What God said to Eve
Even though God did not curse Eve (see part 1), God’s words to her can appear like a curse. As a participant in the transgression, she experienced the consequences of a fallen world, but God also gifted her with a promise. By examining the interaction between God and Adam and Eve in the garden, we find hope for both the man and woman.
God confronts the man and the woman
After eating the fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil,
“the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden. But the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?”
He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.”
And he said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?”
Adam answered God: “The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.”
(Gn 3:8-12, NIV)
What Adam said was true. However, in effect, he blamed the woman and God! Adam shielded the serpent from blame entirely! The one-flesh unity between the man and woman was severed, and he made himself an adversary of God.
In contrast, the woman answered God: “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.” Again, this was factually true, but she made herself an adversary of the serpent, the rightful opponent. The man and woman had a different response to God following their transgression. The man blamed God, but the woman blamed the serpent. We can see in God’s judgment to the serpent, the woman, and the man that he seemed to take this into account.
God’s proclamation of judgment
We can see by God’s proclamation to the serpent and the woman that God affirmed the woman’s answer, revealing the evil plan of the serpent, whereas what the man said God did not affirm. Katharine C” Bushnell described this well:
“Adam made an evil choice. Adam advanced to the side of the serpent, in becoming a false accuser of God. But Eve, by her exposure of the character of Satan before his very face, created an enmity between herself and him. What followed was the natural outcome of Eve’s better choice. God proposed to draw the woman yet farther away from Satan. He said to Satan, “I will put enmity between thee and the woman (3:15). In effect, he said: “She has chosen to make the breach; I will widen it.”
Katharine C. Bushnell[1]
God didn’t even bother to question the serpent. He cursed the serpent, and declared to him:
“Because you have done this,
Cursed are you above all livestock
and all wild animals!
You will crawl on your belly
and you will eat dust
all the days of your life.
I will put enmity between you and the woman,
and between your offspring and hers;
he will crush your head,
and you will strike his heel.”
(Gn 3:14-15, NIV)
The woman proved to be a combatant against the serpent, and therefore God promised that one of her offspring would gain victory over the serpent. Jesus was a descendant of Adam, yet it is by the woman that he was promised, ultimately born to the woman Mary.
The woman’s judgment
God then addressed the woman:
“To the woman he said,
“I will make your pains in childbearing very severe;
with painful labor you will give birth to children.
Your desire will be for your husband,
and he will rule over you.”
(Gn 3:16, NIV)
Notice that God did not curse Eve, nor was anything cursed because of her. God only proclaimed two curses, one on the serpent because of his action and one on the ground because of Adam. By not cursing the woman, I think God affirms what the woman said in that she made herself the adversary of the serpent, not of God (as Adam had in his reply).
However, it sounds like a curse; it sounds like her body is cursed. God repeats twice that she will have pain in childbearing. Little discussed is that there is another possible translation of this passage.
A literal translation of the first part of this verse would be, “Multiplying I will multiply your painful toil and your conception.[2]”
Bruce Fleming, based on the work of his wife, Joy Fleming, argues that God is referring to both the curse of the soil later proclaimed to Adam and the curse declared to the serpent. The woman will also experience a painful toil of the cursed ground, and the multiplied conceptions refer to the offspring promised in Gn 3:15[3]. The word translated as pain is the word itstsabon; it is the same word used to describe the painful toil of the soil in Adam’s judgment. That is why Flemming argues that Eve’s itstsabon (sorrowful toil) is the same itstsabon that Adam experienced because of the cursed ground. Eve will also have to toil the soil. Indeed women have also participated in working the fields throughout history.
The woman’s itstsabon is then linked to the word heron (conception) with the conjunction “and.” Is this a hendiadys? The expression of a single idea by two words connected with “and,” such as “don’t drink and drive.” Is God multiplying one thing or two? The word translated as childbirth (heron) actually doesn’t refer to childbirth but to pregnancy or, more likely, conception[4]. Since painful toil in conception does not make sense, there is a strong case that God was multiplying two things: her painful toil and her conceptions. God multiplying her heron (conception or pregnancy) was good news. It accomplishes the creation mandate, and it is related to the promised offspring of the woman who will crush the serpent’s head. God here multiplied a good thing and a bad thing[5].
Older Bible versions were translated this way[6].
“Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.”
(KJV, 1611)
In more recent translations, it has been changed to pain in childbearing:
“I will make your pains in childbearing very severe”
(Gn 3:16a, NIV)
I have not found the reason for this change in translation.
God continued:
“with painful labor you will give birth to children.”
