The Blessing of a Curse

What Did He Say?
Gen. 3:15-24
Foundation of Scripture: resonances reverberate throughout the Bible.
* Key to understanding our world. * Key to understanding ourselves.

Central Idea: God responds to the choices of Adam and Eve by blessing the man and the woman through curses.
This is a NONINTUITIVE truth that is a key to unlock life.
A. By cursing the ground where Adam is to work,
B. By cursing childbirth with pain, and promising hope through that childbirth.
C. By removing them from the Orchard of Eden.

God was merciful and gracious to the new sinners, even as he justly responded to their sin.

Gen. 3:14 The LORD God said to the serpent,
“Because you have done this,
cursed are you above all the wild beasts
and all the living creatures of the field!
On your belly you will crawl
and dust you will eat all the days of your life.
Gen. 3:15 And I will put hostility between you and the woman
and between your offspring and her offspring;
her offspring will attack your head,
and you will attack her offspring’s heel.”

A. By cursing childbirth with pain, and promising hope through that childbirth.
Gen. 3:16 To the woman he said,
“I will greatly increase your labor pains;
with pain you will give birth to children.
You will want to control your husband,
but he will dominate you.”

i. Increase labor pains:
1. Real pain.
2. Imagine a painless labor.
ii. Pain in giving birth to children
1. Real pain.
2. Real pain from the children.
3. Real pain for the children: conflict with the serpent’s offspring.
iii. Preoccupation with controlling your controlling husband.
1. Gen. 4:7 Is it not true that if you do what is right, you will be fine? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at the door. It desires to dominate you, but you must subdue it.”
2. Desire for domination now controls interaction between husband and wife.
3. Antidote comes from Eph. 5:
a. A husband is to love his wife to death, as Christ loves us to his death.
b. A wife is to seek the best for her husband.
c. Both of these attitudes & behaviours only come by means of the CONTROL by the Holy Spirit; 5:17-18
Eph. 5:17 Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is.
Eph. 5:18 Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit.

Where was the blessing in this curse?
1. Eve was to have children; she would not be cut off because of her sin.
2. Eve’s offspring would continue to interact with the serpent’s offspring, but it would be strident, rather than cooperative.
3. Mystery is here: the offspring so important to this narrative resonates later with God’s promise to Abram that HIS seed would bless all.

By cursing childbirth with pain, and promising hope through that childbirth.
B. By cursing the ground where Adam is to work,
The ground will lose efficiency by producing thorns instead of fruit only. [woman will be painfully fruitful, man will be…]

Gen. 3:17 But to Adam he said,
“Because you obeyed your wife
and ate from the tree about which I commanded you,
‘You must not eat from it,’
cursed is the ground thanks to you;
in painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life.
Gen. 3:18 It will produce thorns and thistles for you,
but you will eat the grain of the field.
Gen. 3:19 By the sweat of your brow you will eat food
until you return to the ground,
for out of it you were taken;
for you are dust, and to dust you will return.”
Gen. 3:20 ¶ The man named his wife Eve, because she was the mother of all the living.
Gen. 3:21 The LORD God made garments from skin for Adam and his wife, and clothed them.

Where was the blessing in this curse?
1. The work will be fruitful; life will be sustained.
In contrast to the destiny of the Greek mythological king, Sisyphus:
Wikipedia: Sisyphus was a character in Greek mythology. He was a king punished in the Tartarus by being cursed to roll a huge boulder up a hill, only to watch it roll down again, and repeat this throughout eternity.
2. His authority to name remains: “…named his wife Eve…” his destiny continues.
By cursing childbirth with pain, and promising hope through that childbirth.
By cursing the ground where Adam is to work,
C. By removing them from the Orchard of Eden.

Gen. 3:22 And the LORD God said, “Now that the man has become like one of us, knowing good and evil, he must not be allowed to stretch out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.”
Gen. 3:23 So the LORD God expelled him from the orchard in Eden to cultivate the ground from which he had been taken.
Gen. 3:24 When he drove the man out, he placed on the eastern side of the orchard in Eden angelic sentries who used the flame of a whirling sword to guard the way to the tree of life.

i. Now, Adam and Eve were “like” God.
ii. Eternal life in this state of fallenness would be good for no one.
iii. Adam is removed [“drove out”] from the orchard to till the ground of his origin.
iv. Guards prevented Adam’s return.
Implication: we long to live forever, regardless of our condition.

Where was the blessing in this curse?
1. Though we may not, cannot, know what is best for us, God intervenes.
2. God prevented the thorough ruination of the Garden and of humanity.
3. The longing for the Garden remains within us; we love what is good, beautiful, and satisfying.

For further reflection: Gen. 3:14-24 How to live in light of the Fall:
No 12 step process, but several irreplaceable elements:
1. God does not destroy his own people; his discipline is designed to RESTORE.
2. The Fall impacts ME; accept that in humility. My Soul requires major surgery, personal regeneration with the aid of the HS.
3. Acknowledge that the Garden is out of our reach, guarded by an angel, even though we long to return now.
4. BUT God IS doing his work of regenerating us, so that he can restore the Garden; at the end of time, he will complete the task in a spectacular, all-satisfying manner.
5. Seek justice, walk humbly with our God; show yourself not only involved but committed; do the work HE is doing, restoring the world.
6. GOSPEL: garments made from skin trump fig leaves! Leaves fade quickly, skins are more suitable to a hostile environment…
Gen. 3:7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.
Gen. 3:21 The LORD God made garments from skin for Adam and his wife, and clothed them.

a. Of course, skins implies that something else must have died to hide the nakedness of the couple.
These skins portend a divine solution to shame and guilt.
b. Much later in the story, the only MAN not shamed by the Fall had his garments taken away, leaving HIM naked for crucifixion.
c. Now, we enjoy the gift promised in Isa. 61.

Is. 61:3 and provide for those who grieve in Zion—
to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes,
the oil of gladness instead of mourning,
and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair.
They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the LORD for the display of his splendor.

d. Gal. 3:27 For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.



6 April--Finding The Love of Your Life/Living With The Intermittent Love Of Your Life

Is. 61:10 ¶ I delight greatly in the LORD; my soul rejoices in my God.
For he has clothed me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of righteousness,