Thanks. I realized that a lot of my confusion came from not understanding who was talking to whom. The bruise you skull and bruise your heal; I thought was Go talking about Adam (man) and Eve (Woman. HOwever, it was God talking about Adam (mankind) and the Serpent (Evil men/beings)
Thanks!
Ahh!
But there is more.
Genesis 3:22 Repeats the assertion that the divine beings “know” good and evil; as one of
us Highlighting again the awkwardness of the assertion that “we” is the divine “we” of the trinity.
But look closely as the cursing phase of the encounter: Genesis 3:16
Each of the cursing is a result of the actions taken: Genesis 3:14-15 reflects the malice with which the serpents lie has engendered in the offspring of man. All children of Adam and Eve fall and suffer because of what the serpent did – and thus there is just reason for anger between the innocent and the guilty.
Whether demon offspring, or men whom take their origin from the Devil as father.
This is a natural consequence of how their philosophies are incompatible and mutually exclusive and destructive. There is a unity implied between the serpent and its offspring, and the woman and her offspring. But also notice, as a minor point, that the woman has emnity with the serpent itself – as it exists in the garden at that moment.
I had thought this was perhaps, Jewish poetic repetition, but notice that the idea flows immediately into another evil – the relationship between man and wife.
Genesis 3:16.
In this passage, the offspring united to their mother are spoken of first in continuation of the previous idea. There is the bothersome idea of an “increase” in pain – as in, there would have been pain of some kind had the fall not happened; but that which is to come will be worse. Since the last reference to pain is the striking of the serpent at the heel – there is a loose association with the devil’s power over the body implied here.
The following sentence “Your yearning shall be toward your husband, yet he will lord it over you.” is rather cryptic in english. The CCC 400 simply says of it: the union of man and woman becomes subject to tensions, their relations henceforth marked by lust and domination.
But the Greek LXX (And I am starting to study the Hebrew) makes a peculiar set of comments here. Adam had listened to his wife back in v.3:12 – the woman’s eyes were not opened when she ate, but only after she tempted her husband to eat.
Just so, the woman listened to the serpent before she ate – and it did not occur to her that nothing good came of her eating the fruit – so she went the full way to see if her husband was required to make the Serpents promise come true.
There is a very deep relationship being expressed in v3:16 and v3:19 where the return to their origins are remarked upon – but not that of the serpent.
Adam came from dust – and to dust he shall return having broken the unifying principle of his body. Just so, Eve was not from dust – but rather from her husband – and in v3:16 God says her ‘Yearing will be toward her husband, but he shall rule over her.’
It is this idea of a return to origins which is so prevalent in the curses. Man was taken from dust, woman was taken from Man. English does not do justice to the phrase rendered in v3:16 – for what it is saying is that the woman will “apostrophe” toward her husband, and he shall “κυρι-ευ-σει” Lord WELL over her. That is the normal word for a master husband, a GOD.
To apostrophe is to turn/return to the reference point of an endless cycle. Often, in plays, it means to turn away from the audience and speak to an invisible God who causes all to happen – begging for an audience, counselling the uncouncilable.
It is in this phrase that the church says that marriage will be marked with “Lust and Domination.” The Lust, or “Seduction”, being the womans part – and the domination being the Man’s; though a reversal is not at all impossible.
The pattern of domestic abuse, that is of usuery of one person by another for gratification, sperm donation, or other utilitarian goals is intimately tied to the acceptance of the serpent into the flesh of our first parents. These are the antithesis of Gift; for they are begging, demanding, and extorting the needs which we were designed to give freely in solidarity with our spouses.
–much to think about.
Peace.
–Andrew.
