Awake And Sing For Joy
A garden is a selected area of ground that is cultivated to produce fruits, vegetables, flowers or trees. Gardens were prevalent during Bible History, when they were often enclosed within a wall of earth or stone, or a hedge, and guarded by a watchman as protection against animals and thieves. Frequently used as places of worship and prayer (by the righteous, and by pagans), gardens were also used as a spiritual analogy for God's blessings upon believers, or for the unbeliever's fruitlessness. Gardens were sometimes used as burial places, a somewhat appropriate irony, since the dead are like sown seeds with the potential of new life e.g. "Thy dead shall live, their bodies shall rise. O dwellers in the dust, awake and sing for joy!" (Isaiah 26:19 RSV) (see The Last Day)
The First Garden
"And The Lord God planted a garden in Eden, in the east; and there He put the man whom He had formed. And out of the ground The Lord God made to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food, the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil." (Genesis 2:8-9 RSV) (see The Seven Days Of Creation)
Fruit, Vegetables, Flowers
"Now Naboth the Jezreelite had a vineyard in Jezreel, beside the palace of Ahab king of Samaria. And after this Ahab said to Naboth, "Give me your vineyard, that I may have it for a vegetable garden, because it is near my house; and I will give you a better vineyard for it; or, if it seems good to you, I will give you its value in money." (1 Kings 21:1-2 RSV) (see Jezebel)
"I made great works; I built houses and planted vineyards for myself; I made myself gardens and parks, and planted in them all kinds of fruit trees. I made myself pools from which to water the forest of growing trees." (Ecclesiastes 2:4-6 RSV) (see Solomon)
"My beloved has gone down to his garden, to the beds of spices, to pasture his flock in the gardens, and to gather lilies." (Song of Solomon 6:2 RSV)
Spiritual Gardens
"Blessed is the man who trusts in The Lord, whose trust is The Lord. He is like a tree planted by water, that sends out its roots by the stream, and does not fear when heat comes, for its leaves remain green, and is not anxious in the year of drought, for it does not cease to bear fruit." (Jeremiah 17:7-8 RSV) (see Christian Living)
"Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the Law of The Lord, and on His Law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water, that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers." (Psalm 1:1-3 RSV)
Burial Places
"Now the rest of the acts of Manasseh, and all that he did, and the sin that he committed, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? And Manasseh slept with his fathers, and was buried in the garden of his house, in the garden of Uzza; and Amon his son reigned in his stead." (2 Kings 21:17-18 RSV) (see Kings of Israel and Judah)
"After this Joseph Of Arimathea, who was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly, for fear of the Jews, asked Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus, and Pilate gave him leave. So he came and took away His body. Nicodemus also, who had at first come to Him by night, came bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about a hundred pounds' weight. They took the body of Jesus, and bound it in linen cloths with the spices, as is the burial custom of the Jews. Now in the place where He was crucified there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb where no one had ever been laid. So because of the Jewish day of Preparation, as the tomb was close at hand, they laid Jesus there." (John 19:38-42 RSV)
Fact Finder: What was the name of the garden where Jesus was arrested The Fateful Night?
See Garden of Gethsemane
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