The first word in Hebrew is "abad", it denotes preparing and tending. To work, serve, till, enslave, husbandman etc.... one I found interesting was "worshiper"
The second word is "shamar" means to put a hedge about (as with thorns) ie: to guard. Generally to protect attend to etc...also one I liked was "to serve"
It seems this two very same words are used together the same way in Numbers 3:7-8 and 18:7 when the work of the priests and Levites are described in the tabernacle : "minister/serve" - abad and "guard" - shamar
Gen 2:15 And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.
Hebrew word for 'DRESS':
H5647
עבד
‛âbad
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.
Hebrew word for 'KEEP'
H8104
שׁמר
shâmar
shaw-mar'
A primitive root; properly to hedge about (as with thorns), that is, guard; generally to protect, attend to, etc.: - beware, 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).
Work is not the result of sin because it appears God gave us a job to do before we sinned. So I ask myself am I tending and guarding the gifts God has given me? ....
....But wait...!...
....Theses gifts do not belong to me! ; I am to tend and guard what belongs to God! (Like the husbandmen of a garden that belongs to another).
Ahhhhh....you mean this isn't. 'All about Me?'
Wow! what a new way to look at life...
....it all belongs to God and we are to tend it and protect it.
I will have to remember this the next time I meet with a difficult person or situation ...how God wants me to deal with what is His. And how about the things I think I own? Shouldn't I care for them as if they were the LORD's ? Cause they really are!
I don't think I am being a very good servant protector gardener
*sigh*
Jesus please give me a new attitude towards all that is around me; that it is all yours, please bestow on me the wisdom, energy, fortitude, patience, courage and discipline to do the job you have given me in Joy. For you have prepared good works in advance for us to do, just like you did for Adam and Eve.
Gen 3:1 Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?
Gen 3:2 And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden:
Gen 3:3 But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.
Gen 3:4 And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die:
Gen 3:5 For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.
Gen 3:6 And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.
Gen 3:7 And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons.
OK, you guys are making this way to difficult. Adam and Eve had to eat, therefore God made a garden, fruits and vegetables, nuts, berries, herbs (what good is a tomato w/o basil?) etc. So yes they had to pick the fruit and take care of the garden. Could of been rows and rows of stuff, contrary to every drawing we have ever seen.
Once a garden is established it is not hard labor to maintain it, pull a weed or two (weed being anything you don't want, if you don't want carrots in you broccoli it is a weed!) The hard labor didn't come until the the curse.
Have you ever seen reruns of the 'GONG', show 'GONG'.
Why was Adam to 'KEEP' the garden.
I wonder if the wisdom of GOD is within the following Scripture.
Eze 28:11 Moreover the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
Eze 28:12 Son of man, take up a lamentation upon the king of Tyrus, and say unto him, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Thou sealest up the sum, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty.
Eze 28:13 Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God; every precious stone was thy covering, the sardius, topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold: the workmanship of thy tabrets and of thy pipes was prepared in thee in the day that thou wast created.
Eze 28:14 Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth; and I have set thee so: thou wast upon the holy mountain of God; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire.
Eze 28:15 Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee.
Eze 28:16 By the multitude of thy merchandise they have filled the midst of thee with violence, and thou hast sinned: therefore I will cast thee as profane out of the mountain of God: and I will destroy thee, O covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire.
Eze 28:17 Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness: I will cast thee to the ground, I will lay thee before kings, that they may behold thee.
Eze 28:18 Thou hast defiled thy sanctuaries by the multitude of thine iniquities, by the iniquity of thy traffick; therefore will I bring forth a fire from the midst of thee, it shall devour thee, and I will bring thee to ashes upon the earth in the sight of all them that behold thee.
Eze 28:19 All they that know thee among the people shall be astonished at thee: thou shalt be a terror, and never shalt thou be any more.
