To the woman He said: “I will greatly multiply your sorrow and your conception; in pain you shall bring forth children; your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you.”
Barbara Johnson did an outstanding job of editing my commentary on Genesis for The Grace Old Testament Commentary. Volume 1, covering the Pentateuch, is due to be released at our May 2026 conference.
While going through her comments, I found this question, “You are repeating the Scripture term rather than defining it. What does ‘rule over you’ mean?” Good question.
To answer that question, we must interpret “your desire shall be for your husband.”
The Hebrew word used here for desire only occurs two other times in the OT—Gen 4:7 and Song 7:10.
If that refers to physical attraction and procreation (cf. Song 7:10), then the Lord was saying that she would have a strong desire for Adam. If so, the words “he shall rule over you” indicate that he would take the lead in procreation. He would lead in that dance.
If “your desire shall be for your husband” means that Eve would want to control her husband, then “he shall rule over you” shows that after the Fall, God’s plan was for man to control the wife and the family. Hamilton says,
Here is a case where the clear meaning of 4:7 [where the same word desire occurs] illuminates a less clear meaning of 3:16. What 4:7 describes is sin’s attempt to control and dominate Cain. Because his offering has been rejected by God he is seething with anger. In such an emotional state he is easy prey for sin which crouches lionlike and waits to jump on him. Cain is to fight back, turn the tables, and dominate sin and its desire.
Applied to 3:16, the desire of the woman for her husband is akin to the desire of sin that lies poised, ready to leap at Cain. It means a desire to break the relationship of equality and turn it into a relationship of servitude and domination (Genesis 1-17, pp. 201-202).
Before the Fall, Adam was in charge. Eve was created to help him, but she was not bothered by that. After the Fall, she would be bothered by it. It would require a spiritual mindset for her to accept this role with equanimity.
Yet another option— still resulting in rulership in marriage as the issue— is to translate that first phrase: “your desire was for your husband.” Allen Ross comments, “Because Eve’s desire probably refers in this context to her prompting Adam to sin, it is better to translate the verse, ‘Your desire was for your husband.’ Having overstepped her bounds in this, she would now be mastered by him” (“Genesis” in The Bible Knowledge Commentary, p. 33, emphases his).
Mathews makes this excellent summary statement, after rejecting the view that sexual desire is in view: “Thus the Lord affirms in the oracles of judgment the creation order: the serpent is subjected to the woman, the woman to the man, and all to the Lord” (Genesis 1-11:26, p. 251).
Evangelical feminists are egalitarian and strongly opposed to the complementarian interpretation. However, it is the most natural understanding, considering the immediate context and Gen 4:7. It is also consistent with the teaching of the NT (e.g., 1 Cor 11:3; Eph 5:23).
Mathews went on to say that in Scripture, this rule of the man is restricted in order to eliminate “harsh dominance.” The man is to lead in a loving way (Eph 5:23–33).
Yes. Genesis 3:16 does teach that husbands are to rule over their wives.
Keep grace in focus and you will remain spiritually minded.
