I have written previously on the possibility of redeeming work - both in the sense of work possessing a redeeming quality and in the sense of Christ redeeming those forms of work that would otherwise lack this quality. In this post, I would like to delve a little deeper into the topic of work, especially as it is addressed in Genesis. I would, in particular, like to concentrate on four different kinds of work presented to us in this foundational book[1].
As I pointed out in my original post, work was there right in the beginning. In the very first verse of the Bible, we are told that "God created the heavens and the earth". The Hebrew word here for "create" is bara', which refers to bringing forth ex nihilo - creation out of nothing. This was the first form of work. It is an everlasting, spiritual form of work that can only be performed by God Himself.
In the second verse of the second chapter of Genesis, we encounter the first word to be customarily translated as 'work', namely melakah, which refers to craftsmanship or workmanship. This form of work is inherently purposeful; indeed it is sometimes translated simply as 'purpose'. It is interesting to note, moreover, that the word first appears in the context of rest - it is used in relation to God resting from the work (viz. bara') that He has already completed. As Hebrews 4:3 tells us, the believer can rest in the fact that "His works were finished from the foundation of the world". At this point in the story, however, the creation of man has not yet occurred. This paradox is evidently a foreshadowing of Christ, in whose good, finished work (John 19:30) we find our rest (Hebrews 4), are re-created (2 Corinthians 5:17), and thus begin our own labour of requited love (Ephesians 2:10).
When we read of God's intention to create man a few verses later (Genesis 2:5), we learn that our original purpose was to cultivate (abad) the land - the third form of work. Apparently, tilling the soil was part of God's plan even before the curse was incurred. Indeed, in addition to cultivation, abad connotes worship and service. The primacy of this type of work therefore reminds us that our mundane activities, which so often seem futile and tedious, are profoundly spiritual acts (Ecclesiastes; Romans 12:1; 1 Corinthians 10:31). We have the privilege and responsibility of interacting with God's creation - His heavenly bara' and His purposeful melakah.
When the curse finally does arrive in Genesis 3:16-17, the act of tilling the ground is tragically transformed from abad into itstsabon, denoting pain or toil - the "sweat of [one's] brow" (3:19). Significantly, itstsabon is applied not only to the irksomeness of labour suffered by man in the form of cultivation, but also to the anguish of labour suffered by woman in the form of childbirth. Both forms of work, however, contain a kernel of redemption in that they recover the life relinquished by sin, be it in the form of sustenance or offspring (often rendered 'seed' in the Hebrew). Indeed, I find it interesting that bara' can also signify 'to cut down' (Joshua 17:15,18) and 'to make fat' (1 Samuel 2:29), as if the process of 'giving and taking away' was part of the plan all along.
Of course, Christ's work on the cross was the archetypal itstsabon - the most excruciating, agonising form of work imaginable, yet simultaneously the ultimate act of redemption. Christ Himself tilled the soil; indeed, He was interred in it for three days, like a foetus in a womb. From that cultivation, that gestation, emerged New Life; for although Christ died, He also rose again, and through Him we too are resurrected. The very curse that held work ransom was thus abo1ished (1 Corinthians 15:55-57; Galatians 3:13; Revelation 1:18), miraculously transforming itstsabon into abad, melakah, and finally bara' - the cosmic coming into existence of something when before there was only nothing. Indeed, throughout the Bible we see that bara' refers not only to the formation of the physical world, but also to the process of birth (Ezekiel 21:35, 28:13), the election of Israel (Isaiah 43), the renewal of our hearts (Psalm 51:12), and eventually, the conception of a New Heavens and a New Earth (Isaiah 65:17).
We long for that New World. Romans 8 tells us that "all of creation has been subjected to futility until now"; but now that we have the "first fruits of the Spirit", we are experiencing "birth pangs", i.e. the labour that will eventually bear a new world. We "groan inwardly" for the day when God's untarnished work - and with it, the true meaning of our own work - is fully revealed.
