Curses or Consequences
By Tom Loud
Was talking with a friend about Adam and Eve. I know what it says in
English interpretations, but straight from the Hebrew, it states things rather
simply, without elaborate explanation. In Gen 3:16, in the Hebrew, it basically
only says this: the Lord tells the woman that her pain in child birth will be
greatly multiplied, she will have a desire towards man, the man will have
dominion over her. That's it. It is not a "curse". God cursed the
ground, not man. It is simply God's declaration of the consequences to the man
and the woman choosing to disobey. If God was holding an umbrella over you and
you stepped out from under it, He could say "The consequences of that
choice will be that you will get wet." It's not a curse, it's just the
facts. Now let's move forward for a moment where the children of Israel wanted
a king like other nations. Samuel inquired of the Lord, and the Lord said,
"No, I am their king". Samuel told the people and they said, "we
want a human king like everyone else". Samuel inquired of the Lord and the
Lord said and the Lord "No, I am their king...tell them that if they had a
human king he would send their young men off to fight wars, and he would tax
the people to fund his projects " Samuel told the people and they said,
"No, we want a human king like everyone else" The Lord said, against
his wishes, okay, I will select a man to rule over them, and He did." Saul
sent their young men off to war, and taxed the people to fund his projects.
This wasn't a curse God had put on them, it was simply the consequences that
would follow if they chose a human king. Now back to Adam and Eve. God
commanded them not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. He
told them about the consequences if they ate. He told them not to eat because
if they did, they would surely die. They chose to have what they wanted instead
of obeying God. The consequences occurred, as a result. No curse, just the
fact....if you step out from under the umbrella, no one has to punish you, you
will simply get wet. Who's fault is that?
Well, they ate,
and God told Eve the consequences that she would have to live with. Her pain in
child birth will be greatly multiplied, she will have a desire towards man, the
man will have dominion over her. In Man's case, the earth would not easily
yield it's food to man, but man would have to work the ground hard to make it,
by the sweat of his brow. Here's the relationship these two passages have with
each other. In the case of Adam and Eve, God ruled over them, and then they
chose to reject His rule over them and make their own choices. In the case of
the Children of Israel; God ruled over them but they rejected His rule over
them and chose to submit to a man. In both, the root of the problem was man's
rejection of God's rule over them....."rebellion". When God tells Eve
the man will have dominion over her, I don't think that was the original plan,
because God was the one who was to have dominion over them both; but as a
result of rejecting God's rule, God gave her the man to dominate just like He
gave Israel a king to rule over them. Ooohhh, that's going to stir up a bee's
nest or two! So what about you and me? Let's return to God's plan
"A". Let's be sure to allow God to rule over us, and don't for one
minute think that you can reject His rule and escape the dire consequences of
that choice. He is my KING.....period.
By Tom Loud
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