Sorry this is lengthy but explains what im trying to say
To the serpent, he altered the animal's shape so that it had to crawl on its belly. In addition, he made a natural repulsion between the serpent's kind and the woman's kind. Even today, thousands of years later, there is a natural fear of snakes especially among women. Some people overcome their fear of snakes, but in general there is a natural dislike between snakes and people. In verse 15, there is a prophecy made about a future event. There would be hatred between a descendant of the snake and a descendant of the woman. The snake's descendant would bruise the woman's descendant's heel -- in other words, cause a minor wound. However, the woman's descendant would bruise the serpent's descendant's head -- in other words, deliver a mortal blow. Our benefit of hindsight tells us what happened. The descendant of the woman is Jesus. Jesus was born to a woman, but he did not have an earthly father. The serpent's descendant can be seen as either Satan himself, or those who follow after Satan. Satan bruised Jesus by arranging for his death on the Cross. This was only a minor wound, because God raised Jesus back to life. However, that resurrection was a mortal blow to Satan. Until that time, everyone eventually died. Satan used the power of death as the ultimate club to get his way. Since Jesus overcame death, Satan's club was destroyed. See
Hebrews 2:14-15and
I Corinthians 15:20-28.
Notice that death is another consequence of the sin of Adam and Eve. Until this time, there was no death. All creatures ate plants (see
Genesis 1:30). Adam and Eve had access to the Tree of Life and therefore could live forever (see
Genesis 3:22). By their sin, they introduced physical death into the world, giving Satan a mighty weapon to use against them and their descendants. God said they would surely die on the day they ate of the forbidden fruit. The Hebrew word for death in
Genesis 2:17 literally means "dying you shall die." Adam and Eve did die a spiritual death immediately when they ate the fruit. Their sin separated them from God (
Isaiah 59:2). But in their spiritual death, they also began to die physically. It wasn't just them. Their sin brought death to the whole creation (
Romans 8:18-23).
The woman too received punishment for her sin. Just like the serpent, the punishment did not just effect her, but also all those who came after her. The first punishment was that childbirth would no longer be easy. It will be filled with sorrow and pain. Bearing children is not easy: from the morning sickness when the woman is first pregnant, to the discomfort of carrying a child, to the extreme pain of the actual birth, to the depression that follows as the woman's body returns to normal function. The second punishment was that the woman would no longer be emotionally independent. She would become emotionally bonded to her husband, becoming the follower, with the husband being the head of the family. Some women fight against this natural law, but it is a fact that this law exists.
The man also was punished for his sin. Like the serpent and the woman, the man's punishment did not effect Adam only. It applies to all men who descended from him. Until this time, Adam only had to do light work to care for the Garden. From this point on, man would have to labor hard for a living. The world would no longer cooperate and make it easy to earn a living. Even to this day, it is the man's responsibility to earn a living for his family. That work rarely comes easily, even if some of us do not do manual labor. The second half of the punishment is the affirmation of Adam, and all mankind's, eventual death.
The last consequence of Adam and Eve's sin was banishment from the Garden. The purpose of the banishment was to remove Adam and Eve's access to the Tree of Life. An angel (sometimes called a cherubim) was placed in the garden to ensure that no one could enter the garden. Their banishment also put a physical distance between them and their God who would walk at times in the garden. This is a physical representation of their spiritual separation.
As a gesture of kindness, God replaced their inadequate fig leaf garments with tunics made of animal skins. This may have been the first death after their sin, when an animal was killed to produce the skins for Adam and Eve's clothing. A tunic is a long shirt that goes from shoulder to the knees; it is similar to long tee-shirts used for nightshirts. The tunic became the basic garment for mankind for thousands of years.
