Punishment and Promise
The Expulsion of Adam and Eve from Paradise by Benjamin West (1738-1820)
Chapter 3 of Genesis concludes with an account of God delivering his sentence on Adam and Eve - and the serpent.
The serpent is cursed by God to ‘go upon its belly’ and ‘eat dust for all the days of its life’. Eve learns that from now on she will experience great pain during childbirth, that her relationship with her husband will be contaminated by lust and a struggle for dominance. Adam is condemned to onerous and frustrating work which will often be largely fruitless. (Genesis 3:14-19).
