It takes a Superwoman to control a Superman. How is it that God gave a woman the power over the spirit of a man and his course in life whether for good or evil. I know a man is responsible for his own choices but the woman does seem to have a certain God given power over the man that is unexplainable.
It’s a tough question but one I wanted to find the answer to. This is not just because I see it in the book of Genesis but in other places in scripture. I see it in the first man Adam. It is true Adam had a choice to either accept or refuse the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of both Good and evil but Adam still received it from Eve’s hand at her prompting not the serpents. Was there a little control involved on Eve’s part?
Other examples I see in the Old Testament is King Heriod at the request of Heroidias providing the Head of John the Baptist on a platter. In yet another case Samson provides Delilah the secret to his physical strength thus making him a captive to the philistine army and a spectacle to its citizens. Pontius Pilate listens to his wife and washes his hands before the angry crowd of Jews. It is Pilate who wishes to have nothing to do with Jesus death.
In Genesis 3:16 we read, “….thy desire will be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.” Does this mean that her desire will be to control her husband? But remember, Adam has the authority here and the final word. Does “rule over thee” imply blind submission?” In Genesis 4:7 we see sins desire is to control us. “Sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shall rule over him.” Adam and Eve were to rule over sin but not one another. Perhaps rule means something else here in Adam’s relationship with Eve. But let us now look at Eve.
But if this is true that it is by nature a woman’s desire to control her husband, what is it that breaks this desire for control as we find in Proverbs 31:12? “She will do him good and not evil all the days of her life.” Perhaps it starts though with the husband and we find the answer in Ephesians 5:33, “Nevertheless let every one of you in particular so love his wife even as himself; and the wife see that she reverence her husband.” There is no control in reverence.
Perhaps the transformation for both the husband’s desire to rule to that of love and the transformation of the wives desire to control to that of reverence can happen after all. I believe it is through God’s Word and the presence of the Holy Spirit that this transformation takes place. And they become joint heirs in Jesus Christ of the promises of God.
It is not a matter of becoming Superwoman or Superman but rather walking in love and reverence rather than ruling and controlling one another. And perhaps ruling and controlling was part of the curse for men and women; a curse we are redeemed from in Christ. For not even a Superman or Superwoman could keep the law and walk sinless before God. It took Jesus to break the unrealistic expectations of being Super anything by showing us to walk in love.