Genesis 3:14-15

2006.Jun.24 22:45

Curse A

Read Genesis 3:14-15 | Full Chapter

Previously on Battlestar Gallact..aca..icki…erm, whatever, Jehovah created humanity, along with a bunch of other stuff. Jehovah told man and woman not to eat of one particular tree. They eat from it, with a serpent’s deception as catalysing agent. Jehovah finds the woman and man, despite their attempts to hide. They admit to eating from the tree.

Now follow, in my opinion, six of the most fascinating verses in the Bible. These are the original curses. God makes statements to each of the serpent, the woman, and the man, which include curses (I’m not sure the full statements are curses), in response to their sins.

Jehovah speaks first to the serpent:

Because you have done this
Cursed are you more than all cattle
And more than every beast of the field
On your belly you will go
And dust you will eat
All the days of your life
And I will put enmity
Between you and the woman
And between your seed and her seed
He shall bruise you on the head
And you shall bruise him on the heel.
(Genesis 3:14-15, NASB)

Beyond the accuracy of the curse in regards to snakes, I take particular notice that God “put[s] an enmity” between the woman and the serpent, and their descendents. I can’t think of anything else in the Bible that quite strikes me this way. Merriam-Webster’s website defines enmity a “positive, active, and typically mutual hatred or ill will.” This is the beginning of the first feud. This is the frame for the Capulets and Montagues, a deceit of the past which breeds continuing destruction.

That God curses the serpent is not surprising considering the serprent brought a break in the relationship he had with humanity. What is less immediately understandable is that he acknowledges a continuing power by the serpent against humanity, that the serprent “shall bruise [the descendents of Eve] on the heel.” Once the man and woman had accepted the serpent’s influence, they accept it for the generations. We too often give great power where we meant to give only a little. Any time we accept deception rather than obedience to God’s word, we allow the deceiver a continued power in our lives, that can only be broken (I think) by the power of Jesus Christ.

Genesis 9:24-29

2006.Nov.28 20:37

A curse, A blessing

Read Genesis 9:24-29 | Full Chapter

Ah, the fatherly blessing, a lovely feature of Genesis. Ah, the fatherly curse… Let’s review. Ham saw his dad naked and bragged about it (or, perhaps, something completely different). And Noah finds out. Let’s see what the man who built a big boat has to say.

I now put a curse on Canaan!
He will be the lowest slave
of his brothers.
I ask the LORD my God
to bless Shem
and make Canaan his slave.
I pray that the LORD
will give Japheth
more and more land and let him take over
the territory of Shem.
May Canaan be his slave.

(Genesis 9:25-27, CEV)

I imagine Shem’s reaction to this: “Yeah, that’s right, bless me…and let Japheth take…over…my…territory… Um, thanks Dad…”

Noah blesses (although a mixed blessing for Shem) his children who covered him. He curses Ham. And like the curses on man, woman, and snake, this is interesting. The curse is slavery. There will be time enough later to explore how this blessing/curse plays out in human history, but for now I want to consider that this is all financial. Recall the curse on Adam: "You will have to sweat to earn a living" (Genesis 3:19, CEV) . Noah’s blessing/curse is this: Ham’s sweat will not even earn him a living; Shem’s sweat will meak out a living; Japheth’s sweat will bring him a living, and will be augmented by the toil of his brother. Looking at it that way, it doesn’t bode all that well for any of them.

Without our high priest in Jesus and grace through him, all blessings and curses are constrained by those original curses. Ham’s hope is destroyed, but Japheth’s hope is merely shallow. One of the promises of Jesus’ sacrifice was the breaking of the curses of toil and birth pains. I can’t really imagine that life, but when I think of Noah and his three sons and how he curses them with destroying each other just to eat…I want God to teach me to imagine a better way.