Genesis 2:15 Commentary
Verse 15: God made the abode then brought the inhabitant into it. Note, 1. Man held all as matter of gift, not right. Man in innocence was indebted for all to sovereign grace; and how much more now is a sinner? 2. It is the great comfort in very situation of life, to see God’s hand in leading us into it. Whenever he is our guide, and we follow, he will assuredly spread the table of blessing and make us drink of the waters of his Paradise.
But even in Paradise man was not to be idle; though it was made ready to his hands, he was to dress and keep it. Learn hence, (1.) Though the work of God in our salvation be wholly his own, and by grace we are saved: that doth not supercede our diligence, but more oblige us to work out our salvation with fear and trembling, because God worketh in us to will and to do of his good pleasure. (2.) That if Adam was created to work, it can be the prerogative of none of his descendants to plead exemption from it. To waste therefore our time in indolence, or to squander it away in vain pleasures, will bring a grievous reckoning, when the master of the vineyard shall come and visit the slothful servant. (3.) The secular employments will ever well consist with a life of communion with God. The sons and heir of heaven, while they are here in this world, have something to do about this earth, which must have its share of their time and thoughts; and if they do it with an eye to God they are as truly serving him in it, as when they are upon their knees. (4.) The gardener and husbandman may comfort themselves in their laborious employment, that it is the first trade God taught to man, and affords abundant matter of constant meditation to lead us up to him. The spade and the pruning-hook, when rightly used, may be made the means of cultivating the heart, as well as the garden or the field.
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