“To the woman he said, "I will greatly increase your pains in childbearing; with pain you will give birth to children. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you." Genesis 3:16
Mankind had chosen to disobey God, and He had to punish them. There is controversy about the punishment and consequences God gave the woman. I would like to offer some comments.
First, God only gave her one punishment:
"I will greatly increase your pains in childbearing, with pain you will give birth to children”.
The rest of what God said to her at that time was the consequences of sin:
“Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you".
He had done the same for the serpent:
“Cursed are you above all the livestock and all the wild animals! You will crawl on your belly…” Genesis 3:14.
The consequence of the serpent’s sin was that he would:
“…eat dust all the days of your life” Genesis 3:14. When you crawl on your belly, you will get dust in your nose and mouth. The snake was simply the tool that Satan used—still, it had to have a fitting punishment.
To Satan God gave the greatest punishment because he had committed the greatest sin:
“And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers…” Genesis 3:15. Mankind was not even aware that Satan existed (as sadly many are not today). Satan is the one who chose to quarrel with man, to make man a slave and expect man to worship him (Satan even tempted Jesus: "All this I will give you," he said, "if you will bow down and worship me."Matthew 4:9).
God had given man control the world He had created. God had planned for man to:
“…fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground.” Genesis 1:28. However, Satan realized his goal to rule the world when he enticed mankind to sin. Satan became the “god of this age…” 2 Corinthians 4:4
God created Satan perfectly, but Satan chose to sin:
“You were blameless in your ways from the day you were created till wickedness was found in you.” Ezekiel 28:15 (Isaiah 14 and Ezekiel 28 tell about Satan). After he sinned, he led angels (fallen angels or demons) and eventually mankind into sin. He is the father of all that is evil. Jesus said to the Pharisees, the corrupt religious leaders of His time:
“You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desire. 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.” John 8:44
The consequence of Satan’s sin of enticing man to sin was that he would be defeated for all eternity:
“…he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel."” Genesis 3:15 God had to come down Himself in the form of His Son to make good this statement–to “…crush your head…”. Satan would “…strike his heel”. When Jesus died on the cross He had to lift Himself up to breathe and so bruise His heel. Jesus had to suffer greatly. But even that was for God’s glory because through His death Satan was defeated and mankind redeemed (saved from hell). Jesus would crush the head of Satan permanently. Satan will be in the Lake of Fire forever.
To Adam God gave the punishment:
"Cursed is the ground because of you…It will produce thorns and thistles you….” Genesis 3:17-18
The consequence of man’s punishment was that:
“…through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life. By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground” Genesis 3:17-19 Man would now work hard to support himself and eventually die, as God had warned:
“And the Lord God commanded the man, "You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die." Genesis 2:16-17 God gave this command to Adam before Eve was created.
Either God repeated this command to Eve or Adam told her what God had said, because Eve explained to the serpent:
“but God did say, `You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’ " Genesis 3:3 The consequences came because after choosing to sin man would have a sinful nature. Sin would so corrupt man that the world would now be polluted.
As the others were given one punishment with far reaching consequences, so it was with the woman. The consequences were not her punishment:
“The contention that "sin has corrupted both the willing submission of the wife and the loving headship of the husband” is unquestionably true. But it is a natural consequence of sin, not a result of God’s judgment on the woman in Gen 3:16! Just as the sin-corrupted headship of the husband is not a part of the divine judgment upon the man but a consequence of sin, so the sin-corrupted submission of the wife is not a part of the judgment; it is the result of sin.” IRVIN A. BUSENITZ
Her punishment was that:
"I will greatly increase your pains in childbearing with pain you will give birth to children” Genesis 3:16.
The consequences of her sin included all the broken and painful relationships involved in her position as child bearer:
“Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you” Genesis 3:16.
Woman was created to be man’s helper:
“… But for Adam no suitable helper was found. So the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man’s ribs and closed up the place with flesh. Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man.
The man said, "This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called `woman,’ for she was taken out of man."” Genesis 2:20-23 Adam was delighted with the woman he would later name Eve.
