BIG & small QUESTIONS OF THE FAITH JASON S. DEROUCHIE, PHD ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF OT AND BIBLICAL THEOLOGY BETHLEHEM COLLEGE & SEMINARY BETHLEHEM BAPTIST CHURCH, 2016

QUESTION What does God mean in Gen 3:16 when he says, in apparent judgment on the woman, “Your desire shall be for your husband”?

The Text  Gen 3:16: o “To the woman he said, “I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing; in pain you shall bring forth children. Your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you.”

The Immediate Literary Context  The original rebellion: o Satan = counter God’s purposes by disrupting the right-order of the family o Woman = assertion of primary influence o Man = passivity resulting in aggression

The Immediate Literary Context  The original rebellion  Curse against the serpent and ground (3:14–15, 17)  Punishment against the woman and man (3:16, 18–19) o Against the man: “By the sweat of your face” (v. 19).

o Against the woman: “I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing” (v. 16).  Isa 13:8. They will be dismayed: pangs and agony will seize them; they will be in anguish like a woman in labor. They will look aghast at one another; their faces will be aflame.  Mic 4:9–10. Now why do you cry aloud? Is there no king in you? Has your counselor perished, that pain seized you like a woman in labor? 10 Writhe and groan, O daughter of Zion, like a woman in labor, for now you shall go out from the city and dwell in the open country; you shall go to Babylon. There you shall be rescued; there the LORD will redeem you from the hand of your enemies. o Implication: The promise that the woman’s “desire” would be for her husband is not a good thing.

 Gen 4:6–7 o “The LORD said to Cain, ‘Why are you angry, and why has your face fallen? 7 If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is for you, but you must rule over it.’”  Gen 3:16: o “To the woman he said, “I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing; in pain you shall bring forth children. Your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you.” “Desire” in the Near Context

 Gen 4:6–7 o “The LORD said to Cain, ‘Why are you angry, and why has your face fallen? 7 If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is for you, but you must rule over it.’”  Gen 3:16: o “To the woman he said, “I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing; in pain you shall bring forth children. Your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you [but he must rule over you].” “Desire” in the Near Context

 Gen 3:16: o “To the woman he said, “... Your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you [but he must rule over you].”  The punishment/problem: The woman’s “desire” or inner longing will be to control the home and overpower the husband––a usurper of headship rather than a helper companion.  The solution: The husband must “rule” as God designed, in servant-hearted, active, non-aggressive leadership receiving help from his wife. Implication

 Maintaining “head” and “helper” distinctions are important. o Headship: The husband’s responsibility to stand as the primary provider and protector with self- sacrificing, other-exalting love (Gen 2:15, 23) and by receiving help from his wife.  Eph 5:25, 28–29. Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her…. 28 In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. 29 For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church….. 33 Let each one of you love his wife as himself. Takeaway

 Maintaining “head” and “helper” distinctions are important. o Headship: The husband’s responsibility to stand as the primary provider and protector with self- sacrificing, other-exalting love (Gen 2:15, 23) and by receiving help from his wife.  Eph 5:25, 28–29.  Song 7:10. o “I am my beloved’s, and his desire is for me.” Takeaway

o Helpership: Respectful and submissive complementary partnership with the husband (Gen 2:18) that joins him in imaging God and exercising dominion (1:28).  Eph 5:22–23, 33. Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. 23 For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior… Let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.

 When signs of the curse are apparent in our marriages, we should repent and get back in line with right order. o Consider the pattern in Lev 26:18, 21, 23–24, 27–28.