‘And to the man he said, “Because you have listened to your wife's voice, and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you ‘you shall not eat of it', cursed is the ground because of you; in toil (pain) you shall eat of it all the days of your life, thorns and thistles it will produce for you, and you will eat the herb of the field. In the sweat of your face you will eat food until you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; you are dust and to dust you will return”.'
It is noteworthy that God does not curse the man, as He cursed the snake. Unlike the snake, the man is ‘on his own', a weak earth creature. There is no one behind him deserving to be cursed. But from now on it is his daily provision that is cursed, something that will constantly remind him of his position and what he has done. Thus as with the snake the curse is one step removed from the guilty party. The snake is cursed as representing the evil power behind it, the ground is cursed as representing the man.
From now on man will have to toil in pain for his food against ever increasing difficulties. He will have to contend with thorns and thistles, which will be ever ready to prevent the growth of what he will eat. It is the vegetation that tears at his hands and prevents him having food that will grow on its own, as once, in contrast, the trees of the garden had grown on their own to provide him with food. Seeking his food will be a constant struggle. The place to which he will be sent will not have sufficient trees to provide his food. It must now be sought amidst thorns and thistles, which will tear not only his hands, but his heart.
“Cursed is the ground because of you.” Contrast the description of the land that is blessed in Deuteronomy 33:13-15, it is well-watered and fruitful, full of precious things. The thought here is of land unwatered and unfruitful except as a result of hard labour.
“In the sweat of your face you will eat food”. The water of the river in the garden is replaced by the sweat of his brow. Now he will be dependent on the vagaries of rain and weather, and life will be a constant and almost unendurable struggle.
Then, in the end, the ground that has been cursed will receive him, and he will become once more part of the ground. He will return to the dust. Thus the curse will fully attach to him in the end. But the cursing of the ground and not the man is God's indication that in mercy He is delaying punishment. The man will die, but not yet.
It will be noted that the warning ‘in the day that you eat of it you will surely die' has not been carried into literal fruition. Neither the man nor the power behind the snake will receive their deserts as yet. The writer indeed wants us to see that a new phase is beginning in God's purposes. He is acknowledging that the man has not fallen because he independently chose to rebel against God, but because another more sinister power dragged him down. Thus God will show mercy to him so that he in his turn, along with his descendants, can reverse the situation and bring down that evil power. He will yet bruise the head of ‘the snake'. Yet the sentence is only delayed, for, as God has already declared, one day the ground that has been cursed will receive him. He is but dust, and dust he will become.