Sometimes verses in the Bible can seem obscure and puzzling for years. I think some of it has to do with the principle that meanings can suffer losses in the translation from one language to another. Between languages, there are often no perfect word equivalents. This problem is further exacerbated when the words in the language used are hundreds (or thousands) of years old. There are no perfect Bible translations. But there are some that are better than others.
Until this morning, I've always been puzzled by the statement in bold below:
To the woman He said:
“I will sharply increase your pain in childbirth;
in pain you will bring forth children.
Your desire will be for your husband,
and he will rule over you.”Gen 3:16
There are several translations that render it similar to the statement above. But others render that statement in ways that don't sit well with me:
And you will desire to control your husband, but he will rule over you. - New Living Translation
Your desire shall be contrary to your husband, but he shall rule over you. - English Standard Version
Yet your desire and longing will be for your husband, And he will rule [with authority] over you - Amplified Bible
But you will still desire your husband, and he will rule over you. - Contemporary English Version
You will want to control your husband, but he will dominate you. - NET Bible
This exercise is not meant to discredit these translations. There is benefit in comparing. There is also much benefit in praying for clarity as you study the various options and consider the context of the statement.
This happened to me this morning.
The context of that statement is the Lord lays out consequences for what just happened. Everything in His response results in a negative outcome for each of the three parties involved. They weren't commandments or principles that people should aspire to. Read them carefully!
So the LORD God said to the serpent:
“Because you have done this,
cursed are you above all livestock
and every beast of the field!
On your belly will you go,
and dust you will eat,
all the days of your life.
And I will put enmity between you and the woman,
and between your seed and her seed.
He will crush your head,
and you will strike his heel.”To the woman He said:
“I will sharply increase your pain in childbirth;
in pain you will bring forth children.
Your desire will be for your husband,
and he will rule over you.”And to Adam He said:
“Because you have listened to the voice of your wife
and have eaten from the tree
of which I commanded you not to eat,
cursed is the ground because of you;
through toil you will eat of it
all the days of your life.
Both thorns and thistles it will yield for you,
and you will eat the plants of the field.
By the sweat of your brow
you will eat your bread,
until you return to the ground—
because out of it were you taken.
For dust you are,
and to dust you shall return.”Gen 3:14-19
Eve just convinced her husband to take and eat the forbidden fruit with her. Her desire also became her husband's desire. So I believe the consequence is a response to this act. It would affect her desire - going forward. I believe that statement should be understood as:
- "Your desire will be for [or belong to] your husband"
In other words your desire will be usurped by your husband's desire. And then the next statement further establishes this negative outcome:
"and he will rule over you."
The Septuagint, which is a much earlier Greek translation of the Old Testament, also captures the full gravity of this consequence.
"and your submission shall be to your husband, and he shall rule over you"
Consider the almost universal subjugation of women throughout history in light of these statements. A huge loss has just occured. Just like a huge loss has just occurred for man's efforts at farming in particular - and his relationship with labour in general:
cursed is the ground because of you;
through toil you will eat of it
all the days of your life.
So, now what? Does this consequence now mean that we should accept or even encourage the subjugation of women in our cultures or marriages? Absolutely NOT!!
For similar reasons that farmers today don't willfully sow weeds into their fields because of Adam's disobedience - "both thorns and thistles it will yield for you".
Consider other consequences God described would happen if Israel disobeyed: military defeats, famine and drought, exile or captivity, strife and corruption, and so on...
You don't aspire to a negative consequence - but they happen as a form of divine judgement for disobedience.
That ideal and objective for every marriage was and still is:
So God created man [mankind] in His own image;
in the image of God He created him [them];
male and female He created them.
and
“It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make for him a suitable helper.”
and
So the LORD God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep, and while he slept, He took one of the man’s ribs and closed up the area with flesh.
Why the man's rib?
This bone was removed from his side - indicating the kind of relationship they were to share with each other.
Carrying on...
And from the rib that the LORD God had taken from the man, He made a woman and brought her to him. And the man said:
“This is now bone of my bones
and flesh of my flesh;
she shall be called ‘woman,’
for out of man she was taken.”For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh.
See also:
