Genesis 2:1-3

The Pulpit Commentary - Genesis 2:1

Thus the heavens and the earth were finished. Literally, and finished were the heavens and the earth, the emphatic position being occupied by the verb. With the creation of man upon the sixth day the Divine Artificer's labors were brought to a termination, and his work to a completion. The two ideas of cessation and perfection are embraced in the import of calais . Not simply had Elohim paused in his activity, but the Divine idea of his universe had been realized. The finished world... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Genesis 2:1-3

Rest and Light. The finished heavens and earth and their host prepare the day of rest. God ended his work as an interchange of darkness and light. I. THE REST OF THE SABBATH IS NOT INACTION , BUT THE CESSATION FROM THE LOWER ORDER OF WORK FOE THE HIGHER . The idea of the first proclamation seems to be that creation was perfectly adjusted through the six days into a settled harmony which puts heaven and earth in their abiding relation to one another. II. Then ... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Genesis 2:2

And on the seventh day God (Elohim) ended his work which he had made. To avert the possibility of imagining that any portion of the seventh day was consumed in working, which the English version seems to favor, the LXX ; the Samaritan, and Syriac versions insert the sixth day in the text instead of the seventh. Calvin, Drusius, Le Clerc, Rosenmüller, and Kalisch translate had finished . Others understand the sense to be declared the work to be finished, while Baumgarten and... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Genesis 2:3

And God blessed the seventh day . The blessing (cf. Genesis 1:22 , Genesis 1:28 ) of the seventh day implied— 1. That it was thereby declared to be the special object of the Divine favor. 2. That it was thenceforth to be a day or epoch of blessing for his creation. And— 3. That it was to be invested with a permanence which did not belong to the other six days—every one of which passed away and gave place to a successor. And sanctified it . Literally, declared it holy, or... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Genesis 2:3

The two sabbaths: the Divine and the human. I. THE SABBATH OF GOD . A period of— 1. Cessation from toil , or discontinuance of those world-making operations which had occupied the six preceding days ( Hebrews 4:4 ). Never since the close of the creative week has God interfered to fundamentally rearrange the material structure of the globe. The Deluge produced no alteration on the constitution of nature. Nor is there evidence that any new species have been added to its... read more

Albert Barnes

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Genesis 2:1-3

- The Seventh Day1. צבא tsābā' “a host in marching order,” a company of persons or things in the order of their nature and the progressive discharge of their functions. Hence, it is applied to the starry host Deuteronomy 4:19, to the angelic host 1 Kings 22:19, to the host of Israel Exodus 12:41, and to the ministering Levites Numbers 4:23. κόσμος kosmos.2. חשׁביעי chashebı̂y‛ı̂y. Here השׁשׁי hashshı̂y is read by the Samaritan Pentateuch, the Septuagint, the Syriac, and Josephus. The... read more

Joseph Benson

Joseph Benson's Commentary of the Old and New Testaments - Genesis 2:1

Genesis 2:1. The host of them That is, the creatures contained therein. The host of heaven, in Scripture language, sometimes signifies the stars, and sometimes the angels. But, as Moses gives us no intimation, in the preceding chapter, that the angels were created at this time, and as Job 38:6-7, evidently implies that they had been created before, they do not appear to be here included. read more

Joseph Benson

Joseph Benson's Commentary of the Old and New Testaments - Genesis 2:2

Genesis 2:2. God rested on the seventh day Not as if he were weary, or needed rest, as we do after labour, which to suppose would be inconsistent with his infinite perfection, Isaiah 40:28: but for an example to us. Accordingly, in the fourth commandment, God’s resting on the seventh day is assigned as a reason why we should rest on that day. read more

Joseph Benson

Joseph Benson's Commentary of the Old and New Testaments - Genesis 2:3

Genesis 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... read more

Donald C. Fleming

Bridgeway Bible Commentary - Genesis 2:1-3

THE STORY OF CREATIONThe Bible and scienceModern science has revealed so much about the wonders and the size of the physical universe that human beings may seem almost to be nothing. The Bible takes a different view. Human beings are its main concern, for they alone are made in God’s image. The story of creation is but an introduction to the story of God’s dealings with the human race. The Bible demonstrates this order of importance from the outset by fitting the story of creation into a mere... read more

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