And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made.
3. And God blessed the seventh day) It was the belief of the devout Israelite that in some mysterious way God at the beginning conferred His special favour upon the seventh day. The writer does not in this passage mention the name “Sabbath,” but the reference to the Israelite Sabbath is indisputable. A play on the word “Sabbath “is evidently intended by the use of the word shbath. The Hebrew cosmogony traced back the observance of the Sabbath to the Divine example on the seventh day of the creative week. Whether its observance was followed by the Israelites before the time of Moses, has been much disputed. No reference to it occurs in the Patriarchal narratives: but the intervals of seven days occurring in the story of the Flood (Gen 7:10, Gen 8:10; Gen 8:12 J) may indicate the belief in the primitive recognition of the “week” as a sacred division of time. The reference to the Sabbath in Exo 16:23 ff. has led many commentators to suppose that the opening word (“Remember”) of the Fourth Commandment assumes the primitive recognition of the institution. See Special Note on Gen 2:1-3.
hallowed) viz. separated from common and profane usage. LXX : Lat. sanctificavit. This is the first mention of the idea of holiness, which in Holy Scripture occupies such an important place in the description of religious worship and godly life.
We may be unable fully to discern what was intended by the writer, when he spoke of God “hallowing” or “making separate” the seventh day. But it conveys to us the thought that God from the first, set His seal upon “time” as well as His blessing upon matter; and this consecration of the seventh day should serve as the continual reminder that as “the earth is the Lord’s and the fulness thereof,” so time is of the Lord and the opportunities thereof. The Sabbath is the sacrament of time: its rest is the symbol of the consecration of work. The worship of the Creator made a demand for the consecration of time as well as of place. Notice the absence of the formula, “There was evening and there was morning, the seventh day.” This omission led some to suppose that the seventh, or rest, day of God is not yet ended; and that, when the work of Creation was finished, there began on the seventh day the different task of the maintenance of the universe. But it seems more probable that by the reference to the seventh day in Gen 2:2, and by the blessing of the seventh day in Gen 2:3, the writer intended that the seven days should be regarded as completed, and as presenting the Divine type for every week of seven days. After the seventh day came another phase of Divine activity, the unceasing operation of Divine laws. The Immanence of Creative Love and Wisdom needs to be acknowledged no less than their Transcendence; cf., especially, Joh 5:17, “My Father worketh even until now, and I work.” In that conception of Divine work, there is no room for the thought of cessation.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Verse 3. And God blessed the seventh day] The original word barach, which is generally rendered to bless, has a very extensive meaning. It is frequently used in Scripture in the sense of speaking good of or to a person; and hence literally and properly rendered by the Septuagint , from , good or well, and , I speak. So God has spoken well of the Sabbath, and good to them who conscientiously observe it. Blessing is applied both to God and man: when God is said to bless, we generally understand by the expression that he communicates some good; but when man is said to bless God, we surely cannot imagine that he bestows any gifts or confers any benefit on his Maker. When God is said to bless, either in the Old or New Testament, it signifies his speaking good TO man; and this comprises the whole of his exceeding great and precious promises. And when man is said to bless God, it ever implies that he speaks good OF him, for the giving and fulfilment of his promises. This observation will be of general use in considering the various places where the word occurs in the sacred writings. Reader, God blesses thee when by his promises he speaks good TO thee; and thou dost bless him when, from a consciousness of his kindness to thy body and soul, thou art thankful to him, and speakest good OF his name.
Because that in it he had rested] shabath, he rested; hence Sabbath, the name of the seventh day, signifying a day of rest – rest to the body from labour and toil, and rest to the soul from all worldly care and anxieties. He who labours with his mind by worldly schemes and plans on the Sabbath day is as culpable as he who labours with his hands in his accustomed calling. It is by the authority of God that the Sabbath is set apart for rest and religious purposes, as the six days of the week are appointed for labour. How wise is this provision! It is essentially necessary, not only to the body of man, but to all the animals employed in his service: take this away and the labour is too great, both man and beast would fail under it. Without this consecrated day religion itself would fail, and the human mind, becoming sensualized, would soon forget its origin and end. Even as a political regulation, it is one of the wisest and most beneficent in its effects of any ever instituted. Those who habitually disregard its moral obligation are, to a man, not only good for nothing, but are wretched in themselves, a curse to society, and often end their lives miserably. See Clarke on Ex 20:8; “Ex 23:12“; “Ex 24:16“; and See Clarke on Ex 31:13; to which the reader is particularly desired to refer.
