“And the LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed. And out of the ground made the LORD God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil… … - … and the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.” -- Genesis 2:8 … 15 (KJV)
“And the LORD God called unto Adam, and said unto him, ‘Where art thou?’ And he said, ‘I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself. ‘
And He said, “Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat? “
And the man said, “The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat.”
And the LORD God said unto the woman,
“What is this that thou hast done?” And the woman said, “The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat.”
And the LORD God said unto the serpent, “Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life: And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.”
Unto the woman he said, “I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.”
And unto Adam he said, “Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field; In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.”
And Adam called his wife’s name Eve; because she was the mother of all living. – Genesis 3:9-21
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BIBLICAL LIVING 101 – WORK: Part 1
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Last week, we talked about taxes. This week, it seems only logical to continue that train of thought by talking about what enables us to pay taxes - Income earned through --Work. This is a long topic, so we have broken it down into (a) the concept of work (b) the practicalities of the workplace (employee/employer behavior). This week, let us spend some time talking about the concept of work itself - we are so very excited to share with you what the Lord has revealed to us!
Based on our opening texts, you may be forgiven for thinking that work is a curse upon man. Certainly, that Monday morning alarm clock beep is universally hated… unless you are in the fortunate and blessed minority that can’t wait to get to work in the morning – and you don’t even need coffee!! For the rest of us… we have to fill our system full of stimulants to get up and keep going throughout the day!
All for what? Boil it down. To put food in our tummies. Yes, shelter, clothing and then entertainment as well, but fundamentally, if you are not LIVING, the rest are kind of irrelevant!
This does not seem like a good design. Why did God make it so that man had to eat? Remember, this PREDATES the Fall – God created trees to grow and produce food as it says in our first text – so Man Version 1.0 WAS designed to eat! Imagine if we DIDN’T have to eat… no need to work, farming, no toilets(!), no waste recycling, no transportation, no shipping, no commuting, no office blocks or factories – why would God design such a system?
Well if you are a “foodie”, one answer is obvious. Just sampling the cuisine of one culture is an adventure in itself – when you look at the foods of the world, the creativity of chefs, and the satisfaction that comes from enjoying a truly good meal…….. mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm!!!! [Sorry if we are giving you the munchies right now] – the true answer is that Food is a subtle reminder of our total linkage and dependence on, God. We are totally dependent on nature to provide us with food. Small wonder that bread/manna in the Word is such a metaphor for the life giving energy of God Himself! (And He knows we need it, but still we run around… but we digress).
What does this have to do with work? Everything, and here is the key message for today.
WORK was designed to be pleasurable and satisfying, and NOTHING about that has changed. EATING TO LIVE was the activity that was cursed and made difficult for us!
Huh? What? Let us break it down for you...
Let’s take a look at that very first job shall we? We see the LORD creating the earth and everything in it, but after He creates Man, He does something different. He PLANTS A GARDEN.
The difference between the garden and everything else around it is summarized for us in text 1 – “every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil”.
ONLY THE BEAUTIFUL & GOOD TREES made it to the garden, INCLUDING the tree of life, AND the tree of knowledge of good and evil.
They are both GOOD fruits (“the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise -Ge 3:6”). There was nothing wrong with the fruit, it was Man’s reaching out to take it in DEFIANCE of Gods one and only order that was wrong!
So what was man’s job? “To dress it, and keep it.” Think about it. In a world where weeds and thorns don’t exist, my job is to cultivate and tend the beauty of God’s creation, with authority over how it should be “dressed”. Could Adam have got something any cushier? Think about how much work the Boss’s Pet does around the office in our human workplace – apart from pleasing the boss, they don’t really do much, don’t they! Adam may have had to work, but can you think of a better assignment?
We get to make the garden pretty(ier). What a metaphor for what God see’s as Man’s role in His Creation! THAT is our JOB!!!
Adam sinned in obeying the voice of his wife more than the voice of God. The form his disobedience took, was eating of fruit from the one tree he was forbidden. The curse therefore is RIGHTEOUSLY directed and forces man to now eat from trees by the sweat of his brow.
THAT is why the EARTH is cursed for MAN’S SAKE.
Farming is no longer going to be easy. We talked earlier about the ripple effects of having to eat (and work for our food), and you saw what a big impact that was. Think about the impact that this curse has had on us as humans. Farming is tough, but to make it easier, we invented Fertilizers, Pesticides, Weed-killers, Genetically modified seeds. What are they doing to us? I trust we don’t have to say more!
The punishment fits the crime. Eve committed the same crime of eating, and since they are now considered ONE flesh ( “And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man. Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh. “ - Gen 2:23,24) Adams punishment applies to both, just as the sentence of death does.
Beyond death, There is something wonderful that is revealed here. We have the plan of God and Redemption in a nutshell in Genesis!
Man (Male and Female equally), a NEW creation in a new creation is given dominion over all of God’s creation! There is only one test of obedience that is put before them – apart from which they are the Masters of all they survey. Living spirits, encased in living flesh, created beings, experiencing God’s physical Creation!
They have no inclination to disobey and all is well.
The serpent deceives Eve, and the catastrophe happens but note two things....
1. God has already set up a tell tale. The day Adam realizes he is naked will be the day God knows that someone (other than Him) has told him of his condition, or he must have eaten the fruit that tells him he has no clothes. (First words to Adam in our second text).
2. The words the players now speak are laden with legal meaning, as is the order in which they speak/are addressed. God speaks first, but it is Adam who is first called to the carpet as person responsible.
