{"id":186,"date":"2011-01-28T15:16:00","date_gmt":"2011-01-28T15:16:00","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2011-01-28T15:16:00","modified_gmt":"2011-01-28T15:16:00","slug":"worshipping-the-land","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/centernet.pcusa.org\/food-faith\/worshipping-the-land\/","title":{"rendered":"Grounded Scriptures: Working or Worshipping the land?"},"content":{"rendered":"

When Adam is placed in the garden of Eden he is placed in relationship to the fertile soil for which he is named: he is to \u201ctill it and keep it,\u201d if you read the NRSV, or to \u201cwork it and take care of it,\u201d in the NIV, \u201cwork the ground and keep it in order\u201d if you\u2019re partial to Eugene Peterson\u2019s Message, or \u201ctend and watch over it\u201d if you read the New Living Translation. 
What on earth is he doing? <\/p>\n

Two Hebrew verbs. One is abad, to \u201cserve,\u201d most literally, as a servant serves a master, or to \u201cworship,\u201d as a person does to God. It does have the rarer meaning of \u201cto work\u201d without an indication of for whom you work \u2013 but usually it indicates a service rendered by an inferior for a superior. My California soul is deeply delighted at the notion of our first ancestor \u201cworshipping\u201d the soil. And I\u2019m also thrilled to see that there was a positive paradigm for a human\u2019s labor rendered to the soil, before the fall and expulsion from Eden whereupon we are told \u201cin toil you shall eat of [the fruit of the land] all the days of your life. <\/p>\n

Two is shamar, to \u201cwatch,\u201d most literally, to observe with one\u2019s eyes, OR as a watchman watches over a castle, to keep, protect, or preserve. I respect and appreciate the idea of protecting and preserving the land, but there\u2019s also the aspect of watching it that takes a learner\u2019s eye \u2013 to learn what the land can do, what it needs, how it will react to rain and sun and tilling and any other interaction it may have. <\/p>\n

Ellen Davis comes up with four words: when it comes to the land, Adam is to \u201cwork it and serve it, observe it and preserve it.\u201d We must fall to our knees, learn from it, respect its limitations, appreciate its art, marvel at its wonders, protect them from harm. This is our call. <\/p>\n

(Scripture, Culture, Agriculture: An Agrarian Reading of the Bible. p. 30)<\/p>\n\"Agrarian-Utopia-024\"<\/a>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When Adam is placed in the garden of Eden he is placed in relationship to the fertile soil for which he is named: he is to \u201ctill it and keep it,\u201d if you read the NRSV, or to \u201cwork it and take care of it,\u201d in the NIV, \u201cwork the ground and keep it in order\u201d if you\u2019re partial to Eugene Peterson\u2019s Message, or \u201ctend and watch over it\u201d if you read the New Living Translation. \r\nWhat on earth is he doing? \r\n\r\nTwo Hebrew verbs. One is abad, to \u201cserve,\u201d most literally, as a servant serves a master, or to \u201cworship,\u201d as a person does to God. It does have the rarer meaning of \u201cto work\u201d without an indication of for whom you work \u2013 but usually it indicates a service rendered by an inferior for a superior. My California soul is deeply delighted at the notion of our first ancestor \u201cworshipping\u201d the soil. And I\u2019m also thrilled to see that there was a positive paradigm for a human\u2019s labor rendered to the soil, before the fall and expulsion from Eden whereupon we are told \u201cin toil you shall eat of [the fruit of the land] all the days of your life. \r\n\r\nTwo is shamar, to \u201cwatch,\u201d most literally, to observe with one\u2019s eyes, OR as a watchman watches over a castle, to keep, protect, or preserve. I respect and appreciate the idea of protecting and preserving the land, but there\u2019s also the aspect of watching it that takes a learner\u2019s eye \u2013 to learn what the land can do, what it needs, how it will react to rain and sun and tilling and any other interaction it may have. \r\n\r\nEllen Davis comes up with four words: when it comes to the land, Adam is to \u201cwork it and serve it, observe it and preserve it.\u201d We must fall to our knees, learn from it, respect its limitations, appreciate its art, marvel at its wonders, protect them from harm. This is our call. \r\n\r\n(Scripture, Culture, Agriculture: An Agrarian Reading of the Bible. p. 30)<\/p>","protected":false},"author":92,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[29,394,185,365,421,113,434,435,285],"class_list":["post-186","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","tag-agrarian","tag-agriculture","tag-bible","tag-ellen-davis","tag-farming","tag-fertile-soil","tag-garden-of-eden","tag-land"],"yoast_head":"\nGrounded Scriptures: Working or Worshipping the land? - Food and Faith<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/centernet.pcusa.org\/food-faith\/worshipping-the-land\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Grounded Scriptures: Working or Worshipping the land?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"When Adam is placed in the garden of Eden he is placed in relationship to the fertile soil for which he is named: he is to \u201ctill it and keep it,\u201d if you read the NRSV, or to \u201cwork it and take care of it,\u201d in the NIV, \u201cwork the ground and keep it in order\u201d if you\u2019re partial to Eugene Peterson\u2019s Message, or \u201ctend and watch over it\u201d if you read the New Living Translation. What on earth is he doing? Two Hebrew verbs. One is abad, to \u201cserve,\u201d most literally, as a servant serves a master, or to \u201cworship,\u201d as a person does to God. It does have the rarer meaning of \u201cto work\u201d without an indication of for whom you work \u2013 but usually it indicates a service rendered by an inferior for a superior. My California soul is deeply delighted at the notion of our first ancestor \u201cworshipping\u201d the soil. And I\u2019m also thrilled to see that there was a positive paradigm for a human\u2019s labor rendered to the soil, before the fall and expulsion from Eden whereupon we are told \u201cin toil you shall eat of [the fruit of the land] all the days of your life. Two is shamar, to \u201cwatch,\u201d most literally, to observe with one\u2019s eyes, OR as a watchman watches over a castle, to keep, protect, or preserve. 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I respect and appreciate the idea of protecting and preserving the land, but there\u2019s also the aspect of watching it that takes a learner\u2019s eye \u2013 to learn what the land can do, what it needs, how it will react to rain and sun and tilling and any other interaction it may have. Ellen Davis comes up with four words: when it comes to the land, Adam is to \u201cwork it and serve it, observe it and preserve it.\u201d We must fall to our knees, learn from it, respect its limitations, appreciate its art, marvel at its wonders, protect them from harm. This is our call. 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