This man, this creature that God has made, has now turned aside from God, and God must deal with him and must judge him.

The serpent is certainly not the slithering creature that we think of today. He was different at the beginning, and there has now been pronounced upon him this judgment from God.

God pronounces a judgment upon Satan which has a tremendous effect upon man. I would urge you to memorize the following verse, for this is one that you certainly ought to know.

This verse is the first prophecy of the coming of the Messiah, the Savior, into the world:

Genesis 3:14-19 KJV

[14] And the LORD God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life:

[15]And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.

[16] 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.

[17] And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, 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; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life;

[18] Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field;

[19] In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.

Genesis 3:14

And the LORD God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life.

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Since the serpent has been the instrument of deception, God addresses him first in judgment.

God’s pronouncement of a curse on the serpent above all cattle, and above every beast of the field seems to say that all other creatures will suffer negative effects as a result of sin’s entrance into the world (see Romans 8: 22 , 23 ), but the serpent will be punished more severely than they.

Some suggest that the words upon thy belly shalt thou go imply that the serpent stands upright prior to this curse. But this phrase may mean that the serpent’s crawling will now carry with it a meaning of contempt that was not present previously.

The idea of eating dust likely signifies humiliation or shame, which it does elsewhere in Scripture (see Psalm 72: 9 ; Isaiah 49: 23 ; Micah 7: 17 ).

In the previous two verses, God directly asked Adam and then Eve if they had disobeyed His command and had eaten from the restricted tree. Adam essentially said, “Yes, but the woman gave it to me, and you’re the one who gave me the woman.”

Eve admitted she had been deceived by the serpent and had eaten the fruit.

Now God turns to the serpent, but with a notable difference: He doesn’t ask the serpent what he did. He doesn’t look for a confession or to engage in debate with the serpent. As discussed previously, this serpent is consistently understood by conservative Bible scholars to be Satan himself.

Apparently, Satan either possessed a snake created by God, or he took the form of a snake. As Jesus will say centuries from this moment, Satan is a liar (John 8:44). God chooses not to give the liar a chance to speak in this moment.

Instead, God begins to pronounce a series of curses on the serpent, the man, and the woman. In each case, the curse is for each of them and for the future generations of their offspring. In this verse, God begins His curse on the serpent and on all of his species to follow, as well as on Satan himself.

Why curse serpents if the Devil was just using that form or body to commit his evil?

Apparently, God intended for the serpent to serve as a reminder to all future generations of humans both of who the Devil is and of God’s power over him.

The serpent would be uniquely cursed in comparison to all other animals on earth. That serpent and all of those to follow would crawl on the ground, unable to avoid eating the dust of the earth, from that point forward.

Does this mean that all serpents or this particular species of serpent had legs before this time?

This is possible, though it’s also possible that the change of earth’s nature after the fall might be part of this curse, as well.

Genesis 3:15

And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.

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“And I will put enmity between thee [that is, Satan] and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it [that is, Christ] shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel,” This is a tremendous statement that is given to us here.

The most prominent thought is not the ultimate victory that would come, but the long-continued struggle. This verse reveals the fact that now there is to be a long struggle between good and evil. This is exactly what you will find in the rest of the Scriptures.

The Lord Jesus made this statement in His day concerning this struggle: “Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it” (John 8:44).

“The devil” is Satan. The Lord Jesus Christ made the distinction between children of God and children of Satan.

John again mentions this conflict in 1 John 3:10: “In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil: whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother.”

Thus we have brought before us the fact that here is a conflict, here is a struggle, and here are two seeds in the world. There will be the final victory—but the long—continued struggle is important to note. Every man must face temptation and must win his battle.

Before Christ came, the victory was through obedience in faith. After Christ came, we are to identify ourselves with Christ through faith.

What does it mean to be saved?

It means to be in Christ.

Man was one of three orders of creation: angels, man, and animals. Animals were given no choice, but man and angels were given a choice. Here you have, if you please, man’s choice. He has made a decision, and he is held responsible for the decision that he has made.

Notice that it says “her seed.” It does not say the man’s seed. Here is at least the suggestion of the virgin birth of Christ. When God went into that garden looking for man, He said, “Where art thou?”

Any anthology of religion tells the story of man’s search for God. My Christian Siblings, that is not the way God tells it. Let’s tell it like it is: Salvation is God’s search for man. Man ran away from Him, and God called to him, “Where art thou?”

God seeks out man, and He offers man salvation, but there is going to be a long struggle that will take place. The enmity, or hostility, mentioned here is reflected to some extent in the aversion most people have to snakes.

But the language of this verse, especially toward the end, points to a deeper spiritual hostility that understands the seed of the serpent to be linked with Satan and all who carry out his evil intentions (compare John 8: 44 ).

Satan’s continuing desire is to ruin lives by deceit (just as he ruined Eve’s ), thereby thwarting God’s righteous purposes toward those created in His image (compare Revelation 12: 9 ).

