Bereshit 3:14-19 (Bereshit) – G-d’s statements to the snake, Adam and Havva after Adam and Havva ate from the tree of knowledge and G-d’s statement to humankind on the sixth day of creation

Bereshit 3:14-19 records G-d's statements to the snake, Havva and Adam after Adam and Havva ate the fruit of the tree of knowledge. I believe that most people think that these statements were curses, but the Torah only uses the word curse, arur, in reference to the statement to the snake, 3:14, and that the land was cursed, 3:17. This indicates that only the snake and the land were cursed, but not people. This would be because Adam and Havva were supposed to eat from the tree of knowledge, and these statements in 3:14-19 correspond to the blessings that G-d told humankind on the sixth "day" of creation in 1:28, that people were blessed to be fruitful and multiply, to conquer the earth and to rule the animals.

The first statement, 3:14,15, is addressed to the snake, and has two parts. One, 3:14, is directed towards this specific snake that this snake is cursed that it will walk on its belly. My understanding is that this particular snake had a unique status in the Garden of Eden and the punishment of 3:14 is that it returned to being a typical snake, see our discussion on 3:14 "Eating dirt?"

The second part of the statement to the snake, 3:15, was directed towards all the animals. In the Garden of Eden the snake was the representative of the animals, and the idea of 3:15 is that animals will be subservient to humans since humans will strike at the head of the animals, while the snakes and all animals will only be able to strike at people's heels. This separation is a consequence of Adam and Havva eating from the tree of knowledge that their mental capacities were developed and became qualitatively different than animals. This verse is a blessing to humankind and corresponds to the blessing to people on the sixth day of creation in 1:28 that humankind would rule over the animals.

The next statement by G-d, 3:16, is addressed to Havva, and also has two parts.  The first half of the verse records that women will be in pain and distress in some ways relating to having children.  Why are women destined to suffer pain and distress when having children? The standard explanation is that women suffer because Havva ate from the fruit of the tree of knowledge, but should all women should suffer because of one person? Instead, the pain should be understood as a consequence of the increase in mental capacities of Havva since she ate from the tree of knowledge. As noted by Sarna (1989, p. 28) "intense pain in childbearing is unique to the human species and generally unknown to other animals," and this difficulty is due to "the enlarged brain at birth, the neocortex, which is associated with human intelligence."  Accordingly, women's pain at birth is a consequence of Havva and Adam's increase in the size of their brains from eating the fruit of the tree of knowledge. While the pain is bad, the increase in mental capacities is good for humans.  A different possibility to understanding the first half of 3:16, without invoking changes in babies' physiology, is that with the increase in intelligence from eating of the fruit of the tree of knowledge, women will have a greater understanding of what it means to be pregnant and to give birth, and this knowledge of what is about to happen increases their sense of pain from the pregnancy and the birth.

The second half of 3:16 consists of two phrases. The first phrase is that women will desire their husbands. How does this relate to the eating from the tree of knowledge? The Bekhor Shor, Ramban, Radak (all on 3:16) explain that this desire for the husband is to counteract the pain relating to childbirth referred to in the first half of the verse.  With the increase in intelligence from eating the tree of knowledge, women will understand that if they change their behavior, then they will not get pregnant, and then there had to be added a special desire for their husband to offset the knowledge of the pain of childbirth.

The second phrase in the second half of 3:16 records that "he will rule over you." Following the popular idea that Havva is being cursed, this is understood to mean that the husband will rule over the wife as a punishment for Havva having eaten from the tree of knowledge. For most of history, this understanding accorded with the status of women, but today this explanation is difficult both empirically and morally. Instead the end of 3:16 can be understood in two ways. One, this dominance by the husband is only for the period when the women is pregnant and giving birth as then she is particularly dependent on her husband. Or, maybe the idea is that “the ruling by the man” is that the women’s desire to be with her husband will overcome her other impulse not to become pregnant due to the pains mentioned in the first half of 3:16.  With this explanation, the word he in the phrase is referring to the women’s desire to be with her husband, and not to her husband, and both phrases of the second half of 3:16 relate to the same idea.  

Accordingly, 3:16 is not a punishment to Havva and women and in fact, it is a blessing that even with the new mental capacities, women will still have children. This verse corresponds to the blessing to be fruitful and multiplying in 1:28, that even though childbearing will be difficult, painful and sometimes dangerous, the world will be populated.  

Finally the last statement by G-d is addressed to Adam, 3:17-19, that Adam was told that he would have to work the difficult land and would only eat "by the sweat of his brow." While this statement shows the difficulty of work, in the end man would succeed in growing food which shows that he would be able to conquer the world, as humankind was blessed in 1:28.

Bibliography:

Sarna, Nahum (1923-2005), 1989, The JPS Torah Commentary: Genesis, Philadelphia: The Jewish Publication Society.