Genesis 2:1-3 • Day 7 • Rest

Gen 2:1-3 → 1Thus the heavens and the earth were completed, and all their hosts. 2By the seventh day God completed His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. 3Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made.

• Day 7. A day of rest. Why did God rest? Was He tired? Was He not allowed any overtime by HIs employer?

• A key to understanding God's rest is to understand the meaning of the original Hebrew word. The used doesn't have the connotation of needing to recuperate from physical exertion, but rather the idea of ceasing work. He was working, and now He's not. Not because He's tired, but just because He's done.

• 1st off, He rested because His creative work was finished. "The heavens" and "the earth" and "all their hosts." Heavens and earth are easy enough to understand, but what are the "hosts"? The word in Hebrew literally has the idea of an army, but in this context it would just mean a multitude, or a numerous array. It could, and probably does refer to the multitude of stars, or maybe simply all the moving pieces of the earth (fish, birds, animals, man), or maybe all of it. But whatever the "hosts" are, they are completed.

• 7th day - denoting that this is the last day in a continuous cycle, that will last until, well, the end of time. And it says that God "blessed" it and "sanctified" it, because it's the day He rested. Blessing can have the idea of being praised or commended, as if God is bestowing on the creation His stamp of approval. Sanctification actually means to be made holy or set apart. The 7th day is a day for reflection, consideration, evaluation, of all that God has done and deeming it worthy of honor and praise.

• Some will say (and it could be true) that the 7th day is a precursor to the Sabbath, a day of rest prescribed by God for the Israelites to observe after they left Egypt, but that doesn't happen historically for another 2,700 years. But I guess my question would be, if this day was so significant for everyone, why wasn't it's observance mandated from the beginning? Or at least from the time of Abraham, when the ordinance of circumcision was prescribed?

• If you use the pattern set by God of 6 days of work and then 1 day of rest, then I wonder how we ended up with a 2 day weekend. The only thing I can figure is that, historically the Jews would not work on Saturday (technically from sunset Friday to sunset Saturday). Then when the church began meeting on the 1st day of the week, Sunday, there was now another group, not wanting to work on a different day of the week. So let's just give everyone the entire weekend/weekbeginning off and try to meet everyone's needs. Of course, this is totally speculation on my part; I'm just glad we've got an extra day to rest!

• I don't want to be dogmatic on this issue, other than to recommend that it is important, in my opinion, to stop periodically and reflect on all that God has done, is doing, and will do, to help us better appreciate Him, and to help us to seek to align ourselves with Him.

Photo → 5/17/2024 • Sunrise at Quanah Parker Lake, Wichita Mtns NWR, Lawton, OK