GOD'S TWO-FOLD COMMAND IN GENESIS 2:15

God's words to Adam and Eve as they entered the Garden of Eden were that they were to guard and till it. Those same two verbs ('bd and smr, respectively) appear in tandem elsewhere in the Bible, but are often hard to recognize since there a variety of options translators have at hand with which to render them into English. Concerning just Genesis 2:15, we can see the following:

        NEB: till and care

        Jerusalem Bible: cultivate and take care of

        Living Bible: tend and care for

        KJV: dress and keep

        NIV: work and take care of

        RSV and NRSV: till and keep

Other possible renderings of 'abad include: do, make, move, and work. Similarly, shamar can mean: beware, look narrowly, mark, observe, preserve, regard, reserve, save, spy, take heed, wait for, or watch. Below are selected comments from different scholarly sources who attempt to shed light on this difficult passage:

Ellison: “It is to be noted that man had not only to till the garden but also to 'guard' it – take care is an unduly weak rendering of samar..; there was danger, unspecified, outside.”

Kline: “Subjugation of the earth (cf. 1:28) began with the cultivation of the garden. Keep it is perhaps a cultic charge, i.e. to guard the sanctity of God's dwelling; cf. the use of the same verb samar in 3:24; Ne. 13:22; Zc. 3:7.”

Jacques Ellul closes his book The Politics of God and the Politics of Man with what he calls 'Meditating on Inutility' in which he takes God's commands in Genesis 2:15 as a starting point. He describes our basic position with these words: “We are driven by the utility of the world and the importance of results...What matters is that it be useful.” But in contrast, he suggests, “To be controlled by utility and the pursuit of efficacy is to be subject to the strictest determination of the actual work. To want to attain results is necessarily not to be witness to the free gift of God. If we are ready to be unworthy or unprofitable servants (although busy and active at the same time), then our works can truly rebound to the glory of him who freely loved us first. God loved us because he is love and not to get results.” As one pastor of my youth once said, “God calls us to be faithful, not successful.”

Merrill says, “When God created Adam, he placed him in the garden for the express purpose of working ('bed) and overseeing (smr) it (Gen 2:15). The garden – perhaps a microcosm of all creation – provided a testing ground for humanity.” Unfortunately, this was a test which they failed to pass.

“The word we have translated dress is 'abad,' the normal Hebrew verb meaning 'to serve.' So again the note is sounded that man is placed in the garden as servant. He is there not to be served but to serve. The second verb – keep or 'tend' (Heb. samar) – carries a slightly different nuance. The basic meaning is 'to exercise great care over,' to the point, if necessary, of guarding...The same root is used in the next chapter to describe the cherubs who are on guard to prevent access to the tree of life in the garden (Gen. 3:24). The garden is something to be protected more than it is something to be possessed.” (Hamilton)

Although Hamilton neglects to mention the fact, note that both 'abad and samar appear together at the beginning and conclusion of the Garden of Eden episode to draw a boundary around it, much as there was an impenetrable boundary around the Garden, to form what is called in literary terms an inclusio.

“The expression work the ground ('abad with 'adama as object) appears in Gen. 2:5, 15; 3:23; 4:2, 12; Isa. 30:24; Zech. 13:5; Prov. 12:11; 28:19 (compare Ps. 104:14). This is an idiomatic expression and hence any effort to use the sense 'serve' in the verb 'abad is misguided.” (Collins)

But Ross says, “The two infinitives (translated 'to serve it' and 'to keep it') are...significantly chosen. The two verbs are used throughout the Pentateuch for spiritual service. 'Keep' (samar) is used for keeping the commandments and taking heed to obey God's Word; 'serve' ('abad) describes the worship and service of the Lord, the highest privilege a person can have. Whatever activity the man was to engage in in the garden (and there is no reason to doubt that physical activity was involved, it was described in terms of spiritual service of the Lord.”

Wenham expands on the above idea: “'abad 'to serve, till' is a very common verb and is often used of cultivating the soil (2:5; 3:23; 4:2,12, etc.). The word is commonly used in a religious sense of serving God (e.g. Deut 4:19), and in priestly texts, especially of the tabernacle duties of the Levites (Num 3:7-8; 4:23-24, 26, etc.). Similarly samar 'to guard, to keep' has the simple profane sense of 'guard' (4:9; 30:31), but is is even more commonly used in legal texts of observing religious commands and duties (17:9; Lev 18:5) and particularly of the Levitical responsibility for guarding the tabernacle from intruders (Num 1:53; 3:7-8). It is striking that here and in the priestly law these two terms are juxtaposed (Num 3:7-8; 8:26; 18:5-6), another pointer to the interplay of tabernacle and Eden symbolism already noted [in the rabbinic literature]. It should be noted that even before the fall man was expected to work; paradise was not a life of leisured unemployment.”

Walton's five-page exposition on the Garden of Eden episode expands even more on some of the above ideas. I will not attempt to quote him extensively here, but merely highlight a few of the ideas he brings forth in his essay:

“When we see that creation as a whole was understood in terms of a cosmic temple complex, it would be logical to understand the garden as the antechamber to the Holy of Holies. Eden proper would be the Holy of Holies, and the garden adjoins it as the antechamber...With this understanding it can be appreciated that in the aftermath of the Fall, the greatest loss was not access to paradise; it was access to God's presence.”

“The verbs 'abad and samar...are terms most frequently encountered in discussions of human service to God rather than descriptions of agricultural tasks. The verb 'abad certainly can refer to farming activity (e.g. Gen 2:5; 3:23), but in those contexts the nuance of the verb is conditioned by its direct object (the ground). When the verb does not take a direct object, it often refers to the work connected with one's vocation (e.g.Ex 20:9). The broader sense of the word is often connected to religious service deemed as worship (e.g. Ex 3:12) or of priestly functionaries serving in the sanctuary precinct (e.g. Num 3:7-10). In these cases, the object o f the verb usually refers to what or whom is being worshipped (e.g. Ex 4:23; 23:33).”

Walton's conclusion is based on four pillars: “(1) since there are several contexts in which samar is used for levitical service along with 'abad (e.g., Num 3:8-9), (2) since the contextual use of samar here favors sacred service, (3) since 'abad is as likely to refer to sacred service as to agricultural tasks and (4) since there are other indications that the garden is being portrayed as sacred space, it is likely that the tasks given to Adam are of a priestly nature: caring for sacred space was a way of upholding creation. By preserving order, chaos was held at bay. If the priestly vocabulary in Genesis 2:15 indicates the same kind of thinking here, the point of caring for sacred space should be seen as much more than landscaping or even priestly duties. Maintaining order made one a participant with God in the ongoing task of sustaining the equilibrium God had established in the cosmos.”

Additional insights into this ubiquitous verb pair can be gained by consulting the other OT references given above. As just one small example, Schutz says this regarding the Septuagint version of Proverbs 13:3; 16:7; and 19:16, “he who guards his mouth, his way, keeps the commandment (in each case phylasso) preserves or keeps his life (tereo).”