God is a Farmer - To Tend and Keep

To Tend and Keep

Genesis 2:15

Then the LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it.

God set man in the garden to work, serve, till, be a husbandman, guard, protect and preserve the garden.

To tend (dress):  Strongs H5647 – 290 times  ʻâbad, aw-bad'; a primitive root; to work (in any sense); by implication, to serve, till, (causatively) enslave, etc.:—× be, keep in bondage, be bondmen, bond-service, compel, do, dress, ear, execute, husbandman, keep, labour(-ing man, bring to pass, (cause to, make to) serve(-ing, self), (be, become) servant(-s), do (use) service, till(-er), transgress (from margin), (set a) work, be wrought, worshipper,

So : to work in any sense, to serve, to till, to be a husbandman, to be a worshipper

To keep:  Strongs H8104   - 440 times  shâmar, shaw-mar'; a primitive root; properly, to hedge about (as with thorns), i.e. guard; generally, to protect, attend to, etc.:—beward, be circumspect, take heed (to self), keep(-er, self), mark, look narrowly, observe, preserve, regard, reserve, save (self), sure, (that lay) wait (for), watch(-man).

So: to guard, to protect, to attend to, to mark, to observe, to preserve, to regard, to reserve, to save.

So Adam was created toprotect, attend to , observe and preserve every single thing on the earth the God created. This includes every animal and their relationships with each other as well all plant and vegetative organisms. This is not authority as a dictator removed from relationship but pretty much the opposite.  In Genesiswe are told that every day of creation was "good" but on the sixth day when He created Man. He called it "very good". The rest of creation was not made in God's image, but Adam was.