorrectly translate that verse.
God is not painting a beautiful picture about
love between husbands and wives.
God is not describing here how a husband must become
a loving serving leader in his home.
Many other verses in the Bible talk about that. But not here.
The picture here shows
anger, conflict, misunderstanding,
struggle for control,
all still happening in families today.
Why? Sin.
Sin always has CONSEQUENCES.
Sin ruins love and fellowship in marriage.
Sin ruins love and trust between parents and their children.
Same-as sin ruins our love and fellowship with God.
But you know the way God made for us
to connect again in fellowship with Him
is through Jesus and His cross.
The way we experience God's love again
happens in forgiveness.
The same way we show love in marriage and in family
happens in our forgiving each-other.
Sin separates us from God,
but the cross of Jesus is same as a bridge
that connects us to Him, together again.
Sin separates husbands and wives,
sin separates parents and children.
But the cross of Jesus is same as a bridge
that connects our families together again.
Things that separate our families are
disappointment
hurt
angry words
mocking words and facial-expressions
time we spend looking-at
TV, computers, work, hobbies,
instead of time that we need for looking-at each-other.
All your sins, God nailed on the cross with Jesus.
And all those sins that other people in your family do,
God nailed their sins on the cross, also.
Jesus makes possible for us to release our sins to Him,
And Jesus also makes possible for us to release to Him
our hurt, our anger, our disappointment.
Jesus makes possible for us to release to Him
all those sins that other people do against us.
When our love is gone,
Jesus make possible for Him to show His love through us.
Same-as God told Eve,
sin has broken our families.
But now Jesus heals our families
in His love and forgiveness.
and they incorrectly translate that verse.
God is not painting a beautiful picture about
love between husbands and wives.
God is not describing here how a husband must become
a loving serving leader in his home.
Many other verses in the Bible talk about that. But not here.
The picture here shows
anger, conflict, misunderstanding,
struggle for control,
all still happening in families today.
Why? Sin.
Sin always has CONSEQUENCES.
Sin ruins love and fellowship in marriage.
Sin ruins love and trust between parents and their children.
Same-as sin ruins our love and fellowship with God.
But you know the way God made for us
to connect again in fellowship with Him
is through Jesus and His cross.
The way we experience God's love again
happens in forgiveness.
The same way we show love in marriage and in family
happens in our forgiving each-other.
Sin separates us from God,
but the cross of Jesus is same as a bridge
that connects us to Him, together again.
Sin separates husbands and wives,
sin separates parents and children.
But the cross of Jesus is same as a bridge
that connects our families together again.
Things that separate our families are
disappointment
hurt
angry words
mocking words and facial-expressions
time we spend looking-at
TV, computers, work, hobbies,
instead of time that we need for looking-at each-other.
All your sins, God nailed on the cross with Jesus.
And all those sins that other people in your family do,
God nailed their sins on the cross, also.
Jesus makes possible for us to release our sins to Him,
And Jesus also makes possible for us to release to Him
our hurt, our anger, our disappointment.
Jesus makes possible for us to release to Him
all those sins that other people do against us.
When our love is gone,
Jesus make possible for Him to show His love through us.
Same-as God told Eve,
sin has broken our families.
But now Jesus heals our families
in His love and forgiveness.
END NOTES ("Desire")
Part III of this study notes that the Hebrew word "desire" (teshuqah) used in Gen. 3:16 is used only 3 times in the whole Old Testament. The second reference is Gen.4:7, in the Cain and Abel story, as discussed above. However, the third time it is used is in Song of Solomon 7:10, "I am my beloved's, and he has desire for me."
A first impression from the Song of Solomon text seems to allow for translating teshuqah as "affection." However, the meaning of teshuqah (preditor's desire for prey) as it is used in Gen.4:7 also applies to Song of Solomon 7:10.
Song of Solomon 7 opens with the husband describing, with poetic delight, his wife's body. If we apply the Genesis 4:7 meaning of "desire" to the wife's response in Song of Solomon 7:10, "I am my beloved's, and he has desire for me," that text becomes a playful, "My beloved is the hunter and I am the hunted (and I am very much enjoying the hunt)!"
A first impression from the Song of Solomon text seems to allow for translating teshuqah as "affection." However, the meaning of teshuqah (preditor's desire for prey) as it is used in Gen.4:7 also applies to Song of Solomon 7:10.
Song of Solomon 7 opens with the husband describing, with poetic delight, his wife's body. If we apply the Genesis 4:7 meaning of "desire" to the wife's response in Song of Solomon 7:10, "I am my beloved's, and he has desire for me," that text becomes a playful, "My beloved is the hunter and I am the hunted (and I am very much enjoying the hunt)!"
Next Lesson: Part 4 - Consequences of sin in the man's work and his death (Gen. 3:17-19)
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