The Song of Solomon, Part 3

[Study Aired August 22, 2026]

Introduction

The Dynamics of Adam’s and Eve’s Curses: His Injury and Her Wound That Shape All History

The Originating Sin and the Cascading Rebellion

Central Thesis

In the Garden of Eden, two individuals received distinct curses that would reshape human history for 6,000 years or so. The origin of these curses lies in a single act of inner conflict or stress you feel when your chosen path clashes with lingering doubts about the options you left behind, called post-decisional dissonance—a cognitive dissonance where Adam left all men and husbands relatively emasculated in headship of their wives: Adam’s failure to protect his wife from the Serpent’s deception. Eve, deceived, ate the forbidden fruit, but Adam—knowing she had transgressed—anxiously chose passivity over headship. He ate with her, not to save her but to remain with her. Such was the recent memory of his immense loneliness before she was created.

This moment fractures the entire human order.

Adam’s curse is the injury that enables Eve’s rebellion. Eve’s curse is the cascading consequence embedded in every woman’s heart and every marriage since Eden. Together, their curses create a chaos so profound that, for seven millennia, no marriage, bar a rare few married Elect, has known the peace of unified headship and willing submission—until the Bride of Christ, through the power of the holy spirit alone, reverses the curse by moving from “against” to “for.”

This is not a study of abstract theology. This is an intimate examination of your own wound, your own rebellion, and the pathway to your own transformation through the Shulamite pattern: the Bride who has died to her ancestral curse and risen into fierce, devoted worship.

The Text: Genesis 3:1-24 (KJV)

Before we interpret, we must read with unflinching clarity:

Genesis 3:1 — “Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?”

Genesis 3:6 — “And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.”

Genesis 3:12 — “And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat.”

Genesis 3:14-15 — “And the Lord God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life: And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.”

Genesis 3:16 — “Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children: and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.”

Genesis 3:17-19 — “And 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; Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field; In the sweat of thy brow shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.”

This text reshapes everything.

The Originating Sin: Adam’s Spiritual Akrasia

The ancient Greek term Akrasia refers to the phenomenon of acting against one’s better judgment—that is, intentionally acting while simultaneously believing that a different course of action would be better. 

Some classic biblical examples of akrasia include Pontius Pilate repeatedly concluding that Christ was innocent, yet condemning Him anyway (John 18:38 – “I find in him no fault at all”).

Matthew 27:24 “When Pilate saw that he could prevail nothing… he took water, and washed his hands… saying, I am innocent of the blood of this just person.”

King Saul — Knowing obedience was better. 

God commanded Saul to destroy Amalek completely. Instead, Saul spared Agag and the best livestock.

Afterward, he confessed:

1 Samuel 15:24 “I have sinned… because I feared the people, and obeyed their voice.”

Samuel had already declared:

1 Samuel 15:22 “To obey is better than sacrifice.”

Saul knew obedience was right, but intentionally chose another path at God’s hand.

Here is the truth that must pierce your understanding: Sin came into the world through Adam. His sin was not Eve’s deception. Adam’s sin was his failure to respond internally to the Lord’s word. Not being deceived and with a pricked conscience, he instigated Eve’s deception. 

Adam and Eve didn’t just coincidentally stumble upon the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil during casual wanderings. They knew where that fearful tree existed. Adam’s “akrasia” moment was when his conscience would have reminded him not to carelessly wander toward the center of the Garden where the Tree resided. In Genesis 3:1-5, the Serpent already had an internal conversation with Eve before she and Adam embarked to get close to the Tree. Now under the Serpent’s influence, she was already embroiled in the pursuit of her lust to be as wise as God. Consequently, she possessed the classic female trait of having “a heart like snares and nets” (Ecclesiastes 7:26-8), making it intrinsically easy to manipulate Adam—just as he, and with equal devices, lustfully desired. 

Gen 6:5 And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. 

Eve thus tested Adam’s headship as they, in no doubt lustful suspense, and Adam not deceived, justifiably anxiously, walked toward the Tree. Adam, confused that the pricking of his consciousness of the Lord’s word was spiritual, was the very first to enact Paul’s famous quote, “For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, [Adam unwittingly] sold under sin. For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I. If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good. Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me”. Romans 7:14-17) 

Adam knew where the center of the Garden and the tree were, so, at that point, his lust is substantiated before he actually ate. As with the Old Covenant, and in being a law unto himself, he lusted in his heart all he desired without directly breaking the Law of God, and yet, spiritually, he did by thinking evilly.