As God formed both the mind and body of man on principles of activity, so he assigned him proper employment; and it is his decree that the mind shall improve by exercise, and the body find increase of vigour and health in honest labour. He who idles away his time in the six days is equally culpable in the sight of God as he who works on the seventh. The idle person is ordinarily clothed with rags, and the Sabbath-breakers frequently come to an ignominions death. Reader, beware.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
God blessed the seventh day, by conferring special honours and privileges upon it above all other days, that it should be a day of solemn rest and rejoicing and celebration of God and his works, and a day of Gods bestowing singular and the best blessings upon his servants and worshippers. He separated it from common use and worldly employments, and consecrated it to the worship of God, that it should be accounted a holy day, and spent in holy works and solemn exercises of religion. Some conceive that the sabbath was not actually blessed and sanctified at and from this time, but only in the days of Moses, which they pretend to be here related by way of anticipation. But this opinion hath no foundation in the text or context, but rather is confuted from them; for as soon as the sacred penman had said that God had
ended his work and rested, & c., he adds immediately in words of the same tense, that God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it. And if we compare this place with Exo 20:8-11, we shall find that Moses there speaks of Gods blessing and sanctifying of the sabbath, not as an action then first done, but as that which God had done formerly upon the creation of the world, to the end that men might celebrate the praises of God for that glorious work, which as it was agreeable to the state of innocency, so was it no less proper and necessary a duty for the first ages of the world after the fall, than it was for the days of Moses, and for the succeeding generations. Because he would have the memory of that glorious work of creation, from which he then rested, preserved through all generations.
Which God created and made; either,
1. Created in making, i.e. made by way of creation; or rather,
2. Created out of nothing, and afterwards out of that created matter
made or formed divers things, as the beasts out of the earth, the fishes out of the water. He useth these two words possibly to show that Gods wisdom, power, and goodness was manifest, not only in that which he brought out of mere nothing, but also in those things which he wrought out of matter altogether unfit for so great works.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
3. blessed and sanctified theseventh daya peculiar distinction put upon it above the othersix days, and showing it was devoted to sacred purposes. Theinstitution of the Sabbath is as old as creation, giving rise to thatweekly division of time which prevailed in the earliest ages. It is awise and beneficent law, affording that regular interval of restwhich the physical nature of man and the animals employed in hisservice requires, and the neglect of which brings both to prematuredecay. Moreover, it secures an appointed season for religiousworship, and if it was necessary in a state of primeval innocence,how much more so now, when mankind has a strong tendency to forgetGod and His claims?
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it,…. A day in which he took delight and pleasure, having finished all his works, and resting from them, and looking over them as very good; and so he pronounced this day a good and happy day, and “sanctified” or appointed it in his mind to be a day separated from others, for holy service and worship; as it was with the Jews when they became a body of people, both civil and ecclesiastical: or this is all said by way of prolepsis or anticipation, as many things in this chapter are, many names of countries and rivers, by which being called in the times of Moses, are here given them, though they were not called by them so early, nor till many ages after: and according to Jarchi this passage respects future time, when God “blessed” this day with the manna, which descended on all the days of the week, an omer for a man, and on the sixth day double food; and he “sanctified” it with the manna which did not descend at all on that day: besides, these words may be read in a parenthesis, as containing an account of a fact that was done, not at the beginning of the world, and on the first seventh day of it; but of what had been done in the times of Moses, who wrote this, after the giving of the law of the sabbath; and this being given through his hands to the people of Israel, he takes this opportunity here to insert it, and very pertinently, seeing the reason why God then, in the times of Moses, blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it, was, because he had rested on that day from all his works, Ex 20:11 and the same reason is given here, taken plainly out of that law which he had delivered to them:
because that in it he had rested from all his work, which God created and made; which shows, that this refers not to the same time when God blessed and hallowed the seventh day, which was done in the times of Moses, but to what had been long before, and was then given as a reason enforcing it; for it is not here said, as in the preceding verse, “he rested”, but “had rested”, even from the foundation of the world, when his works were finished, as in Heb 4:3 even what “he created to make” e, as the words may be here rendered; which he created out of nothing, as he did the first matter, in order to make all things out of it, and put them in that order, and bring them to that perfection he did.
