Origin Story #16 of 21:

Cursed is the ground… (Gn 3:17)

God sorts things out and makes his judgment (Gn 3:14-19):

The Lord God said to the serpent,

"Because you have done this, …upon your belly you shall go,

                                        and dust you shall eat all the days of your life.

 I will put enmity between you and the woman,

                                        and between your seed and her seed;

 he shall crush your head,

                                        and you shall bruise his heel."

To the woman Lord God said,

 "I will greatly multiply your pain in childbearing;

                                        in pain you shall bring forth children,

 yet your desire shall be for your husband,

                                        and he shall rule over you."

And to Adam Lord God said…

"Cursed is the ground because of you;

                                        in toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life;

                                        thorns and thistles it shall bring forth to you…

 In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread

                                        till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken;

                                        you are dust, and to dust you shall return."

The serpent will slither about in the dust “cursed above all the wild animals”—scary beyond reason. A strange animosity will settle in between the serpent and humans. What the serpent put into motion will recoil back to crush the serpent’s head. It’s a riddle about how the serpent will be brought down and the woman lifted up. The woman he beguiled will bring about the serpent’s demise.

For humanity, male and female, judgment concerns the heart of their calling—that which forms the center of their vocation:

For the woman, being “fruitful” will now come with pain and relational complications. The pain of childbirth and the complications of her relationship with her husband. The “good” will be a complex good mixed with pleasure and pain, joy and grief, longing and disappointment. Childbearing and child raising will not be easy. And the man, who plays a part in all this, will take advantage.

            For the man, making something of the land—of his life, will not come easy. The earth is cursed to “bring forth thorns and thistles” rather than lush vegetation. The work of subduing the earth and tilling it into arable land for food will come with much toil and sweat. The work of keeping things in order will constantly be frustrated with all sorts of “thorns and thistles.” At the end of our toil, the earth will take us back to itself: “You are dust, and to dust you shall return."

It’s grim. However, throughout this grim sentence, there is a thread of grace. There lurks a “Yes” in God’s “No.” The serpent was sort of right. They don’t die. At least not today. Life will go on. The woman, though through pain, will bring forth life. And there is a hint in God’s judgment, that this evil that scars God’s good creation, will someday be crushed through the child of a woman.

Judgments have been made. But they are not ultimate. The worst thing will not be the last thing. Humanity lives to see another day.