(Gn 3:16b, NIV)
The second instance of the word “pain” is not the same word in Hebrew. It is not itstsabon; it is etseb, meaning hurt, pain, or toil[7]. Should it be translated as “pain” or “toil”? Both fit with the context. Even “painful labor” could reflect what is meant. Regardless, this is the consequence of living in a fallen world. Her body isn’t cursed, but there are consequences to her actions. God explains to her what to expect in this fallen world: painful toil of the soil (like Adam) and pain in bringing forth children. The latter is either the physical pain in childbirth or the pain of raising children in a world filled with death, disease, and suffering.
Lastly, God said to the woman:
“Your desire will be for your husband,
and he will rule over you.”
(Gn 3:16c, NIV)
Very recent translations of the ESV and NLT have changed this to a desire against her husband. This suggests a battle of wills between the husband and wife, but that the husband will manage to rule over her in the end.
“Your desire shall be contrary to your husband,
but he shall rule over you.”
(Gn 3:16c, ESV)
This change occurred because of the article by Susan Foh in 1974-5 What is a Woman’s Desire? However, Jason C. Condren, in a convincing article, actually proposes that the word teshuqah doesn’t mean “desire” or even “desire contrary to,” but a “returning.” Even though the woman will have pain in giving birth, she will return to her husband, but he will rule over her. He suggests that the woman wants to return to the one-flesh relationship they had but that he, instead, will rule over her. This return to her husband can include the idea of a desire to be with him, maybe even a sexual desire for him, but it is mainly a desire to return to that one-flesh union. That teshuqah means “return” is supported by early translations of this text, including the Septuagint’s use of apostrophē[8] (turn back) to translate teshuqah[9].
Katharine Bushnell made the same argument almost a decade earlier, suggesting this means the woman was turning away from God towards her husband and that the consequence of this was that he would rule over her[10]. Based on God expelling Adam from the garden (Gn 3:21-24), Bushnell believed that only the man was expelled from the garden, as he did not repent, but that the women repented and so was not expelled. However, God warned Eve that she was in danger of turning away from Him towards her husband and would likewise leave the garden and God behind (Gn 3:16b)[11]. This is an interesting interpretation, but I don’t think the evidence for this is strong[12].
Lastly, the proclamation that “he will rule over you” is a description of what will happen because of man’s sinful nature. This is not a blessing nor a command of God. It is a perversion of the one-flesh union they had been designed for; they are no longer perfectly united as one, but one will try to rule over the other.
God’s judgment on Adam
The judgment then proclaimed to Adam is similar to the judgment declared to the serpent in many respects. The same cannot be said of God’s judgment to the woman. Flemming identified six similarities between God’s judgment of the serpent and the man. Here are these similarities precisely as laid out in The Book of Eden
1. God uses the Hebrew word “curse” in speaking with each one.
2. The word “because” opens each speech as God explains why he is imposing a curse.
3. The object God curses is related to each one. “Cursed are you,” God says to the serpent. And “Cursed is the ground …,” God says to the man.
4. Each curse involves eating and dust. The serpent will “eat dust.” The man will eat food that will come from the cursed soil, and eventually, he will return to dust.
5. Each receives a note of lasting duration: “… all the days of your life.”
6. Echoing Hebrew verbs close God’s words: God tells the serpent: “… bruise (shuph) … bruise (shuph)” (The serpent’s head will be bruised by his enemy.) God tells the man: “return (shuv) … return (shuv)”
Bruce Flemming, The Book of Eden[13]
Comparatively, the woman isn’t told that her judgment is because of what she did, nothing is cursed because of her, there is no reference to dust, and the words “all the days of your life” do not appear. The only similarity is that she will turn (teshuqa) to her husband.
This further highlights that God saw a difference in the gravity of the woman’s sin compared to the man’s sin as God’s judgment on the man is more severe. This does not absolve the woman of any involvement. Indeed, she was deceived and became a transgressor (1 Tim 2:14). But the man wasn’t deceived; hence he knowingly rebelled.
However, we must not extrapolate that all men are more prone to rebellion than women because of Adam; as was supposed in the past that women were more prone to deception. We are not culpable for the sins of our parents (Ez 18:20). But I believe what I have laid out explains why Eve was not cursed, nor anything cursed because of her, and why Paul blames sin entering the world on one man, Adam (Rom 5:12-21; 1 Co 15:22). This was done by looking at textual elements of the texts, not referring to any idea that Adam had the leadership role in the couple, something not said or hinted at anywhere in the text.
