Mortals Called to Guard and Keep the Water of Life
The text of Genesis 2:15 reads:
“The Lord God took the mortal and put him in the Garden of Eden to work (abadah) it and take care (shamerah) of it.”
As Old Testament scholar John Walton discusses in “The Lost World of Adam and Eve”, the human being was placed in the garden to fulfill its priestly role in sacred space. The duties of this sacred role can be clarified by re-evaluating the Hebrew words, abadah and shamerah, from their meanings in Sumerian.
Abadah (“to work, to cultivate”) has two meanings that are both relevant in this context:
a₂-ba-da₁,₁₃-a = “to be entrusted with the work of letting out the water”
a₂ = arm; strength; power; work
ba = to open
da = (v.) to be near; to protect [page 9]
da₁₃ = (v.) to leave with a person, entrust; abandon [also taka₄, see John Halloran, Sumerian Lexicon, page 273]
a = water
a₂-bad₃-a = “to protect enclosed (sacred) space with water”
Here the Genesis text appears to be using irrigation metaphors associated with ancient Sumerian agricultural practices to convey deeper and memorable theological meaning.
If the waters in the sacred space of the garden represent the wisdom of God, then it appears that the mortal was entrusted with sharing them with others — like “letting out the water” with a sluice gate — and protecting them from corrupting contaminants that would defile their purity. This figurative language depicts the mortal as a priest preserving sacred space as well as sharing the heavenly wisdom of God.
In Sumerian, the word shamerah (ša-me-ra) means “to fill the heart with these divine responsibilities”:
ša-me-ra = “to fill the heart with (these) divine responsibilities”
ša = heart; inside, center, interior
me = divine properties enabling cosmic activity, rites; (cultic) ordinance; office; prayer
ra = to set in place, imbue; to lean upon; to impose
This suggests that the mortal is to not only know and understand God’s teachings, but to let them reside within their heart.
It is very like the sentiment of Proverbs 3:1:
"My son, do not forget my teaching, but keep my commands in your heart.”
As Old Testament scholar Hans Walter Wolff explains in Anthropology of the Old Testament, the Hebrew worldview saw the heart not as the organ that pumps blood but rather the center self of the person within, where feelings, desires, will, and reason reside.
Therefore, God’s command to “fill the heart with these divine responsibilities” implies that the mortal is to be transformed by the wisdom of God from the inside out and to fulfill the priestly duties that wisdom entails.
In other words, the mortal is being entrusted with the divine teachings of heaven. These teachings are to be imbibed like living water so that they rule and reside at the very center of the person’s being.
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