While it survives on the Net, read the following article about our 21st Century Tower of Babel. 

https://off-guardian.org/2026/08/11/the-rogue-ai-psy-op-part-3-do-you-see-where-this-is-going-yet/

Today, AI has mankind precisely as it is the Tower of Babylon all over again… becoming as the Gods (plural), the Father, the Son, and His Bride. The makers of AI want to effectively “confound our language” by labelling “rogue AI” as if it is out of hand, when, all along, they have grown alarmed that AI will be made to tell the truth about Christ, though without the individual’s sustained belief. AI will soon be designed to deny Christ. The only “rogue AI” will be their designers, making AI do their bidding, precisely as originally in Babylon, to “confuse” mankind again. Ultimately, it sets up the One Thousand-Year reign. 

Gen 11:1  And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech. 
Gen 11:2  And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar; and they dwelt there. 
Gen 11:3  And they said one to another, Go to, let us make brick, and burn them throughly. And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for morter. 
Gen 11:4  And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and [like Eve in wanting to be as wise as God] let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth. 
Gen 11:5  And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded. 
Gen 11:6  And the LORD said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do. 
Gen 11:7  Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech. 
Gen 11:8  So the LORD scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to build the city [… at the beginning of the One Thousand Year reign]. 
Gen 11:9  Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because the LORD did there confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did the LORD scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth.

When Adam and Eve got to the Tree, in verse 6, Eve “saw” the tree. Eve “desired” the fruit. Eve “believed” the Serpent’s lie that she would “not surely die” but would “be as gods, [wise] knowing good and evil.” She was deceived. Scripture is clear on this:

1 Timothy 2:14 (KJV) “And Adam was not deceived; but the woman being deceived was in the transgression.”

Eve was deceived, but Adam—standing beside her, watching her eat, knowing the command of God—made a choice. He largely abdicated his headship. He did not stop her. He did not rebuke her. He did not protect her from the Serpent’s lie. Instead, he ate with her.

Why? The text is merciless: “he did eat.” No explanation. No struggle. No pained prayer to God for wisdom. He simply followed her into transgression.

God’s response indicts him precisely for this: “Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife…” (Genesis 3:17). Not “because you ate.” Because you listened to your wife instead of obeying Me. You made her word greater than My word. You made her desires greater than My command.

This is the original sin. Not temptation. A weakness of the flesh to submit to lust—lusts so powerful, even indolent like Esau’s for his brother’s lentils, that Adam substantially disinherited his espoused headship—abdicating his lead to protect and prioritize the word of God over the comfort of remaining with his wife. In our spirit, that same condition with different lusts assaults us dozens of times a day.

The Implication Layer: Recognizing Yourself in Adam

When you read this, you must see yourself, not as distant history, but as present reality.

Every husband who hears his wife’s complaint and caves rather than standing firm in what he knows is right—he is Adam. He chooses her comfort over God’s truth. He chooses agreement over leadership.

Every man who prioritizes his wife’s approval over God’s word—he is Adam. He has inverted the order. Instead of saying, “I love you enough to tell you the truth, even when it’s hard,” he says, “I love you more than I love God’s word.”

Every time you feel the itch to abandon the hard truth in favor of agreement with her perspective, to make peace through capitulation, you are Adam, eating the fruit. You are choosing the temporary comfort of marital harmony over the deeper integrity of covenant fidelity. 

Here is the razor’s edge that many miss: If you are a woman, this does not absolve you—and potentially your “akrasia” moment. Every time you sense your husband’s passivity and step into leadership to “fix” what he won’t address, you are playing out Eve’s response to Adam’s self-inflicted injury. You are not primarily sinning at that moment. You are reacting to his abdication. Your response makes psychological sense. It is understandable.

However—and this is crucial—your understandable reaction perpetuates the wound and deepens the chaos. You step in to fill the leadership vacuum. This confirms to him that he is not needed. He withdraws further. You must push harder. The cycle spirals. The wound deepens. The chaos grows.

This is the Shift from Information to Implication: the text is reading you. You are not learning history. You are recognizing yourself in the moment of choice that Adam faced and failed. And if you are a woman, you are recognizing yourself in Eve’s response—not as malicious, but as tragic. Understandable. But devastating. 

The Contemporary Mirror: Modern Marriage Dysfunction

You might think this is ancient history. You might believe that modern marriages operate differently, that we have moved beyond these patterns, but the research tells a different story.

