Hi everyone God bless you all… i’ve wondering how do you guys interpret this these verses…
For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.” — Exodus 20:11
“It is a sign forever between me and the people of Israel that in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested and was refreshed.” — Exodus 31:17
The Sabbath was a day of rest in commemoration of the completed creation: “The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath” (Mark 2:27).
Another question if the creation days were poetic (as many of you say)…then why would God make his people to rest on the seventh day?
@felizz_happy,
My view of Genesis 1 is that the type of origins being established was functional, not material. This means that when it says He “created” things, he assigned them function. John Walton is a prominent proponent of this view. The points made in the Exodus references here were, I believe, statements regarding rest and satisfaction in general. My view of the seventh day is that God rested in the temple that He had created (the universe). Meaning He wasn’t tired and he wasn’t trying to “take a break”, but he was basking in the pleasure of completing his masterpiece. So, it makes sense that if we are in this universe (which we are), that God would assign special purpose to commemorate his satisfaction in the seventh and final step of Creation. The reference in Mark directly supports this as well. The Sabbath was identified as the day of completion in rest in the completed work so that man could observe/respect that. It then goes on to say that there was not something special about the Sabbath prior to man’s being able to participate in it; God already had his Sabbath and told us to follow after His example.
I agree with Connor that Walton has done a nice job explaining the concept of God resting, based on the worldview of the ancient near east.
I think resting on the seventh day is about remembering that God is enthroned in his temple (the universe, where he “rests”), and it is a way of habitually acknowledging that God is God and we are not. We have six days to work hard and shape our destinies, but on the seventh, we remember that it is God who really runs the show, not us. Without this habitual reminder of God’s and our rightful place in the universe, we tend to forget we are not gods ourselves, or we make idols out of the things we work for; food, possessions, family, position, etc. God knew we have this tendency, so that’s why he commanded a set apart/holy day to rest from our work and focus on worshiping.