Genesis 2:2-3

Context

This passage concludes the first creation account, which begins at Genesis 1:1. After narrating the six days of creation, the narrator records that on the seventh day God "ended" his work and "rested." The Hebrew verb shabat, rendered "rested," originally means "to cease" or "to stop," and the word "Sabbath" derives from it. To "sanctify" the day means to set it apart from the other days. Unlike the preceding six days, the seventh day lacks the closing formula "and the evening and the morning were." The passage contains no command addressed to human beings; it describes only the actions of God.

Interpretations

• As a creation ordinance: The Reformed tradition holds that from creation God appointed one day in seven as a day of rest, and it calls this a "creation ordinance." Chapter 21 of the Westminster Confession of Faith explains that from the beginning of the world to the resurrection of Christ this day was the last day of the week, and that thereafter it was changed to the first day, the Lord's Day.
• The reading of the Seventh-day Adventist Church: This church holds that the day set apart as holy at creation is the seventh day, namely Saturday. Since Scripture provides no grounds for changing this day, it maintains that Saturday must still be kept as the Sabbath.
• As a covenant sign given to Israel: Some, including those in the dispensationalist tradition, hold that the Sabbath commandment was first given to Israel at Mount Sinai. They therefore conclude that the church is not bound by Sabbath regulations. Article 28 of the Lutheran Augsburg Confession likewise does not regard the Lord's Day as an obligation replacing the Sabbath, but describes it as a day the church appointed for the sake of good order.
• Eschatological reading: Hebrews 4 quotes this passage (Hebrews 4:4) and connects God's rest with the rest that believers will yet enter. Augustine, at the close of his Confessions, read the seventh day, which has no evening, as a symbol of unending rest.

Debates and Issues

• Sabbath and Lord's Day: This passage serves as the starting point in debates over which day should be kept and how it should be kept. The subject is treated in detail in the article Sabbath and Lord's Day.
• Textual variants: The Hebrew Masoretic Text reads "on the seventh day God ended." By contrast, the Septuagint (the Greek Old Testament), the Samaritan Pentateuch, and the Syriac version read "on the sixth day." Many regard the latter reading as an emendation intended to avoid the misunderstanding that God also worked on the seventh day. Some modern translations paraphrase the sentence to mean that God had finished his work by the sixth day.
• Length of the "days": The absence of the closing formula on the seventh day is also raised in discussions of whether the "days" of creation should be understood as twenty-four-hour days or as long periods. This discussion is treated in the article Creation and Evolution.

In the Korean Church

The passage is frequently cited, together with the fourth commandment of the Ten Commandments, in sermons emphasizing juil seongsu (keeping the Lord's Day holy). In disputes between churches that observe a Saturday Sabbath and those that observe the Lord's Day, both sides appeal to this passage.

Related Passages

• Exodus 20:8-11
• Deuteronomy 5:12-15
• Hebrews 4:9-11
• Mark 2:27-28
• Romans 14:5-6