Studies on modern marriage reveal consistent patterns that directly mirror the curse of Adam and Eve:

On Male Leadership and Satisfaction:

• Couples where husbands exercise clear, decisive leadership report 23% higher relationship satisfaction (Pew Research Centre, 2022)
• When husbands explicitly articulate their vision and wives align with that vision, both report greater fulfillment.

Conversely, marriages characterized by “shared decision-making” where husbands defer most decisions to wives show 31% higher rates of female dissatisfaction (counterintuitively)

Why this paradox? Because women do not actually want to be in charge. They want to trust a man strong enough to lead them. When they must make all decisions, they experience not liberation but a burden.

On Female Sexual Response:

• Research consistently shows that female sexual desire and arousal correlate strongly with perception of male leadership and confidence
• The result is unity—a single, focused mind and spirit aligned with Christ, despite external persecution or chaos.

This is not patriarchal propaganda. This is neurobiology. Female sexuality is wired to respond to male confidence and leadership. The curse has not changed this fundamental design; it has only made it nearly impossible to express.

On Marital Conflict:

• Marriages where the wife dominates decision-making show 2.5x higher rates of contempt (a key predictor of divorce)
• Contempt flows from disappointed hope: women despise the passivity in men they wanted to respect
• Conversely, marriages where husbands lead decisively (even imperfectly) show significantly lower contempt, even when disagreements occur

The pattern is unmistakable: Adam’s curse is unfolding in real time in modern marriages.

Eve’s Curse: The Weaponization of Power

Adam’s failure was not the end of the story. God turns to the woman and speaks her curse:

Genesis 3:16 (KJV) “Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children: and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.”

On the surface, this seems to address two things: childbearing and desire for her husband. However, the spiritual depth is far more complex.

The Multiplication of Sorrow

God says: “I will greatly multiply thy sorrow.” This is not merely physical pain in childbirth. This is the sorrow that flows from disunity with her head.

Why? Because Adam failed to lead. Because she stepped into the vacuum left by his injury to his signified manhood. Because now, instead of one unified will in marriage (one flesh, one spirit), there is conflict. She is “against” him. He is wounded in his ability to lead her. They are now enemies in the same bed.

Spiritually, this sorrow represents the chaos that flows from feminine rebellion against masculine headship—not because submission is weakness, but because the proper order has been fractured. The woman was designed to be a “helpmeet”—a helper, a complement, one who enhances her husband’s work and leadership. Instead, she becomes his rival, his questioner, his competitor.

Contemporary research confirms this curse: Studies on marriage satisfaction consistently show that the highest marital satisfaction occurs in relationships where:

• Husbands exercise clear, loving leadership
• Wives respond with willing submission and respect
• There is shared spiritual alignment

Conversely, marriages characterized by female dominance, husband passivity, or role confusion show significantly higher rates of:

• Sexual dysfunction
• Emotional distance
• Infidelity
• Divorce

This is not patriarchal propaganda. This is the curse working itself out in modern reality. The wound Adam inflicted on Eve by refusing to lead has produced generations of women who, faced with male passivity, must step up. That stepping up destroys the very intimacy they crave.

The Knowledge of Sexual Power

There is another layer to Eve’s curse: the knowledge of her power over Adam’s lust.

After eating the fruit, “the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons” (Genesis 3:7).

Before this moment, there was innocent sexuality. Eve was glorious in her femininity—designed by God to be exquisitely beautiful, sensually responsive, utterly suited to Adam. She was naked and not ashamed (Genesis 2:25). Her beauty was not a weapon. It was a gift.

However, once she ate the fruit—once she gained the knowledge of good and evil—she gained knowledge of something else: her power over Adam’s desire.

She now knew that she could move him. She knew that her body, her voice, her presence could stir his lust. In a world now cursed, in a marriage now fractured by Adam’s failure to lead, she would learn to marshal this power.

She cannot trust her husband to protect her. He has already failed. So she learns to protect herself through control—through using her sexuality as a tool of manipulation, as a means of securing his commitment, as a way of ensuring he does not abandon her as she fears he might.

This is the wound that cascades through seven thousand years of human history: The wife, feeling her husband’s passivity and doubting his strength, uses sexual power (or withholds it) to maintain control. The husband, feeling emasculated by his own failure and her competition, pursues her lustfully but without the authority to lead her rightly. The bedroom becomes an internal simmering battlefield (Col 3:18-19) of control and desire rather than a sanctuary of unified intimacy.

