Welcome to EBible Fellowship’s Bible study in the Book of Genesis. This is study #24 of Genesis, chapter 3 and we are going to read Genesis 3:17-19:

And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field; In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.

I will stop reading there. At this time the Lord is addressing Adam for his part in the fall into sin. God is addressing Adam for his disobedience and rebellion against God. Historically, we know that Adam was just a man, a creature created in the image of God to serve and be obedient to God. Adam, the man, had tremendous responsibility to obey and he failed to do so; he transgressed the Law of God. God explained to us how it happened as Adam hearkened unto the voice of his wife. Eve had listened to the voice of the serpent and she did eat and then Adam listened to the voice of his wife and he did eat. None are justified. None are righteous in this situation, but all have sinned. Adam and Eve and all mankind that would come forth from them down through time are all guilty. We were all in the loins of Adam. We have all transgressed individually because clean cannot come from the unclean. Adam was our figurehead and our representative of the human race and when he fell, we fell into sin.

We are aware of this and we know this was the case that Adam was just a man, but we also know that God had set Adam up as a figure of the Lord Jesus Christ. There is a verse in Romans that we have referred to several times, but it is good for us to keep this in mind. It says in Romans 5:14:

Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come.

God also makes a connection between Adam and Christ in 1Corinthians, chapter 15 in a couple of places. It says in 1Corinthians 15:45:

And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit.

The “last Adam” is Jesus, so Adam was a figure of Him which was to come. When God is pronouncing a curse upon the man Adam it is difficult for us to see how he could be representing the Lord Jesus Christ, until we remember that Jesus did become a curse for us, as it says in Galatians 3:13:

Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree:

When we looked earlier at Genesis 3, we saw that the Lord asked Adam if he had eaten of the tree of which he was commanded not to eat and then it said in Genesis 3:12:

And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat.

We saw that this is really laying out a spiritual picture of the woman being a representation of the body of believers, the elect, and through God’s predetermined salvation program the elect gave their sins to Christ, just as Eve gave Adam the fruit and he did eat. Jesus took our sins upon Himself and became sin for us and He was cursed as a result. This is what we are reading now in verse 17. God is speaking to the man Adam and He is pronouncing the curse against him. It says at the end of Genesis 3:17:

… cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life;

So, here, Adam in the figure is a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ, spiritually. In reality, the man Adam did commit sin and he was guilty in his own right. Spiritually, it is a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ being made a curse for all those for whom He paid for their sins from the foundation of the world and, therefore, obligated Himself to save. And He did save all of them, as time unfolded throughout the history of the world.

Here it speaks of the ground being cursed and we read something similar in Genesis 5:29:

And he called his name Noah, saying, This same shall comfort us concerning our work and toil of our hands, because of the ground which JEHOVAH hath cursed.

The ground God cursed in the day of Adam remained cursed throughout the history of the world.

The Hebrew word translated as “ground” is Strong’s #127 and it is often translated as “earth.” God cursed the earth, so we could say, “Cursed is the earth for thy sake.” So, in the days of Noah, which was some 6,000 years after the fall of man into sin, the ground was still cursed. Then the Lord tells us in verse 18 that “thorns and thistles” are an indicator of a ground that has been cursed. It says in Hebrew 6:7-8:

For the earth which drinketh in the rain that cometh oft upon it, and bringeth forth herbs meet for them by whom it is dressed, receiveth blessing from God: But that which beareth thorns and briers is rejected, and is nigh unto cursing; whose end is to be burned.

