The teaching tools of scripture
I have a theory that every paragraph in the Hebrew Bible, bounded as God has bounded them with His paragraph divisions, makes its own chiastic structure. This short paragraph put my theory to the test:
To the woman He said: “I will greatly multiply your pain and your travail; in pain you shall bring forth children; and your desire shall be to your husband, and he shall rule over you.” {s} Gen 3:16
This is the structure, a reverse parallelism and not a chiasm, but it turns out I had to dig into the Hebrew root words to find it:
The B pairs are obvious, but the A pairs were a puzzle.
hebrew root words
In 1A, most Bible translations say, “I will multiply your pain,” etc. “Multiply” is Strong’s H7235 רבה rabah, a primitive root meaning, “to be or become great, to increase.” The 3-letter root is resh + bet + hey.
resh ר = the head of man, thus head, first, top, beginning, man
bet ב = the house, thus house, household, family, in, within
hey ה = the man with upraised arms, thus look, reveal, wonder, worship, breath
This story: The head (resh) of the house (bet) who abounds in revelation (hey, i.e., wisdom). The Ancient Hebrew Lexicon says,
“Each family has a master that rules all cases, trials, conflicts and contests. This person was the representative for the whole tribe, one abundant in authority and wisdom.”
This parable’s relation to the definition is that he is the greatest or most renowned person of the tribe, thus, to be or become great. So when the LORD says, “I will make great,” in the Hebrew parable, He is essentially saying, “I will make great as the master who RULES all the conflicts of the tribe is made great.” That tie-in to ruling is what matches the A pairs.
In the 2A pair, most Bible translations do not say, “Your desire shall be to rule over your husband,” just “Your desire shall be to your husband.” But desire is in Hebrew, Strong’s H8669, teshukah, a concrete noun meaning, “desire;” from Strong’s H7783 שוק shuk, a primitive root meaning, “to run over or after.” The 3-letter root is shin + vav + quph.
shin ש = two front teeth, sharp press, eat, two, again
vav ו = tent peg, add, secure, hook
quph ק = sun on the horizon, condense, circle, time
The story: Repetition (shin) of the established (vav, as a tent peg establishes the tent) circuit (quph, as the sun on the horizon is completing its daily circuit). This same word is also the root for the Hebrew words translated river, rushing, overflow, drink, trough, marrow. The idea is of the annual overflow of the river’s banks during the cyclical rainy season which returns year after year.
You have remembered the earth, and watered her (shuk), greatly enriching her, with the river of God that is full of water. Psa 65:9
According to Hebrew scholarship the rain desires to flood the earth, but God restrains it (Gen 9:11). The sense that the root meaning, to run over, gives to teshukah, then, is that desire floods the soul with longing.
To the woman He said: “I will greatly multiply your pain and your travail; in pain you shall bring forth children; and your desire (teshukah) shall be to your husband, and he shall rule over you.” Gen 3:16
Woman desires to rule over man, but man rules over her with love (Mat 20:25-26), or just as valid, restrains her as God restrains the rain.
If you do well, shall it not be lifted up? And if you do not do well, sin crouches at the door; and to you is its desire (teshukah), but you must rule over it. Gen 4:7
Sin desires to rule over us, but we must rule over it, just as God rules over the rain.
I am my beloved’s, and his desire (teshukah) is toward me. Son 7:10
Messiah desires His bride.
So what does this teach us? In the Garden, no one restrained the woman; she was free to do as she pleased, as long as she did not violate the single commandment. On this side of the Garden, her husband has been charged with restraining her, when she becomes beguiled. Most women I know hate being restrained. We have earned this protection from the LORD’s wisdom, ladies, so let us humble ourselves and trust in Him for our good!
Leave a Reply