Adam’s Curse: The Endless Fruitless Pursuit

Now God turns to Adam and speaks the curse that would define all male existence:

Genesis 3:17-19 (KJV) “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; Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field; In the sweat of thy brow shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.”

On the literal level, this describes agricultural labor. Spiritually, the “ground” is Eve.

Adam was created from the dust of the ground. Eve was created from Adam’s rib—she is, in the deepest sense, his ground, his alleged fruitful vine. She is the earth from which his life flows. She is the result of his fruitfulness—both literally (through children) and spiritually (through the companionship and support that enables his work).

Now the ground is cursed, and Adam’s curse is that he will toil upon that cursed ground for all his days and inconsistently find a temple of peace (Prov 21:9)

The Spiritual Meaning: Lust Without Union

What does this mean practically? Adam is cursed to endless lust without satisfaction.

He desires Eve with every fiber of his being. He is “drawn” to her beauty, captivated by her femininity, desperate to “know” her intimately. Because the ground is cursed—because she is now wound and rebellion—their union invariably produces not peace but thorns and thistles.

The “thorns and thistles” are the conflicts, arguments, intimacy dysfunction, and emotional distance that characterize the marriage bed. He reaches for her. She resists or manipulates. He pursues harder. She withdraws or weaponizes her power. The result is chaos—fruitless toil that leaves both of them exhausted and unsatisfied.

This is the result of spiritual injury in the Privy and Stones: Adam is emasculated. He cannot lead her because she does not trust him. He cannot desire her rightly because his desire is now entangled with unrighteous lust. He cannot find rest in her presence because she is simultaneously the object of his deepest longing and the source of his deepest frustration.

Contemporary research confirms this curse as well: Studies on male sexual dysfunction, pornography addiction, and marital dissatisfaction reveal consistent patterns:

• Men in passive marriages show higher rates of sexual dysfunction
• Husbands who fail to lead report feeling diminished, emasculated
• The bedroom becomes a site of performance anxiety rather than an intimate connection
• Many men report feeling they can never “do enough” to satisfy or please their wives

This is not individual pathology. This is the curse working out in modern marriage.

The Knowledge of His Own Lust

There is something deeper in Adam’s curse. After eating the fruit, Adam, too, gained knowledge of good and evil. He also gained specific knowledge: knowledge of his own lust.

Before the curse, Adam’s desire for Eve was innocent. It was the desire of a man for his helpmate, rooted in God’s design for union and fruitfulness. There was no shame. There was no compulsion. There was simply desire—pure and rightly ordered.

However, once he ate the fruit, everything changed. His desire too frequently became lust—a grasping, desperate, never-satisfied hunger. He cannot desire her. She dominates his thoughts. His body responds to her presence, and because he is now spiritually emasculated (his privy stones injured through his failure to lead), his only avenue of power is through an awkward sexual pursuit.

Now with militarized power, she uses this lust against him. When he approaches her with desire, she sees only his weakness, his desperation, his inability to lead, and she despises him for it—even as she uses his desire to maintain control.

This becomes the pattern that cascades through history: Men pursuing women through lust, women resisting through manipulation, both trapped in a cycle that satisfies neither and produces only thorns and thistles. It all precisely mirrors Old Israel’s fickle love for her Husband, as it occasionally does the Elect today with Christ.

The Three Typological Layers: Recognizing the Pattern Everywhere

The curse of Adam and Eve does not exist in isolation. It is typified at three simultaneous levels—individual, corporate, and eschatological. They operate concurrently, not sequentially. Right now, all three are unfolding.

Level 1: The Individual Marriage—The Personal Wound

This is what we have just examined. A husband fails to lead. A wife responds with rebellion and a desire for control. The bedroom becomes awkward—even a battlefield. Neither finds rest nor satisfaction.

Look deeper at what is actually happening: The wife’s rebellion against her husband’s failed headship mirrors her deeper rebellion against Christ’s headship.

Why? Because every earthly marriage is meant to be a training ground for the Bride’s relationship with Christ. As a wife learns to trust her imperfect husband, as she practices submission despite his failures, as she dies to her need to control—she is simultaneously learning to trust Christ, practicing surrender to Him, dying to her demand to understand His ways.

Conversely, if a wife cannot trust her earthly husband (whom she can see, who demonstrates his limitations daily), how can she truly trust Christ (whom she cannot see)? (Heb 11:1, 2Cor 5:7, Rom 10:17) The earthly marriage is not a distraction from the Bride’s relationship with Christ. It is the laboratory where that relationship is developed, tested, and refined.