e – “creavit ut faceret”, V. L. “creaverat ut faceret”, Pagninus, Montanus.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
3. And God blessed the seventh day It appears that God is here said to bless according to the manner of men, because they bless him whom they highly extol. Nevertheless, even in this sense, it would not be unsuitable to the character of God; because his blessing sometimes means the favor which he bestows upon his people, as the Hebrews call that man the blessed of God, who, by a certain special favor, has power with God. (See Gen 24:31.) Enter thou blessed of God. Thus we may be allowed to describe the day as blessed by him which he has embraced with love, to the end that the excellence and dignity of his works may therein be celebrated. Yet I have no doubt that Moses, by adding the word sanctified, wished immediately to explain what he had said, and thus all ambiguity is removed, because the second word is exegetical of the former. For קדש ( kadesh,) with the Hebrews, is to separate from the common number. God therefore sanctifies the seventh day, when he renders it illustrious, that by a special law it may be distinguished from the rest. Whence it also appears, that God always had respect to the welfare of men. I have said above, that six days were employed in the formation of the world; not that God, to whom one moment is as a thousand years, had need of this succession of time, but that he might engage us in the consideration of his works. He had the same end in view in the appointment of his own rest, for he set apart a day selected out of the remainder for this special use. Wherefore, that benediction is nothing else than a solemn consecration, by which God claims for himself the meditations and employments of men on the seventh day. This is, indeed, the proper business of the whole life, in which men should daily exercise themselves, to consider the infinite goodness, justice, power, and wisdom of God, in this magnificent theater of heaven and earth. But, lest men should prove less sedulously attentive to it than they ought, every seventh day has been especially selected for the purpose of supplying what was wanting in daily meditation. First, therefore, God rested; then he blessed this rest, that in all ages it might be held sacred among men: or he dedicated every seventh day to rest, that his own example might be a perpetual rule. The design of the institution must be always kept in memory: for God did not command men simply to keep holiday every seventh day, as if he delighted in their indolence; but rather that they, being released from all other business, might the more readily apply their minds to the Creator of the world. Lastly, that is a sacred rest, (105) which withdraws men from the impediments of the world, that it may dedicate them entirely to God. But now, since men are so backward to celebrate the justice, wisdom, and power of God, and to consider his benefits, that even when they are most faithfully admonished they still remain torpid, no slight stimulus is given by God’s own example, and the very precept itself is thereby rendered amiable. For God cannot either more gently allure, or more effectually incite us to obedience, than by inviting and exhorting us to the imitation of himself. Besides, we must know, that this is to be the common employment not of one age or people only, but of the whole human race. Afterwards, in the Law, a new precept concerning the Sabbath was given, which should be peculiar to the Jews, and but for a season; because it was a legal ceremony shadowing forth a spiritual rest, the truth of which was manifested in Christ. Therefore the Lord the more frequently testifies that he had given, in the Sabbath, a symbol of sanctification to his ancient people. (106) Therefore when we hear that the Sabbath was abrogated by the coming of Christ, we must distinguish between what belongs to the perpetual government of human life, and what properly belongs to ancient figures, the use of which was abolished when the truth was fulfilled. Spiritual rest is the mortification of the flesh; so that the sons of God should no longer live unto themselves, or indulge their own inclination. So far as the Sabbath was a figure of this rest, I say, it was but for a season; but inasmuch as it was commanded to men from the beginning that they might employ themselves in the worship of God, it is right that it should continue to the end of the world.
Which God created and made (107) Here the Jews, in their usual method, foolishly trifle, saying, that God being anticipated in his work by the last evening, left certain animals imperfect, of which kind are fauns and satyrs, as though he had been one of the ordinary class of artifices who have need of time. Ravings so monstrous prove the authors of them to have been delivered over to a reprobate mind, as a dreadful example of the wrath of God. As to the meaning of Moses, some take it thus: that God created his Works in order to make them, inasmuch as from the time he gave them being, he did not withdraw his hand from their preservation. But this exposition is harsh. Nor do I more willingly subscribe to the opinion of those who refer the word make to man, whom God placed over his works, that he might apply them to use, and in a certain sense perfect them by his industry. I rather think that the perfect form of God’s works is here noted; as if he had said God so created his works that nothing should be wanting to their perfection; or the creation has proceeded to sucks a point, that the work is in all respects perfect.
(105) Both in the Amsterdam edition of 1761,a nd Hengstenberg’s, the word is vocatio; but as the French translation gives reste, and the Old English one rest, there can be little doubt that the original word was vacatio, as the sense of the passage seems to require. — Ed.
