Because Eve comes from Adam, and is called to help Adam, when God curses her, he curses that work. Just as he made Adam’s work toilsome by setting the ground against him, he makes Eve’s work toilsome by setting her against him. The curse creates a paradoxical ambivalence in woman: by nature she desires to serve her husband, but in the flesh she is no longer willing to give herself up to him. Fortunately, scripture gives us guidance to understand what this looks like, so as to avoid it, and models virtuous women like Abigail, so that wives may know what to strive for instead.

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