Exploring the Meaning of Genesis 3:17-19: Condemnation to Work and the Power of Choice

Then to Adam He said, “Because you have heeded the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat of it’: “Cursed is the ground for your sake;In toil you shall eat of itAll the days of your life.Both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you,And you shall eat the herb of the field.In the sweat of your face you shall eat breadTill you return to the ground,For out of it you were taken;For dust you are,And to dust you shall return.” – Genesis 3: 17 – 19

What is the meaning of this verse? You may not be a religious or spiritual type person. Neither am I, but it’s difficult to ignore the sinister ring of truth within the text here. In this blog we’re going to look into this verse and some possible meanings that could be derived from it.

(Author’s Note: All biblical reference in this blog is intended to be understood as it relates to work life and personal experience, and not as an attempt to convert to any particular religion, institution, or school of thought.)

The value of a book can be measured by the impact it has had on the world, and in that aspect, the book of Genesis is an unparalleled fountain of knowledge, instruction and thought provoking mythology.

Exploring the Value

Would it be safe to say that man has been condemned to work all the days of his life? I could weigh this claim against my own life experience and say that it holds true for me. I could also look at the men to my left and to my right, and ascertain that it may be true for them, as well. Even after we retire, if we retire, we will continue to toil with the upkeep of our homes or our lands, our vehicles, our relationships, and so on. It is not likely that we will ever not have to toil in some fashion or another.

So we’ve stumbled upon a biblical truth, but what good is it? Simply knowing that we’ll always have to work seems more like a prison sentence than an alleviation of suffering! So what is the point? I think I would have been better off in the childlike naiveté of believing that one day my work would be done, and from that point life would be rainbows and butterflies.

My father always used to say, “a man’s work is never done.” It would take half my life to really understand this. That men have been condemned to work all the days of our lives now seems abundantly clear. But what of the part of this verse which precedes the condemnation, “Because you have heeded the voice of your wife”?

The Story in a Nutshell

If you’re not familiar with the mythological story, Adam and Eve were created directly by the hand of God, and given dominion over all of the world and everything in it. They were given a home in a paradise known as “The Garden of Eden.” In all of this luxury God gave to them only one restriction: Do not eat the fruit of a particular tree.

Now, there was a snake in the garden who was incarnate of the devil himself. The snake was out to deceive and to destroy all that is good. So the snake lingered there by the tree, and as Eve was passing by, he called to her saying, “Come. Come and eat of this wonderful fruit. It is not bad. It is good! So good, in fact, that it will open your eyes to see all that is good!”

So many questions arise here. What was Eve doing there in the first place, lingering around the only one prohibited area, away from her husband, in this massive expanse of paradise? Was evil incarnate not only in the snake, but in the woman as well?

Shame and Condemnation

Eve ate of the fruit. She then brought the fruit to her husband, crying and making show her shame. The only way to remedy such overwhelming shame, Eve proclaimed, would be for Adam to eat of the fruit as well. For him to commit the same sin that she had committed, they could at least then both live in the shame together, and the company of one would then take some degree of shame away from the other.

Of love for his wife, or perhaps for fear of losing his wife (and you can only imagine what a gorgeous wife she might have been, being the predecessor of every beautiful woman that has ever existed, mythologically speaking), Adam took of the fruit and ate it as well.

This one act, according to the story, was the beginning of suffering for all mankind. The initial act of Eve eating from the fruit was not necessarily condemned. Perhaps it was even expected that the woman would stray? Was the promiscuous behavior built in to the makeup of the primordial woman??

Analysis

Only when Adam also partook in the sin was the action called out from heaven and all of mankind was condemned. What is the meaning of this? Was it within Adam’s power to say no to the rebellious woman, rather than appeasing her and enabling her further? Was this the actual sin? So many questions arise. Some can be answered within our own analysis of life and of self.

Have you ever paid the consequence of enabling your partner to sin against you? Whether it was by the way she was treating you, and allowing it to continue, or by certain actions she was taking, such as putting herself in company of other men that she is attracted to? Do you feel somehow violated by the places she goes or the things that she does when you are not there?

Is the sin, then, that she is acting out against your best interest? Or is the sin that you are allowing it to happen? Is a woman punished for misbehavior? Certainly not as general standard in today’s society. So is it actually the man, then, who is punished for allowing the misbehavior? We could certainly go down a long list of all the ways men have been punished in this context, right from the very primordial man himself.

Crime and Punishment

The story does not allow for repentance. The crime was committed and the penalty was delivered swiftly and without mercy. Man would toil all the days of his life. The woman was graced by the forgiveness of her husband, but the husband was never, nor could ever hope to be, forgiven by God. Does this allude to the accountability man must take, regardless of the non accountability of a woman? So many questions and yet so many subtle and gut wrenchingly clear truths are revealed when one begins to analyze the meaning of such metaphor.

In fact, we see this condemnation taking place every day, over and over. As men we allow ourselves to be fooled for pleasure, or to avoid pain. We do this every time we go into a relationship with someone we know is not fit for marriage. We do it because we are only men and, accept or deny it, we have needs.A need for love, for respect, for food on the table, to name only a few.

So we enter a relationship either wanting to believe the woman will do her part responsibly, or fooling ourselves into believing that maybe one day she will, even after she has abandoned all four of her previous commitments. You get the idea. We sin against our own selves, and later we suffer for it.

Alleviation of Suffering

Looking at the parallels between the bible verse and life as it actually is, in this day and age no less than in the time of Genesis, we cannot deny some fundamental truths. It happened. It is happening, and it will continue to happen. As men we have sinned against God and against ourselves, we continue to live in sin and as a result we are condemned to work and to toil all the days of our lives. It is harsh. It is sad. But in this analysis, we begin to understand a possible degree of alleviation of suffering.

For one, it might help if we understand and accept our condemnation. Furthermore, if we can begin to understand the archetypes of our own personalities. Women are only women, and they will always have a tendency to lean promiscuous, changing or even deceitful. Men are only men, and we will always sin. In knowing this, if we are able to some degree able to resist the temptation of sin, then maybe we won’t be punished so badly! Maybe, just maybe, in this fashion we can begin to alleviate our own suffering. Maybe we can toil a little less.

Some degree of toil will always exist, that is the fundamental meaning of primordial sin, but we do not have to accept that it exists without reason. Perhaps we can move to stand firm against our own lower nature and against the clutches of evil. Maybe we can find the strength to say no to a night of pleasure that we know will end later in pain.

Conclusion

Maybe we can open our eyes to the occasion when we are allowing someone to sin against us. Maybe we can acknowledge that in allowing this to happen, we are sinning against ourselves, even if it is only for the sake of avoiding an argument or avoiding pain in the present, and by so doing are enabling the sin to continue into the future…

Perhaps we can open our eyes to the meaning of mythology, and use it as a map to guide us toward a better life. We will always toil, and we will always have to work, but perhaps we won’t always have to work. So. Damn. Hard.

Enjoy this kind of philosophy? Read one of our popular blogs about Understanding Human Resilience: Frankl and Panzram’s Divergent Paths

Get back to the concrete facts with our more industry specific blogs such as Navigating the Building Permit Process: When, Why and Who

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