(106) “ Sanctificationis symbolum.” — “A symbol or sign of santification;” that is, a sign that God had set them apart as a holy and peculiar people to himself. “Moreover, also, I gave them my Sabbaths, to be a sign between me and them, that they might know that I am the Lord that sanctify them.” Eze 20:12. — Ed.
(107) “ Quod creavarat Deus ut faceret.” Hebrew אשר ברא אלהים לעשות. “Which God created to make.” For the various opinions and fancies of learned men on this passage, the reader is referred to Poole’s Synopsis. The more respectable commentators mainly agree with Calvin. Ainsworth says: “created to make, that is, to exist and be, and that perfectly and gloriously, as by divine power of creation. Or rather, created and made perfectly and excellently: for so the Hebrew phrase may be explained.” The version of Dathe is “ creando perfecerat,” — “he had perfected in creating.” See also Professor Bush in loco. Le Clerc, whose extraordinary learning and industry render his opinion on merely critical questions of great value, notwithstanding his lamentable scepticism, would rather translate the expression, “which he had begun to make.” But the other translation is to be preferred. Vide Johannes Clericus in Genesin. — Ed
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(3) Sanctified it.That is, separated it from ordinary uses, and hallowed it. Legal observance of the Sabbath did not begin till the days of Moses (Exo. 31:13; Exo. 35:2); but this blessing and sanctification were given prior to any covenant with man, and by Elohim, the God of nature, and not Jehovah, the God of grace. The weekly rest, therefore, is universal, permanent, and independent of the Mosaic law.
Which God created and made.Literally, created to make. God created the world in order to make and form and fashion it. There is a work of completion which follows upon creation, and this may still be going on, and be perfected only when there is a new heaven and a new earth.
THE GENERATIONS OF THE HEAVENS AND OF THE EARTH (Gen. 2:4 to Gen. 4:26).
After the hymn of creation the rest of the Book of Genesis is divided into ten sections of very unequal length, called tldth, translated by the LXX. the Book of Genesis, or generation, whence the title given by St. Matthew to his Gospel. (See note on Gen. 5:1.) This title, however, does not mean a genealogical list of a persons ancestors, but the register of his posterity. As applied to the heavens and the earth, it signifies the history of what followed upon their creation.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
3. Created and made Hebrews, created to make . That is, created for the purpose of moulding into such forms and putting to such uses as are here described .
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Gen 2:3. God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it Blessed, i.e.. says Mr. Locke, appointed it to be kept as a day of holy rejoicing; and sanctified it, i.e.. separated, or set it apart, for his own use; that, upon it, men might cease from their work, as he had ceased from his; and employ their time in worshipping and thanking him for his mercies and benefits conferred upon them.
The word shebei, seventh, comes from shabang, which signifies sufficiency, or completion, because God on that day completed, or finished, all his work, and made it sufficient for the purposes intended by it. The seventh day was thus sanctified, or set apart, from the beginning, as a religious sabbath, or rest, to remind believers of that rest which God then entered into, and of that shabang, completion, or fulness of joy, which is in his presence for evermore.
REFLECTIONS.1. The sabbath is of divine appointment. One day in seven God claims wholly for himself, to remember him in the works he hath wrought. Whether the day we observe, answer exactly to that seventh which was at first appointed, is perhaps dubious. Mr. Kennedy, in his Scripture Astronomy, has, in the judgment of many, proved that it does. But this we know, that it is the day when the Redeemer entered into his rest, after perfecting the work of our redemption, and is now ordained to perpetuate not only the remembrance of the old, but also of the more glorious new creation.
“‘Twas great to raise a world from nought, But greater to redeem.” WATTS.
2. It is a holy day. Every day of our life should be devoted to God’s service; but one in seven is more peculiarly to be set apart for the Lord, to be withdrawn from worldly occupations, and to be spent in the delightful work of prayer and praise, of meditation and mutual conference, tending to raise up our minds to him, the great Author of every blessing, and to prepare us for the rest, which remaineth in the eternal world for the people of God.How impious then and profane, to pollute it with works of common labour; and how much more profane, to prostitute it to the purposes of pleasure, vain company, idle amusements, or works of wickedness! Shall he not visit for these things?
3. It is a blessed day. God will meet those who spend it with him, who call the sabbath a delight; and he will fill them with his consolations. They will find it is good for them to be with him; and every such day spent on earth will quicken their desires after, and increase their relish for, the eternal sabbath, when he shall take them to himself, as his blessed children, to inherit the kingdom prepared for them from the foundation of the world.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Gen 2:3 And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made.
