What Was Adam Supposed to Do?
April 29, 2008 by Steven W
Genesis 2:15
The LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it.
Adam is told to “work” and “keep” the garden. Some translations will say something like “till” or “cultivate” the garden. The Hebrew terms are ABD (avodth) and SMR (shamar), literally meaning serve and keep.
The ideas of “service” and “keeping,” when used together like this, have exactly one reference in the rest of the Old Testament: priesthood.
You will find the combination of terms used in Numbers 3:7-8; 8:26; and 18:5-6. All of these passages have to do with the priests keeping the sanctuary and serving before the tabernacle.
Now, given what we know of Eden’s sanctuary imagery (see here and here) it should not surprise us to find that Adam was a priest. His major sin was not so much a failure to “do good works” (in the common understanding of that phrase), but rather it was a defilement of holy things.
Thus Jesus’ “positive righteousness” was his qualification for the priesthood. That which he offered up, however, was not himself as priest, for priests never offer their own status as priest as the sacrifice, but rather himself as the paschal victim.
The life is in the blood.
“… to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life.” (Rom. 2:7)
I like this idea of Adam defiling holy things. I also think that Moses would have meant this story to teach Israel patience. All throughout the Pentateuch we are confronted with impatient people - Abraham with Hagar, Esau and his birthright, Korah’s rebellion, Israel at Masah and Meribah, Moses at Meribah, etc. Then there’s Israel’s impatience in desiring a king instead of waiting on God’s plan to be their King (in 1 Sam). Of course all of these people can also be accused of defiling holy things. Surely, with Adam there was more than impatience, since impatience points to a lack of trust in God’s promise, which is itself a holy thing. So, Adam had to do holy things and he had to be holy. If he rebelled he would be rebellious - not holy.
The practicality of IAOC is that it answers the question, “How does God see me who am a terrible sinner?” A: As if I had merited eternal life - because he sees me in Christ. I think the problem comes when a minister tries to interpret those OT stories mentioned above diachronically according to his/her knowledge of IAOC. Instead of the interpretation being “God wanted Israel to be patient” it becomes “God wanted Israel to merit eternal life” or at least “God wanted to teach Israel that they couldn’t merit eternal life.” Nobody likes lawyer jargon. When the church becomes a court-room and the Bible a law-book the people tend to become displaced and non-communal. That’s what I’ve seen. Of course no one should ditch the legal nature of things, but we shouldn’t let the legal overtake the ontological and communal. Some may not think this is a problem. My reply: “How often does your church serve the Lord’s Supper?” Do we rely on union with Christ (through faith of course) in the Lord’s Supper (as a community of believers of course) or the IAOC?
Sorry for the long reply Steven … but since no one else was responding I thought I would take the floor.