📖 Biblical Definition
Husbandry is the patient cultivation of land and livestock — the discipline by which the householder turns soil and herd into food and provision for his people. Scripture is densely husbandry-imaged. God Himself is named the husbandman of His people’s vineyard: "I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman" (John 15:1). Paul calls the church "God’s husbandry": "For we are labourers together with God: ye are God’s husbandry, ye are God’s building" (1 Corinthians 3:9). The noble work of farming is treated throughout Scripture as priestly stewardship of creation — Adam was placed in Eden "to dress it and to keep it" (Genesis 2:15). Cultivate the ground; cultivate the soul.
📜 Webster 1828 Definition
The business of a farmer, comprehending agriculture or tillage of the ground, the raising and feeding of cattle, and the management of farm produce.
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HUSBANDRY, n. The business of a farmer; the cultivation of the ground; the rearing of livestock; thrift; frugal and prudent management.
Webster's second sense — thrift, prudent management — preserves the householder's broader stewardship: not just farming, but the patient management of the household's resources, time, and people.
📖 Key Scripture
John 15:1 — "I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman."
1 Corinthians 3:9 — "For we are labourers together with God: ye are God's husbandry, ye are God's building."
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."
2 Timothy 2:6 — "The husbandman that laboureth must be first partaker of the fruits."
⚠️ Modern Corruption
Industrial food systems hide husbandry from most households; Scripture treats it as the householder's archetypal work.
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Genesis 2:15 establishes the original calling before the Fall: dress and keep the garden. Husbandry is not a curse-task; it is the dignified, pre-Fall work of the householder. The curse made it sweat-soaked, not less holy.
Recover husbandry in any form — a garden, chickens, even a tended houseplant — and the household reconnects with the rhythm of seed, seasons, and patient growth that Scripture assumes its readers know. The lessons embedded in farming are catechism.
🔗 Greek & Hebrew Roots
Greek geōrgos (farmer, husbandman) is the New Testament term.
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Greek geōrgos — husbandman, farmer (Jn 15:1; 2 Tim 2:6).
Note: cognate with geōrgia (farming); ‘George’ means farmer.
Usage
"God is the husbandman; the church is His husbandry."
"Garden, herd, household — husbandry covers them all."
"Recover husbandry in any form; the lessons are catechism."