Genesis 3:16

I will greatly multiply thy sorrow. The phrase “thy sorrow and thy conception” is generally considered to be a literary form in which two similar phrases express a single idea. The phrase could thus read “the sorrow of thy conception.” At the very first, man had been commanded, “Be fruitful and multiply” (ch. 1:28).

Repeated conception was therefore intended to be a blessing, not a curse. But the entrance of sin meant that henceforth pregnancy would be accompanied by pain.

In sorrow. Indeed, the pains of childbirth were to be so intense that in Scripture they are symbolic of the most severe anguish of body and mind (see Micah 4:9, 10; 1 Thess. 5:3; John 16:21; Rev. 12:2).

Thy desire shall be thy husband. The Hebrew word shuq, “desire,” means “to run after, to have a violent craving for a thing,” indicating the strongest possible desire for it. Though oppressed by man and tortured by the pains of childbirth, the woman would still feel an intense desire for her husband. Commentators have been divided in their opinion as to whether this is part of the punishment. It seems reasonable to conclude that this “desire” was given to alleviate the sorrows of womanhood and to bind the hearts of husband and wife ever more closely together.

He shall rule over thee. The woman had broken her divinely appointed relationship with the man. Instead of being a help “meet” for him she had become his seducer. Therefore her status of equality with man was forfeited; he was to “rule over” her as lord and master. A wife is described in Scripture as being “possessed” by her lord. Among most non-Christian peoples woman has been subjected throughout the ages to degradation and virtual slavery. Among the Hebrews, however, the condition of woman was one of distinct subordination though not of oppression or slavery. Christianity has placed woman on the same platform as man as regards the blessings of the gospel (Gal. 3:28). Although the husband is to be head of the household, Christian principles will lead a man and his wife into an experience of real partnership, where each is so devoted to the happiness and well-being of the other that it never occurs to either to attempt to “rule” over the other (see Col. 3:18, 19).