Ver. 3. God blessed the seventh day, ] i.e., made it an effectual means of blessing to him that sanctifieth it, as a rest from bodily labour and spiritual idleness, as Ignatius a exhorts.
And sanctified it,
a E Ignat. Eph 3:1-21 , Ad Magnesios. Spac. Europae
created. See note on Gen 1:1. The Introduction (Gen 1:1 – Gen 2:3) is the summary: Gen 2:4-25 gives the details of Genesis 1: Gen 2:9-14 coming historically between verses: Gen 1:12 and Gen 1:13.
sanctified
In the O.T. the same Hebrew word (qodesh) is translated sanctify, consecrate, dedicate, and holy. It means, set apart for the service of God. See refs. following “Sanctify,” (See Scofield “Gen 2:3”).
blessed: Exo 16:22-30, Exo 20:8-11, Exo 23:12, Exo 31:13-17, Exo 34:21, Exo 35:2, Exo 35:3, Lev 23:3, Lev 25:2, Lev 25:3, Deu 5:12-14, Neh 9:14, Neh 13:15-22, Pro 10:22, Isa 56:2-7, Isa 58:13, Isa 58:14, Jer 17:21-27, Eze 20:12, Mar 2:27, Luk 23:56, Heb 4:4-10
created and made: Heb. created to make
Reciprocal: Gen 8:12 – seven Gen 9:1 – blessed Gen 29:27 – week Exo 16:23 – rest Exo 20:11 – General Exo 31:17 – six days Lev 23:38 – the sabbaths Num 7:1 – sanctified them Jos 6:4 – seven times Psa 95:11 – my rest Jer 17:22 – neither do
THE SACRED DAY
And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it He had rested from all His work which god created and made.
Gen 2:3
I. Whether the patriarchs were or were not commanded to keep the Sabbath is a thing which we can never know; it is no safe foundation for our thinking ourselves bound to keep it, that the patriarchs kept it before the Law was given, and that the commandment had existed before the time of Moses, and was only confirmed by him and repeated. For if the Law itself be done away in Christ, much more the things before the Law. The Sabbath may have been necessary to the patriarchs, for we know that it was needed even at a later time; they who had the light of the Law could not do without it. But it would by no means follow that it was needed now, when, having put away the helps of our childhood, we ought to be grown up into the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ. So that the words of the text neither prove us right in keeping the Sunday, nor would they prove us wrong if we were to give up the observance of it.
II. The real question, however, is, Are we right in keeping the Sunday, or are we not right? We are bound by the spirit of the fourth commandment to keep holy the Sunday because we are not fit to do without it. As the change of the day from the seventh to the first shows us what God designed for us, shows us the heavenly liberty to which we were called, so the long and unvaried practice of the Church in keeping the first day holy shows us their sad feeling and confession that they were not fit for that liberty; that the Law, which God would fain have loosed from off them, was still needed to be their schoolmaster. The bond of the commandment broken through Christs Spirit was through our unworthiness closed again. We still need the Law, we need its aid to our weakness; we may not refuse to listen to the wisdom of its voice because the terror of its threatenings is taken away from the true believer.
Dr. Thos. Arnold.
Illustration
(1) There is no date to this chapter. There is no date at the beginning; there is no date at the close. It is not said, The evening and the morning were the seventh day. Why not? Because all human history is included in that seventh day. The Sabbath of God is still going on.
(2) God the Father makes Himself an example of Sabbath-keeping for His children. Whatever His seventh day means, it cannot be the ever-shifting sabbath of the Jews, nor the three consecutive seventh days of two men who had been round the earth in opposite directions, and one who had stayed at home.
(3) The rest of one day in the seven is an absolute necessity for the well-being of mankind. The law of sevens is observed in the functions of the human body. There is a periodicity which will not be ignored. God commanded us to keep a day of rest in seven, because He knew that man needed it; and they argue best for its observance who base their demands on the ground of the primal physical needs of the human body. Besides this, God wished that man should have a respite from the pressure of his toils, that he might lift up his face to Himself with joy.
(4) It is the institution, not the day, that must be emphasised. Whether we think of the physical, or the mental, or the spiritual results of the observance of the Sabbath Day, we are face to face with one of the fundamental facts of human life. The law of God and the needs of man combine to make observance of the Sabbath an absolute necessity.
