Staying "Put" in the Garden of Eden: The Deeper Meaning of Shabbat According to Genesis Rabbah

This past week I saw something that encouraged me and something that discouraged me--both in regard to Gentiles observing Shabbat.  The encouraging thing was to read a friend's Facebook post about his Shabbat preparations--in particular that he had a crockpot full of venison.  Now that's a good way to delight in Shabbat!

But then I read James Pyles' post entitled "Noahides, Talmidei Yeshua, And Shabbos Observance Revisited" which was about how Gentiles shouldn't keep Shabbat and I found it to be very discouraging. 

So to encourage myself I reflected on what the Torah has to say about the universal appeal of Shabbat.  To that end, let's look at a midrash that discusses how Adam experienced the rest of Shabbat while in the Garden of Eden.  The passage addressed by the midrash is as follows:

“The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it,” Genesis 2:15

The midrash focuses on the language of "put him in the Garden":

“ A. ‘And he put him’ (Gen. 2:15) means that he gave him [Adam] the religious duty of observing the Sabbath [linking ‘put’ to the meaning of ‘rest,’ which the same root yields].  B.  This is in line with the following verse of Scripture:  ‘And he rested on the Seventh day’ (Gen. 20:10).  C. ‘To till it’ (Gen. 2:15).  ‘Six days shall you till’ (Ex. 20:9).  D.  ‘And to keep it’ (Gen. 2:15). ‘Keep the Sabbath day’ (Deut. 5:12),” Genesis Rabbah as quoted in Neusner’s “A Theological Commentary to the Midrash

Here we see for the first time in Torah that it is not enough for man to have a time of rest but man also needs a place of rest--needs, in fact, the Garden of Eden--the place where G-d rests and dwells.  But now that the Garden of Eden is lost, how is man to find the dwelling place and resting place of G-d?  Torah provides a clue:

“We will go into his dwelling place: we will worship at his footstool.  Arise, O LORD, into thy resting place; thou, and the ark of thy strength.  Let thy priests be clothed with righteousness; and let thy saints shout for joy. For thy servant David's sake turn not away the face of thine anointed.  The LORD hath sworn in truth unto David; he will not turn from it; Of the fruit of thy body will I set upon thy throne.  If thy children will keep my covenant and my testimony that I shall teach them, their children shall also sit upon thy throne for evermore.  For the LORD hath chosen Zion; he hath desired it for his habitation.  This is my rest for ever: here will I dwell; for I have desired it,” Psalm 132:7-14

“This is what the Lord says:  ‘Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool.  Where is the house you will build for me?  Where will my resting place be?  Has not my hand made all these things, and so they came into being?’ declares the Lord,” Isaiah 66:1-2

"The LORD replied, 'My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest,'" Exodus 33:14

So the Temple of Israel becomes the new Eden.  There's all the main elements of Eden found in the Temple--the Tree of Life (Menorah), the river of life (Ezekiel 47:1), the Cherubim, etc.  But until such time as we have the House of the L-rd in Israel, we have something almost as good:  we can turn our homes into Eden:

“…one [finds] the definition of forbidden labor [on Shabbat] in those activities required for the construction and maintenance of the tabernacle, which is to say, God’s residence on earth.  The best statement, predictably, is the Talmud of Babylonia Shabbat 39a:
‘People are liable only for classifications of labor the like of which was done in the tabernacle.  They sowed, so you are not to sow.  They harvested, so you are not to harvest.  They lifted up the boards from the ground to the wagon, so you are not to lift them in from public to private domain.  They lowered boards from the wagon to the ground, so you must not carry anything from private to public domain.   They transported boards from wagon to wagon, so you must not carry from one private domain to another.’
….Hence to act like God on the Sabbath, the Israelite rests; he does not do what God did in Creation…
…What then takes place inside the walls of the Israelite household when time takes over space and revises the conduct of ordinary affairs?  Israel goes home to Eden.  How best to make the statement that the Land is Israel’s Eden, that Israel imitates God by keeping the Sabbath—meaning, not doing the things that God did in creating the world but the things God ceased to do on the Sabbath—and that to restore its Eden, Israel must sustain its life—nourish itself—where it belongs?...Israel’s Eden takes place in the household open to others, on the Sabbath, in acts that maintain life, share wealth, and desist from Creation,” Jacob Neusner, Judaism When Christianity Began

May G-d bless all of you, my brothers and sisters, with a miniature Eden next Shabbat!  May you all experience His perfect peace, rest, and joy!

Shalom,

Peter