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Garden; Gardener

Boyd’s Bible Dictionary:

(yard). In Hebrew sense, enclosures for fruits, well watered (Gen. 2:10; 13:10; 21:33¹⁰And a river went out of Eden to water the garden; and from thence it was parted, and became into four heads. (Genesis 2:10)
¹⁰And Lot lifted up his eyes, and beheld all the plain of Jordan, that it was well watered every where, before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, even as the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt, as thou comest unto Zoar. (Genesis 13:10)
³³And Abraham planted a grove in Beer-sheba, and called there on the name of the Lord, the everlasting God. (Genesis 21:33); Num. 24:6⁶As the valleys are they spread forth, as gardens by the river's side, as the trees of lign aloes which the Lord hath planted, and as cedar trees beside the waters. (Numbers 24:6); Job 8:16¹⁶He is green before the sun, and his branch shooteth forth in his garden. (Job 8:16)); hedged (Isa. 5:5⁵And now go to; I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard: I will take away the hedge thereof, and it shall be eaten up; and break down the wall thereof, and it shall be trodden down: (Isaiah 5:5)); walled (Prov. 24:31³¹And, lo, it was all grown over with thorns, and nettles had covered the face thereof, and the stone wall thereof was broken down. (Proverbs 24:31)); protected (Isa. 1:8⁸And the daughter of Zion is left as a cottage in a vineyard, as a lodge in a garden of cucumbers, as a besieged city. (Isaiah 1:8); Job 27:18¹⁸He buildeth his house as a moth, and as a booth that the keeper maketh. (Job 27:18); Mark 12:1¹And he began to speak unto them by parables. A certain man planted a vineyard, and set an hedge about it, and digged a place for the winefat, and built a tower, and let it out to husbandmen, and went into a far country. (Mark 12:1)).

Concise Bible Dictionary:

In the East the gardens were portions of ground under culture, and often enclosed by walls, in which fruit and herbs were grown. Water was always necessary: in the garden of Eden there was a river by which it was watered; and hence a fruitful place was described as well watered, “as the garden of the Lord” (Gen. 13:10¹⁰And Lot lifted up his eyes, and beheld all the plain of Jordan, that it was well watered every where, before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, even as the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt, as thou comest unto Zoar. (Genesis 13:10)). It is also used figuratively of great blessing: when Israel is restored, “their soul shall be as a watered garden” (Jer. 31:12¹²Therefore they shall come and sing in the height of Zion, and shall flow together to the goodness of the Lord, for wheat, and for wine, and for oil, and for the young of the flock and of the herd: and their soul shall be as a watered garden; and they shall not sorrow any more at all. (Jeremiah 31:12)); whereas under God’s judgments they were like a garden that had no water (Isa. 1:30³⁰For ye shall be as an oak whose leaf fadeth, and as a garden that hath no water. (Isaiah 1:30)).

The garden was also looked upon as a place of delights, and is often used figuratively in this sense (Song of Sol. 4:12-16¹²A garden inclosed is my sister, my spouse; a spring shut up, a fountain sealed. ¹³Thy plants are an orchard of pomegranates, with pleasant fruits; camphire, with spikenard, ¹⁴Spikenard and saffron; calamus and cinnamon, with all trees of frankincense; myrrh and aloes, with all the chief spices: ¹⁵A fountain of gardens, a well of living waters, and streams from Lebanon. ¹⁶Awake, O north wind; and come, thou south; blow upon my garden, that the spices thereof may flow out. Let my beloved come into his garden, and eat his pleasant fruits. (Song of Solomon 4:12‑16); Song of Sol. 5:1¹I am come into my garden, my sister, my spouse: I have gathered my myrrh with my spice; I have eaten my honeycomb with my honey; I have drunk my wine with my milk: eat, O friends; drink, yea, drink abundantly, O beloved. (Song of Solomon 5:1); Song of Sol. 6:2,11²My beloved is gone down into his garden, to the beds of spices, to feed in the gardens, and to gather lilies. (Song of Solomon 6:2)
¹¹I went down into the garden of nuts to see the fruits of the valley, and to see whether the vine flourished, and the pomegranates budded. (Song of Solomon 6:11); Song of Sol. 8:13¹³Thou that dwellest in the gardens, the companions hearken to thy voice: cause me to hear it. (Song of Solomon 8:13)). Gardens were also secluded places of secret sin (Isa. 65:3³A people that provoketh me to anger continually to my face; that sacrificeth in gardens, and burneth incense upon altars of brick; (Isaiah 65:3); Isa. 66:17¹⁷They that sanctify themselves, and purify themselves in the gardens behind one tree in the midst, eating swine's flesh, and the abomination, and the mouse, shall be consumed together, saith the Lord. (Isaiah 66:17)).

