Occupation is very important to a Christian. If one chooses a wrong occupation, he will not be able to go on in a positive way. A Christian must pay attention to the matter of choosing an occupation.
After God created man, He prepared an occupation for him. God assigned Adam and Eve the job of guarding and keeping the garden. The matter of occupation existed before man sinned. Adam and Eve’s occupation in the beginning was that of a gardener; they guarded and kept the garden of Eden which God had created.
After Adam and Eve sinned, the earth no longer rendered service to them. They had to eat in the sweat of their face and till the ground so they could eat (Gen. 3:17-19). This shows us clearly that after man’s fall, his God-ordained occupation was to be a farmer and to till the ground. Man has to till the ground in the sweat of his face in order for the earth to yield food to him. To this day farmers are still the most honest kind of people. In the beginning God ordained man to till the ground.
In Genesis 4 Cain was a tiller of the ground and Abel was a keeper of sheep. Here sheep farming came in. This shows us that shepherding is also an occupation that is acceptable to God.
After this, when men began to multiply on the earth, there arose all kinds of craftsmen. There were blacksmiths, coppersmiths, makers of musical instruments, and artificers in brass and iron (4:21-22). By the time of the tower of Babel, there were bricklayers and carpenters (11:3-4). (Although building the tower of Babel was wrong, men were nevertheless learning to build. Hence the coppersmith, blacksmith, maker of musical instruments, and craftsman are all proper occupations.)
In Genesis 12 God chose Abraham. He was a herdsman. He had many cattle and sheep. Jacob also had flocks of cattle and sheep. This shows that their main occupation was animal husbandry.
When the Israelites were in Egypt, they worked as craftsmen, burning bricks for Pharaoh. But after they came out of Egypt, God promised them a land flowing with milk and honey. Clearly, we see two occupations: raising livestock and farming. The grapes of the land required two people to carry them. This proves that there was farming. God said that if the Israelites disobeyed Him and worshipped idols, He would cause the heavens to be as brass and the earth to be as iron; the heavens and the earth would not work for the Israelites. This shows clearly that the occupations in the promised land of Canaan consisted of tilling the earth and raising livestock. These were the occupations in the Old Testament.
The Lord Jesus’ parables in the Gospel of Matthew show us that farming is a basic occupation in the New Testament age. For example, in chapter thirteen we have the parable of the sower, and in chapter twenty we have the parable of the vineyard. Luke 17 speaks of a slave coming back from plowing or tending sheep in the field. In John 10 the Lord said that the good Shepherd laid down His life for the sheep. Therefore, raising livestock and farming are the basic God-ordained occupations for men.
The Lord called twelve apostles, most of whom were fishermen. The one who was a tax collector was told by the Lord to drop his occupation. But it was as if He said to the fishermen, “Once you were fishermen. But from now on, I will make you fishers of men.” This shows that fishing is also an acceptable occupation.
Luke was a physician, and Paul was a tentmaker. Tentmaking is different from fishing. With tentmaking, labor is added to basic raw material. Tilling the ground produces material directly. Making fabrics, tailoring, or making tents add labor to raw material to manufacture finished goods.
I can only say that from the Old Testament to the New Testament, God has arranged certain occupations. The Lord’s disciples were either farmers, shepherds, craftsmen, fishermen, or manufacturers. If there were any other occupations at all, the most we can include is “workmen” (not the workers who do spiritual work), because the New Testament says, “The workman is worthy of his pay” (1 Tim 5:18). A workman is one who labors manually or who sells his labor. Obtaining wages by manual labor is also an acceptable occupation in the Bible.