Work
Hebrew #5647 – aw-bad
Definition: to work (in any sense), till, cultivate, to serve, labor
Other Words: Serve, do, till, servant, worshippers, service, dress, labor
“And יהוה Elohim took the man and put him in the garden of Ěḏen to work it and to guard it.”
Berĕshith (Genesis) 2:15
“Only, diligently guard to do the command and the Torah which Mosheh the servant of יהוה commanded you, to love יהוה your Elohim, and to walk in all His ways, and to guard His commands, and to cling to Him, and to serve Him with all your heart and with all your being.”
Yehoshua (Joshua) 22:5
“and shall spread them before the sun and the moon and all the host of the heavens, which they have loved and which they have served and after which they have walked, which they have sought, and to which they have bowed themselves. They shall not be gathered nor buried, they shall be for dung on the face of the earth.”
Yirmeyahu (Jeremiah) 8:2
“A seed shall serve Him. It is declared of יהוה to the coming generation. They shall come and declare His righteousness to a people yet to be born, For He shall do it!”
Tehillim (Psalms) 22:30-31
This didn’t turn out as I had wanted it to. I was hoping to do a word study on the word cultivate, but the word that is translated as cultivate is more accurately translated as work. However, as you can see, most of the scriptures have it translated as 'serve'.
The Hebrew word 'awbod' appears in the Tanakh 290 times. It is translated as serve, 227 times, and as work only 5 times, while the rest of the 290 are other words.
It’s possible to exchange serve with work for in any of the scripture passages above. Here’s an example:
“Only, diligently guard to do the command and the Torah which Mosheh the servant of יהוה commanded you, to love יהוה your Elohim, and to walk in all His ways, and to guard His commands, and to cling to Him, and to work for Him with all your heart and with all your being.”
Yehoshua (Joshua) 22:5
When we do our work, whatever it may be, it should be done as a service to Yahuah, with our entire being. As if He were the Master of the house and we were a servant, and He was watching our every move, because He is. This is a somewhat abstract statement, “do all as unto Yahuah,” but phrased in a way like, “do everything to your best ability, because Yahuah is watching,” makes it a little easier to grasp and more practical to follow.
We have a sign in our house which says:
Every job is a self-portrait of the person who did it;
Autograph your work with excellence.
As a child, this really appealed to me, and I always told myself to pay attention to that when the time came, and sometimes I was a little worried with the weight of the saying. But as I grew older and began working, this was my driving force in all I did:
excellence, even though I may have forgotten about the little plaque we kept on our piano years before.
As people saw my work, done always to the best of my ability, exhausting myself in some cases, they would naturally compliment me on the good, hard work. And what naturally comes to mind when getting compliments? Pride. I’ll do a study about that later, but when pride is kept in check, there is much, much blessing and reward to be found in doing all your work with excellence.
What a witness, it becomes too, as you truly serve Yahuah. To keep my pride low, I say, “Let them see You in my work, Yah. Let them see I am serving something bigger than my boss.” And even if only one comes to the knowledge of Elohim after my efforts, it would all be worth it.
So, don’t be discouraged; seek to do your best and avoid cutting corners. Ask Yahuah for strength, too, because it can get very wearisome if Yahuah is not there in the midst.
This is one of my favorite passages in scripture relating to this:
“I love You, O יהוה, My strength. יהוה is my rock and my stronghold and my deliverer; My Ěl is my rock, I take refuge in Him; My shield and the horn of my deliverance, my high tower.”
Tehillim (Psalms) 18:1-2
Be sure to check out Left and Right Ministries and their song, Psalm 18. You can find it here.
What I didn’t realize was that even as a child, just doing my chores, I could still do it with excellence, and receive great reward from Yahuah. Doing your best when young is the best place to start, because it only gets harder as you grow older. And when you are faithful with little, no matter what the job is, Yahuah will give you more responsibility resulting in more blessing, and the furthering of His Kingdom. Because that’s the ultimate goal, right?
Shalom,
JS
“For the rest, my brothers, be strong in the Master and in the mightiness of His strength.”
Eph`siyim (Ephesians) 6:10