Eve’s evasion has not succeeded and even though the Lord has gone on to question the serpent, he now returns to her and then to Adam. Oh the depths of the ways of God.
There is however a deeper meaning in these words. The sorrow which the woman suffers in physical childbirth is, in Revelation 12:2, made a symbol of the suffering which the spiritual Israel suffers as she plays her part in the plan of God. She too, as it were, brings a child into the world, Christ, Saviour of the world, and she too experiences inexpressible joy that the child, the incarnate Son of God, has been born into the world.
Why does her punishment effect the area of childbearing? Because this is a part of human life which distinctively belongs to the woman. God changed her in a way that is not explained so that the delivery of children was a painful and costly experience for her. What should have been and mix joy to her – the bringing forth of children – was now mixed with sorrow. Nevertheless her sorrow would turn to joy as each child came into the world (John 16:21).