Genesis 3:1-24 - notes

2)

3)

4)

5)

6)

7)

8)

9)

10)

11)

12)

13)

14) chayyath hassâdeh has been translated creatures of the open country rather than field as the contrast is with domesticated animals.

15) Enmity here suggests personal hostility or vendetta rather than something remote or impersonal.

16) Hard labour for the woman is associated with childbirth. Your pain and your pregnancy (‘itsts^ebôwnêkh w^ehêrônêkh) is treated here as hendiadys, thus, your pain in pregnancy. The last two lines are not straightforward. t^eshûqâthêkh can be traced to one of several possible roots. The verb shûq suggests be abundant, overflow with desire, or long for. As well as here, it is used in Song of Songs 7:11 of the man's desire for the woman, in Genesis 4:7 of sin's desire for Qayin (by analogy with a crouching beast), in Psalm 65:10 linked to irrigation of land, and in Joel 2:24 of overflowing fecundity of nature. The verb shâqâh is found almost entirely in the Hiphîyl form (cause to drink / irrigate) and once in the Pû‘al (watered / invigorated). Ugaritic sh.q.y also suggesting serving with drink. So, there is a consistent link with natural overflow and with drink. Hence, here your thirst seems suitable. The context suggests that the woman will experience an excessive dependence on the man, he in turn taking advantage of this by inappropriately ruling.

17) Hard labour for the man is associated with survival needs such as food.

18) Here sâdeh has been translated field to suggest cultivation, although gathering from the wild is not precluded. Nothing here suggests hunting or the keeping of flocks. The subject of sprout up is feminine, probably the ground mentioned in the previous verse.

19) See Genesis 2:7.

20) This is the first time Chavvah is named: prior to this she is simply the woman. This is analogous to the ongoing play between Adam and the man.

21) Tunics of leather could equally be skin or animal hide, but indicates that the garments were of animal origin not cloth of some kind.

22) ‘ôlâm can indicate an indefinite timespan backwards (eg Psalm 90:2) but more commonly indicates forwards into the future.

23) To serve the land from which he had been taken - in one sense this is no different from the task appointed to Adam in Genesis 2:15. However, in that case the land he was tending was given by gracious gift and was not the same land from which he was originally formed (Genesis 2:7). He is now back outside the garden to tend the land in general.

24) A fiery sword that turned in every direction could also be a fiery sword that whirled about. Kerubim appear in the descriptions of the desert tabernacle and later temple, and in Ezekiel's vsions as well as here. It has been variously suggested that the word is related to one or more of Akkadian karâbu (be gracious to / bless), karûbu (great / mighty) or kirubu (a winged bull).