However, after they had chosen to sin, Adam blamed Eve (and God for giving her to him) when God confronted him about his disobedience:
“The man said, "The woman you put here with me–she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it." Genesis 3:12
Before their sin the woman was even included in having dominion over the plants and beasts:
“Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground."
So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them…
Then God said, "I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds of the air and all the creatures that move on the ground–everything that has the breath of life in it–I give every green plant for food." And it was so.’ Genesis 1:26-30 She was created to help man rule over the earth under God’s authority and for His glory.
“It is equally tenuous to maintain that the phrase "and he shall rule over you" was given because Eve had usurped the authority and leadership role of Adam when she took and ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The sin of the first woman was not that she took the lead without seeking the prior counsel of Adam. No such prior consultation was needed, for she herself knew God’s commandment prohibiting them from eating the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (2:17). The woman’s sin was that she exalted herself above her Creator. She took it upon herself to determine, together with the counsel of the serpent, if God’s law was good or bad, if it was right or wrong. Her sin had nothing to do with denying Adam his rightful role of leadership in their marriage or with grasping a role that belonged to her husband. The only role that Eve usurped was that of God’s, a usurpation that is characteristic of all acts of sin of all people living in all times of the history of mankind.” IRVIN A. BUSENITZ
Like the man, the woman’s punishment involved propagation and seed. “Toil” Genesis 3:17 and “pain” Genesis 3:16 are the same Hebrew word. They were equally responsible for their sin and were given similar punishment which would produce similar consequences.
There is disagreement about the exact meaning of the consequences that God explained would happen because of woman’s sin:
“Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you” Genesis 3:16
The context, more than the meaning of the word “desire”, give clues to the exact meaning of this passage. In both Hebrew and English “desire” can be either good or bad. The meaning of the Hebrew word for “desire” means both sin’s “desire” to master Cain in Genesis 4:7 and the lover’s “desire” for his beloved in Song of Solomon 7:10. “Desire applies to any strong wish, good or bad, for something a person hopes or thinks he can get.” The World Book Dictionary
Some think the woman will have a unnaturally strong desire for her husband, so that she would allow him to “rule over” her. There is also the opinion that “desire will be for your husband” comes because God wants to make sure woman will continue to propagate the earth. Indeed. God’s grace and mercy would allow woman to continue with His command to increase and multiply:
“God blessed them and said to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it…" Genesis 1:28
Jesus said:
“A woman giving birth to a child has pain because her time has come; but when her baby is born she forgets the anguish because of her joy that a child is born into the world.” John 16:21
Most think that: “Your desire will be for your husband…” means that woman will have a tendency to try to control her husband.
The man would also pervert their relationship–he would have a tendency to make her his subject: “…and he will rule over you”.
Whatever the exact meaning, it is clear that the relationship between man and woman would not be as God had intended. As sin had corrupted their relationship with God, it would corrupt all other relationships.
Satan’s first temptation was to try to destroy the relationship between God and His creation and between the man and woman of His creation. The consequences of that sin are enormous.
For those, that have chosen to follow Jesus, knowing what this relationship was intended to be, can greatly lead to fulfillment in marriage. The Apostle Paul clearly explains the relationship God intends:
“Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.
Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. After all, no one ever hated his own body, but he feeds and cares for it, just as Christ does the church– for we are members of his body. "For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh." This is a profound mystery–but I am talking about Christ and the church. However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.” Ephesians 5:22-33 Wives are to submit to their own husbands and husbands are to love their wives as themselves. This command is profoundly important, not only because obedience means joy in the husband and wife relationship, but because it symbolizes the relationship between Jesus Christ and His children—the Church.
God has provided a way for mankind to be redeemed and even help in the process of defeating and disgracing the enemies of God:
“His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms, according to his eternal purpose which he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Ephesians 3:10-11
“When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins… And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.” Colossians 2:13-15
The punishment that God gave for disobedience will be:
“…proved right when you speak and justified when you judge.” Psalm 51:4 What Satan meant for harm will turn out for mankind’s good and God’s glory.