God caused a garden to grow in the land of Eden and in that garden, he placed man and set him a simple task. That being to dress (otherwise known as tilling and weeding etc.) and keep (meaning to protect and tend) the garden. And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.
In order for man to accomplish the task that God set for him, God provided sustenance for man.
And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: You are to eat of the fruit of the garden wherein you labor. God has provided living space, a job, and a payment for man's work. Hmm, maybe the saying "Nothing in life is free" comes from here. What do you think? Man was not made to laze around but to be busy tending God's creation.
But that food came with a price, for God commanded man: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die. You can not eat of this one tree or else you will die. Another point that is shown here, is that God gave (and gives) enough information for His will to be clearly known and carried out, yet does not clutter the command with useless explanations. How often will you hear a parent tell their child to do a task and then go off into a lengthy dissertation of why it should be done, every detail of how it should be done and finally 10 minutes later conclude with what would happen if they did not finish the task? God put it simply. He said, "This is My will. Do it or die." Or, to quote Him specifically, "Do not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil or you will die." "Son, go clean your room or you will be punished."
God, the powerful God, the Self-existent God, the bountiful God the Demanding God. How Mighty and Awesome is OUR God!?!
Christian
Why Does It Matter?
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He remembers what the squall was, but his mom and dad never even had a
clue. Not even when the event took place. There is nothing quite like the
experience...
5 years ago
4 comments:
Christian, Hey, I really like your page/and page design. Looks good. Deboraw
Christian, I know this is an old post, but I've been meaning to ask, we heard a speaker (just recently, hence the delay in the question) say that the original language in the 'thou shalt surely die' phraseology, had the connotation of carrying with it a 'violent death', not just that we would 'die'. I was wondering whether there was any proof to that? Deboraw
Dear Deboraw,
I would say that the speaker you heard was in error. While the word for die here certainly covers the forms of death (i.e. slain, put to death, etc), it is a stretch to say that God threatened them with a violent death just from the reading. I found it interesting that the word die (muth H4191) was used twice in the 17th verse here. It is commonly translated as the phrase "thou shalt surely" which is, according to Strongs, its meaning when used twice like that. Although in todays terminology it would be appropriate to say "you must needs" This would change the verse and its meaning very little. It would now say "But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you may not eat from because the day you eat you must needs die." The death here is not indicated whether physical or spiritual. That we gain from the context and other Scriptures.
Christian
Christian, I found it quite curious, and the commentators don't seem to 'comment' lots on it--in that light--either. Deboraw
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