Curse, The

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The punishment pronounced by God consequent on the sin of Adam and Eve. Man was not cursed; but the curse fell on the serpent and on the ground: in sorrow man was to eat of the fruit of the ground all the days of his life, and in sorrow was the woman to bring forth children (Gen. 3:1717And 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; (Genesis 3:17)). After the flood, the Lord smelled a sweet savor from Noah’s sacrifice, and said in His heart, “I will not again curse the ground any more for man’s sake; for the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth” (Gen. 8:2121And the Lord smelled a sweet savor; and the Lord said in his heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for man's sake; for the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth; neither will I again smite any more every thing living, as I have done. (Genesis 8:21)). A new economy of the heaven and earth had begun, and God would not again curse; but acted in it according to the sweet savor of Noah’s sacrifice. Man was encouraged; the seasons should continue as long as the earth remained (Gen. 8:2222While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease. (Genesis 8:22)). God made a covenant with Noah and his seed, and with every living creature, and as a token thereof He set the bow in the cloud (Gen. 9:8-178And God spake unto Noah, and to his sons with him, saying, 9And I, behold, I establish my covenant with you, and with your seed after you; 10And with every living creature that is with you, of the fowl, of the cattle, and of every beast of the earth with you; from all that go out of the ark, to every beast of the earth. 11And I will establish my covenant with you; neither shall all flesh be cut off any more by the waters of a flood; neither shall there any more be a flood to destroy the earth. 12And God said, This is the token of the covenant which I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations: 13I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth. 14And it shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in the cloud: 15And I will remember my covenant, which is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh. 16And the bow shall be in the cloud; and I will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth. 17And God said unto Noah, This is the token of the covenant, which I have established between me and all flesh that is upon the earth. (Genesis 9:8‑17)).
The whole creation is made subject to vanity, and groans and travails in pain for deliverance (Rom. 8:20-2220For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope, 21Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. 22For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. (Romans 8:20‑22)). Deliverance is certain. Thorns and briers were the proof of a curse (Isa. 32:1313Upon the land of my people shall come up thorns and briers; yea, upon all the houses of joy in the joyous city: (Isaiah 32:13)); but a time is coining when “instead of the thorn shall come up the fir tree, and instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle tree” (Isa. 55:1313Instead of the thorn shall come up the fir tree, and instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle tree: and it shall be to the Lord for a name, for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off. (Isaiah 55:13)). The weak and the strong of the animal world shall also dwell happily together in the millennium (Isa. 11:6-96The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them. 7And the cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together: and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. 8And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice' den. 9They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain: for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea. (Isaiah 11:6‑9)). In a higher sense Christ has redeemed Jewish believers from the curse of the law, being made a curse for them, for cursed is every one that hangeth upon a tree (Gal. 3:1313Christ 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: (Galatians 3:13)).