When Adam fell from grace by eating the forbidden fruit, the Lord did indeed chastise him, but did not directly curse him. However, what God did curse was the earth from which Adam (the first created man) was formed from. For as God said unto Adam, “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; Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field; 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” (Genesis 3:17-19). Even though Adam was not cursed by God directly, man would indeed suffer from the hard labor that he would now have to endure by the curse from which the Lord laid upon the earth. So it would seem that God’s punishment of Adam was by proxy, and not from a direct chastisement. Though death entered into the souls and bodies of mankind due to the transgression of our first ancestors, the earth itself also shifted into a fallen condition. A condition far from the original handy work which the Lord originally created when the earth was first formed.
Now when it comes to the serpent who was largely responsible for Adam and Eve’s fall from grace, the Bible clearly illustrates how God did indeed curse the serpent directly and personally. For it is written, “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” (Genesis 3:14). What is interesting to note about this verse is that one of God’s punishments directed at the serpent was for it to eat dust all the days of its life. Now Genesis 2:7 states that God formed man from the dust of the ground, and that now after The Fall, once a man dies he is buried in the ground and his body returns to the dust from which he was originally taken. So if man is made of dust and the cunning serpent has been cursed to eat dust, then does this mean that serpents (or at least in a symbolic form) are always lurking in wait ready to eat the flesh of men? I do believe that there is indeed a major allegory in this story which requires a deeper reading into the scriptures and is not to be taken in a literal manner. For there is indeed an underlining mystery in the first few chapters of the book of Genesis, a mystery to be pondered over and to be reflected upon. For the mysteries of God reveal and conceal at the same time. And even if we may not come to a definitive answer to these mystical questions, then maybe the quest for this hidden manna was the point all along: to seek God and listen to what the Spirit says, and with the Lord’s assistance, to eventually bringing us back to Eden and save us from the curse.
In addition to Adam’s punishment of eating bread by the sweat of his face Cain, the first son of Adam, would also be punished by God after he killed his brother Abel. And this punishment would be that the earth would not yield her fruit unto Cain as he tilled the earth. Also, when God questioned Cain as to the whereabouts of his brother Abel, the Lord tells Cain that the voice of his brother’s blood cried unto Him from the ground. God would go on to judge Cain with these words, “And now art thou cursed from the earth, which hath opened her mouth to receive thy brother’s blood from thy hand; When thou tillest the ground, it shall not henceforth yield unto thee her strength; a fugitive and a vagabond shalt thou be in the earth” (Genesis 4:11-12). So from these passages there seems to be a connection between the blood of Abel crying out to God from the ground, and that of Cain’s punishment where he is no longer able to feed himself from the fruits that grow from the ground. In addition to the soil not yielding her fruit from an evil man such as Cain, we also discover that the righteous patriarchs had a difficult time in cultivating the earth as well. But when Noah was born, Noah’s father Lamech believed that his son would deliver the holy bloodline from their hardships and labor. For Lamech said of his son Noah, that, “this same shall comfort us concerning our work and toil of our hands, because of the ground which the LORD hath cursed” (Genesis 5:29).
In another book of the Bible which mentions God cursing the earth outside of Genesis (the first book of the Old Testament) comes from Malachi (the last book of the Old Testament). God speaking through prophet Malachi says that before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD, God will send Elijah the prophet, “And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse” (Malachi 4:6). So here again do we see divine vengeance coming upon the earth where mankind live, but not God directly cursing the flesh of man, even though man’s flesh was taken from ground. But as opposed to the scriptures which speak of God cursing the earth, there lies a scripture from the Old Testament where God promises to heal the earth. And that famous verse is as follows, “If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land” (2 Chronicles 7:14). From what has been outlined in these verses, it does indeed indicate that God curses the earth due to the sins of mankind, but it is also revealed that God will also heal the earth when His children repent for their sins and turn to Him with all their heart. So from what we have covered so far, it would lead one to come to the conclusion that the earth and mankind indeed share a common bond. If men do well, the earth also shall prosper and bring forth an abundance of her fruits. Conversely, if mankind continues in sin, the earth will also be affected in a negative way and an imbalance will be found in nature.
Finally we see in the New Testament that Jesus, after He died on the cross, would spend three days and three nights in the heart of the earth (Matthew 12:40). And Ephesians 4:9 tells us that before He ascended to heaven, Christ first descended into the lower parts of the earth. Going further, 1 Peter 3:19 also reveals that when Jesus descended into Hades He preached to the spirits which were in prison. These same inmates would be bought out of their imprisonment by Jesus Christ when He ascended up on high, for as it is written, “When He ascended up on high, He led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men” (Ephesians 4:8). It is also revealed in the New Testament that at the end of the world this cursed earth will be renewed. For there will be a new heaven and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness (2 Peter 3:13). For in the Kingdom of Heaven, “there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away (Revelation 21:4). So here we see that in the age to come, not only will heaven and earth be renewed but, “there shall be no more curse” (Revelation 22:3).