Note:
[1] I do not deal with asah, a more generic form of work meaning to do, make, or accomplish, found throughout the creation story.
As I pointed out in my original post, work was there right in the beginning. In the very first verse of the Bible, we are told that "God created the heavens and the earth". The Hebrew word here for "create" is bara', which refers to bringing forth ex nihilo - creation out of nothing. This was the first form of work. It is an everlasting, spiritual form of work that can only be performed by God Himself.
In the second verse of the second chapter of Genesis, we encounter the first word to be customarily translated as 'work', namely melakah, which refers to craftsmanship or workmanship. This form of work is inherently purposeful; indeed it is sometimes translated simply as 'purpose'. It is interesting to note, moreover, that the word first appears in the context of rest - it is used in relation to God resting from the work (viz. bara') that He has already completed. As Hebrews 4:3 tells us, the believer can rest in the fact that "His works were finished from the foundation of the world". At this point in the story, however, the creation of man has not yet occurred. This paradox is evidently a foreshadowing of Christ, in whose good, finished work (John 19:30) we find our rest (Hebrews 4), are re-created (2 Corinthians 5:17), and thus begin our own labour of requited love (Ephesians 2:10).
When we read of God's intention to create man a few verses later (Genesis 2:5), we learn that our original purpose was to cultivate (abad) the land - the third form of work. Apparently, tilling the soil was part of God's plan even before the curse was incurred. Indeed, in addition to cultivation, abad connotes worship and service. The primacy of this type of work therefore reminds us that our mundane activities, which so often seem futile and tedious, are profoundly spiritual acts (Ecclesiastes; Romans 12:1; 1 Corinthians 10:31). We have the privilege and responsibility of interacting with God's creation - His heavenly bara' and His purposeful melakah.
When the curse finally does arrive in Genesis 3:16-17, the act of tilling the ground is tragically transformed from abad into itstsabon, denoting pain or toil - the "sweat of [one's] brow" (3:19). Significantly, itstsabon is applied not only to the irksomeness of labour suffered by man in the form of cultivation, but also to the anguish of labour suffered by woman in the form of childbirth. Both forms of work, however, contain a kernel of redemption in that they recover the life relinquished by sin, be it in the form of sustenance or offspring (often rendered 'seed' in the Hebrew). Indeed, I find it interesting that bara' can also signify 'to cut down' (Joshua 17:15,18) and 'to make fat' (1 Samuel 2:29), as if the process of 'giving and taking away' was part of the plan all along.
Of course, Christ's work on the cross was the archetypal itstsabon - the most excruciating, agonising form of work imaginable, yet simultaneously the ultimate act of redemption. Christ Himself tilled the soil; indeed, He was interred in it for three days, like a foetus in a womb. From that cultivation, that gestation, emerged New Life; for although Christ died, He also rose again, and through Him we too are resurrected. The very curse that held work ransom was thus abo1ished (1 Corinthians 15:55-57; Galatians 3:13; Revelation 1:18), miraculously transforming itstsabon into abad, melakah, and finally bara' - the cosmic coming into existence of something when before there was only nothing. Indeed, throughout the Bible we see that bara' refers not only to the formation of the physical world, but also to the process of birth (Ezekiel 21:35, 28:13), the election of Israel (Isaiah 43), the renewal of our hearts (Psalm 51:12), and eventually, the conception of a New Heavens and a New Earth (Isaiah 65:17).
We long for that New World. Romans 8 tells us that "all of creation has been subjected to futility until now"; but now that we have the "first fruits of the Spirit", we are experiencing "birth pangs", i.e. the labour that will eventually bear a new world. We "groan inwardly" for the day when God's untarnished work - and with it, the true meaning of our own work - is fully revealed.
Note:
[1] I do not deal with asah, a more generic form of work meaning to do, make, or accomplish, found throughout the creation story.
