"...Cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt though eat of it all the days of thy life; Thorns and thistles shall it bring forth to thee, and thou shalt eat the herb of the field; In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread..." (Genesis 3:17b - 19a).
Genesis 3:14-19
Part 7
Yesterday: God’s Penalty for the Man’s Sin, (b)
“And hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it.”
“Cursed is the ground for thy sake.”
Adam’s sin made his life hard and complicated. Doesn’t our sin do the same thing to us? Much of the hardship in our lives can be traced to our own sin, and poor choices we have made before God.
Today: God’s Penalty for the Man’s Sin, (c)
What did it mean to Adam for the ground to be “cursed?” God explains so Adam will understand.
“In sorrow shalt, thou eat of it all the days of thy life.”
Surviving and making a living on earth is now many times more complicated than in Eden. To many, the effort it takes to live is even depressing.
“Man that is born of a woman is of few days, and full of trouble” (Job 14:1).
“All his days also he eateth in darkness, and he hath much sorrow and wrath with his sickness” (Ecclesiastes 5:17).
“In sorrow shalt, thou eat of it…”
The word “sorrow” means “pain, labor, hardship, sorrow, toil”[1] (BDB). Interestingly, God used the same word when He said to Eve, “I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception” (Genesis 3:16).
Now, after Eden, man’s effort just to live requires painful hard work and even sorrow. He must persistently struggle day by day to make ends meet. In the garden, with little effort, “fruitfulness was its blessing for man’s service” (Genesis 1:11-29). But after the Fall, “now barrenness was its curse for man’s punishment”[2] (John Wesley).
“Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee, and thou shalt eat the herb of the field.”
No longer did Adam have God’s luscious fruit trees. Now he must get his own food from the soil. The prepped soil will produce for man, but one of the significant problems for the “tiller of the ground,” is weeds. Adam’s crops will grow after he has toiled in the ground planting seeds. But, without any trouble and much more rapidly than his crops, thorns and thistles will grow nicely in his garden.
“Cursed is the ground for thy sake – from henceforth its fertility shall be greatly impaired; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it – [meaning to] be in continual perplexity concerning the seed time and the harvest, the cold and the heat, the wet and the dry. How often are all the fruits of man’s toil destroyed by blasting, by mildew, by insects, wet weather, land floods, etc.! Anxiety and carefulness are the laboring man’s portion”[3] (Clarke).
“The herb of the field is in contrast with the trees of the garden, and [man’s] sorrow with the easy dressing of the garden”[4] (K&D).
“In the sweat of thy face shalt, thou eat bread.”
The bottom line here is, if a man wants to eat, he must work diligently. Physical, manual labor has proven to be good for a human. But his work will be challenging and tiring. Mankind will have plenty of problems associated with making a living. More than ever, Adam needed his God, as do we.
And still today, God’s curse on the ground for Adam’s sake continues to plague mankind. In fact, in our times, as of this writing, “About 690 million people globally are undernourished.”[5] Without God, life is incredibly harsh.
Join us tomorrow as we look at the last, and most fearful part of God’s penalty on Adam for his sin.
Quote: “In the sweat of thy face” – “As in the sentence upon the woman, so here, in the sentence upon the man, suffering is not punitive, but disciplinary, being associated with his highest vocation.”[6]
[1] Brown, Driver, Briggs (BDB). Brown-Driver-Briggs’ Hebrew Definitions, the electronic version in eSword.
[2] John Wesley. John Wesley’s Notes on the Bible, the electronic version in eSword. Genesis 3:17.
[3] Adam Clarke, Adam Clarke’s Commentary on the Bible, the electronic version in eSword. Genesis 3:17.
[4] Keil & Delitzsch, Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament, the electronic version in eSword.
[5] Quote borrowed from the site, www.actionagainsthunger.org. Downloaded: Thursday, March 11, 2021. From: https://www.actionagainsthunger.org/world-hunger-facts-statistics.
[6] Cambridge Bible, the electronic version in eSword. Genesis 3:19.