Part 4
How things ‘got wrong in the Garden.
Pastor Maselo Mosomane
“Then to Adam He said, “Because you have heeded the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat of it’: “Cursed is the ground for your sake; In toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life. Both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you, and you shall eat the herb of the field. In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for dust you are, and to dust you shall return.” Genesis 3:17-19
Here we read about the first court on earth. Three accused are facing judgment for the crimes they committed. The first case to be heard was that of Satan. His crime was committed first and will be heard first. He is followed by Eve who came second in transgression. The last case for the day was that of Adam. He being the last in the transgression is brought up last to receive his sentence. We will focus our attention on Adam’s case since its outcome is the result of the sufferings we are going through in life.
After all the deliberations the Judge stood up and passed sentence; “cursed is the ground for your sake; in toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life. Both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you, and you shall eat the herbs of the field. In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for dust you are, and to dust you shall return.” Because of this sentence, man’s very source of physical livelihood was cursed. From henceforth its fertility shall be greatly impaired. Listen to the consequence of this curse – how it affected man’s life since then. “In toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life. The NLT puts it this way; “All your life you will struggle to scratch a living from it” God’s Word Translation renders it this way; “Through hard work you will eat [food that comes] from it every day of your life.” The Message sums it up in a fascinating way; “…getting food from the ground will be as painful as having babies is for your wife”
I think we need to understand something here. Work is not part of the curse – work is not the results of the curse. There was always work in Eden even before the fall. When God put man in the garden He said to tend and keep it. “Then the LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it.” Genesis 2:15. NIV translation says “to work it and take care of it” God meant for Adam to work and cultivate the ground for agricultural produce. When God said “keep it” He meant for Adam to protect and take care of the Garden. Both to tend and to keep involve work. We might as well say God intended for Adam to do farm work in the Garden of Eden and provide security for it as well. Adam had to work. Work is not a curse or any part thereof. There is dignity in working and providing for one’s family and support the work of the Lord.
But God said “cursed is the ground for your sake” When God said the ground is cursed for your sake He meant what He said – the ground is cursed. Let us understand this statement for what it is without reading too much into it. God said the ground is cursed. He did not say man is cursed, no; He said the ground is cursed. Man is not cursed – the ground is cursed. After God created them male and female He blessed them. Genesis 1:27-28
When something is under a curse it is no longer able to produce at the same rate it used to before it was cursed. A curse brings along inability and causes something to cease to be productive. A curse produces barrenness and death – sometimes immediately, sometimes gradually. There is a beautiful story in the New Testament where Jesus puts a curse on a fig tree. One day as Jesus and His disciples were on their way from Bethany to Jerusalem Jesus felt hungry. Looking from far He saw a fig tree and hoped to get something to eat from it. But when He arrived; though the fig tree looked beautiful and had fresh green leaves it had no fruit. Jesus pronounced a curse over it; “Let no one eat fruit from you ever again” He went on His journey. The next morning on their way back from Jerusalem they passed by the same tree. To His disciples’ surprise, the fig tree dried up from the roots. It withered and died. They marveled. Peter said to Him; “Rabbi, look! The fig tree which You cursed has withered away” Mark 11: 20-21. Why did the fig tree die? A curse caused it to die.
What did God say will happen to man when the ground is cursed? Man will continue to work and till the ground. But now that the ground is curse; it will no longer yield as it used to. Adam will have to work harder for the same production he used to get before the earth was cursed. Production will decrease year by year and of course this will demand from Adam more hard work. The earth will no longer yield spontaneously the fruits required for his maintenance, and as such man will be obliged to force out the necessaries of life by labour and strenuous exertion.
This is the condition that we find ourselves in today. Is this not what Haggai said in chapter one verse six; “You have sown much, and bring in little; you eat, but do not have enough; you drink, but you are not filled with drink; you clothe yourselves, but no one is warm; and he who earns wages, earns wages to put into a bag with holes.” We work hard and sweat ourselves to death but a curse is pursuing us to discredits every little effort we exert. It is like we are walking the escalators in reverse. It seems everything is programmed to fail us.
It is hard to be successful. The more you earn the more the world systems around us change to disadvantage our effort. Money used to chase after products; it is not so anymore – products are now chasing after salaries. Prices are no longer determined by the quality and quantity of the product; they are determined by the amount of money in circulation. Everything is going at an opposite direction.
What is this? Friend, nothing can explain this better than the bible. It is the curse that causes all these. The rich are getting greedy and exploitative. They want the poor to work their fields for just enough to last for half a month. The powerful are corrupt and manipulative. They make laws to advantage themselves and those in their circle of relationship so that the rich get richer and the poor, poorer. What is all these? It is the effect of a curse on humanity.
When God put man on the earth there was enough for whatever size of population – believe it or not. It was so because both the earth and man were under a blessing. The earth could yield not just for people to get along; not to make ends meet; no, the earth was created with the ability to afford its own. But a curse has interfered with this arrangement and is frustrating the course of nature. Resources are becoming less and less and the result is dog eats dog.
Things ‘got wrong in the Garden; things ‘got wrong with the first man and we are sitting with the problem. What shall we do? Is there a way out?
YES; THERE IS A WAY OUT!
….to be continued
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