Genesis 3:16: what is the meaning of "woman's sorrow"?
Posted: Mon Aug 29, 2011 9:08 am
I think this verse has for countless years been misunderstood. The Scripture is part of God’s judgment of Adam and Eve after they have eaten of the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. From the King James version of the Bible, God speaks to Eve as follows:
Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire [shall be] to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.
In Catholic school I was taught, as so many people were, that this verse meant that:
1. God made birth painful in order to punish women for Eve’s part in Man’s “original sin”; and
2. women should be subservient to men.
Re-reading this verse, I now think that this interpretation is wide of the mark. Way wide.
God does not say that His Prophecy should be true. He merely prophecies what shall be true. It is, in afterthought, ludicrous to see this verse as a punishment “befitting” some crime.
The clue is the phrase “and thy desire [shall be] to thy husband.” Historically what has been the ‘desire’ of ‘Woman’? More to the point, what role has she been allowed? Woman builds the family and the community. For her children’s sake, she grounds the family and the community in values; she wants effective healing; she wants education so her children are better off than her own generation; and so on. None of these goals should have required Woman to relinquish her own capacities as artist , governor, entrepreneur, scientist, etc. These fulfillments were taken from her.
Note that these goals are only worthy goals if a soul knows good from evil. Animals do not share these goals. God set up creation such that humans have significantly different concerns the more enlightened they are. Hence, when God speaks, “Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow...” it is not tit-for-tat punishment. Rather, it is evolutionary development.
However, in order to achieve both her desire and her own self-fulfillment, she, perforce, needed her husband: “and thy desire [shall be] to thy husband”. Many have written of how women have been held in virtual slavery by men. The primary weapons men had were
1. greater brute strength; and
2. the ability to walk away.
By far, the greater weapon of these two is man's ability to desert the family. Men have lacked the capacity so to bond with their offspring that they would be incapable of not providing, to be incapable of leaving. Women have been hostage to the rule of men because of their children.
Consequently, God says that Woman’s sorrow shall be “and thy desire [shall be] to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.” Husband rules over Woman. She gives up her self-fulfillment and must depend upon what can be an unreliable—even capricious--someone for completion of her vision. If she has any success in her vision, whether at the familial or the societal level, Husband rules over that success. Hence, “in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children”. Her children could have been an unmitigated joy, if husband had seen them as his children as well.
Why is childbirth painful, then? The physical world reflects spiritual truths.
Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire [shall be] to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.
In Catholic school I was taught, as so many people were, that this verse meant that:
1. God made birth painful in order to punish women for Eve’s part in Man’s “original sin”; and
2. women should be subservient to men.
Re-reading this verse, I now think that this interpretation is wide of the mark. Way wide.
God does not say that His Prophecy should be true. He merely prophecies what shall be true. It is, in afterthought, ludicrous to see this verse as a punishment “befitting” some crime.
The clue is the phrase “and thy desire [shall be] to thy husband.” Historically what has been the ‘desire’ of ‘Woman’? More to the point, what role has she been allowed? Woman builds the family and the community. For her children’s sake, she grounds the family and the community in values; she wants effective healing; she wants education so her children are better off than her own generation; and so on. None of these goals should have required Woman to relinquish her own capacities as artist , governor, entrepreneur, scientist, etc. These fulfillments were taken from her.
Note that these goals are only worthy goals if a soul knows good from evil. Animals do not share these goals. God set up creation such that humans have significantly different concerns the more enlightened they are. Hence, when God speaks, “Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow...” it is not tit-for-tat punishment. Rather, it is evolutionary development.
However, in order to achieve both her desire and her own self-fulfillment, she, perforce, needed her husband: “and thy desire [shall be] to thy husband”. Many have written of how women have been held in virtual slavery by men. The primary weapons men had were
1. greater brute strength; and
2. the ability to walk away.
By far, the greater weapon of these two is man's ability to desert the family. Men have lacked the capacity so to bond with their offspring that they would be incapable of not providing, to be incapable of leaving. Women have been hostage to the rule of men because of their children.
Consequently, God says that Woman’s sorrow shall be “and thy desire [shall be] to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.” Husband rules over Woman. She gives up her self-fulfillment and must depend upon what can be an unreliable—even capricious--someone for completion of her vision. If she has any success in her vision, whether at the familial or the societal level, Husband rules over that success. Hence, “in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children”. Her children could have been an unmitigated joy, if husband had seen them as his children as well.
Why is childbirth painful, then? The physical world reflects spiritual truths.