Genesis 2:15

2:15 The Lord God took the man and placed ¹  him in the orchard in ²  Eden to care for it and to maintain it. ³ 

Genesis 17:9

17:9 Then God said to Abraham, “As for you, you must keep ⁴  the covenantal requirement ⁵  I am imposing on you and your descendants after you throughout their generations.

Genesis 24:6

24:6 “Be careful ⁶  never to take my son back there!” Abraham told him. ⁷ 

Genesis 26:5

26:5 All this will come to pass ⁸  because Abraham obeyed me ⁹  and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws.” ¹⁰ 

[2:15]  ¹ tn The Hebrew verb נוּחַ (nuakh, translated here as “placed”) is a different verb than the one used in 2:8.

[2:15]  ² tn Traditionally translated “the Garden of Eden,” the context makes it clear that the garden (or orchard) was in Eden (making “Eden” a genitive of location).

[2:15]  ³ tn Heb “to work it and to keep it.”

[17:9]  ⁴ tn The imperfect tense could be translated “you shall keep” as a binding command; but the obligatory nuance (“must”) captures the binding sense better.

[17:9]  ⁵ tn Heb “my covenant.” The Hebrew word בְּרִית (bÿrit) can refer to (1) the agreement itself between two parties (see v. 7), (2) the promise made by one party to another (see vv. 2-3, 7), (3) an obligation placed by one party on another, or (4) a reminder of the agreement. In vv. 9-10 the word refers to a covenantal obligation which God gives to Abraham and his descendants.

[24:6]  ⁷ tn Heb “guard yourself.”

[24:6]  ⁸ tn The introductory clause “And Abraham said to him” has been moved to the end of the opening sentence of direct discourse in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[26:5]  ¹⁰ tn The words “All this will come to pass” are not in the Hebrew text, but are supplied for stylistic reasons.

[26:5]  ¹¹ tn Heb “listened to my voice.”

[26:5]  ¹² sn My charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws. The language of this verse is clearly interpretive, for Abraham did not have all these laws. The terms are legal designations for sections of the Mosaic law and presuppose the existence of the law. Some Rabbinic views actually conclude that Abraham had fulfilled the whole law before it was given (see m. Qiddushin 4:14). Some scholars argue that this story could only have been written after the law was given (C. Westermann, Genesis, 2:424-25). But the simplest explanation is that the narrator (traditionally taken to be Moses the Lawgiver) elaborated on the simple report of Abraham’s obedience by using terms with which the Israelites were familiar. In this way he depicts Abraham as the model of obedience to God’s commands, whose example Israel should follow.