Board index ‹ Specific Bible verses, texts, and passages ‹ Genesis

[Wild One]

For those of you who take the bible literally, why do some animals feel pain during labour if they weren’t punished by god?

[jimwalton]

If you want to look at the Bible literally, you'll notice that the punishment was an "increase" in pain for the woman (Gn. 3.16), not that she would feel pain. It implies that Even could or did experience some pain prior to her sin. Pain is part of the process of childbearing, and always was—for humans and animals. There is quite some discussion about what the "increase" means. The root of the term is most often used to target mental or psychological anguish instead of physical pain, though physical pain may accompany or be the root cause of the anguish.

Andrew Spurgeon writes,

"Possibly means physically, but also possibly means emotionally. She would witness her children toil in the field in vain and ultimately die. 'Pain in childbearing' conveys something like 'conception anxiety.' God’s initial blessing of fruitfulness and multiplication would have anxiety hanging over it because of sin in the world."

Anxiety results from all the uncertainties: Will conception be possible? Will mother and child both survive? Note that this is not called a curse. Instead of thinking of the anxiety as an additional punishment, we should consider it to be the inevitable result of death, to which humans are now subject.

Carol Myers even asserts,

"This word typically translated 'pain' is actually the word for 'work,' the same Hebrew word God uses in Gn. 3.17 in telling the man what his life will be like after Eden: 'In toil you shall eat of [the ground].' Eve’s life after Eden wouldn’t be characterized by childbirth pain; rather it would involve hard work and many pregnancies, two prominent features in the lives of most Israelite women. Moreover, the word usually translated 'childbearing' is actually the word of 'pregnancy.' Thus God says, 'I will make great your toil and [many] your pregnancies.' ”