Conclusion
The image we often have of the woman is that of a temptress leading men astray from God. The actual story of Adam and Eve reveals that the man needed no help from the woman. Indeed, she was deceived by the serpent into thinking that the fruit was good to eat and good to attain knowledge. A lie indeed. But the man, on the other hand, was not deceived (1 Tim 2:13-14) because he knew that he was disobeying God but did it anyway. Additionally, the man blamed God for his evil action, but the woman blamed the serpent, the real deceiver, tempter, and liar. I think God blessed humanity because of this: creating enmity between the serpent and the woman, between his offspring and hers. The promised offspring of the woman, Jesus Christ, is the redeemer of all humanity. Perhaps this can restore the distorted image we have of the woman as a temptress and the cause of evil entering the world. She did sin, but unknowingly, Adam sinned in full knowledge of what he was doing. That is why the man, Adam, is blamed for sin entering the world.
[1] Katharine C. Bushnell. “Lesson 9: Eve’s choice, and Adam’s” in “God’s Word to Women: 100 Bible Studies On Woman’s Place In The Divine Economy”. P.35-37 https://godswordtowomen.files.wordpress.com/2010/10/gods_word_to_women1.pdf
[2] Fleming, Bruce; Fleming, Joy; Hagemeyer, Joanne. The Book of Eden, Genesis 2-3: God Didn’t Curse Eve (or Adam) or Limit Woman in Any Way (p. 25). Kindle Edition.
[3] Fleming, Bruce; Fleming, Joy; Hagemeyer, Joanne. The Book of Eden, Genesis 2-3: God Didn’t Curse Eve (or Adam) or Limit Woman in Any Way (p. 24-26). Kindle Edition.
[4] https://biblehub.com/hebrew/2032.htm
[5] Fleming, Bruce; Fleming, Joy; Hagemeyer, Joanne. The Book of Eden, Genesis 2-3: God Didn’t Curse Eve (or Adam) or Limit Woman in Any Way (p. 18-19). Kindle Edition.
[6] Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy pain and thy conception; in pain thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee. (ASV, 1900)
“Unto the woman he said, I will greatly increase thy sorrows, and thy conceptions. In sorrow shalt thou bring forth children, and thy desire shall be subject to thine husband, and he shall rule over thee. (Geneva, 1599)
“To the woman he said, I will greatly increase thy travail and thy pregnancy; with pain thou shalt bear children; and to thy husband shall be thy desire, and he shall rule over thee.” (Darby, 1890)
[7] https://biblehub.com/hebrew/6089.htm
[8] See LSG definition of ἀποστρέφω
https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/morph?l=+ἀποστρέφω&la=greek#lexicon
[9] Condren, Jason C. “Toward a Purge of the Battle of the Sexes and “Return” for the Original Meaning of Genesis 3:16B” JETS 60/2 (2017); 227-245
[10] Katharine C. Bushnell. “Lesson 17: The Ancient Rendering of Teshuqah” in “God’s Word to Women: 100 Bible Studies On Woman’s Place In The Divine Economy”. P.57-60 https://godswordtowomen.files.wordpress.com/2010/10/gods_word_to_women1.pdf
[11] Katharine C. Bushnell. “Lesson 16: God’s Warning to Eve” in “God’s Word to Women: 100 Bible Studies On Woman’s Place In The Divine Economy”. P.57-60 https://godswordtowomen.files.wordpress.com/2010/10/gods_word_to_women1.pdf
[12] The text refers to “Adam” in the singular form: “lest he reach out his hand and grab of the fruit of the tree of life and live forever.” The verbs and nouns are all in the third person masculine singular in verses 22-23. Adam can refer to the person Adam found in the story but is also the word used for human or humanity. Adam is grammatically singular, therefore it agrees with the verbs in the singular form. However, the plural can be used in relation to Adam. For example, in Gn 1:26, God said “let us make Adam in our image, in our likeness, and let them (plural) rule over the fish etc.…” Did God expel the man Adam from the garden or humanity from the garden? Both are possible grammatical interpretations, but since we know Eve followed Adam out of the garden (Gn 4:1), it most likely refers to Adam as humanity.
Katharine Bushnell, however, interpreted it as meaning that only the man was expelled: “Eve repented; but there is no inference that Adam repented at this time, for he was expelled from the garden. What must have happened, after this? Before Cain could have been born (Genesis 4:1) either Adam must have repented and become again the child of God, or Eve must have turned from God and followed Adam out of Eden. The fact that Cain was a murderer certainly argues that Eve followed Adam.” From “Lesson 16: God’s warning to Eve” in in “God’s Word to Women: 100 Bible Studies On Woman’s Place In The Divine Economy”. P.55
[13] Fleming, Bruce; Fleming, Joy; Hagemeyer, Joanne. “The Book of Eden, Genesis 2-3: God Didn’t Curse Eve (or Adam) or Limit Woman in Any Way” (p. 66). Kindle Edition.