Here, the Lord relates herbs with blessing and thorns and briers with cursing and it is the same with Genesis 3:18:

Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field;

So, here, we have the ground that produces thorns and thistles because of the curse, but it also produces herbs, which Hebrews, chapter 6, verse 7 relates to blessing. The reason for this is because God’s salvation program is pictured in the Bible as the sowing of seed and the bringing forth of crops in harvest. We know, for example, that the church age was really the bringing in of the firstfruits, which was everyone that became saved over the 1,955 years of the church age. They were likened to firstfruits in the harvest season. We also know that during the second part of the Great Tribulation God sent forth the Latter Rain and brought forth the final harvest, the great multitude, so there is much language in the Bible regarding seed that has been sown on the ground, as we read in the parable of the sower in Mark 4:2-7:

And he taught them many things by parables, and said unto them in his doctrine, Hearken; Behold, there went out a sower to sow: And it came to pass, as he sowed, some fell by the way side, and the fowls of the air came and devoured it up. And some fell on stony ground, where it had not much earth; and immediately it sprang up, because it had no depth of earth: But when the sun was up, it was scorched; and because it had no root, it withered away. And some fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up, and choked it, and it yielded no fruit.

Now this is helpful to us because in pronouncing the curse God spoke of the ground bringing forth thorns and thistles. That means that if there are thorns there will be no fruit, at least to some degree.

And other fell on good ground, and did yield fruit that sprang up and increased; and brought forth, some thirty, and some sixty, and some an hundred. And he said unto them, He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.

In the explanation of this parable, Jesus said in Mark 2:14-15:

The sower soweth the word. And these are they by the way side, where the word is sown; but when they have heard, Satan cometh immediately, and taketh away the word that was sown in their hearts.

I am going to stop here because this is what I really wanted for us to see. God gives the example of sowing “seed” and He refers to different types of “ground.” Some ground has rocks. Some has thorns. Some is good ground. The seed is the Word. God relates the ground that receives the “seed” to the hearts of men and, again, that ties into God’s salvation program as He relates it to harvest. Good fruit are those that have become saved and bad fruit are those that are not saved. It is like the “good figs” and the “evil figs.” The evil figs are the unsaved that are still in their sins – they are like “thorns and thistles.” They are rejected, nigh unto cursing.

So, spiritually, when God is speaking to the man Adam and He tells him that the ground is cursed for his sake, He adds, “In sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life.” This is somewhat similar to what God said to Eve concerning conception and childbirth in Genesis 3:16:

Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children…

Basically, God is saying to Adam, “In sorrow you will bring forth fruit.” When you eat fruit, you can only eat good fruit. You cannot eat thorns and thistles. So, in sorrow you will bring forth fruit and it is the same spiritual picture that was given through Eve’s sorrow in bringing forth children. We spent some time looking at what that meant. In God’s salvation program there is affliction, tribulation and great tribulation. When God opens up a door of utterance, there are many adversaries and there was constant spiritual battle with the kingdom of Satan. The Lord said that we “sow in tears” and there are other statements of a similar kind that point out that the bringing of the Gospel was a sorrowful thing, as it says in John, chapter 16 regarding the woman that is in travail experiencing sorrow until the man is born into the world. We do not have to go back over all that material, but the point is that through sorrow God would save His people.

It is the same spiritual principal that God is giving in these verses as He is speaking to Adam. Adam was the “husbandman.” There is no one else. He was the one that sowed the seed and dressed the Garden of Eden at that time. He is the one that would care for the crops and do whatever necessary to bring forth fruit. He is a picture of the “second Adam,” the Lord Jesus, and it was the second Adam’s Gospel plan to save people in certain “times and seasons” by sending periods of rain. This occurred over the course of time throughout the history of the world and there was rain and there was fruit that came forth as a result. There were also periods of famine. It is all related to sowing the seed of God’s Word upon the hearts of men and the fruit (or the lack thereof) that comes forth. The “thorns and thistles” indicated the curse and the herb of the field indicated the blessing of fruit.

In the first instance, it is possible that the “herb of the field” is a reference to Jesus Himself, as we know that He is the “seed” (singular) and the seed of Abraham that was promised to be in multitude as the stars of heaven are found in Christ. Through Him there is the blessing of the Gospel.

It goes on to say in Genesis 3:19:

In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.

