Desire and Rule: Genesis 3:16 and 4:7

While teaching on the Creation Covenant, the question came up as what exactly was meant by “desire” and “rule” in Genesis 3:16. As I dug deeper I found a connection between this verse and Genesis 4:7 as to how the words are used. Genesis 3:16 says:

To the woman he said,

“I will greatly increase your pains in childbearing;

with pain you will give birth to children.

Your desire will be for your husband,

and he will rule over you.”

To understand the last part of 3:16, we need to look at the Hebrew words themselves. The word translated as “desire” comes from the Hebrew word, teshuqah (hקָוּשׁ֣תְּ). It only actually appears in Scripture three times and means: to stretch out after and long for. It carries with it the sense of a strong unbreakable emotion that is persistent and unchanging. Genesis 3:16 is the first appearance, the second appearance is in Genesis 4:7 when God tells Cain, “sin is crouching at your door and desires to have you.” And, finally, in Song of Songs 7:10, “I belong to my lover, and his desire is for me.”

The word translated as “rule” comes from the Hebrew, mashal (לשָׁמְ). It is used throughout Scripture to mean: to rule; have dominion; reign; have authority; oversee; and master. For example, it is used in Genesis 1:18 of the Sun and Moon that they will rule the day and night. It is also used in Genesis 4:7 when speaking of Cain’s sin, “…it desires to have you, but you must master it.” Another example comes from Genesis 37:8 when, after hearing his dream, the brothers say to Joseph, “are you really going to rule over us?” In this sense, it seems that pre-fall, the authority denoted by this word was good and for the benefit of others. Post fall, it was tainted and overbearing, and carried with it the tone of conquering, rather than leading and guiding.

In 3:16, the woman is told that she will stretch out after and long for her husband, but he will rule her in a negative sort of sense. In 4:7, sin is stretching out after Cain to take hold of him and destroy what God has created him to be, and he is given the opportunity and the choice to rule over it, and in this case, reject it.

In the Ancient Near East (ANE) cultures depended largely on oral tradition since paper was expensive, and there wasn’t a great place for the common man to store it. In general this was the case until well into the 13^th century AD. So, people shared stories orally and with great skill and memory. If an Israelite had been listening to the Scroll of Genesis read aloud, or a skilled orator tell of the creation of the world and the fall, and the two words teshuqah and mashal were spoken so closely together in the story, he or she would have taken notice. Therefore, it seems logical to look at both these verses when trying to determine how they shed light on the dominion mankind was supposed to have over creation.

After reading Genesis 4:7 dozens of times I came to imagine sin as a wispy, shadowy figure crouching near the ground. It reaches out its long thin arms and unfolds its long wiry fingers to reveal sharp claws that stretch towards Cain with unfaltering tenacity. When thinking about it this way it is easy to see what Cain should have done! He should have stomped on the sin and sent it out of his presence! Alas, if only temptation and sin always looked so menacing, it would be so much easier to cast out!

However, I am uncomfortable applying this image to Genesis 3:16 and Eve desiring her husband. Especially in light of Song of Songs 7:10. The line comes at the end of a rather steamy exchange in which the Lover (Solomon) describes his Beloved. The Beloved then responds and says: “I belong to my lover, and his desire is for me.” Above, I said that teshuqah had the sense of an unbreakable, unchanging, persistent emotion. After all the Lover said about his Beloved, he certainly does reach out after her and long for her in a most passionate way. But this isn’t quite the tone present in Genesis 3:16 either.

Up to this point, Adam and Eve had been given dominion over all creation. They functioned as equals in the garden and supported each other in their various duties and responsibilities so they could survive and flourish. After the fall, a hierarchy is introduced, which still exists today to greater or lesser degrees. Therefore, the “rule” the husband has over the wife is not the same “dominion” he was granted over all of creation in Genesis 1:26.

Sin has entered creation and distorted and destroyed the bliss and peace that once ruled there. Perhaps Eve reaches out to Adam to find relief and comfort in the equality they once shared, only to find that there is no equality or shared dominion anymore, and Adam still has ultimate authority over her. Perhaps she reaches out in sin and despair to pull him down and use him as leverage to stand up on his same level once again only to find that she is mastered and put in her proper place. This may seem absurd today in our modern and socially advanced civilizations, but in the ANE the husband had full control over the life of the woman. Love certainly did play a part in the relationship and help to smooth over the difference in authority between the genders, but at the end of the day, the man still had rule over his wife.

Dominion over creation is gone at this point and the man and woman do not rule jointly, but devolved into a hierarchical form of rule. Creation, now awaits the day when the good and true ruler will be revealed. Eve found out the hard way that what she desired and how she wanted to rule were incompatible. God ordained for this world to work and flourish in a certain way, and when humankind veered from that, it all fell apart. But there is the promise of redemption and victory in Genesis 3:15, “he (the woman’s offspring) will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.” The coming son of Eve will destroy the serpent and the evil he has wrought on creation. He will suffer in the battle, but will not be conquered. He will emerge victorious. He will master the sin that plagues us.

No marriage is perfect. There are times our desires for our spouse will be positive, and holy, and proper. And then there are times that they will be negative and desperate and deceitful. Jesus came and died to make a way for us to get back to Paradise and how it was before the fall. Jesus is the only one who can properly rule us, put us in our proper places, and have authority over our lives in such a way that gives us freedom to flourish and thrive. We cannot expect that from an earthly spouse, because we are all still fallen creatures that are on the path to glory. We must reach out with love and grace to our earthly spouses, and must be willing to be corrected by our heavenly Lord and the Bridegroom of the Church, Jesus Christ. We cannot do it on our own and without his guidance. Until all of Creation is renewed and restored, we have to submit to God, forgive our spouses and others, and understand that some things will not be fair in this world. But God is good, and His love will endure and sustain us always.