Genesis 2:15

Hebrew Bible

15 The Lord God took the man and placed him in the orchard in Eden to care for it and to maintain it. 16 Then the Lord God commanded the man, “You may freely eat fruit from every tree of the orchard, 17 but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will surely die.” 18 The Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a companion for him who corresponds to him.”

Numbers 3:7

Hebrew Bible

6 “Bring the tribe of Levi near, and present them before Aaron the priest, that they may serve him. 7 They are responsible to serve18 his needs and the needs of the whole community before the tent of meeting, by attending to the service of the tabernacle. 8 And they are responsible for all the furnishings of the tent of meeting, and for the needs of the Israelites, as they serve in the tabernacle.

 Notes and References

"... In Genesis 2:15 Adam is tasked to 'guard' (רמשׁ) and to 'serve' (דבע). These verbs are used in combination elsewhere in the Pentateuch only in connection with cultic personnel (Numbers 3:7-8; 8:26; 18:7). Adam’s appointed role, therefore, for readers of the Pentateuch takes on priestly connotations. In Exodus 25, the Tree of Life appears to be the model for the lampstand that was to stand immediately outside the holy of holies, which in turn was fashioned to look like a tree (Exodus 25:31–36), having six branches and cups “shaped like almond blossoms” ... Moreover, the stationing of 'sentries' (Akkadian "kuribu") as sentries (Genesis 3:24) suggests that the Garden was understood as a sanctuary, for in the ancient world םיברכ were the guardians of holy places. Indeed, images of these creatures were later utilized in both tabernacle (Exodus 26:31) and temple (1 Kings 6:29) ..."

Harper, G. Geoffrey "I Will Walk among You": The Rhetorical Function of Allusion to Genesis 1-3 in the Book of Leviticus (pp. 303-304) Eisenbrauns, 2018

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