Genesis 2:15

To dress it and to keep it

Observations

I. EVERY SON OF ADAM IS BOUND TO SOME EMPLOYMENT OR OTHER IN A PARTICULAR CALLING. This ordinance of God concerning man’s labour (as are all the rest of His laws) is both equal and good.

1. That men might exercise their love to the creatures, wherein they some ways resemble God Himself.

2. That they might have some title, in equity, to the use of the creature, which they preserve by their labour.

3. That by busying themselves about the creatures, they might the better observe God in His various works in and by them; that so they might yield Him His due honour, and quicken their hearts to more cheerfulness in His service, and settle them in a faithful dependence upon Him.

4. That their employments about the creatures might keep their hearts both from vain and idle thoughts, and from swelling with the apprehension of their lordship and sovereignty over them.

5. That the body of man being exercised as well as his mind, might at present be the better preserved in health, and hereafter be partakers of eternal glory, having been used as an instrument for God’s service.

II. MEN’S CALLINGS AND EMPLOYMENTS ARE BY GOD’S OWN APPOINTMENT. Let every man then in his calling so carry himself as God’s servant:

1. Undertaking it by His warrant, either by public or private direction, or by bestowing on us abilities for the employment, or by presenting opportunities outwardly, or moving us inwardly, by strong, constant, and regular inclinations thereunto.

2. Walking in it with fear, fidelity, and cheerfulness (Ephesians 6:6).

3. Guiding himself by the rule of God’s Word directing him, either by particular precepts or by general rules.

4. Aiming therein at the right end, seeking not so much our good as the good of community.

5. And abiding therein till God Himself discharge him (2Co 7:20)--either

(1) by taking away the use of the calling itself, as of a soldier in time of peace; or by disenabling him, either in body or mind, to follow it, as Nebuchadnezzar was forced to cease ruling, when he was mad.

(2) Or by withdrawing his needful maintenance: they cannot serve at the altar that cannot live of the altar.

(3) Or by furnishing the person with abilities, fitting him with opportunities, or urging him by just occasions to undertake some more serviceable employment.

III. DUTY, AND NOT GAIN TO OURSELVES, IS, OR SHOULD BE, THE GROUND AND SCOPE OF THE UNDERTAKING OF ALL OUR PARTICULAR CALLINGS. This duty we owe--

1. To God, whose we are, and to whom we must be accountable for all that we do; whence the apostle requires every man to continue in his place, because he is called of God (1 Corinthians 7:20), as being therein the servants of God or Christ (Ephesians 6:7).

2. To men, serving one another through love, labouring not so much what is good to ourselves as what is good generally to others with ourselves Ephesians 4:28), not seeking our own, but the profit of many (1 Corinthians 10:33).

IV. MAN’S LABOURS, ALTHOUGH THEY BE A MEANS OF PRESERVING THE CREATURES, YET THE BENEFIT OF THEM REDOUNDS AT LAST UNTO THEMSELVES. The plants and trees that are preserved and propagated by our labours are either our food or medicine, or serviceable to us for building; we clothe ourselves with the fleece of those flocks that we store up provision for, have the benefit of the labour of those oxen that we feed and cheer our hearts with the wine of those vines that we plant. God hath indeed been pleased to order it--

1. Because He hath made the creatures for our service.

2. That He might the more encourage us unto those services, whereof ourselves are to receive the fruit.

V. MAN’S EMPLOYMENT OUGHT ESPECIALLY TO BE IN THOSE PLACES, AND LABOUR WHERE IT IS MOST NEEDED, AND MAY BRING MOST BENEFIT.

VI. THE LABOUR OF MAN MAKES NOTHING AT ALL, BUT ONLY BY HIS HUSBANDRY CHERISHETH AND ORDERETH THAT WHICH IS ALREADY MADE.

1. God provides all the materials whereof we make use in our employments, as the soil, the seed, the rain, and influence of the heavens that cherish it; the timber, the stones, the metals, the wool, the flax, and the like.

2. The abilities by which they have strength to produce those effects are merely from God.

3. The understanding and wisdom by which men discern the natures and abilities of the creatures and their uses, for which, by well ordering and disposing of them, they may be made serviceable; that also is wholly from Isaiah 28:26).

