Bereshit 2:15 records that G-d took Adam, and placed him in the Garden of Eden to work it and to watch it. Sarna (1989, p. 20) notes that the beginning of 2:15 repeats the end of 2:8, which is the literary technique of resumptive repetition. The idea is that after the digression on the four rivers, the Torah returns to the main focus of the narrative, Adam, by repeating that he had been placed in the Garden of Eden.
The end of 2:15 records a new thought that Adam was placed in the garden to work and watch it. This information is quite surprising, as Or Hachayyim (on 2:15) asks what work was needed in the garden? Also, we generally assume that Adam was only condemned to work since he ate from the fruit of the tree of knowledge, but from 2:15 it seems that he was always supposed to work. Finally, why did Adam need to watch the garden? Was there a fear that other people could enter the Garden of Eden?
One approach is that the verse refers to actual work. R. Shimon B. Elazar (Avot de Rabbi Natan, 11:1, quoted by Hertz p.8) noted that Adam man was not able to taste anything until he had done some work. This quote is quoted amongst other statement extolling work, and hence the point of 2:15 is to show the importance of working. The question amongst the commentators who follow this approach is what work was needed.
Ibn Ezra (on 2:15, also see Radak on 2:15) suggests that the work in the garden was to water the trees, and the watching was to stop other animals from entering the garden. Hoffmann and Luzzatto (on 2:15, also see Bekhor Shor on 2:15) both suggest that the work was to be light work in taking care of the trees, which would differ from the punishment of Adam that refers to difficult work, "the sweat of your brow." The watching refers to stopping animals that lived in the garden from eating the fruit on the trees, though I am not sure what else they had to eat. I doubt these answers since still it seems that no work at all was needed in the garden, and if animals needed to be watched, then this was not light work. However, maybe according to R. Shimon b. Elazar the point was for Adam to do something even if it was not necessary.
The second approach to understanding 2:15 is that the working and watching refer to spiritual work. Bereshit Rabbah (16:5) first quotes that the verse is referring to keeping the Shabbat that first one works and then one rests. This working is real work which follows the first approach. However, the Midrash continues and suggests that the working and watching refer to offering sacrifices. The Midrash notes that the words work, la-avod, and watch, le-shmor, are used in reference to sacrifices, Shemot 3:12 and Bemidbar 28:2. Cassuto (p.122,123) follows this approach and argues that the terms working and watching should be understood as infinitives, which means they are a general command and do not refer specifically to working and watching the garden.
The Netziv (Harchav Davar on 2:15) also follows this approach though he notes that the Midrash cannot literally mean sacrifices since sacrifices can only be brought in the land of Israel. He quotes (also quoted by Radak) a Sifrei on Ekev, that the word work means study and the word watch means to keep the laws. Or Hachayyim (on 2:15) quotes from the Zohar, a variation of this idea that to work is to follow the laws, while to watch is not to violate the laws.
I also prefer this spiritual approach and doubt that Adam was supposed to
literally offer sacrifices. At the time of this commandment, there were only fruits in the garden, but sacrifices never consist of fruit. Also, while soon afterwards there would be animals in the Garden of Eden, still these animals were supposed to be Adam's friend and not his sacrifices. Finally, the idea that Adam was to slaughter and sacrifice animals seems incongruent with a person who even after eating from the tree of knowledge could barely make clothing for himself, 3:7,21.
My guess is that the word work should be understood as serving G-d in a general way, as in Devarim 11:13, to serve G-d with all your heart and soul. (Is this what Seforno, on 2:15, means when he writes that the work refers to man's soul?) The word watch, shamor, should be interpreted as to remember, as in 37:11 and Devarim 5:12, see Ibn Ezra in his introduction to the Decalogue on Shemot. Adam's task was not to work physically, but to serve G-d and always remember G-d. Adam was commanded to always be cognizant of G-d, and these words are an introduction to the next verses, 2:16,17, in which G-d commanded Adam to eat of the fruit of the trees and to not eat the fruit of the tree of knowledge. When Adam and Havva ate from the fruit of the tree of knowledge, then they demonstrated that they were not cognizant of G-d.
According to this idea, the end of 2:15 is the prime directive to mankind. Adam was placed in the Garden of Eden where he did not have to work and worry about food, but he did have to always be mindful of G-d. This would have been his task forever had he never eaten from the fruit of the tree of knowledge and it remains mankind's task even after Adam and Havva left the Garden of Eden. Maybe, the covenant and all the laws are designed to fulfill this directive, to make a person constantly aware of G-d.
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