(5) The first Sabbath was the starting-point of the Spiritual period, when the experiment in the Garden of Eden intimated that the reign of revealed religion had begun on the earth. The happy and promising scene of the innocent pair in paradise, and the unhappy subsequent scene of their fall and expulsion from the garden, may be looked upon as the first little seedplot of human souls whereon the Sower went forth to sow, and in which operation He was immediately followed by the enemy, who, with disastrous effects, sowed tares among the good seed. We now live in the period inaugurated by the Seventh Day.
Gen 2:3. God blessed the seventh day He conferred on it peculiar honour, and annexed to it special privileges above those granted to any other day; and sanctified it That is, separated it from common use, and dedicated it to his own sacred service, that it should be accounted holy, and spent in his worship, and in other religious and holy duties. It appears evidently by this, that the observation of the sabbath was not first enjoined when the law was given, but that it was an ordinance of God from the creation of the world, and, of course, is obligatory on all the posterity of Adam, and the indispensable duty of every one to whom this divine appointment is made known.
2:3 And God blessed the seventh day, and {c} sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made.
(c) Appointed it to be kept holy, that man might in it consider the excellency of his works and God’s goodness toward him.
God "blessed" the seventh day in that He set it apart as different from the other days of creation. It was a memorial of His creative work. Note the unique threefold repetition of "seventh day," highlighting its special significance.
". . . according to one Babylonian tradition, the seventh, fourteenth, nineteenth, twenty-first, and twenty-eighth days of each month were regarded as unlucky: Genesis, however, declares the seventh day of every week to be holy, a day of rest consecrated to God (Gen 2:1-3)." [Note: Wenham, pp. xlix-l.]
Note that God did not command Adam to abstain from work on the Sabbath; this came later with the Mosaic Law. However, Scripture does teach the importance of periodic rest (cf. Exo 20:8-10; Exo 23:10-12; Lev 25:2; Lev 25:4; Deu 15:1-18; Heb 4:1-11; et al.). Part of bearing the likeness of God involves resting as He did after completing His work. [Note: Sailhamer, "Genesis," p. 39.]
"In the first six days space is subdued; on the seventh, time is sanctified. This day is blessed to refresh the earth. It summons humanity to imitate the pattern of labor and rest of the King and so to confess God’s lordship and their consecration to him. On this day they cease to subdue the earth." [Note: Waltke, Genesis, p. 67.]
The writers of Scripture used the Sabbath to anticipate the hope of Messianic redemption throughout the Old Testament.
In the creation account the Sabbath points forward to the time when God will bring, ". . . a perfect and complete cosmos out of chaos. . . . The weekly rest-experience of the Sabbath [under the Mosaic Law] served to epitomize the future peace and rest of the Messianic age." [Note: Samuele Bacchiocchi, "Sabbatical Typologies of Messianic Redemption," Journal for the Study of Judaism 17:2 (December 1986):155, 165.]
The sabbatical and jubilee years in ancient Judaism also pointed to the liberation Messiah would provide for His people. [Note: See John F. Alexander, "Sabbath Rest," The Other Side 146 (November 1983): 8-9; and Gerhard Hasel, "The Sabbath in the Pentateuch," in The Sabbath in Scripture and History, pp. 21-43.]
The structure of Gen 1:1 to Gen 2:3 bears the marks of literary artistry, as does the structure of the rest of Genesis.
"The correspondence of the first paragraph, Gen 1:1-2, with Gen 2:1-3 is underlined by the number of Hebrew words in both being multiples of 7. Gen 1:1 consists of 7 words, Gen 1:2 of 14 (7 x 2) words, Gen 2:1-3 of 35 (7 x 5) words. The number seven dominates this opening chapter in a strange way, not only in the number of words in a particular section but in the number of times a specific word or phrase recurs. For example, ’God’ is mentioned 35 times, ’earth’ 21 times, ’heaven/firmament’ 21 times, while the phrases ’and it was so’ and ’God saw that it was good’ occur 7 times." [Note: Wenham, p. 6.]
These characteristics of repeating important words or phrases in multiples of seven and using them to bracket sections of the narrative continue throughout Genesis, though not consistently. They help the reader of the Hebrew text to identify discrete sections of the text as such.
How long were the six days of creation? This is a problem because the inspired writers used "day" (Heb. yom) in various ways in the Old Testament.
"The simple fact is that day in Hebrew (just as in English) is used in three separate senses: to mean (1) twenty-four hours, (2) the period of light during the twenty-four hours, and (3) an indeterminate period of time. Therefore, we must leave open the exact length of time indicated by day in Genesis." [Note: Schaeffer, p. 57.]
