Down the Rabbit Hole with Don

 

I promise I will get to the Scripture very quickly, though this series I’m beginning today requires a brief introduction. It is one I’ve never done in any of the sermons or Bible studies I have written before. It has been referenced by some other writers as “the 3:16s of the Bible.” With my penchant for going a bit deeper in my personal study and reflection, I have in the past taken the time to read and examine all the Scripture passages found in the third chapters and sixteenth verse of each. It really is quite fascinating how impactful each of these verses are; especially when you realize that the original writings of the books included in our canon of Scripture did not contain chapter or verse separations.

 

And, of course the title, “Down the Rabbit Hole with Don,” reflects both the meaning of the idiom and the hope that it will be as interesting and encouraging to you as it has been for me. The idiom itself means entering a complex, bizarre, or unexpected situation, or getting deeply absorbed in a chain of tangential research. My hope is that this will cause us to look at each of these verses in a way that will be unique in the fact that we don’t often study “a little deeper” when reading the Scripture. Oh, just to be clear at the outset, this caricature of me popping out of the rabbit hole was created by AI.

 

Our first 3:16 comes from the first book of the Bible. It is a part of five books written by Moses as God gave him the inspiration. I’ve included the entire paragraph, though there is much to be learned from the first of these verses. Here’s the text:

 

To the woman he [God] said, “I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing; in pain you shall bring forth children. Your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you.” And to Adam he said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, ‘You shall not eat of it,’ cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life; thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground,            for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” The man called his wife’s name Eve, because she was the mother of all living. And the LORD God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins and clothed them. (Genesis 3:16–21 ESV).

 

What is often cited in this verse is the judgment of pain in childbearing. God tells the woman that childbearing and pregnancy will involve severe pain and hardship as a consequence of the Fall. There are no serious dissents to this very clear message. What was intended to be an easy, natural part of God’s creation. After God finished creation He simply said, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” (Genesis 1:28 ESV). God designed reproduction to be desirable and easy. Though I have not experienced this part of the judgement, I have been a witness to three births, all different, and none easy for Mary.

 

Now we come to the second part of the judgment: "Your desire will be for your husband…" Scholars debate the exact meaning of the Hebrew word תְּשׁוּקָה (teshuqah), which translates here as “desire”. There are some interpreters of the Scripture who see the meaning of this word as a relational or romantic longing. They interpret this as a deep emotional or physical draw toward her husband. I am not one of those interpreters. After all, that would not be a judgment. That was God’s original design when He created. I see it as a power struggle between men and women in a marriage relationship. When compared to Genesis 4:7, where desire seeks to master, it is an adversarial urge to control or dominate her husband. While this verse deals with the woman, the application of dominance rather than cooperation and communication applies equally to husband and wife.

 

Go down this rabbit hole a bit further with me. As I have counseled hundreds of married couples, both before marriage and during the struggles that often follow marriage, understanding this gives us the basis to apply the grace of God and learn to live relationally rather than positionally, especially in our communication with one another.

 

This verse is another example of God giving us the information we need to live the life He desires for us free from conflict and trial, even though we live in this fallen world. It is an expression of love from our heavenly Father. Notice the last verse of our reading. God knew they were ill equipped for the world they were being thrust into as a result of their sin, so He made them clothing to cover them. This is both a practical action as well as a prophetic action. It is a picture of our spiritual need to be clothed in the covering of Jesus, which could only be possible through the shedding of His blood and death. God is a God of love! What a message in this first of the 3:16s!