In time, however, one seed (descendant) of the woman fulfills God’s purpose by dealing Satan a death blow. This is pictured here as striking the enemy’s head. Jesus does this by means of His death on the cross ( Hebrews 2: 14 , 15 ; compare 1 John 3: 8 ).

That Satan is to bruise his heel indicates that Satan inflicts a measure of suffering on the Son of God, but this in no way causes the kind of damage that Jesus inflicts on Satan.

In direct response to the serpent’s deception and Adam’s and Eve’s disobedience, God pronounces curses on each of them, as well as on the generations to follow.

In the previous verse, God began his curse on both the serpent and on Satan, who took the serpent’s form or body. In this verse, the curse is focused entirely on Satan. God promises to make enemies of Satan and the woman. In fact, their offspring—or “seed”—will remain enemies throughout all generations.

Eve’s offspring, of course, includes all of humanity, born one generation after another up to the present day.

But who is Satan’s offspring?

It’s unlikely this refers to actual biological children of the Devil. Satan’s offspring may include all of the fallen angels, demons, who will follow him. It definitely includes those humans who will come to believe and practice his lies.

Jesus, calling out the Jewish religious leaders in John 8:44, said this: “You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.”

God’s final curse or oracle to the serpent was that the offspring of the woman will crush, or bruise, Satan’s head, and Satan would strike or bruise his heel. Many Bible scholars see this as a reference to Christ, the Son of God, and also the ultimate member of Eve’s offspring.

Satan would damage Christ, but He would have the ultimate victory on behalf of humanity. Those in Christ will celebrate the victory with Him for eternity.

The bottom line of God’s curse on Satan is this: He has been the enemy of humanity since the beginning. He can never be trusted. As Peter wrote, he continues to hunt and seek to devour humans to this very day (1 Peter 5:8), though he won’t be allowed to do so forever.

Genesis 3:16

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.

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This is the judgment upon woman. She cannot bring a child into the world without sorrow.

Isn’t it interesting that that should be true?

The very thing that brings joy into the life and continues the human family has to come through sorrow. God turns His attention to the woman.

Childbearing was to occur as a part of God’s plan prior to the fall ( Genesis 1: 28 ), but now the process of multiplying through childbearing will be accompanied by a multiplying of sorrow, referring primarily to the pain involved in giving birth.

Some suggest that a part of this sorrow includes the understanding that any child will enter a world greatly tainted by sin.

Who can foresee what aspects of the curse of sin lie ahead for a newborn baby as he or she matures?

Despite a parent’s best intentions, a child will experience the sorrows of life in a fallen world— and for some that sorrow will be especially tragic.

Another consequence for the woman is stated, one that affects the relationship between husband and wife: and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee. This has been interpreted in various ways.

One idea is that it means she will still desire her husband in spite of the pain of childbirth, and that he will use that to dominate her in the relationship.

It seems better, however, to view this statement as a description of the tension, in the sense of a power struggle, that will characterize the relationship between a husband and a wife as a result of the fall.

The harmony and unity that was so eloquently expressed by Adam when the Lord brought the woman to him ( Genesis 2: 23 ) will now be a struggle to maintain. No man should interpret the language of this verse as a license to mistreat his wife.

He must honor God in the way he treats his spouse, a principle discussed by Paul, who uses Christ’s love for the church as a model ( Ephesians 5: 25 ).

In direct response to the serpent’s deception and Adam’s and Eve’s disobedience, God pronounces curses on each of them, as well as on the generations to follow. Here, God turns to the woman who was deceived and willfully ate from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.

His oracle or curse for her has to do with her relationships and family life. Having children may bring her great joy, but bearing and giving birth to them would require severe pain. More children would always bring more pain.

The marriage relationship would now be strained instead of simply being the source of love, comfort, and belonging the woman would desire. It’s unclear exactly how the second part of the curse about husbands and wives should be read.

Scholars have offered various interpretations of this subtle Hebrew phrasing. Most interpret this to mean that the woman would desire to be in control of her husband, but he would be the master. Others see this as implying that the woman’s desire for her husband would be frustrated by his role as an authority in her life.

Male headship in the marriage relationship is not part of the curse and this idea is not implied here. On the contrary, God’s response to this incident proves that Adam’s role as leader and protector was intended before sin entered the world.

The New Testament makes clear that God’s design for human marriage, with husband as the self-sacrificing head, is meant to be a beautiful picture of Christ and the church. Paul even quotes Genesis 2:24 when he paints that picture in Ephesians 5:22–33.

Instead, it seems this curse involves conflict over the God-given marriage roles. Adam and Eve both failed to uphold God’s intended pattern of spiritual leadership, and it caused the greatest disaster in history.

This is especially felt in our individual lives as each spouse fails to live up to God’s design for selfless love and respect between husbands and wives.

Genesis 3:17

And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, 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; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life.

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Now addressing the man, God makes Adam’s blame clear: he hast hearkened unto the voice of [his] wife rather than to God’s voice. Then the man’s punishment is pronounced: cursed is the ground for thy sake.