Moses used "day" these three ways in Genesis 1, 2 : (1) a 12-hour period of daylight (Gen 1:5; Gen 1:14; Gen 1:16; Gen 1:18), (2) a 24-hour day (Gen 1:14), and (3) the entire seven-day period of creation (Gen 2:4). A few scholars have argued that the sequence of days is not chronologically ordered at all. [Note: E.g,. D. A. Sterchi, "Does Genesis 1 Provide a Chronological Sequence?" Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 39:4 (December 1996):529-36; and M. Throntveit, "Are the Events in the Genesis Account Set Forth in Chronological Order? No," in The Genesis Debate, pp. 36-55.] They believe that Moses numbered the days on the basis of content rather than sequence in time. This view has not enjoyed wide acceptance. Other scholars believe there is some dischronologization in the text. [Note: E.g., Waltke, Genesis, pp. 75-78; and H. Blocher, In the Beginning, p. 78.] There are four major views as to the length of the days of creation.
1. The literal 24-hour day theory. The normal conclusion one would most likely draw from the terminology in the text (e.g., evening, morning, day, night, etc.) is that God created the world in six 24-hour days. This view is most consistent with the principles of literal, historical, and grammatical interpretation. The fact that the number of days corresponds to the number of weekdays also favors this view. Furthermore, whenever "day" (yom) occurs with a numeral in the Old Testament, as here, it refers to a 24-hour period. Some advocates cite Exo 20:11 as support also. [Note: See Ham, et al., pp. 13-14, 89-101.] The main problem with this view is that the activity of some days (e.g., the sixth) seems to some to require more than 24 hours. [Note: See Ross, Creation and . . ., p. 109.]
2. The day-age (or geologic day) theory. This view interprets the terminology less literally. Advocates argue that the events recorded seem to require more than 24-hour days (e.g., Gen 2:12). They also point out that solar days may not have begun until the fourth day. Some advocates of this theory are theistic evolutionists. Others are progressive creationists. Progressive creationists generally seek to correlate the geologic ages with the six days of creation. The main problem with the day-age theory is that it interprets terms that seem to have obvious literal meaning figuratively.
3. The literal days with intervening ages theory. This view regards each day as a time of completion of creative activity only. It is an attempt to take the "morning and evening" references seriously but still allow the time that seems necessary within the days (e.g., Gen 2:12). It is a combination of the two preceding views. However, it strains the text. Also, Moses could have described this method of creation more clearly than he did if long ages interspersed the six days. Few scholars have adopted this view.
4. The revelatory day theory. The least literal interpretation holds that God revealed, rather than accomplished, creation in six days. A major problem with this view is Exo 20:11 where Moses says God made, not revealed, His creation in six days. A variation of this view understands the days as "structures of a literary framework designed to illustrate the orderly nature of God’s creation and to enable the covenant people to mime the Creator." [Note: Waltke, Genesis, p. 61.]
Presuppositions are extremely important in this controversy. If one believes that scientific "facts" are true, he or she may try to make the Bible fit these. On the other hand, if one believes in an inerrant Bible he or she will give priority to statements in the text. If one believes both are true, he or she will soon learn that both cannot be true. For example, the text says God created the trees before marine life (Gen 1:11; Gen 1:20), but most evolutionists believe that trees developed after marine life. Also, the Bible implies that marine life and birds came into existence about the same time (Gen 1:20), but evolutionists hold that they evolved millions of years apart. [Note: See John Klotz, Modern Science in the Christian Life, pp. 111-12.] No theory explains the conflict between biblical statements and scientific statements adequately. In the end one really comes down to the question, Do I put more confidence in what God says or in what scientists say? [Note: See Duane T. Gish, "Evolution-A Philosophy, Not a Science," Good News Broadcaster (March 1984), pp. 34-37.] One’s presuppositions will also affect whether he or she interprets more or less literally.
Belief in the inerrancy of Scripture does not obviate the problem of the age of the earth, however. Several evangelical scholars who are competent scientists and affirm inerrancy believe the proper interpretation of Scripture results in an old earth model of creation. [Note: E.g., Davis Young, Creation and the Flood and Christianity and the Age of the Earth; Robert Newman and Herman Eckelmann Jr., Genesis One and the Origin of the Earth; and Daniel Wonderly, God’s Time-Records in Ancient Sediments; Hugh Ross.] Other equally qualified inerrantists see a young earth model in the Bible. [Note: E.g., John Klotz, Genes, Genesis, and Evolution; Robert Kofahl and Kelly Segraves, The Creation Explanation; Henry Morris, Science, Scripture and the Young Earth; John Whitcomb, The Early Earth; and John D. Morris, The Young Earth.] One writer gave biographical information about Archbishop James Ussher (1581-1656), whose chronology appeared first in the 1701 edition of the AV and later in the margin of the original Scofield Reference Bible. He also gave an explanation of how Ussher arrived at his dates and a table listing the dates of the more important events in Old Testament history contained in Ussher’s chronology. [Note: James Barr, "Why the World was Created in 4004 B.C.: Archbishop Ussher and Biblical Chronology," Bulletin of John Rylands University Library of Manchester 67:2 (Spring 1985):575-608.]
