Genesis 3:14 So the LORD God said to the serpent: “Because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock and every beast of the field! On your belly will you go, and dust you will eat, all the days of your life. 15 And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed. He will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.” BSB
God doesn’t question the serpent but simply metes out a punishment. We now see an outside force that is working against us and trying to pull us away from God. This struggle of good versus evil and light versus dark is a consequence of freedom but it is not a battle of equals. We know how the story ends as the serpent will be crushed.
Genesis 3:15 is a critically important clue for interpreting Scripture as it reflects the first mention of the Gospel and of prophecy. Of particular note is that this is the first prophecy concerning a savior. The judgement of enmity falls on the serpent yet he is not destroyed by God and will continue to disrupt and mislead future generations.
Luke 2:34 Then Simeon blessed them and said to his mother Mary, “Listen carefully: This child is destined to be the cause of the falling and rising of many in Israel and to be a sign that will be rejected. 35Indeed, as a result of him the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed – and a sword will pierce your own soul as well!” NET
Simeon has been promised by God that he will not die until he sees the Messiah which happens at the Temple during the required ceremonies for Jesus as the firstborn son. To paraphrase, while Jesus will bruise his head, the serpent will still cause some damage and inflict some sorrow. Likewise, we will experience some pushback from an adversary that is trying to undo the work of Christ and God’s plan of salvation. Not to mention how much harder it will be to remain faithful with such an adversary in place. Despite this suffering, evil will be crushed.
Genesis 3:16 And to the woman he said, “I will greatly multiply your pain in childbirth. In pain you will bring forth children. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.” 17To Adam he said, “Because you have listened to your wife’s voice, and have eaten of the tree, of which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat of it,’ cursed is the ground for your sake. In toil you will eat of it all the days of your life. 18 Thorns also and thistles will it bring forth to you; and you will eat the plants of the field. 19 By the sweat of your face will you eat bread until you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken. For you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” 20 The man called his wife Eve, because she was the mother of all living. 21 And God made clothing out of skins for Adam and for his wife, and clothed them. NHEB
It is not accidental that the Bible tells stories of difficult births such as Esau and Jacob as what should have been easy has now become perilous. Verse 20 reflects the judgement passed on the woman as Adam gives her a name just like he did for the other animals that he had dominion over. This shows the level of brokenness as the man now sees the woman as something else to master and have dominion over. Quite a change from his excitement in chapter 2 over the creation of woman.
There is a school of thought that “desire” as used in verse 16 is similar to its use in Genesis 4:7 where it means the desire to dominate. From this perspective, women have the desire to dominate over men even though the man has been ordained to rule over women. Again, the intended relationship between men and women has been damaged as a result of the fall and once the pieces are picked up, the potential is now there for something really ugly. (See https://bible.org/seriespage/lesson-10-curse-and-covering-genesis-316-24)
For Adam, what was once a paradise will now become a battle of toil and misery that ends in him returning to the dust from which he was created. Nakedness is a constant reminder of the shame from their sin and their inability to cover themselves from that sin by using fig leaves. In an act of grace, God forgives them by clothing them and covering that sin. The fact that animals were killed is a foreshadowing of the sacrifices and sacrificial system because there is a cost to forgiveness. Life will be harder for men and women but God still hasn’t given up on them.
Genesis 3:22 Then the LORD God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of Us, knowing good and evil. And now, lest he reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life, and eat, and live forever…” 23 Therefore the LORD God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken. 24 So He drove out the man and stationed cherubim on the east side of the Garden of Eden, along with a whirling sword of flame to guard the way to the tree of life. BSB
God has a conversation with God regarding another tree in the garden. The eastern church views this decision as a sign of grace. If the man and woman ate from the tree of life, they would be eternally separated from God.
Romans 16:20 And the God of peace will quickly crush Satan under your feet. NHEB