It says, “In the sweat of thy face,” and the word “sweat” is Strong’s #2188 and it is a word that is only used here in this word. The English word “sweat” is used one other time in the Old Testament in the Book of Ezekiel in relationship to priests and their duties in administering in the temple, but it is a different Hebrew word. The word “sweat” is used one time in the New Testament. I think you are familiar with this verse. It says in Luke 22:41-44:

And he was withdrawn from them about a stone's cast, and kneeled down, and prayed, Saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done. And there appeared an angel unto him from heaven, strengthening him. And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground.

The “sweat” fell to the “ground.” We have both the words “sweat” and the word “ground” that we found back in our verse in Genesis 3:19: “In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground.” He will eat bread that comes forth out of the ground because bread does originate from the ground. Is there possibly a connection with the sweat as great drops of blood falling down to the ground as Christ experienced the wrath of God in demonstrating what He had done from the foundation of the world? The answer is, “Yes.” God is connected the sweat to the blood and the “life is in the blood,” so as He was suffering He was dying and giving His life a second time in order to make manifest that He was the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. His life’s blood was, as it were, falling into the ground. That is significant. Why did it fall into the ground? It is because it is out of the ground that fruit comes forth. It is out of the ground that the blessing of the firstfruits would be found and the harvest at the time of the end with the Feast of Ingathering. God’s entire Gospel program focuses on the harvest and the produce that comes forth from the ground. The blood of Christ represents the life He gave for the sake of these individuals in paying for their sins that allows them to be the “good fruit.”

Also, it says in John 12:23-24:

And Jesus answered them, saying, The hour is come, that the Son of man should be glorified. Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.

Again, Jesus is this corn of wheat that falls into the ground and dies and because of His death, there will come forth fruit. It is the same picture as the great drops of sweat falling as blood into the ground. That is the idea back in our verse in Genesis 3:19: “In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread.” Again, this refers to Adam who was a figure of Him who was to come. It says it is the sweat of Adam’s face, but the word “face” is not a good translation for this particular Hebrew word. The more accurate translation would be “nostrils.” It is a word that is translated as “nostrils” several times. For instance, it says in Exodus 15:8:

And with the blast of thy nostrils the waters were gathered together, the floods stood upright as an heap, and the depths were congealed in the heart of the sea.

It was with the blast of God’s “nostrils.” It is actually a word that relates to anger and wrath. The wrath of God is often associated with this word because when people are angry their nostrils flare out and it is an indication of anger. This word is translated as “wrath” in Exodus 32:10-11:

Now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may wax hot against them, and that I may consume them: and I will make of thee a great nation. And Moses besought JEHOVAH his God, and said, JEHOVAH, why doth thy wrath wax hot against thy people…

The word “wrath” is the same word translated as “face” in our verse. To just show you how incorrect the King James translators were in translated this word as “face,” let us look at another place it is translated as “anger” in Deuteronomy 32:22:

For a fire is kindled in mine anger, and shall burn unto the lowest hell, and shall consume the earth with her increase, and set on fire the foundations of the mountains.

This word “anger” has everything to do with the wrath and anger of God and that is why the word “sweat” does, indeed, relate to Christ’s “sweat” when Jesus was under the wrath of God. He was experiencing the wrath of God in the garden, so our verse should have been translated as, “In the sweat of thy wrath.” Of course, on a natural level it did not make sense as the translators tried to translate the things made to the man Adam. If they had translated it, “In the sweat of thy wrath shalt thou eat bread,” they could not see how that fit in the natural scheme of things, so they translated it as “face.” Yes, when you work hard in the field you sweat and it pours down your face, but it is an incorrect translation. It should say, “In the sweat of thy wrath shalt thou eat bread.” And Jesus experienced the wrath of God, but Jesus also is God who poured out His wrath. He is the Lamb that was slain, but He was also the High Priest that slayed the lamb.

We will have to finish this in our next study.