After Adam and Eve eat from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, God discovers what they did. What follows is God's punishments which are better known as curses. These curses leave both Adam and Eve with increased labor, but in different kinds of labor. The hot debate is what exactly was meant by death in the first place and did death really happen for Adam and Eve?
The Snake's Curse
God curses the snake to crawling on it's belly and eat the dirt. Some have stated this is the explanation for why snakes have no legs. Most generally agree it is meant as an ultimate humiliation and God's defeat of evil.
Eve's Curse
The statement of God concerning Eve's increased labor pains is clear, but the unclear statement concerns Eve's desire for her husband and he will rule over her. Different opinions of interpretation have included how Eve will now have the "hots" or desire for her husband. The statement of ruling over her as been a debate about what is meant by Adam ruling over her most generally thought of a being inferior to. There is also the opinion it refers to the battle of the sex's over who will rule over who, but it might just explain the different roles of genders. Desire can mean that Eve will have relations with her husband to bear children and the husband it to care for her. This can be linked to the understanding of how humans are to rule over the earth which some state means we are to care for the earth.
Adam's Curse
Just as Eve's labor pain has increased, so does Adam's. This is observed by how Adam is now going to be working the land to be able to survive. God tells Adam he will return to the ground where he came from so it could be possible that the ground will cause pain which is death. This leads us to the important question.
God's "On very day" vs. "Eventually"
The important question many have asked concerns God's law over the Tree of Knowledge. God stated in the beginning, on the very day they would die. So did God bend his own law and so forgiveness for their choice? The most common conclusion is Adam and Eve did receive death because they were no longer immortal. There is another conclusion concerning spiritual death. This spiritual came with not only a broken relationship with God, but a broken relationship between Adam and Eve. The last suggestion for interpretation is Adam and Eve received a harsher punishment then death since they lived with little work before but now find themselves having to work more painfully.
So did God bend his own law and find forgiveness for Adam and Eve or did God just deal out a harsher punishment for the choice made. In the Life Application Study Bible, it states Adam will surely die, so I would say that God didn't bend his own law, handed at a equal punishment, and managed to forgive in the end. God's forgiveness is seen when he helps them make their clothes.
