In Genesis 8.21, after Noah offers a burnt offering to the Lord, we read this strange sentence, “And when the Lord smelled the pleasing aroma, the Lord said in his heart, “I will never again curse the ground because of man…” This hearkens back to 3.17, “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…” So, after Adam’s rebellion, God judged man by placing a curse on the ground, but Genesis 8.21 seems to suggest that God has repented of placing the a curse on the ground. Has God lifted the curse?
No! Gordon Wenham explains that the sentence structure shows that “God is not lifting the curse on the ground pronounced in 3.17 for man’s disobedience, but promising not to add to it. The flood was a punishment over and above that decreed in 3.17. This is further confirmed by the milder word for ‘curse’ (‘treat lightly, disdain’) used here as opposed to the graver term used in 3.17.”
I would just like to clarify something, or ask a question I suppose… just that the initial curse, when God says, “…because of you”, I take this to mean that it is a consequence of their disobedience and there was no action taken by God. I mean to say that God did not curse the ground in judgement. I say this because in Romans 5:13 it says that before the Law, sin was not imputed against man. I take that to mean the Law given to Moses. So did God judge sin without imputing against man? Or am I reading this wrong? What are your thoughts?
Hi Derek, I will have to think about this a bit. I have always taken, “thou shall not eat from…” in Gen. 2 to be A “giving of the law”, and the Law on Sinai is a recapitulation of this law. Following my earlier posts on Leviticus, the Exodus, including the Law, is a restoration to the Garden. That is why Moses says, I set before you life and death…the Law is like the tree of life and good and evil.
Also, the sacrifices, etc., throughout Genesis indicates a law, as does Paul’s argument in Romans 1 re: Gentile. The giving of the is an issue of, whose voice will you listen to? The woman listened to the serpent’s and the man to the woman’s, so I take the judgments of Gen 3 to be a direct response by God to Adam’s transgression.
Am I way off?