Biblical Ponderings

[wlotus]

To the woman [God] said, “...Your desire shall be for your husband, And he shall rule over you.”
~Genesis 3:16b, NKJV

In the later years of my identification as an evangelical Christian, I understood this account of God's word to Eve after Adam and she sinned to be a warning: God was warning Eve that because they were no longer sinless, men would oppress women, rather than women and men living and ruling the earth (not each other) as complete equals as Eve and Adam had done up to that point (Genesis 1:27-30). But it was only this afternoon that I realized God made no mention to Adam of a backlash against men because of the way they had oppressed women. It couldn't be because God (as the writer of this account knew God) did not know; according to the Bible, God knows everything. So was that part of God's word left out by the writers (or later editors), who were products of their misogynistic culture? Or, perhaps, did God not say anything to Adam about the inevitable backlash, because he knew Adam's sinful state would not allow him to hear and understand the danger of giving in to that sinful desire to rule over women?

Discuss.

Comments

[tively-split.livejournal.com]

Hmmmm.... interesting discussion. Personally I feel that that verse is a this-shall-happen-and-have-such-and-such-consequences thing. If you desire someone, you'll be inclined to put up with some things that maybe you wouldn't if you didn't have that desire. So to me, this verse answers the question 'why do women put up with so much lousy behavior from men?' ... And yeah, I know that's an over-generalisation, but it seems to cover some things well enough...

[wlotus.livejournal.com]

That makes a lot of sense to me. Women put up with some real hockypock to keep a guy. Lord knows I have, in the past!