The two most noted gardens in scripture were the gardens of EDEN and of GETHSEMANE. Once only we read of a GARDENER (John 20:15¹⁵Jesus saith unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? whom seekest thou? She, supposing him to be the gardener, saith unto him, Sir, if thou have borne him hence, tell me where thou hast laid him, and I will take him away. (John 20:15)), though, since the curse upon the ground, there must always have been some who labored in gardens (compare Gen. 3:19¹⁹In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return. (Genesis 3:19); Song of Sol. 1:6⁶Look not upon me, because I am black, because the sun hath looked upon me: my mother's children were angry with me; they made me the keeper of the vineyards; but mine own vineyard have I not kept. (Song of Solomon 1:6)); and in Eden, before the curse, Adam was placed in the garden “to dress it and to keep it” (Gen. 2:15¹⁵And the Lord God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it. (Genesis 2:15)).

“481. Lodge in a Garden” From Manners and Customs of the Bible:

Isaiah 1:8⁸And the daughter of Zion is left as a cottage in a vineyard, as a lodge in a garden of cucumbers, as a besieged city. (Isaiah 1:8). The daughter of Zion is left as a cottage in a vineyard, as a lodge in a garden of cucumbers.

As the fields were not always provided with fences it became necessary to have persons to watch them, especially while the fruit was ripening, in order to keep of all depredators, whether man, beast, or bird. These “keepers of a field” are referred to in Jeremiah 4:17¹⁷As keepers of a field, are they against her round about; because she hath been rebellious against me, saith the Lord. (Jeremiah 4:17), and they are still to be seen in the East. During the ripening season they watch day and night and through all sorts of weather, and hence need some protection from excessive heat, dew, or storm. This protection is found in temporary huts, which are made of closely twined branches and leaves, or of pieces or matting thrown over a rude framework of poles. There is an allusion to such a frail structure in Job 27:18¹⁸He buildeth his house as a moth, and as a booth that the keeper maketh. (Job 27:18) and also in Isaiah 24:20²⁰The earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard, and shall be removed like a cottage; and the transgression thereof shall be heavy upon it; and it shall fall, and not rise again. (Isaiah 24:20). When the crop is gathered and the field forsaken the deserted lodge soon leans and falls, and the whole scene is one of utter loneliness. It was such a picture of desolation to which the prophet compares “the daughter of Zion.”

“816. Place for Gardens” From Manners and Customs of the Bible:

John 18:1¹When Jesus had spoken these words, he went forth with his disciples over the brook Cedron, where was a garden, into the which he entered, and his disciples. (John 18:1). He went forth with his disciples over the brook Cedron, where was a garden.

Gardens were made outside of the cities. The rabbins assign as a reason for this the foul smells which arose from the weeds and from the manure which was necessary for fertilizing. “Upon this account there were no gardens in the city, (some few gardens of roses excepted, which had been so from the days of the prophets,) but all were without the walls, especially at the foot of Olivet” (Lightfoot, Horae Hebraicae, Matthew 27:60⁶⁰And laid it in his own new tomb, which he had hewn out in the rock: and he rolled a great stone to the door of the sepulchre, and departed. (Matthew 27:60)).

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