"Clearly a difference between these positions at this precise point of the relationship between science and Scripture is clear and unmistakable. The old-earth view is built on the position that an old universe and an old earth is an established factual base. Thus the Bible at the true meaning level must be interpreted to show that it is not out of harmony with this fact. The young-earth model is based on the position that the scientific data used to establish the concept of an old earth can be interpreted differently and that, strictly speaking, there is no need to defend an old earth. Thus the Bible is approached without this a priori demand for an old earth, and the differences are markedly clear, in this writer’s opinion." [Note: Frederic Howe, "The Age of the Earth: An Appraisal of Some Current Evangelical Positions, Part 2," Bibliotheca Sacra 142:566 (April-June 1985):121. Both parts 1 and 2 of this fine article are very helpful. On the importance of having the correct concept of origins, see Ralph E. Ancil, "Is Creation More Than a Biological Model of Origins?" Creation Social Science and Humanities Review 5:2 (Winter 1982):3-13. See also Ernest Lucas, "Miracles and natural laws," Christian ARENA (September 1985):7-10.]
Evangelicals who believe in a young earth normally do so because they believe that the biblical genealogies in Genesis 5, 11 are complete or very nearly complete. That is the impression the text gives. These genealogies argue for a young earth. I favor the young earth view. [Note: See Appendix 1 at the end of these notes for a summary of five popular views of Creation.]
Where did the names we use for the days of the week come from? They received their names in honor of seven pagan gods whom the ancients associated with the five major planets plus the sun and moon. The names of Germanic (Teutonic) gods replaced those of some Roman gods as time passed. The early church, following Jewish custom, numbered the days of the week to avoid using the names of pagan gods (e.g., Luk 24:1; Act 20:7). [Note: See David Malcolm, "The Seven-Day Cycle," Creation Ex Nihilo 9:2 (March 1987):32-35.]
Weekday
Teutonic god
Roman god/planet
Sunday
Sun
Monday
Moon
Tuesday
Tiw
Mars
Wednesday
Woden
Mercury
Thursday
Thor
Jupiter (Jove)
Friday
Frigg
Venus
Saturday
Saturn
"Though historical and scientific questions may be uppermost in our minds as we approach the text, it is doubtful whether they were in the writer’s mind, and we should therefore be cautious about looking for answers to questions he was not concerned with. Genesis is primarily about God’s character and his purposes for sinful mankind. Let us beware of allowing our interests to divert us from the central thrust of the book so that we miss what the LORD, our creator and redeemer, is saying to us." [Note: Wenham, p. liii.]
The main point of the story of creation (Gen 1:1 to Gen 2:3) is that God turned chaos into an orderly, blessed, good creation by His word. The original Israelite readers of Genesis would have found encouragement in this revelation to trust God. They would have hoped in Him to transform their national life from chaos in a pagan chaotic environment (Egypt) to order and blessing in an environment He would create for them (Canaan). God’s superiority over forces their pagan neighbors worshipped out of fear (gods of the darkness, the sun, moon, planets, and stars, the watery deep, etc.) would have strengthened their faith. Their God had also created them as a nation, so they could look forward to the future with confidence.
"This passage is significant also in the lives of Christians. Above and beyond asserting the fact of creation in much the same way it did for Israel, the passage provides an important theological lesson. The believer enters into a life of Sabbath rest from works and embarks on a life of holiness in that rest. We learn from the creation account (1) that God is a redeeming God who changes darkness to light, death to life, and chaos to blessing; (2) that God is absolutely sovereign over all life and all pagan ideas that would contend for our allegiance; and (3) that God works by His powerful Word-to create, to redeem, and to sanctify. Obedience to His powerful Word, either the written Word, or the living Word, our Savior, will transform believers into His glorious image." [Note: Ross, Creation and . . ., pp. 114-15.]
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)