Genesis 2:15

Genesis 2:15

And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.

 a. NLT: The LORD God placed the man in the Garden of Eden to tend and watch over it. [Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.]

b. ASV: And Jehovah God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it. [Thomas Nelson & Sons first published the American Standard Version in 1901. This translation of the Bible is in the public domain.]

c. YLT: And Jehovah God taketh the man, and causeth him to rest in the garden of Eden, to serve it, and to keep it. [The Young's Literal Translation was translated by Robert Young, who believed in a strictly literal translation of God's word. This version of the Bible is in the public domain.]

d. Classic Amplified: And the Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to tend and guard and keep it. [Amplified Bible, Classic Edition (AMPC) Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation]

e. Septuagint: And the Lord God took the man whom he had formed, and placed him in the garden of Delight, to cultivate and keep it.

f. Stone Edition Torah/Prophets/ Writings: HASHEM God took the man and placed him in the Garden of Eden, to work it and to guard it. [The Artscroll Series/Stone Edition, THE TANACH--STUDENT SIZE EDITION Copyright 1996, 1998 by Mesorah Publications, Ldt.]

1. “And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden…”

a. [And the] LORD [Strong: 3068 Yhovah yeh-ho-vaw' from 1961; (the) self-Existent or Eternal; Jehovah, Jewish national name of God:--Jehovah, the Lord.]

b. God [Strong: 430 'elohiym el-o-heem' plural of 433; gods in the ordinary sense; but specifically used (in the plural thus, especially with the article) of the supreme God; occasionally applied by way of deference to magistrates; and sometimes as a superlative:--angels, X exceeding, God (gods)(-dess, -ly), X (very) great, judges, X mighty.]

c. took [Strong: 3947 laqach law-kakh' a primitive root; to take (in the widest variety of applications):--accept, bring, buy, carry away, drawn, fetch, get, infold, X many, mingle, place, receive(-ing), reserve, seize, send for, take (away, -ing, up), use, win.]

d. [Strong: 853 'eth ayth apparent contracted from 226 in the demonstrative sense of entity; properly, self (but generally used to point out more definitely the object of a verb or preposition, even or namely):--(as such unrepresented in English).]

e. [the] man [Strong: 120 'adam aw-dawm' from 119; ruddy i.e. a human being (an individual or the species, mankind, etc.):--X another, + hypocrite, + common sort, X low, man (mean, of low degree), person.

f. [and] put [him] [Strong: 3240 yanach yaw-nakh' a primitive root; to deposit; by implication, to allow to stay:--bestow, cast down, lay (down, up), leave (off), let alone (remain), pacify, place, put, set (down), suffer, withdraw, withhold. (The Hiphil forms with the dagesh are here referred to, in accordance with the older grammarians; but if any distinction of the kind is to be made, these should rather be referred to 5117, and the others here.)]

g. [into the] garden [Strong: 1588 gan gan from 1598; a garden (as fenced):--garden.]

h. [of] Eden [Strong: 5731 `Eden ay'-den the same as 5730 (masculine); Eden, the region of Adam's home:--Eden.]

2. “...to dress it and to keep it.”

a. [to] dress [Strong: 5647 `abad aw-bad' a primitive root; to work (in any sense); by implication, to serve, till, (causatively) enslave, etc.:--X be, keep in bondage, be bondmen, bond-service, compel, do, dress, ear, execute, + husbandman, keep, labour(-ing man, bring to pass, (cause to, make to) serve(-ing, self), (be, become) servant(-s), do (use) service, till(-er), transgress (from margin), (set a) work, be wrought, worshipper,]. [Note D.C: many uses, context critical].

1). Labor as an institution was created by God in Genesis 2:1-3 and was given to man in this verse (Genesis 2:15).

a). Genesis 2:1-3 Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them.

2:2 And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made.

2:3 And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made.

b. [and to] keep it  [Strong: 8104 shamar shaw-mar' a primitive root; properly, to hedge about (as with thorns), i.e. guard; generally, to protect, attend to, etc.:--beward, be circumspect, take heed (to self), keep(-er, self), mark, look narrowly, observe, preserve, regard, reserve, save (self), sure, (that lay) wait (for), watch(-man).] 

1). Man was placed in the garden to dress and keep it. One of the responsibilities of Adam was to protect the garden that God put him over. This same Hebrew word is translated “observe” in Joshua 1:8. The exact location of the garden of Eden is unknown, but some of the names of the rivers are known today and using those, place Eden somewhere in lower Mesopotamia, modern Iraq. Some scholars argue though that the topography of the earth was so drastically altered by the flood, it is highly unlikely that these same named rivers are in the location of the original rivers. The condition of the earth was much different than what we see today. There were no destructive insects, thorns, weeds of any kind. These did not appear until after the fall of man.

a).  Genesis 3:17, 18 And unto Adam 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 sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life;

3:18 Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field;

2). Can work be worship? Adam was given a holy duty to work the ground. In Hebrew we see that Adam himself was created from the very ground he was now commissioned to work. In Hebrew the word “ground” is אֲדָמָה (adamah) and the name of first human is אָדָם (adam), because he was taken from the ground. (You can hear the connection adam/adamah). There are several different words in Hebrew that communicate the idea of worship. One interesting word that appears in Genesis, when God commands Adam to work the ground in Garden of Eden, is the Hebrew word עֲבודָה  (avodah). This word is often translated as “work”, but it also can be understood as “service”. In fact, it was used to describe the work [of] Israel’s priests. So, was it work or worship? Well… both. Serving God is work, but there is a reason that it also means “service”. When God tasked Adam with working the ground in the Garden of Eden, it was not yet something affected by sin and death. Adam’s work of taking care of God’s creation, was both his job and his worship. Dr. Lizorkin-Eyzenberg July 5, 2017 https://weekly.israelbiblecenter.com/can-work-worship/