Genesis 2:1-3

 

1:1

“Thus the heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array.”

- Or,

“Thus the universe and all its company was completed.”

 

This day begins and ends with silence.  The feel is much like the beginning in 1:1,2 but only now the universe is ordered and full with light.

 

The creative word phrase, “and God said. . .” is not used on the seventh day.

The reference to time “and there was evening and morning” is not used in reference to this seventh day.

 

“Completed” is the Hebrew word “kala” which means “to bring to completion”

The point of this word is that the universe is no longer in process of being created.
Everything has been made and established.

The universe will now function and will continue in this state.

 

“all their vast array” or “all its company” is the word “saba” which can refer to these things:

1)     an army (Gen. 21:22)

2)     the stars (Deut. 4:19)

3)     the angels (1 Kings 22:19)

Basically this word “saba” always refers to an organized and disciplined group.
Here the word “saba” is referring to all the various parts and components of the organized and ruled universe.

 

1:2

“By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work.”

 

God’s “work” is referred to twice in this verse.

There are two Hebrew words used in the OT for work:

1)     melaka – designates skilled labor, work that is performed by a craftsman or an artisan

2)     aboda – labor that is raw and unskilled

Genesis 1:2 uses the first word “melaka” to identify God’s work during the six days.

God’s work was skilled and he performed as a craftsman or an artisan.

 

In mythology according to the Bablylonian Enuma Elish and also the Atrahasis Epic the gods who were forced to work the earth after their defeat by Marduk were given “rest” after the creation of man because man was going to do the menial work of caring for the earth.  Once again, the mythological account of creation and the described elements are not even similar in purpose or in thought.

 

2:2-3 in the Hebrew are four lines.  The first three each have seven words and the middle point of each of the first three lines are “the seventh day.”  It would translate like this if “the seventh day” were left in the middle of each line:

 

            “So God finished by the seventh day his work which he did.

             And he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he did.

             And God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it

             Because on it he rested from all his work which God created to do.”

 

1:3

“And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done.”

 

God called the other days “good” or “beautiful” but he only blesses the seventh day.

“Holy” is the Hebrew word “qadas” which means “set apart”

This day is “set apart” because God set it apart. 

God divided the days into “days” and “holy days” or “time” and “holy time”.

 

Creation has already been blessed, now time or the seventh day is “blessed”

 

“Rested” is the Hebrew word “sabat” which means to cease or refers to a cessation.

“sabat” is only used one other time in Genesis and that is 8:22 with reference to the seasons never ceasing to exist.

 

The seventh day set creation into a perpetual rest

God is not tired but is finished.  So the Seventh day or the Sabbath means finished or complete.

 

All the other holy days of Israel and the time periods for man (days, months, and years) are all based on the rotation or orbit of the moon, earth, etc.

The seven day work week and the seventh day is not based on anything in the physical universe.  The seventh day or the week is based on something outside our universe and beyond the physical dimension.  The length of the week is based on the word and blessing of God.

 

Exodus 16:21-30

            The manna was based on the Sabbath day before the Law of Moses was given.

 

Exodus 20:8

“Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy.  Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God.  On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates.  For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day.  Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.”

Exodus 20:11

            “rested” is “nuah” which speaks of abstinence as in “he abstained”. 

It is not the word “sabat” used in Gen. 1:3 which refers to ceasing.

 

Ezekiel 20:12

            “Also I gave them my Sabbaths as a sign between us, so they would know that I the LORD made them holy.”

 

Matthew 12:1 – Disciples pick grain on the Sabbath

Luke 13:10 – Jesus heals on the Sabbath

Luke 4:38 – Jews could not come for healing until the sun had set on the Sabbath

 

 

Colossians 2:16
Galatians 4:10
Romans 14:5

 

Psalm 95:7-11

Hebrews 4:9 (3:7-4:11)

 

Revelation 20:1-5

            The seventh day is set apart from the rest of the six days of creation.

            This may correlate with the days of man’s time on the earth.

            In Matthew 8:29 a demon asks Jesus if he has come before the appointed time.

If Jesus is to return for the 1000 year reign which will be the Sabbath rest for the earth that

may indicate that the other six days correlate with the other 6,000 years of the history of the earth.

            2,000 years from Adam to Abraham

            2,000 years from Abraham to Jesus

            2,000 years from Jesus until now (church age)

            1,000 years for Jesus reign on the earth

            7,000 total years correlates with 7 days of creation with the final one being rest.