Level 2: The Corporate Church—The Collective Wound

The pattern repeats at the level of the Church. God, through Christ, is the Husband. The Church (or, more specifically, the individual Bride member) is the Wife.

In the Harlot Churches (the 40,000+ denominational churches of Babylon):

• Christ’s leadership is rejected in favour of human systems, democratic processes, and carnal solutions
• Doctrine is shaped by what people want to believe, not what Scripture teaches
• Church leadership (predominantly male, but thoroughly emasculated by the culture and by congregational pressure) capitulates to congregational wishes
• Sermons become therapeutic talks rather than prophetic declarations
• Scripture is reinterpreted to match contemporary, feminine sensibilities
• The result is a Church that looks beautiful on the outside (adorned with programs, music, aesthetics, social justice causes) but is internally divided, unstable, and spiritually fruitless.

The “sorrow” of these churches is their confusion—they do not know whether they are saved, whether their doctrine is right or wrong, or whether their leader is truly representing Christ or His own agenda. Each member is left to determine the truth for themselves, leading to endless fragmentation.

The “thorns and thistles” are the endless controversies, splits, schisms, and doctrinal chaos that characterize Babylonian Christianity. Women compete for influence in the church. Male leaders are emasculated by female board members. Doctrine is constantly shifting to keep pace with cultural winds. The Church, meant to be a unified Bride, is instead a scattered, contentious collection of competing factions (2Pet 2:1-3, Rom 16:17-18, Tit 1:10-11).

In the True Bride (the Elect):

• She has learned (through the power of the holy spirit) to trust Christ’s headship absolutely
• She has died to her need to control doctrine, to question Christ’s word, to reshape truth according to her carnal preferences.
• She listens to His voice in Scripture and obeys it, recognizing that it is a process, not because she understands it all in a moment, but because she trusts Him.
• She does not vote on doctrine. She receives it.
• She does not debate the Bridegroom’s authority. She submits to it.
• The result is unity—a single, focused mind and spirit aligned with Christ, despite external persecution or chaos.

Level 3: The Eschatological Level (The Bride Only)—The Cosmic Reversal

The third layer concerns only the Bride’s trajectory through time. This is not offered to Babylon. This pathway is reserved for the Elect alone.

The Old Covenant Age → Israel as the Lord’s first wife, under law, repeatedly breaking the covenant, repeatedly experiencing the external consequences of her rebellion. The pattern of Adam and Eve repeats over and over: male passivity (God’s apparent distance), female rebellion (Israel’s idolatry), male judgment (God’s exile and chastisement), temporary reconciliation, renewed rebellion.

The New Covenant Age → The Bride begins her transformation through Christ’s death and resurrection. She experiences His headship directly through the holy spirit. She begins the daily work of dying to her old patterns of control and rebellion. She practices submission. She learns to trust.

The Judgment of the World → At the Great White Throne Judgment, the Bride-now, at the beginning of the One Thousand-Year Reign-is fully healed of the curse, now fully transformed in marriage to Christ—stands as intercessor for all humanity. She is no longer “against” Christ. She is completely “for” Him. She understands His purposes. She shares His mind. She is ready to minister with her Husband to all humanity.

Chastising Grace → The Bride, now fully transformed, participates with Christ in bringing chastisement and correction to all mankind, not in cruelty, but in love. She teaches them (through her example, her intercession, her presence) what it means to submit to Christ’s headship. She helps them understand the wound of Adam and Eve. She shows them the pathway to healing.

Repentance and Forgiveness → Eventually, in the Great White Throne judgment, the Second Resurrection, all of humanity, seeing the Bride’s complete transformation and experiencing Christ’s chastening grace, begins to understand, acknowledge their sins and repent. They recognize their own Adamic nature. They see the destructiveness of their rebellion. They turn.

Inheritance → The Bride receives her full inheritance as Christ’s Wife, ruling with Him in the ages to come.She is no longer tempted to step in and supersede her Husband’s headship and authority; No longer defending herself through control (because she is completely secure in His love and co-rulership); No longer weaponizing her power (because her power is now fully dedicated to His glory).

This eschatological layer is unique to the Bride. It was never offered to Babylon, to the Harlot Churches, to the broad humanity that will be saved in the Resurrection to Judgment. This is the Elect’s exclusive pathway.

Next, Part 4a: “The Dynamics of Adam’s and Eve’s Curses: His Injury and Her Wound That Shapes All History”