4. The success and effect of the labour which we bestow is the fruit of this blessing (Genesis 26:12; Psalms 65:10). So that it is God alone that doth all in all; and man in effect doth nothing but make use of such means as God both prepares to his hand and works by to produce the desired effect. Let it then pluck down the pride of all our hearts, who are so apt to rejoice in the works of our own hands, not as in the fruits of God’s blessing, but as in the effects of our own endeavours; and let it check our vain and dangerous confidence, which makes us trust in our own wisdom and power, and burn incense to our own net and yarn, that we may ascribe the success of all our labours about the things of this life unto God alone, who is indeed pleased to make use of our heads and hands in the conservation of His creatures; but--

1. Rather to keep us doing than because He needs our help.

2. That finding by experience how little our labours work to the producing of any effect, we might rejoice in Him who worketh all things by His mighty power and not in ourselves.

3. And thereupon might be taught to depend upon Him and serve Him; when we observe the success of our labours to be the effect of His power, and not of any ability of ours.

4. To abase and humble us, in busying ourselves about the service even of those creatures that He hath put under our feet; all which He hath ordained only for a short time, whereas hereafter all men’s labours, as well as all other means, shall cease with the use of those creatures which are supported by them; and God shall be all in all. (J. White, M. A.)

Man’s work in the garden

Having prepared the garden, the Lord God took the man and placed him in it, that he might till it and keep it. It was made for him, and he for it, as the body is made for the soul, and the soul for the body. It was fruitful beyond anything we now know of, yet it was not so fruitful as to make any kind of care or cultivation needless. It was so fruitful as to occasion no toil nor weariness to the cultivator, yet not so fruitful as not to afford occasion to man’s skill and watchfulness. No amount of skill or toil now can call up beauty, or verdure, or fruit, beyond a certain narrow limit; for man has to do with a rugged soil. But in Adam’s case the ground easily and gladly yielded its substance without limit to the most gentle toil. Nay, it was not toil; it was simple, pleasant occupation. No doubt the amount and kind of its actual fruit bearing was to depend upon himself; he was to regulate this according to his wants and tastes; but still the fruit-bearing source was in the soil, imparted directly by the hand of God--that all-quickening, all-fertilizing Spirit that brooded over the face of the deep. Afterwards that Spirit was grieved away from the soil by man’s sin; but at first His power was most signally manifested in its fruitful richness. Man was lord of the soil, and of all that trod it or grew on it, and his daily employments were to manifest his dominion--not dominion over a rebellious earth, needing to be curbed or scourged into obedience, but a dominion over a willing world, that stood eagerly awaiting his commands. (H. Bonar, D. D.)

Exhortation to industry

If God have called you, as He called Adam, to till the ground, let your weedless field give evidence that Industry has holden the plough and the hoe in her hands. If He have called you to ply the instruments of the artizan, let your shop be musical the livelong day with the clicking of your tools. If He have called you to the pursuit of trade, let your well-arranged commodities and punctual fulfillments testify that you are not slothful in business (Romans 12:11). If He have called you to the quest of knowledge, let your well-thumbed books attest that Diligence has reigned in your study. If He have called you to the wifely duties of the matron, look well to the ways of thy household, and eat not the bread of idleness (Proverbs 31:27). Take care lest thy garden degenerate into the sluggard’s field, grown up with nettles, covered with brambles, breached with broken walls, poverty prowling around thy dwelling, thy wants leaping upon thee as armed men (Proverbs 24:30). In brief, whatever be the occupation to which the Providence of God has called thee, pursue it with enthusiasm, doing all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him (Colossians 3:17). (G. D.Boardman.)

Cyrus a gardener

When Lysander, the Lacedaemonian general, brought magnificent presents to Cyrus, the younger son of Darius, who piqued himself more on his integrity and politeness than on his rank and birth, the prince conducted his illustrious guest through his gardens, and pointed out to him their varied beauties. Lysander, struck with so fine a prospect, praised the manner in which the grounds were laid out, the neatness of the walks, the abundance of fruits, planted with an art which knew how to combine the useful with the agreeable, the beauty of the parterres, and the glowing variety of flowers, exhaling odours universally throughout the delightful scene. “Everything charms and transports me in this place,” said Lysander to Cyrus; “but what strikes me most is the exquisite taste and elegant industry of the person who drew the plan of these gardens, and gave it the fine order, wonderful disposition, and happiness of arrangement which I cannot sufficiently admire.” Cyrus replied, “it was I that drew the plan and entirely marked it out; and many of the trees which you see were planted by my own hands.” “What!” exclaimed Lysander, with surprise, and viewing Cyrus from head to foot, “is it possible that, with those purple robes and splendid vestments, those strings of jewels and bracelets of gold, those buskins so richly embroidered; is it possible that you could play the gardener, and employ your royal hands in planting trees?” “Does that surprise you?” said Cyrus; “I assure you that, when my health permits, I never sit down to my table without having fatigued myself, either in military exercise, rural labour, or some other occupation.”