Submission is so totally wrong it is ridiculous. Since you elected not to go to the article I posted, which says it better than I can, I will post the whole article.
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TESHUQAH: A RARE WORD
Several words that are crucial in understanding what the Bible shows us about the relationship between men and women are rare and somewhat obscure in their original languages. I’ve previously written about the Hebrew word
kenegdo which occurs only twice in the Old Testament (in
Genesis 2:18 and
20). And I’ve looked at the Greek word
authentein which occurs only once in the New Testament (in
1 Timothy 2:12). In this post I look at the Hebrew word teshuqah in
Genesis 3:16. This word also occurs in
Genesis 4:7 and
Song of Solomon 7:10. Three times in all.
In
Genesis 3:16 God says to the woman:
“I will greatly multiply
Your pain in childbirth,
In pain you will bring forth children;
Yet your desire (teshuqah) will be for your husband,
And he will rule over you.” NASB
Until Susan Foh wrote her 1974-5 paper What is a Woman’s Desire?, many Bible translators were content to understand teshuqahas simply meaning “desire” and “longing”.[1] A few English translations such as the NLT and NET, however, show the influence of Foh’s paper. They have translated teshuqah as “desire to control” and “want to control” in
Genesis 3:16. Is “a desire to control” what the original authors meant in Genesis and in Song of Solomon?
TESHUQAH IN HEBREW LEXICONS
In the Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew Lexicon (BDB) it says that teshuqah means “longing”: a longing of woman for man in
Genesis 3:16; a longing of man for woman in
Song of Solomon 7:11;[2] and, figuratively, a longing of a beast (representing sin) to devour Cain in
Genesis 4:7.[3] Furthermore, BDB claims that teshuqah is derived from a stem shuq which means “attract, impel, of desire, affection”.[4]
Gesenius likewise states that teshuqah is derived from the stem shuq which has the meanings “to run after, to desire, to long for anything; whence תְּשׁוּקָה [teshuqah means] desire, longing.”[5] Other lexicons, such as HALOT, also define teshuqah as “desire, longing.” None of these lexicons, however, connect teshuqah with a desire to control.
Screenshot of the second meaning of shuq with teshuqah (in Hebrew letters)
As it appears in Gesenius’ lexicon.
Teshuqah may simply mean “desire”. If so, it is the context which supplies what kind of desire is being spoken of.[6]
TESHUQAH AND THE CONTEXT OF GENESIS 3:16
There have been several ways of understanding what “desire” means in the context of
Genesis 3:16. Here are four of the more common interpretations.
1. A woman will desire a husband and marriage despite the pain that comes with having children.
When God speaks to the woman in
Genesis 3:16, he begins by telling her that having children will be a painful experience. It is immediately after God gives this information that he says, “your desire will be for your husband . . .” So perhaps we are meant to understand that even though childbirth and child rearing will involve pain and sorrow, a woman will still desire to be married and have a family. (In the days before contraceptives, the primary reason for marriage in practically all cultures was to raise a family.) The use of the word “yet” in the NRSV and NASB indicates that this may be the preferred interpretation of the NRSV and NASB translators: “. . . in pain you will bring forth children; Yet your desire will be for your husband . . .” (NASB, italics added)
2. A woman will desire marriage and sex despite this intimacy being marred by her husband’s rule.
Instead of looking at the preceding phrases, perhaps we are meant to look at the last phrase of
Genesis 3:16 (“he will rule over her”) to give us the context of teshuqah. If so, then the meaning is that a woman will desire to be married, and have a longing for her husband, even though the intimacy and joy of marriage will be marred by her husband’s rule. The use of the word “but” in the CEB translation indicates that this may be their preferred interpretation: “You will desire your husband, but he will rule over you.” (Italics added)
Some have understood the woman’s desire to be sexual lust, rather than simply a longing for, or a longing towards, a husband. Keil and Delitzsch include an overstatement in their commentary on
Genesis 3:16 describing the woman’s teshuqah as an almost manic desire: “she was punished with a desire bordering upon disease (תּשׁוּקה from שׁוּק to run, to have a violent craving for a thing).”[7]
3. A wife’s own desires are submitted to her husband.
Another interpretation found in quite a few older commentaries is that a woman’s own desires, or the determination of her own will,[8] will be submitted and referred to her husband, and he will grant or deny her desires as he sees fit.[9] This disturbing interpretation, and variations on it, seem to have been popular in the last several centuries.[10]
4. A wife will desire to control her husband.
Foh’s interpretation, adopted by some, is that a women will desire to control her husband,[11] but, despite this desire, her husband will rule her. Foh bases her interpretation on a comparison of
Genesis 3:16 with
Genesis 4:7 where the keywords teshuqah and mashal (“rule”) also occur. However, there are some significant differences between
Genesis 3:16 and
4:7.
In
Genesis 4:7, sin is unmistakably depicted as Cain’s adversary, crouching at the door; and Cain is told that he must master sin and that this is the right thing to do. Foh believes Eve is similarly presented in
Genesis 3:16 as Adam’s adversary, but this is not explicit in the text.[12]
Furthermore, while Cain is directly told by God to master or rule sin, Adam is nowhere told by God to master or rule Eve. In fact, God never tells men to rule women. The “rule” spoken of in
Genesis 3:16 is a consequence of sin. It is not divinely commanded, as in 4:7, and it does not refer to a beneficial rule.[13] The contexts of 3:16 and 4:7 are different, even though they share two keywords.[14]
Update: the meaning of “single-minded devotion” is given in
this more recent article.
CONTINUED BELOW