I: Creation and Eden

His Servants Shall Serve Him

the priestly service of Eden restored

Root
Gen 2:15 · abad (H5647), shamar (H8104)
Old Testament chain
  1. Gen 2:15
  2. Num 3:7-8
  3. Num 8:26
  4. Num 18:5-7
  5. Isa 61:6
  6. Rev 22:3
New Testament
Rev 22:3

Yahuah put Adam in the garden "to dress it and to keep it" (Gen 2:15), the verbs abad and shamar. The Torah reuses the same pair for the Levites, who "keep his charge" and "do the service of the tabernacle" (Num 3:7-8; 18:5-7). Adam was not placed in Eden to farm; he was placed there as a priest. Israel is called "a kingdom of priests" (Exod 19:6), and Isaiah promises "ye shall be named the Priests of Yahuah" (Isa 61:6). Rev 22:3 closes the circle with latreuo: "his servants shall serve him." The picture of eternity as idle leisure misreads the text; the redeemed resume Adam's sanctuary ministry, now permanently.

From The Courtroom of Heaven, pp. 371–372