Kepos: Time in the Garden

. Word of the Week

September 5, 2026

 

Kēpos: Time in the Garden

 

Now in the place where He was crucified there was a garden, and in the garden was a new tomb in which no one had yet been laid.

John 19:41 NASB2020

 

Some gardens are small.  We used to do “square-foot gardening” in a raised box full of dirt.  The kids would plant carrots and beans and watch them grow.

Some gardens are huge.  The nobles of England and France would surround their palaces with multi-acre formal gardens where every tree and stream was precisely placed to provide a majestic view.

Big or little, gardens are the result of careful planning and purposeful planting.

From crocus to chrysanthemum, each flower is in the right place, planted at the right time so that something will be blooming all through the summer months.

There are gardens in the Bible too.  The Greek word for garden only appears 5 times in the New Testament, but some of the most important events in Christ’s career happened in a garden.

The Greek word for “garden” is kēpos [KAY-poss].  It described a place where plants and/or trees were planted.

A garden is full of plants that were purposefully selected and arranged, not like the open pastureland where shepherds would tend their sheep or goats.

A garden was normally enclosed, not like a field of wheat or barley where anyone could wander through.

Jesus mentioned a garden in one of His parables:

What is the kingdom of heaven like, and to what shall I compare it?  It is like a mustard seed, which a man took and threw into his own garden; and it grew and became a tree, and the birds of the sky nested in its branches (Luke 13:18-19).

Many Israelites had small gardens near their homes, where they could grow herbs and vegetables.

One of the best-known gardens in Scripture is the garden of Gethsemane.  This garden, just outside the city of Jerusalem, was probably enclosed by a stone wall that provided privacy for Jesus and His disciples.

When Jesus had spoken these words, He went away with His disciples across the ravine of the Kidron, where there was a garden which He entered with His disciples (John 18:1).

There Jesus agonized in prayer just before He presented Himself to be arrested and crucified for our sins.  Later in the courtyard of the high priest, “One of the slaves of the high priest . . . said, ‘Did I not see you in the garden with Him?” (John 18:26).

Finally, we read of the garden where the broken body of Jesus was entombed.  Joseph of Arimathea donated the rock-cut tomb intended for his own burial, offering it for Jesus.   It would have been a place of beauty and serenity, fitting for a wealthy man.

Now in the place where He was crucified there was a garden, and in the garden was a new tomb in which no one had yet been laid (John 19:41).

Gardens were the scene of Christ’s greatest agony and His most spectacular triumph!

Though the New Testament tells us little about gardens, the Old Testament provides further background.  Gardens and vineyards were sometimes protected by hedges of thorns (Isaiah 5:5) or stone walls (Proverbs 24:31).  The Old Testament mentions king Ahab’s garden of herbs (1 Kings 21:2), the royal garden at the Persian capital of Susa (Esther 1:5), and, of course, the garden of Eden.

Song of Solomon compares the beauty of the bride to a splendid garden filled with plants, fruits and spices (Song of Solomon 4:12-5:1).

The existence of a garden demands a Gardener, and our study of this word reminds us that God is the ultimate Gardener.

 

Study Hint:

Let me share a somewhat speculative thought based on one of the Old Testament mentions of gardens.  The prophet Ezekiel delivered a message that compared the nation of Assyria to “a cedar in Lebanon with beautiful branches” (Ezekiel 31:2-3).  He went on to declare that the nation was so majestic that “the cedars in God’s garden could not match it . . . and all the trees of Eden, which were in the garden of God, were jealous of it.” (Ezekiel 31: 8-9).  He painted a word picture depicting the nations of the world as trees in the garden of Eden.

The apostle Paul proclaimed that God “made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation (Acts 17:26).

It almost sounds like the Lord planted the nations and ethnicities of the world as the featured parts of His garden.  Despite the current corrupted state of affairs, His ultimate goal involves a world where every national group is in just the right place to carry out His plan, growing and declining at just the right times to display His creative glory in every era.  Food for thought!

 

Coming Up

One person looks at the news and sees a problem.  Another person sees an opportunity.  Next week we will consider a Greek word that helps explain the difference.

©Ezra Project 2026