Identifying The Curse

Genesis 2:5 And every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew: for the LORD God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was not a man to till the ground.

Geenesis 2:15 And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it

Adam was not put in the garden to till and plant it. It already produced natural herbs. He was to dress it or keep it in good shape. He would prune the branches. He did not have to deal with weeds at this time.

The Curse begins in Genesis 3:14 with the curse of the serpent

Genesis 3:14 ¶ And the LORD God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life:

The serpent would be forced to move on the face of the earth with it's belly actually sliding along producing dust. The ground was used in punishment of the serpent. The pure ground that God created to naturally produce perfect fruit (after it's own kind) now a curse to the serpent.

The curse continues with Adam sin.

Ge 3:17 ¶ And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life;
18 Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field;
19 In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return

Ge 4:11 And now art thou cursed from the earth, which hath opened her mouth to receive thy brother's blood from thy hand;
Ge 5:29 And he called his name Noah, saying, This same shall comfort us concerning our work and toil of our hands, because of the ground which the LORD hath cursed

Ge 8:21 And the LORD smelled a sweet savour; and the LORD said in his heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for man's sake; for the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth; neither will I again smite any more every thing living, as I have done.

There were three time The LORD cursed (caused it not to produce as it should) or used the land to punish man's sin .[Four times if you count the serpent]

Genesis 3:17-18, Genesis 4:11-12:, Genesis 6:17

Isaiah 24:6 Therefore hath the curse devoured the earth, and they that dwell therein are desolate: therefore the inhabitants of the earth are burned, and few men left.

Isaiah 43:28 Therefore I have profaned the princes of the sanctuary, and have given Jacob to the curse, and Israel to reproaches.

Daaniel 9:11 Yea, all Israel have transgressed thy law, even by departing, that they might not obey thy voice; therefore the curse is poured upon us, and the oath that is written in the law of Moses the servant of God, because we have sinned against him.
Zechariah 5:3 Then said he unto me, This is the curse that goeth forth over the face of the whole earth: for every one that stealeth shall be cut off as on this side according to it; and every one that sweareth shall be cut off as on that side according to it

The principle points of the curse

The Serpent - A creature possessed by Satan: Satan, The Devil -

Revelation 12:9 And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.

Revelation 20:2 And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years,

Adam - The first man - created perfect, sinless, in the image of the Godhead.

brought sin into the world and death by sin [Sin kills]

Romans 5:12 Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:

The Ground Before The Curse- Where God put all the original plants and herbs before they grew

Genesis 2:5 And every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew.....

The ground or earth originally only produces what God had already placed in it - perfect, good plants only had to be dressed by Adam Genesis 2:15

The plants & herbs before the curse - would naturally grow Genesis 2:5, no thorns or thistles

The Ground After the curse - naturally produced thorns & thistles

Gene 3:18T horns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field

The plants & herbs after the curse

Had to be cultivated ground tilled to kill the weeds and good seeds planted

What man cultivated were for him to eat (Genesis 3:18) He was no longer just eat fruit and seed from the herbs

Genesis 1:29 ¶ And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat

The seeds had to used to raise the plants. growing food became a never ending cycle of tilling, planting, weeding, harvesting, eating and all requiring hard labor

Read

Luke 8:4-16 [V 11 -Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God.]

Matthew 13:1-23 [V19-....that which was sown in his heart]

From these portions of scripture we learn seed is a picture of the word of God and the ground is a picture of the hearts of man where the Word is planted.

Could the cursed serpent be a picture of Satan moving upon and corrupting the hearts of man that God has cursed and and naturally produce wicked thoughts .The Word of God can not naturally grow in the hearts of man until  the husbandman of God prepares the ground.

 The curse is the surse The LORD placed upon the hearts of man - the offspring of the first aAdam.