Genesis 3:17

II. THE CURSE.--The Bible student should read carefully the verses intervening between the 6th and the 17th. These tell of the arrest of the guilty pair, their arraignment, their excuses, the curse upon the serpent, the first of Messianic promises, and the sentence upon the woman. Adam is sentenced last, as last in the transgression.

17. Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife.

As the woman had yielded to the voice of the serpent so Adam had yielded to that of his wife. Adam, in his unmanly attempt at justification, had laid the blame on the woman and on God who gave her, even apparently finding fault with God. In this formal statement of the grounds of his condemnation he is charged with hearkening to her voice instead of the voice of God. The woman bade him eat, but God had told him not to eat. He obeyed her but disobeyed God. In obeying the voice of the one given he had disobeyed the voice of the Giver. Next follow various items of the special curse upon the man.

Cursed is the ground for thy sake.

In Eden the fruits good for human use grew spontaneously, but with the change from Eden after the Fall, the thorn, the thistle and the weeds became the spontaneous product. This is certainly verified by the facts of nature. The various products of the soil upon our tables are all secured by human toil. Neither the cereals, the fruits or the vegetables eaten to-day on the millions of tables in this land grew wild in. state of nature. Man is now doomed to labor and sorrow. Half the human race are doomed to unremitting toil as the price of their existence. Their years pass in. ceaseless struggle for existence. Yet, even this primal curse is. concealed blessing. Idleness is the worst foe of. sinful race. Constant occupation is needful to keep men from waxing worse and worse. In the tropics, where the least labor is required in order to live, the human race is most worthless. In the temperate zones, where men are compelled to spend one-half the year in making provision for the other half, the race is most vigorous, manly and virtuous.