And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress [cultivate] it and to keep [guard]it. (Gen 2:15)
As I've indicated above, the Hebrew word -- shamar -- translated as keep literally means to guard or protect (See Brown-Driver-Briggs Lexicon & Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament).
Some may ask, "In a perfect world, why would the Garden of Eden need protection?" You find the answer to that in the next chapter. An interloper, in the person of a serpent (or dragon, see Revelation 20:2) comes to challenge God's ownership of and authority over the Garden (Genesis 3:1-5).
Adam failed in his duty to confront the trespasser and physically eject him from the Garden. Instead, he sided with the trespasser and joined him in his rebellion.
Compare Adam to the security guard who ulocks the door for thieves and helps them load their van with stolen merchandise. In Adam's case it began with a dereliction of duty followed by wholehearted complicity.
Scripture seems to indicate his derelicton of duty in Gen. 3:6 where it says that Adam was with Eve. He was with her. He presumably saw and heard the exchange between his wife and Satan, yet stood by and did nothing.
The English Standard Version's rendering of the passage makes this a little easier to see:
So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. (Gen 3:6)
Adam should have challenged the dragon and, if necessary, physically engaged him in order to eject him from the Garden. That was his duty, his trust from God.
Adam failed in his protective function. We are his sons, and we, too, shall fail apart from the grace of the Living God. May we, as Christian Martialists and sheepdogs of the Great Shepherd, always maintain our focus and reliance upon Him for the grace to do right.
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2 comments:
I do not believe that the fall was a bad thing. When Adam and Eve were in the garden, they were innocent. And in being innocent they didn't know good from evil, but they also didn't know how to have sex, just as little children don't know. If they hadn't eaten the fruit, they still wouldn't have been able to have children, so it would have been just the two of them. The reason Satan tempted them with the fruit was that he didn't understand what God was doing so he thought that by getting Adam and eve to eat it he would be frustrating God's Plan of Salvation.
Shane,
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe your take is the Latter Day
Saint interpretation of the Fall.
It's interesting that you equate ignorance of sex with innocence. To me, there is a big difference between innocence and naivete.
There is no Biblical evidence that Adam and Eve were ignorant of sex before the Fall. And I don't mean to offend you, but I simply do not accept your extrabiblical sources.
The Bible does say that Adam & Eve were ashamed after eating the fruit (a sign that they knew they had done wrong -- not a good thing)
In reference to the Fall, the Apostle Paul mentions Adam's sin and calls it a transgression. Most who read the Bible do not see sin and transgressions as good things.
Further the Fall revolves around Adam & Eve's direct disobedience to God's command. Saying the Fall was good is to say that disobeying God is good.
Sorry, Shane. I can't agree with you on this one.
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