Observe:
a. The woman you gave me. Adam is accusing God, and this is the same accusation we hear as an objection to this story. Why did God create the tree, permit the snake, and allow the woman to cause Adam to sin? Surely in some way God is responsible? This is a VALID argument, and the silence of the LORD is noticeable here. The answer is that this WAS foreseen (Satan’s behavior/Eve’s fall), and the LORD already has a plan to glorify Himself by redeeming His people. But we are not going to go into that now. Adam has disobeyed a direct order. We will have to deal with that, and let the human drama play out.
b. The Woman says the snake deceived her. Again, this is TRUE. In a state where the woman cannot properly discern good and evil, she has the difficult task of processing 3 ideas masterfully planted by the serpent. (And this is THE way he works!) One – God is not telling the truth about the fruit. Two – God is keeping back humanity from reaching their full potential. Three – She has a chance to become like God. With her limited powers of processing she tries to make the right decision – but all she can see is that the fruit is pretty, she knows it's good for food (all the trees in the garden are) and it will make me wise. So she ate it. Full marks for initiative Eve, but wrong call. But how utterly EVIL of the snake to deceive one so innocent.
Isn't it amazing how carefully God keeps track of every Word that was said! There is a reason, and we see it now.
Adam and Eve now have to pay the WAGES of Sin. It is Death, and Eve, the Mother of all Living, now becomes a person that is birthing spiritually dead people (“We were born dead in our trespasses and sins”). Is God being mean to us? Is this a fair punishment for man turning his back on the One who gave him a universe with only one simple condition? You tell me...
God is so wonderful that even in what we read as curses are prophecies and blessings seen another way.
1. The serpent first - “He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel”. The fate of the serpent is sealed. His head is going to be crushed and that’s all there is to it.God may be bruised, but He will tolerate it for a greater good. Evil in a certain quantity (1/3rd of the angels) is tolerated so that God can be seen to be all Good, but ultimately there is no place for it. In a “physical” fulfillment, snakes will go on their belly all the rest of time. They will eat “dust” again, this is a pregnant term to indicate the devouring of humans (“dust”) by the evil one. BTW, this is the argument to make against those who say this story is an allegory. Why would God care how a snake gets around? He did it so we would always remember.
2. The woman next – The Covenant, and the Messiah between God and His people was shown by the First Marriage. The Man/Son leaves His “Father & Mother” and is joined to His Bride and they are ONE FLESH. His Bride literally costs him a spear/tear in His Side and is taken FROM OUT OF HIM with whom He becomes One. This is the one and only prophetic statement we see coming out of the mouth of Patriarch One ! ( The one flesh quote from Adam in Genesis 2 earlier ).
This is the great mystery concerning Christ and the Church (Ephesians 5:31,32) that Paul is talking about, and even references Adams quote when talking about the ideal marriage relationship! From this union are to be born the sons and daughters of the Most High. It is why Marriage is a Sacred Covenant. We are walking on Holy Ground here!
There was going to be sorrow (spiritual and physical labor pains) for the Woman (we see that in the Book of Revelation too) to bring forth Gods Anointed, and His people (Spiritual Children) – that was already forecast! This was MULTIPLIED (and not STARTED) by the curse. The Physical fulfillment is literal labor pains. We also see the struggle between Her Seed, and the Seed of the Serpent – forecast. Physically – men will hate and kill snakes ( and remember why ), spiritually, this world will be a battlefield. However, the beating the serpent will take will be payback for the deception. It’s justice for his disgusting act.
Because the Woman’s disobedience was linked to a DESIRE to be like God (and NOT PRIDE), her desires are redirected toward her husband (CHRIST) and He shall rule over Her (the Church). The battle of the sexes started in the garden, and in that tension of submission/obedience, willful surrender by each party to the wishes of the other, we see the glimpses of what a perfect relationship could be – never mind all the beauty & humor that our marital one-upmanship games have afforded us ( and stand up comedians ) throughout the centuries. This is why Paul tells the women (and men) in the Church to go back to the original Model of God - loving submission of the Church to Her Husband who Loves and shares EVERYTHING with her!
Beautiful! Every word in the Genesis account has been inspired and written by God!
Let’s get back to work (not literally)… as we have seen – Work is intended to be a fulfilling blessing. Farming not so much… let’s have a renewed sense of respect for those men and women who are battling the curse on the frontlines so that we can have food for our tables, and let us be grateful for every morsel that passes our lips. This was hard fought, and it is why even our LORD does not waste food (Feeding of the Multitudes).
More than that, Men and Women are EQUAL PARTNERS in the enterprise of Work for God. He does not see any differences, rather, we are TOLD, they are ONE FLESH. There should be no gender gap in terms in of wage parity. When we say Man, we mean MAN & WOMAN. They were created equal to do the SAME JOB and they shared ownership and wages! “And the LORD God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him.” - (Ge 2:18).
Not done working? God does not expect us to work for our food all the time, without rest. One of the 10 Commandments , that starts right HERE in Genesis and is WORK RELATED is the SABBATH! This was an unheard of concept in those days, and is still why we TGIF every week! While the Lord made us work for our food for 6 years (in the OT), the 6th year was so fruitful, that we did not have work for an entire year! We do not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God! Christ said so!
Lastly, The Wages of Sin is death. As by one Man, death and sin entered the world, the Wages of Christ’s righteousness are generously distributed among the spiritually destitute as God’s Free Gift to Mankind!
We will take a deeper look at Work and vocation in our coming posts. We pray that you have a blessed Sabbath rest, and tackle the coming work week freshly energized!
Hallelujah!