Agriculture

The science of cultivation. The task, given to humanity, of cultivating the land is a reflection of God's own care for his creation.

A major activity for humanity

Genesis 2:15 See also Genesis 3:23, Genesis 4:2, Genesis 4:12, Genesis 9:20, Genesis 47:19; Deuteronomy 8:7–8; 1 Kings 19:19; 2 Chronicles 26:10; Isaiah 37:30

Then the LORD God took the man and placed him in the Garden of Eden to cultivate and keep it.

Growth is according to the sovereign will of God

He has established the seasons

Genesis 8:22; Acts 14:17 See also Leviticus 26:4; Jeremiah 5:24

As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night shall never cease.”

Yet He has not left Himself without testimony to His goodness: He gives you rain from heaven and fruitful seasons, filling your hearts with food and gladness.”

He provides for the growth of the crops

Psalm 65:9 See also Psalm 104:14, Psalm 107:37–38, Psalm 147:8; Ezekiel 34:26–27; Zechariah 8:12; Matthew 6:30; 2 Corinthians 9:10

You attend to the earth and water it; with abundance You enrich it. The streams of God are full of water, for You prepare our grain by providing for the earth.

OT laws for agriculture showed how to co-operate with God

Leviticus 19:19 See also Leviticus 19:23, Leviticus 25:3–4; Deuteronomy 22:10

You are to keep My statutes. You shall not crossbreed two different kinds of livestock; you shall not sow your fields with two kinds of seed; and you shall not wear clothing made of two kinds of material.

Harvest festivals were for thanking God for his provision

Exodus 34:22 See also Leviticus 23:10, Leviticus 23:39–41; Deuteronomy 16:10, Deuteronomy 16:13

And you are to celebrate the Feast of Weeks with the firstfruits of the wheat harvest, and the Feast of Ingathering at the turn of the year.

Cultivation was affected by the fall

Genesis 3:17 See also Genesis 3:18–19, Genesis 4:12, Genesis 5:29; Romans 8:20

And to Adam He said: “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat, cursed is the ground because of you; through toil you will eat of it all the days of your life.

Agricultural images of God's action among his people

Isaiah 5:7; Matthew 9:37; John 12:24 See also Isaiah 17:5–6, Isaiah 24:13; Jeremiah 8:20, Jeremiah 50:16, Jeremiah 51:33; Hosea 6:11; Matthew 13:3–8 parallels Mark 4:3–8, Luke 8:5–8; Matthew 13:18–23 parallels Mark 4:13–20, Luke 8:11–15; Matthew 13:24–30; Mark 4:26–29; John 4:35–38

For the vineyard of the LORD of Hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah are the plant of His delight. He looked for justice, but saw bloodshed; for righteousness, but heard a cry of distress.

Then He said to His disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few.

Truly, truly, I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a seed. But if it dies, it bears much fruit.