Genesis 2:15 - Printer Friendly

ESV: The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it.

NIV: The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.

NASB: Then the Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to cultivate it and tend it.

CSB: The Lord God took the man and placed him in the garden of Eden to work it and watch over it.

NLT: The Lord God placed the man in the Garden of Eden to tend and watch over it.

KJV: And the Lord God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.

NKJV: Then the Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it.

One of the most important lessons which jumps out from this verse is that immediately after he was created, the first man had a God-given purpose. God placed him into the paradise of the garden of Eden with a job to do. God had created a world which included work needing to be done; He created man with a mission to do that work. Logically, God didn't need to structure the world in this way. He could have created a world that was fully self-sustaining. He could have made human beings to simply live in luxury and enjoy all of God's creation without ever having to contribute anything.

That, however, was not God's design. Even before sin entered the world, human beings were meant to work, to help to accomplish God's purpose. That is built into us. Chapter 3 will reveal that sin changed the nature of our work and our response to it, but work itself is not a curse. It is part of our purpose as God's creatures.

This first man's work was relatively simple and straightforward: to maintain the garden of Eden. This purpose will be lost when he sins, later in this story. For those restored to fellowship with God through faith in Christ, that sense of purposeful work begins to be restored, as well. Paul writes in Ephesians 2:10, "For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them."

Genesis 2:15–25 returns to provide details about the sixth-day creation of human beings. After being crafted out of the substance of earth, man is placed in a garden by God. He is then given responsibility to care for the plants and trees there. God's first and only prohibition to the man is not to eat from the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, in the middle of the garden, on promise of death. Man is also charged with naming the animals, an act reflecting his God-given authority. God recognizes that it is not good for man to be alone and makes woman to be his helper, companion, and wife, establishing the pattern of God's design for human marriage.

Genesis 2 begins with a description of the seventh day of creation, in which God rested from His work. Then it returns to the sixth day and describes in more detail the creation of man, the garden God placed him into, and the work God gave him to do. God recognizes that it is not good for man to be alone and makes a helper for him out of his own rib. This woman becomes Adam's companion and wife, setting the original example of God's design for marriage. The two exist in pure innocence, naked yet unashamed before sin enters into the world.

Genesis 2 concludes the description of God's week of creation and then zooms in on the creation of man, his work, his perfect environment, and the creation of woman as his helper and wife. It is our last glimpse of the world before it is ravaged by human sin and death with the disobedience of Adam and Eve in chapter 3. Where chapter 1 gave a full overview of creation, this chapter focuses more on a few specific events. These are crucial to understanding the fall of man.

The book of Genesis establishes fundamental truths about God. Among these are His role as the Creator, His holiness, His hatred of sin, His love for mankind, and His willingness to provide for our redemption. We learn not only where mankind has come from, but why the world is in its present form. The book also presents the establishment of Israel, God's chosen people. Many of the principles given in other parts of Scripture depend on the basic ideas presented here in the book of Genesis. Within the framework of the Bible, Genesis explains the bare-bones history of the universe leading up to the captivity of Israel in Egypt, setting the stage for the book of Exodus.