The Curse

Concise Bible Dictionary:

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)).