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17 Then to Adam He said, "Because you have heeded the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you, saying, 'You shall not eat of it: Cursed is the ground for your sake; In toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life. 18 Both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you, and you shall eat the herb of the field. 19 In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; For dust you are, and to dust you shall return.'" ~ Genesis 3:17-19
Today, we continue our study of Genesis 3. There are those who argue that male headship in marriage is a result of sin. But, the responsibility that God gave men from the beginning is woven into the fabric of creation, it was part of how God designed things before sin came into the world. In today's passage we learn for the first time the nature of the sin that caused the Fall of humanity and it was not merely that Adam ate the forbidden fruit; there was something that preceded the eating of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
In v.17 of today's passage we read, "Then to Adam He said, 'Because you have heeded the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you, saying, 'You shall not eat of it:' Cursed is the ground for your sake; In toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life.'"
This verse provides the rationale for Adam’s punishment which was that he had abandoned his headship. Adam’s fundamental mistake was that he obeyed his wife instead of God. Adam’s mistake was that, instead of protecting her, he went along with her into sin.
The Apostle Paul gives us the order of headship in 1 Corinthians 11:3 which reads, "Christ is the head of the man, the man is the head of the woman, and God is the head of Christ." In addition, it was also the Apostle Paul who informed us that Adam was not deceived in the Fall. The woman was deceived and she concluded when she ate the fruit, she would become like God. But Adam was not deceived. He knew that if they ate the fruit the Fall would follow; that they would lose their relationship with God, and that death would occur. He knew it, but he deliberately disobeyed God and set his wife above God. He denied the headship of Christ over himself and surrendered his own headship over the woman.
As a result of man's deliberate sin the ground was cursed. The consequences for Adam and Eve were directed at their points of highest fulfillment. For woman, it is in her capacity as mother and wife. For man, it’s in his capacity as breadwinner and provider. Adam struggled to provide the bread that he and his family needed to live. Thorns and thistles appeared and began to cover the ground, and, man was introduced to unending toil and sorrow. The word "toil" is exactly the same word in Hebrew that is translated pain for the woman: It is heartbreaking sorrow. "Work" is not the curse given to man; work is a blessing. In fact, it is from work that we gain our dignity. It is toil that is the curse. If we do not have work to do, we are of all people most miserable. Work is a blessing from God; but hard, grinding, toiling work is the result of the Fall.
In v.18 of today's passage we read, "Both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you, and you shall eat the herb of the field."
As we’ve been learning from Genesis 3, when sin came, came decay, disease, disorder, and death. The original Eden fell into chaos, and this is the general feature of life, that we are moving down a path of decay, disease, disorder to death.
In v.19 of today's passage we read, "In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; For dust you are, and to dust you shall return."
It is the sense of death that lurks at the boundaries of our lives that gives us a feeling of futility about life. In Luke 12, after the rich man had built his barns and filled them that the Lord Jesus said to him, "You fool! This night your soul shall be required of you." Then he asked him this question, "Then, whose shall these things be?" This is the question death forces us to face. We struggle to amass things on this earth, and then what a sense of futility there is in having to pass them along to somebody else. No one ever dies as a millionaire because none of this world's wealth can pass into eternity with us.
Modern science has verified that man is made out of the same stuff rocks are made out of. In fact, our bodies are made of 85 percent water. Death is not really the original end for man, but a tragic punishment for his disobedience. Adam's work until he dies and when he dies, he’ll turn to dust. After sin came into the world, death came with it. And, Adam's death was described as a reversal of the creation process, "for dust you are, and to dust you shall return." Adam’s name literally meant "dirt or dust," so his name was a perpetual reminder of his destiny.
At the end of v.19 we see that man will be ultimately defeated by work, as the ground will eventually swallow him up in death. But even in this punishment there is yet God’s provision. Although work is painful, it does bear fruit. And, the first couple had offspring, and one of their offspring will defeat the serpent in the end. Evil and pain still hounds mankind, but they won’t stalk us forever. And, as God has promised, death will be swallowed up in victory. For those of us who have believed that the Lord Jesus toiled on the cross for our rest and was raised from the dead, will one day live in a land where love and work will be blessed, not cursed. For now, pain is our punishment, but for eternity rest will be our reward.
