The curse on the ground

[Anon]

You know, I always hear that God cursed the ground after the Garden of Eden, and indeed He did...but I just noticed something....after Noah built the altar after the flood, one of the things God said in Gen 8:21 was:

"And the LORD smelled a sweet savor; and the LORD said in his heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for man's sake....."

I didnt' realize it but it sounds like the flood kinda wiped out whatever the original curse of the ground was, and God allowed the ground to be much more fruitful than before the flood.

In Gen 5:29 it says "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."

It seems like before the flood the ground may have had a true "curse" on it. We always say our ground is cursed today because of the weeds and stuff but it sounds like it was something different before the flood.

Comments?

[JerryNumbers]

There sure are many thistles that come up in the pastures along with many other weeds that tend to choke the good grasses out.
And the row croppers sure have to fight hard against weeds in the crops they plant.
Up until the modern times there was much sweat put out in the fields hoeing, in the cotton fields they called it chopping cotton.

When I was young I went with my father cousin to measure the cotton fields, I recall seeing field hands out in the cotton fields chopping cotton. I remember being completely amazed at some of the hoes, instead of the blade on the hoes being the normal 5 or 6 inches, I remember some of them being so worn they would probably measure only an inch or two. I remember asking my cousin why they were that way, of course he told be they had been used so much they were about worn out.
I recall a widow who had a cotton farm who was carrying on the work her husband had done, she would be out in middle of the field along with the field hands at high noon chopping cotton. Never will forget her for she always had something to say to this 6 to 8 year old boy that made me feel much older. I recall my cousin telling me when cotton picking time came she was always out there picking cotton right along side of the field hands, and that all those who worked for her and used to work for her husband had the utmost respect for that family.
I might add, all the cotton fields have been gone from this part of the country for several years, I don't suppose the smaller farms could compete with the big farmers.

[deafnva77]

I think about all those giant dinos stomping on the ground, messing up everyone's gardens.

[deafnva77]

BTW, I really think is that the environment was so healthy that it enable the weeds to grow more easily.

Like a plant called Kudzu.. It came Japan but it didn't grow as well. But when the plant came to America, they were shocked how fast it grows here.. probably too fast. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kudzu

[Guest Guest]

You know, I always hear that God cursed the ground after the Garden of Eden, and indeed He did...but I just noticed something....after Noah built the altar after the flood, one of the things God said in Gen 8:21 was:

"And the LORD smelled a sweet savor; and the LORD said in his heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for man's sake....."

I didnt' realize it but it sounds like the flood kinda wiped out whatever the original curse of the ground was, and God allowed the ground to be much more fruitful than before the flood.

In Gen 5:29 it says "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."

It seems like before the flood the ground may have had a true "curse" on it. We always say our ground is cursed today because of the weeds and stuff but it sounds like it was something different before the flood.

Comments?

That is an interesting thought but I am not sure I read it that way.

"Gen 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."

To me, the "I will not again curse the ground any more for man's sake" means that he chose not to add any additional curses to the ground. God had already spoken and cursed the ground once, God had already spoken and destroyed the earth by flood once. He was promising not to do either again, but that did not undo what had already been done. :2cents

[grace2u]

:goodpost: That sounds valid to me...

[John81]

That is an interesting thought but I am not sure I read it that way.

"Gen 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."

To me, the "I will not again curse the ground any more for man's sake" means that he chose not to add any additional curses to the ground. God had already spoken and cursed the ground once, God had already spoken and destroyed the earth by flood once. He was promising not to do either again, but that did not undo what had already been done. :2cents

Agreed.

[Anon]

I can see that....

But for sake of argument...in the second verse, Noah was actually named for the fact he would be of comfort in direct response to the curse of the ground. Wouldn't that hint at the fact that the ground would improve, via Noah, in a matter of speaking?

Also I notice not long after the flood, Noah had a vineyard. Now, I do not know how easy vineyards were before the flood, I assume with the greenhouse effect there was alot of vegetation and stuff...but seems like Noah had no problem at all making a nice vineyard. I wonder if he did the same before the flood, or...?