Genesis 1 - The creation story. The lord curses man and the earth.
Genesis 2:5 - And every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew: for the LORD God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was not a man to ”till” the ground. Some have argued that the the word “till” mentioned scriptures clearly shows that God intended for man to turn over the soil each season as the intended “proper” way to grow food. As a child I believed this was exactly what God meant when he said “in the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread”. What if I could show you that the word “till” was actually never synonymous with “plowing” and has been perverted in modern times to describe the workings of a gas powered machine?
Genesis 2:15 - And the Lord God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it. In hebrew translation we find that the word “till” means to dress or to cultivate. If we could properly reclaim this word in our modern tonue, we would not only be tilling by weeding or planting our gardens but we’d also be tilling when trimming trees, mowing the lawn, or dead heading the flowers. Alas, will we ever reclaim other lost words that have changed over tome like “aweful”, “naughty” or “gay”, neither of which historically meant anything bad.
Genesis 3:17-19 - Pay attention here you will see the lord curses both man and the earth. This was two (2) sepperate cursing’s. First the Ground is cursed but it is for mans sake, the earth is also cursed with thorns and thistles but man gets to eat the herb. Second man is cursed to work and toil for his survival only to inevitably die but the earth gets to reclaim his elements. In each part of the curse it’s a give and take between man and the earth. later we will see how God removes the curse.
Genesis 8:21-22 - The lord removes the curse from off the earth, because mans heart is “evil” the curse on man remains. Interpret this scripture any way you like, it is pretty clear this is a reversal of the curse mentioned in Genesis 3.
(Deut. 7:12-15) - The Lord blessed the fruit of the land and removed sickness from among them. Modern reserach health science makes a clear link between birth rates and nutrition. Proper nutrition not only increases birth rates but the health and longevity of children. Proper nutrition comes from properly grown crops in nutrient rich soils and is the key to long lived people in various studied communities where people live to great ages with only a fraction of the diseases. Lack of nutrition leaves communities with more disease and more succeptible to raging plagues and virus outbreaks. The same is litterally true for plants. Research experiments showed that proper soil nutrition kept plants impervious to disease when intentionally infected with virus compared to test groups that were grown using conventional methods.
Job 37:14-24 - The wonderous works of God.
Job 38:4-11 - The earth was created as from the womb in all similitude.
Psalm 104:1-14 - Reviewing creation. Variation on Job 38.
Isaiah 24:4-6,20 - The earth mourns and shall reel to and fro like a drunkard. It will burn
Mathew 6:24-34 - Ye cannot serve God and mammon. [Mammon / ˈ m æ m ən / in the New Testament of the Bible is commonly thought to mean money, material wealth, or any entity that promises wealth, and is associated with the greedy pursuit of gain.] Aside form the obvious correlation of corrupt agriculture farming practices for and large profits, this scripture struck me most when I began to weigh the different methods of growing food using Gods tools (aka creatures large and small) under a holistic faith based approach. Man uses a plow, God uses worms and fungus, Man uses herbicides and insecticides but god uses natures balance, Man pulls weeds but God covers them and heals the ground with foraging animals. Farming does not work both ways. Either you rely on mans wisdom or Gods. Both yield results but mans way ultimately leads to a ton of work followed by deficiency & disease. Conventional farming works so long as there are free minerals in the ground but once it is stripped we must change methods or move on. The world we live in was created by a being who provided balance in all things and renewal of resources must happen at the same time and rate as the depletion. Current farming practices don’t follow this law. It’s a money grab to yield a maximum output with a minimum input and the American diet is suffering for it.
When I first applied this scripture to gardening I though maybe I was going for a stretch but then I read the rest of the chapter and I was hit with a heavy wake up by the lords wisdom. I felt as if he was affirming to me that this was exactly part of his wisdom and the very message he would have me receive. Consider the Lilies of the field. Also consider the corn, onions, squash, wheat and potatoes. How they grow yet they toil not. I know that all truth can be circumscribed into one great whole and that God gives no temporal law accept that it be spiritual also. Taken in context of the word of wisdom I believe the Lord would have us know that he can care for us much better than big pharma, the FDA or Monsanto. If we follow his gardening wisdom as it is revealed to us in nature it will bless our lives and the future health of our families. My children have grown to love cultured foods and fresh garden produce. They didn’t always but now they prefer many home grown foods and treats over commercially available processed junk. Health is an acquired taste… it’s really not a lot unlike heaven.
Mathew 13 - Parable of the Sower.
Mark 10:43-44 - I had never before thought of this scripture from a non human perspective before but in my study of nutrition I learned that the micro biome (the smallest of all living creatures, are most critical to health. In one aspect they might be the greatest and most important life force on the planet. Yet they are servant to all. They do everything from digesting our foods to consuming our bodies after we die. In the great circle of life they might be viewed as the least of all creatures yet we rely on them. Even God who is the greatest of all, still calls himself a minister and servant of all. Many nutritional health experts today concur that foods fermented by micro living (yeast, bacterial, fungus) cultures are healthier for the gut and contribute to reduced digestive stress and increased longevity. Perhaps this is hidden wisdom, spoken by the God of creation, which proves to be far more prophetic than we have previously recognized.
Revelations 22:1-3 - During the millennium all curses shall be lifted. Which means they still do exist.
Alma 3:27 - Compare to Mathew 6
Alma 34:24 - ****Cry unto him over the crops of your fields, that ye may prosper in them. This chapter is also full of wisdom that applies to gardening when viewing it through a proper lens.
Alma 45:16 - God placed a specific conditional curse upon the Promised land. Not soil related.