Genesis 3:16 “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.”
Perhaps the most obvious meaning in this verse is that childbirth would now be physically painful in a big way. At least that’s how I’d always heard it explained, and it makes sense because birth pains are a self-evident reality. But why does God say that He would multiply sorrow and conception?
God had just promised to rescue humanity from the Serpent through the Seed of the woman. That promise could lead Adam and Eve to multiply conception in an effort to bring about the promise and at the same time multiply their sorrow with every son who failed to be the One and every daughter who failed to bear Him. Perhaps the multiplied sorrow and conception God promises was a warning for Adam and Eve not to expect a speedy appearance of the Savior. If understood as such it could have been a comfort amidst the sorrow of bitter disappointment that quickly multiplied on humanity’s family tree.
Women’s multiplied sorrow goes beyond the extreme pains of childbirth in another sense as well. An incalculable number of husbands have exercised rulership after the selfish fashion of the Serpent with abusive control. Many more men have wanted to rule over women without even bothering to be husbands to them.
On the other hand, much sorrow and strife has also resulted from women rebelling against God’s judgment and disdaining either to desire or honor their husbands in their god-given leadership role. The human family has certainly been sorrow upon sorrow, and women have suffered in double measure.
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