Jeremy (The Kibitzer) makes a point I’ve never before thought about in Imperfect Civilization Is Better Than an Impossible Utopia. The Garden of Eden was not a day-spa where Adam and Eve were waited on hand and foot and got facials, pedis and manis, took mud baths, &c. There was actual work to be done!
Then the Lord God took the man and put him into the garden of Eden to cultivate it and keep it. [Genesis 2:15]
I don’t know how how many acres the ol’ garden was but Adam certainly did not have any John Deer tractors so this must have been a lot of manual labor. This also implies that Adam grew his own food which means that either the room service was very slow or quite expensive. I just never thought about Adam having to work in paradise.
Jeremy points out that “[a]fter the Fall humankind’s work became more difficult, but it was difficulty in work, not work itself, that was God’s judgment.” And that makes sense but it doesn’t jive with my up-till-now-image of Paradise. Eden was supposed to be perfect and yet there still had to be work done? I’d have thought that the ground would be fertile and flat and ready for planting but, apparently, it had to be cultivated.
The other thought this brings to mind is that Heaven is supposed to be a return to Paradise where everything is perfect. But what if there is work to be done in heaven, too? Golden mansions to be painted, golden roofs to be replaced, golden pot holes to be filled. I thought we would spend all day praising God and worshiping at his feet but I guess that’s only on weekends and major holidays.
And then, a final thought. If Adam had to work in the Garden of Eden and he was in perfect communion with God, then how can I think for a second that if only I did such and such or earned this amount of money or had this or that job that my work would be easy or I wouldn’t have to work at all? If Adam, a perfect human, had to work, then work is part of being human and not a curse with which we have to deal and try to avoid.
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