And Keep It

This passage is from James B. Jordan's Primeval Saints: Studies in the Patriarchs of Genesis. I have spent many years thinking about and acting on the command to cultivate or dress the garden. I have heard many sermons and lectures addressing this topic. This is good and right! We should all be working to take dominion in our little corner of the world where God has placed us. Over the last couple years I have began to ponder more and more the idea of protecting as it relates to God's calling on men in general and Elders specifically. I have not heard many sermons about our role of protector. So, this passage from Jordan was a breath of fresh air. I'll probably post more on this in the future.

Additional wonders concerning man are seen in Genesis 2, where we read about the Garden of Eden and the first man’s tasks there. “Then Yahweh God took the man and put him into the Garden of Eden to cultivate it and keep it” (Gen. 2:15) Two tasks are set out here: to cultivate or beautify the world and to keep or guard it…… …….Second, God entrusted Adam with the protection of His Garden. The word “keep” actually means “guard” or “protect,” and it was Adam’s duty to guard the garden against intruders. Protecting the garden from other would-be rulers meant offering it to God, affirming that it was God’s Garden. To grasp the full weight of this we need to consider that the Garden of Eden was not simply a patch of ground. It was also God’s holy sanctuary, the garden was the place of his earthly throne. Like the Tabernacle and the Temple later on, the garden was the place where God would met with men and hold court. It was nothing less than the throne of God that Adam was called upon to guard. When Adam failed to do so, the cherubim were brought in to carry out the task. (Gen. 3:24). Consider the greatness of the task entrusted to Adam. After all, a king does not trust the guarding of His palace to just anyone. Only his most trusted and competent servants are given this task. The cherubim who took Adam’s place were certainly glorious and terrifying creatures, yet it was man to whom the task was originally given. The cherubim were God’s second choice. “In man We trust,” said the Lord as he gave the keys of the kingdom to Adam. “Guard this Garden and everything in it. Guard your wife, and Guard your own heart. Keep my palace holy.” To show him what it means to guard the garden, God arranged for another animal to approach Adam and Eve. There was nothing subtle or complicated about the serpent’s assault on the garden. “God is a liar, he said, contradicting the word of God pointblank. The serpent did not directly attack Adam, but Eve. Adam, as guard, had the responsibility to protect the garden and his wife, and thus to rebuke Satan. He was to stand as warrior and priest to defend the very sanctuary of God. There is no higher calling. Eden with its Garden was situated on a mountain or plateau. We know this because four rivers flowed out of it, and rivers only flow downstream (see also Ezek 28:13-14). In the Bible, God frequently meets with men on mountaintops. We can think of Mount Moriah, where Abraham offered Isaac; Mount Sinai, where God met with Moses and the elders of Israel; Mount Zion, where God built His City; Mount Carmel where God defeated the prophets of Baal; the Mount on which Jesus preached His great Sermon; and Calvary Hill, where Jesus was elevated as dying King. Who gets to stand on this Holy Mountain? Who stands at the top of the world, right under heaven itself? Who takes the highest station, and is able to survey the whole world from the heights? Is it the lion or the ox? Is it the cherub or the seraph? No, it is man; it is Adam. With Adam God speaks as Father to son. It is Adam to whom the world is given; he is commissioned to transform it from glory to glory. It is Adam who has the privilege of Guarding the earthly throne of God from His satanic adversaries.

Bryan