When was the last time you took a break?
Rest is essential, even if we don’t like to admit it. We stop for a breather. We sit down. We sleep. Rest is built into our lives because we need it. But is it possible we need to be more intentional about it?
From time to time, I like to remind people that the chapter numbers and verse numbers in our Bibles (versification) were not part of the inspiration of Scripture. These were added because of the invention of the printing press. It gave us a way to organize it. It matters because we tend to draw hard lines in our minds at chapter breaks, and the text may not.
Genesis 2:1-3 is one of those instances. Regarding thought, it belongs to Genesis 1, yet it’s at the beginning of Genesis 2. Let’s read.
Thus the heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array.
Genesis 2:1-3
By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done.
New International Version
This is the conclusion to the events that started in Genesis 1:1. Genesis 2:1 reports that creation was finished. The work was complete.
The seventh day of creation is presented differently from the other days. The Lord doesn’t speak or work on this day. Instead, the Lord “blessed the seventh day and made it holy” (Genesis 2:3a).
This makes the seventh day unique. The text mentions three times that God didn’t work. That’s a lot of repetition in such a short space. We are meant to notice this repetition.
Here in Genesis 2:1-3, we find the prequel to what becomes the Sabbath laws.
It also presents a problem to those holding to theistic evolution (evolution involving the Lord). In theistic evolution, each “day” represents some indefinite period. So, what do they do with the seventh day? Did God rest for a few billion years? Is God still resting? See the problem?
Theologically, this passage begins to establish the seventh day as memorable and unique. It’s not an unspecified amount of time; it’s twenty-four hours. If it’s twenty-four hours here, why wouldn’t it be on the other days?
But to the point of the passage: the Lord didn’t kick up His feet and sip on sweet tea on the seventh day. He wasn’t relaxing; He ceased His work. The distinction is subtle but significant.
It models for us how our weeks should operate. We’re not designed to work seven days a week. Our bodies are designed to work, cease from that work, and then work again.
At this point in Genesis, I don’t want to press too hard on the concept of the Sabbath because it’s developed later in Genesis.
Still, the concept is first introduced here. And when ancient Israel heard these words for the first time, they were already under the commands of Sabbath-keeping.
Interestingly, when they heard the word “rest” in Genesis 2:1-3, they heard the Hebrew word “Shabbat” or “Sabbath.”
Do you have a day you “Shabbat” or a day of ceasing your everyday work (like God did)?
Life Meets Theology 