Sabbath in Creation

The idea of resting and the number seen are intimately connected in the Bible.

In , the word or number “seven” has two key symbolic meanings: seven represents a full and complete world, and getting to seven is a linear journey from one to seven.

The rhythm of practicing sabbath or resting every seventh day is one way that humans can imitate God and act like they are participating in the new creation.

The Sevens in

The first two chapters of Genesis have so many 7s its overwhelming.

This is very important because the only connection we have to the number 7 in those chapters is the Sabbath, the seventh-day of the week.

In Hebrew, not in English, here are the number of times 7 appears in just the first chapter:

There are 7 words in .

There are fourteen words in .

There are 7 paragraphs in marked by evening and morning.

The concluding seventh paragraph in begins three lines which have seven words each.

Each of the key words in are repeated by multiples of seven in

God=35(7X5); Land=21(7X3); Skies=21(7X3)

“To suppose that all these appearances of the number seven are mere coincidence is not possible. This numerical symmetry is, as it were, the golden thread that binds together all the parts of the section.” - Umberto Cassuto, From Adam to Noah: A commentary on the Book of Genesis

Kiastic Structures

Light and Darkness (time of day and night)

2. Separation of Waters (atmosphere and seas)

3. Separation of Waters and Land and Growth of Vegetation

4. Stars, Sun, and Moon for seasons, days, and years

5. Sea Creatures and Birds

4.

6. Land Creatures and Humans

7. Sabbath and completion of creation

Each day is important in the creation process. You can’t have the 7th day without days 1-6.

God rests because of the work of days 1-6.

In likewise, in order for us to appreciate the Sabbath, we must work for 6 days. Without the work, the Sabbath looses its meaning and purpose.

There is no astronomical reason for a 7 day week, yet it is the only form of a week that works.

People have tried 8 day weeks and have found that people are groggy and don’t function normally.

The only indication of a seven day week model is found in and 2.

What does it mean for God to rest? (Shabat and Nuakh)

Genesis 2:1–3 ESV

1 Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. 2 And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done. 3 So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation.

God rests or stops from his work because creation is finished and completed.

Not because God was tired and needed to re-energized.

There are two words that we translate rest from Hebrew.

Shabat and Nuakh.

Shabat means to cease or to stop.

Shabat is a separation. It lets us know as readers that know God is going to do something different. God has stopped doing something and now He will do something else. God has stopped.

Joshua 5:12 ESV

12 And the manna ceased the day after they ate of the produce of the land. And there was no longer manna for the people of Israel, but they ate of the fruit of the land of Canaan that year.

Joshua

The manna ceased or Shabatted. It no longer fell from the sky.

The word Nuakh means to take up residence or to settle in.

Exodus 10:14 ESV

14 The locusts came up over all the land of Egypt and settled on the whole country of Egypt, such a dense swarm of locusts as had never been before, nor ever will be again.

When anyone settles in in the Old Testament, they settle into a place that is safe, secure, and stable.

That is an excellent description of the garden of Eden.

It is safe, secure, and stable.

The Sabbath theme of the Bible asks whether or not humankind will settle in or set up residence with God.

Will God and Humanity live harmoniously together? This is very present in the stories of Abraham, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, etc.

Genesis chapter 2 begins with God and Humanity living harmoniously together.

Why is the Seventh-day set apart? (Meant to never end)

Why is the Seventh-day blessed, set apart, or made holy?

God and the Bible authors wants us to know that the 7th day is different from the 6 days.

What are some ways that the 7th day is different in the creation story?

All six days are defined by a morning and evening. The 7th day just starts but doesn’t end.

The 7th day marks the completion of the creation week.

Nothing is created on the 7th day, unlike the other 6 days.

The 7th day is made holy by God’s presence.

“Unlike the previous days, the seventh day is simply announced. There is no mention of evening or morning, no mention of a beginning or ending. The suggestion is that the primordial seventh day exists in perpetuity, a sacred say that cannot be abrogated y the limitations common to the rest of the created order.” - Samuel H. Balentine, The Torah’s Vision of Worship, 93.

“The seventh-day account does not end with the expected formula, there was evening and morning, that concluded days one through six. Breaking the pattern in this way emphasizes the uniqueness of the seventh day and opens the door to an eschatological interpretation. Literally, the sun has not yet set on God’s Sabbath.” - Richard H. Lowery, Sabbath and Jubilee, 90.

The Sabbath is set apart from the other days of the week by God’s presence.

God intends for the Sabbath to not end.

In the biblical story, we find that every character is trying to return to Eden and in so doing return to Sabbath.

Sabbath isn’t just a day.

Sabbath is living harmoniously with God.

Being at peace with God.

The Christian view of heaven is Sabbath.