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.
Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception. This is by the figure Hendyades, because "thy sorrow" or pain "in conception." Woman's mission is that of bearing children, and the infirmities or sufferings incident to the female frame are greatly increased both in number and degree to those who are in the course of acquiring a maternal character. It is difficult, on physiological principles, to account for the various ailments of women during pregnancy, as well as the agonies attendant on parturition. It has been remarked that other creatures are commonly in a higher state of health and vigour during the period of gestation than at other times, and that they bring forth their offspring with comparative ease, while a woman forms a solitary exception; the most vigorous of the sex being frequently subject to much suffering, and even death, in the act of giving birth to their children.
And thy desire shall be to thy husband. Some connect this with the preceding clause, rendering it thus: 'Although in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children, yet thy desire or longing shall be to thy husband.' Others translate, Unto thy husband shall be thy obedience;' meaning that the desires of the woman shall be subjected to the authority and will of her husband. And he shall rule over thee. The husband, as the head is naturally invested with superior right and authority, because "the woman was created for the man, as a helpmate, and consequently dependent on him (1 Corinthians 11:9). But these have been greatly increased since the fall, and the propriety or equity of this penalty to which woman was subjected consisted in this, that as it was while acting independently and apart from Adam she attempted to shake off her allegiance to God, she was, besides being bound by the primary law of obedience to God, brought also under the additional law of submission to the yoke of her husband. In every age of the world's history woman has been found in a state of subjection; in all pagan countries she has been the slave of man, as throughout the East at the present day she is his property-his possession by purchase.
Man exercises a lordship over the weaker sex, and although in Christian nations, where the sexes are more generally restored to their just and proper relations, a wife is raised to a position of greater dignity or honourable equality in rank and privilege, yet even there women are often doomed to bear much from the will, temper, or caprice of imperious husbands. And while the spirit of Christianity is wholly averse to lordly authority, the Gospel rule still is, so long as sin remains in the hearts of believers, "Let the wife see that she reverence her husband," "Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands as unto the Lord."