Keep
“Then the Lord took the man and put him into the garden of Eden to cultivate it and keep it.” Genesis 2:15
Keep – I take “keeping” seriously. I have been known, much to my regret these days, to place too much value on the things that I have. I was probably one of those kindergarten students who had a hard time sharing. Fortunately, I don’t remember if my sense of community was challenged at age five. But I suspect it was. I have a lot of nice things and I have a strong tendency to guard them diligently and care for them with detailed attention. Sometimes to the exclusion of more important parts of life.
That tendency is not always inappropriate. It only becomes a problem when the value I place on these things prevents me from seeing my larger role as God’s steward of the gifts He gives to me. There is always the temptation that I will begin to think of what He has loaned to me as though it is mine to do with as I please. This verse reminds me that all that I have comes from Him. All of my possessions and all of my relationships. I am only the custodian.
God assigned a protective responsibility to Man from the moment of creation. The word here is shamar. While it does mean “keep”, it carries the sense of “to look after with great care”. It is often found in conjunction with another word, nasar, that means “to protect”. So we see that God intends us to pay attention to those things He puts in our lives, not least of which is His creation.
Have you ever visited someone whose home displays considerable lack of care? We see haphazard collections, messy clutter and lack of cleanliness as indicators of character. It’s not always the case. There are sometimes extenuating circumstances. But lack of care is not usually a good sign. The same can be said for the way we treat our bodies. The implication of shamar and nasar is the God places the responsibility for tending His creation in our hands. And He holds us accountable. When we live lifestyles that abuse our bodies and hoard our possessions, we are violating a responsibility that has a very long history – right back to Day Six. Care-taking is God’s way.
Hi Skip. I do agree with what you have said. However, I have a perspective question: How do you cultivate and keep that which is perfectly created…and before the fall? There must be something else to this in regards to cultivating and keeping (or taking care of the garden).
I am not so sure we were intended to cultivate what was in the Garden before the fall. Maybe that story is there only to inform us that returning to the Garden is now impossible, so get used to dealing with this world and restoring what can still be done.
Just another aspect to consider is that keeping the garden isn’t so much about what’s growing as much as it’s about keeping the “order” that was given. As an example, returning good for evil is a good order and is prosperous in the kingdom. Returning evil for good, or returning evil for evil is destructive. It’s interesting to note that the plants were waiting for the man to appear before they grew. Man may not be able to make things grow, but he has the capability to influence how they grow.
read genesis 2:5-6
and your point is?
“shamar. While it does mean “keep”, it carries the sense of “to look after with great care”. It is often found in conjunction with another word, nasar, that means “to protect”.
Was Adam called to “keep” the garden “protecting” it from the serpent? Just a thought.