God created roles for Men from Genesis 2: Truth 2

This is point 2 of our series on “God created roles for Men from Genesis 2.”

This series is exploring four truths about manhood from Genesis 2:15-18a so that men would live up to God’s design of your identity today.

So what’s point number 2?

Truth #2: Man is created to be a protector

1. Point: Man is created to be a protector.
2. Passage: “and keep it.” (v.15b)
3. Proof
   1. The verb translated as “keep” is from the Hebrew verb shamar. It can mean “keep” or “guard.”
   2. If it is translated as “keep” it could be understood as maintaining the garden which reinforce our second truth about man is called to work.
   3. I think it is best to take this verb to mean “protect.”
      1. The theme of “cultivate it and keep it” is taken up again in Genesis 3 after the Fall. Genesis 3 answers the question of what happened to the responsibilities after man’s sin.
         1. In Genesis 3:23 man is still called to cultivate the ground but now outside the Garden.
         2. The same Hebrew verb shamar which is translated as “keep” in Genesis 2:15b which appears in Genesis 3:24 as “guard.”
         3. What guards the Garden of Eden now? “and at the east of the garden of Eden He stationed the cherubim and the flaming sword which turned every direction to guard the way to the tree of life” (Genesis 3:24)
         4. In light of Genesis 3 we see “keep” in Genesis 2:15b should be translated as “guard.”
   4. What is man supposed to guard?
      1. The Garden
      2. The Tree of Life
      3. Later: His wife.
   5. What is man supposed to guard from? The next verse naturally answers it.  That God’s law not be broken: “The Lord God commanded the man, saying, “From any tree of the garden you may eat freely; 17 but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not [n]eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die.” (Genesis 2:16-17)
   6. Therefore men have a duty to guard and protect!
   7. If the role of protector is true in a perfect world in the Garden, how much more so today is that role of men needed in an imperfect world.
4. Picture: Have you heard the term “sheep dog?” Men, we are the sheep but we are also called to protect and watch other sheep!
5. Practice
   1. Have you thought about physically protecting others?
   2. Don’t just think about being a physical protector and sign up for martial arts classes; are you one who care spiritually for others that they not break God’s laws?
   3. In recent memory how have you protected someone:
      1. Spiritually by warning them?
      2. Physically such as keeping an eye out for someone’s protection?