267. Verse 17. And unto the man 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 great sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life. By the "man hearkening to the voice of his wife" is signified the consent of the man [vir], or rational, by which it also averted or cursed itself, and consequently the whole external man, denoted by "cursed is the ground for thy sake." To "eat thereof in sorrow" means that the future state of his life would be miserable, and this even to the end of that church, or "all the days of his life."