Like the woman, the man will experience his own version of sorrow; it will come in his efforts to bring forth food from the ground. God had placed the man in the Garden of Eden “to dress it and to keep it” ( Genesis 2: 15 ).

This task was intended to be a source of satisfaction as the man worked in harmony with his Creator. Now, however, such work will be much more of a drudgery or toil.

Thus the important tasks given for the man and the woman will still be done: children will to be born and crops will be harvested. But the struggle to carry out these duties will always be a reminder of the high price of disobeying God.

After pronouncing curses on the serpent/Satan in response to his deception and on Eve in response to her sinful choice, God now turns to Adam. Compared to the punishments given to Eve and the serpent, this curse is longer and more detailed.

Adam’s sin was not, simplistically speaking, that of listening to his wife. Taking godly counsel is always a good thing (Proverbs 15:22). Instead, Adam sinned by not standing up and speaking the truth to his wife when she invited him to participate in her sin.

And, judging by the description of Eve’s conversation with the serpent, for failing to protect and lead her as he should. God makes clear that Adam was independently responsible for his choice to eat from the tree. He wouldn’t be allowed to get away with passing the blame to her or anyone else.

As with Eve, Adam’s curse is one of hardship in doing the necessary work of life, in doing something that would otherwise have brought great joy and meaning to his existence.

Instead of easily producing crops as seeds were planted, as had been the case in the garden up to this point, the ground would be cursed. Adam will suffer great pain in getting the ground to yield edible crops in doing his daily work. And this curse will afflict him all the days of his life.

It’s interesting to notice that Eve’s curse involved pain and struggle in her family relationships, while Adam’s involves pain and frustration in his working life.

Genesis 3:18

Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field;

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Thorns and thistles were not originally in the creation of God, this being a result of the curse, which is a result of the sin of man. This would not now grow freely, as originally intended, but only now with great care and great labor.

This verse continues God’s curse on Adam for his sin. Adam disobeyed the command not to eat from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. And, he failed to guide and protect His wife according to God’s original plan. This remark from God to Adam has to be read along with the previous two verses to be fully understood.

God has pronounced that Adam’s lifelong work of getting food from the ground would now bring him great pain and frustration.

The ground itself would be cursed. Part of that curse, revealed here, includes thorns and thistles coming up with the crops, making it more difficult to sustain and harvest them. Rather than the earth being a cooperative partner, it would now be an uncontrolled landscape.

However frustrating it becomes, though, Adam and all of his offspring would not be able to quit the work. They would need to eat the plants of the field in order to live, so the painful work must continue.

Genesis 3:19

In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.

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This is the judgment upon man. Death now comes to man.

What is death?

Physical death is a separation of the person, the spirit, the soul, from the body. Ecclesiastes says: “Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it” (Eccl. 12:7). Man ultimately must answer to God.

Whether he is saved or lost, he is going to have to answer to God. But Adam did not die physically the day that he ate. He did not die until more than nine hundred years later. The whole point is simply this: he died spiritually the moment he disobeyed; he was separated from God.

Death is separation. When Paul wrote to the Ephesians that they were “dead in trespasses and sins,” he did not mean that they were dead physically but that they were dead spiritually, separated from God.

In that wonderful parable of the prodigal son, our Lord told about this boy who ran away from his father. When he returned, the father said to the elder son, “For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found . . .” (Luke 15:24).

Dead?

Yes, he was dead, not physically, but he was separated from the father. To be separated from the Father means simply that—it means death. The Lord Jesus said to Martha, “. . . I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live” (John 11:25).

Again, “dead” means death spiritually, that is, separation from God. Man died spiritually the moment he ate. That is the reason he ran away from God. That is the reason he sewed fig leaves for a covering.

This food will be obtained by hard labor. The life-source, which was formerly in God, is now in food, and which is woefully insufficient. The Power of God alone could keep the dust alive; that being gone, to dust man returns.

This verse concludes God’s curse on Adam for his sin, and it has a devastating ring of finality. In the previous two verses, God revealed that Adam’s working life in the fields would be marked by pain and frustration. The ground itself would be cursed, making it difficult to get the crops they would need to live.

Now God concludes by saying that instead of work being a joyful source of purpose and meaning in Adam’s life, it would be a lifelong source of necessary frustration. It would be hard and sweaty. And it would end in Adam’s eventual death.

God, who formed Adam out of the dust of the ground, announces that Adam will one day die and return to dust. Death would be the final consequence of Adam’s choice to sin, just as God had warned when giving the command.

It’s true that Adam did not stop breathing on the day he ate of the tree, but death entered into his life on that day. In modern language, we sometimes refer metaphorically to a person with a fatal injury or disease as “already dead.”

Adam’s heart may have continued to beat for many years, but the poison which killed him entered his body when he sinned.

In addition to being separated from God’s presence in a spiritual death, every day of Adam’s life from this moment on would be marked by an awareness that he would one day die.

That’s the curse all humans have lived under ever since. For those in Christ, though, the curse of death will be overcome (Ephesians 2:1-10).

I hope that you have really enjoyed this post,

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