And Jehovah Elohim took Man, and put him into the garden of Eden, to till it and to guard it.
God placed the first man in a garden He had prepared and gave him work to do. Two questions follow. What does it mean that God put him there? And why does a world with no sin or curse need anyone to work and keep it?
Placed by God
The verse starts with God, not with the job. One writer traces every right Adam held back to God, who owned it all first.
The man had received his being from God, and it was God who placed him in the garden prepared for him. He was placed there not to be idle, but "to work it and keep it." How complete were God's rights over the creature He had formed! All of Adam's rights — over the garden, the earth, and the various kinds of lower creatures — came from the sovereign appointment of the One to whom they all belonged, Adam included.
A Charge Inside a Perfect World
Nothing in the garden was broken. Yet God still gave the man a charge, and one writer says why doing nothing would have been wrong:
Here we are told not about the place, its resources and surroundings, far-reaching as they were. We are told its moral point and purpose. God the Governor took Man and put him into the paradise He had prepared. All was unfallen, in order and beauty, with no stain in Adam or in the creation under him, and certainly none in its loveliest spot. Yet God put Man there to work it and keep it. Standing above the work in indifference would have been out of place, even though Man was blessed, everything was very good, and toil and sorrow were unknown.
Work Came Before Sin
Many assume work began as punishment. One writer separates work from the toil that came later:
Scripture does not say there was no "work" before the fall. Man was placed in the garden "to work it and keep it," which shows God did not want His creature to be idle. But no "toil" or "sorrow" went with that occupation. Now thorns and thistles were to appear, and man was to eat bread by the sweat of his face. Weariness is known now, and so is the sweetness of rest after work. Idleness was one of the sins of Sodom (Ezek. 16:49). It had no place in innocence… Work here is good for all, and there is profit in it. For out of evil God can and does bring good.
Service does not end where toil and weariness end:
How telling it is that God laid toil on man when sin came into the world! Man was to earn his bread by the sweat of his brow. At first God put him there to work and keep the garden, but there was no bitterness of service and toil. So in that heavenly Paradise, the rest of God we enter, there will be service and ministry throughout eternity — but no weariness, no toil, nothing to show that sin is present.
A King's Work, Not a Slave's
One writer contrasts Adam's place in the garden with the stoop of a slave:
He had put Adam there to work it and keep it — not as a slave, bent low by the sweat of his face over ground cursed because of him. That ground gives back for his labour, along with the plants he eats, "thorns and thistles," rods of discipline and constant reminders of his fall. No, God had placed Adam there as king, centre and head of the whole lower creation, a picture of the One who was to come.
Training in Mastery
The charge was also a lesson. One writer counts it among God's provisions for Adam:
Along with everything else God provided for his blessing we must count this — too little thought of — that Adam was also to be taught mastery, even in a place where no moral evil existed. He was to "fill the earth and subdue it," and to "work and keep" even the "garden of delight."
Two Gardens
Adam did not keep what he was given. One writer sets Eden beside a second garden:
In the first garden God placed Adam, innocent, with access to the tree of life. But he chose the tree of responsibility, went the wrong way, and fell. In the second garden lay the One who had a right to the tree of life, yet who had met that responsibility in the dust of death. For the first man, the garden east in Eden became the gateway to a lost world that ends in the lake of fire. For the other, that garden becomes the gateway for His people — not back to Paradise regained, but into the Paradise of God.
Summary
- Placed — Adam did not choose his place. God set him there, and every right he held came from that gift.
- Charged — even where nothing was wrong, standing back would have been out of place. He was given the garden to work and to guard.
- Trained — the charge was a gift, teaching mastery in a scene where no evil yet existed.
- Not cursed — work belongs to innocence; toil, sweat, thorns and weariness came in only with sin.
- Restored — the first man lost the garden he was to keep. The One who lay in the second garden met that responsibility in death. He opens not Eden again but the Paradise of God, where service goes on without weariness.