Medical Punishment in Genesis

Genesis is full of instances where God uses medicinal punishments on humans. God has used medicinal punishments on humans in the book of Genesis.

God’s reaction after Adam and Eve ate from the tree which God prohibited them from eating (Genesis 2:17) is one example. Adam and Eve brought chaos into the’systems of the earth’ when they ate from the knowledge tree and disobeyed God’s commands.

God punishes Adam for disobedience. God “intensified the labor of childbearing,” and he created an unequal gender relationship where Eve would “urge for her husband to rule over [her]”, (Genesis 3:16). Adam was cursed by God, who made him work the land to survive and forced him to die.

These punishments are harsh on the surface and do not seem to be the actions or a God of goodness. Upon closer inspection, these punishments appear to be harsh and certainly not the actions of a good God. The increase in pain during childbirth is a call to humanity to develop techniques and medicine to counteract the pain. By cursing land, humans must develop agriculture methods and create order in farming. God’s teaching of Adam and Eve is to make them face disorder and suffer its pain. But he also wants them to take part in the solution. God wants his children, like a loving parent, to understand the value and meaning of good. God punishes those who do evil to motivate humanity to make the world more orderly and to not create any more disorder.

Cain being forced to wander and be banned from the earth by God after Cain murdered his brother Abel would also qualify as a form of medical punishment. God told Abel,

The ground cries “Your brother’s blood!” The ground has now forbidden you from entering it. It opened its mouth wide to accept the blood of your brother from your hand. The ground will not give you any produce if you continue to till it. You will wander the earth constantly” (Genesis 4:10-12).

Cain appears to have received a death warrant when he said, “My punishment would be too heavy to bear…Anyone might kill me just by looking at me” (Genesis 4:13-14). God then “marked Cain’s body so that nobody would kill him on sight”(Genesis 4:15).

God shows that he cares about Cain by protecting him and marking his body. God, if he had wanted ‘eye to eye’ and ‘tooth to tooth’ justice applied, would have just let Cain go. God is concerned about Cain. The punishment reflects this concern. God wants Cain, in particular, to learn about the value and importance of life. God’s blighting of agriculture is God showing the price for causing chaos in the world. In this case, murdering another human being creates disorder in a way that is very severe. Abel’s blood on the ground has also caused a ripple effect. Abel died, and so did the ground. God uses Cain’s punishment to teach humanity and Cain the importance of life.

If you compare the Old Testament with how God is represented in Christian literature of today, it may appear that the Old Testament portrayals don’t match up to our current understanding. As the deeper meanings are revealed and the motivations for the text, it is clear that the Old Testament is linked to the New Testament. God challenges and calls humanity to a higher level of being; to appreciate God’s work. God teaches humanity a lesson when it is blinded by the belief that evil is good. He does this not out of anger or malice, but because he loves and cares for humanity. God wants us, as his children, to be able to recognize the suffering that comes with disorder.

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Amy Fox is a 28 year old school blogger, who has been writing for over 10 years. She has been a student at the University of Utah for three years and is now a graduate student.