Marriage Conflict
Conflict between the Man and the Woman
Genesis 3:16
As a result of Eve’s failure to listen in faith to the voice of the Lord, she would suffer pain in childbirth and her ‘desire’ would now be for her husband.
Your desire will be for your husband, yet he will dominate you.
Genesis 3:16b
What, specifically, will be the woman’s desire? What does she desire with her husband?
This term “desire” appears three times only in the entire Hebrew Bible. As is well known, the LORD God himself repeats the same word “desire” in Gen.4:7 to Cain where sin’s desire is for him. The context of Genesis 3:16 suggests that there was not a happy future in store for the woman. She would experience conflict with her husband and suffer domination at his hands. Fallen Adam, representing fallen men, would treat her as a child, an inferior, and an unequal. In a word, he would oppress her.
Likewise, the parallel text in Genesis 4:7 reveals that the relationship between mankind and sin was also to be a relationship marked by conflict. Cain was urged by the LORD to dominate sin and resist its desire over him. Sin’s desire was to take advantage of his rage against Abel and motivate him to act rashly (sin was successful).
Then the LORD said, ‘Why are you furious? And why are you downcast? If you do what is right, won’t you be accepted? But if you do not do right, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is for you, but you must dominate it.’ Genesis 4:6-7.
So, the man’s domination of the woman in 3:16, in spite of her desire for him, seems to imply a stormy relationship, a liaison of potential conflict. Conflict between the genders, between marriage partners, and the oppression of woman, then, is a sign of the fall of humanity.
When will this portion of the curse be lifted in Christ?
One pivotal passage in the Old Testament where this same term “desire” is used in a marriage relationship, has either been overlooked, dismissed as irrelevant, or ignored. The oversight or dismissal of this same term “desire” in a marriage context, is unfortunate because the author directly relates it to the problem outlined in Genesis 3:16. It explains what the woman’s desire will be with her husband. And, it shows that the one portion of the consequences of sin in Genesis 3:16 will be lifted.
Tonight (April 6, 2022, 7:00 pm), at our Adult Bible study, we will be focusing on the three Scripture passages where the Hebrew term “desire” is found and relate it to conflicts in marriage.
Thank you for reading.