Updated Sept. 27, 2022
Genesis 2:2
The scriptures provide many wonderful illustrations of how we should live our lives, how we should work, and, most importantly, rest. As the world collapses around us, this simple fact has never been more important. With this in mind, Genesis 2:2 gives us the lesson of how to follow in the Lord’s footsteps as we work our course and then rest to reset.
Gen 2:2 (ESV)
And on the seventh day God finished (כָּלָה - kalah) his work (מְלָאכָּה - mla'kah) that he had done (עָשָׂה - asah), and he rested (שָׁבַת - shabath) on the seventh day from all his work that he had done (עָשָׂה - asah).
כָּלָה - kalah — Finished
The word (כָּלָה - kalah) associates with completion to the point of exhaustion (Baker et al., 2003, Complete Word Study Guide O.T.). We spend time on our work and give it all we have until fatigue overcomes us: our strength vanishes. No shortcuts, but work to perfection—to the best of our ability.
kālāh: A verb meaning to complete, to accomplish, to end, to finish, to fail, to exhaust.
BDB Definition (H3615)
to accomplish, cease, consume, determine, end, fail, finish, be complete, be accomplished, be ended, be at an end, be finished, be spent
Just as a cloud provides shade or rain to the earth. Once it completes (כָּלָה - kalah) its job, it vanishes until it’s recharged, but not before.
As the cloud is consumed (כָּלָה - kalah) and vanisheth away: so he that goeth down to the grave shall come up no more.
Job 7:9 (KJV)
And once the works completed, rest.
And He Rested
Now we must first understand that God is never weary and needs no rest.
Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? there is no searching of his understanding.
Isaiah 40:28
Which shows us how great He is. This is an example given for our well-being, not His. It’s such an important need for us mere mortals; God dedicated an entire day for us to embrace if we choose to remember (Zakar).
Which means if we choose:
to pay attention to it.
to show our mental acts through the physical as stated in James 2:18, Show your faith by your works, not by words alone.
When a person remembers, it leads them into action. Not out of obligation, but due to the fact they remember why (Opeyemi T. Oladosu. 2016).
Therefore, (שָׁבַת - shabath), isn’t about Saturday or Sunday, as many argu,e as they miss the point. It’s about how to understand what this remembrance and work stand for in a time of rest.
What Does it Mean?
First, we must understand it’s a verb. Therefore, it requires action on our part to partake in this rest. Some believe it’s about ritual and following the law, but that’s not the case. It has more to do with the spiritual rhythm of life, not a law or order or men. Its purpose is to bring us quietness and rest with the Lord as it draws us away from our daily struggles. From the mundane realities of life (Raskolnikov. 2007).
It’s time given, which is our cathedral to worship God in. And during this time, we become the groom to marry (קדשׁ - qâdash) the day, to love with all our hearts, minds, and souls. For without this love towards the rest, depravity sets in against our bride, the Sabbath.
And here in Mark, we can see it once again, and this time the Lord shows the example of how we marry the Sabbath.
And he said unto them, The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath: 28 Therefore the Son of man is Lord (κύριος - kúrios) also of the sabbath.
Mark 2:27-28 (KJV)
The Lord of the Sabbath. The word κύριος also has the meaning of a husband; therefore, just as the day is made for you to enter matrimony with, the Lord is also husband over this blessed day to worship God with our time (Heschel et al., 2005, The Sabbath): to treat the day as we would treat our spouse with love and honor.
The meaning of the Sabbath is to celebrate time rather than space. Six days a week we live under the tyranny of things of space; on the Sabbath we try to become attuned to holiness in time. It is a day on which we are called upon to share in what is eternal in time, to turn from the results of creation to the mystery of creation; from the world of creation to the creation of the world.
— Abraham Joshua Heschel
In Closing
The Sabbath is not about a law to follow, as many try to claim. But rather, it’s for our well-being, our benefit. It helps us to reconnect with God on a spiritual level1 as we have a day to love, so we can walk and talk with God without any earthly distractions.
The sabbath is a reminder of the two worlds - this world and the world to come; it is an example of both worlds. For the Sabbath is joy, holiness and rest; joy is part of this world; holiness and rest are something of the world to come.
— Abraham Joshua Heschel
References
Baker, Warren, and Gene Carpenter. 2003. Complete Word Study Dictionary: Old Testament. First Edition first Printing. Chattanooga, Tenn: AMG Publishers.
Opeyemi T. Oladosu. 2016. “The Meaning and Function of (Zakar) In Genesis.” The American Journal of Biblical Theology 18(23) (June).
Raskolnikov. 2007. “Infinite Resources: The Sabbath by Abraham Heschel.” Infinite Resources. November 4, 2007.
Heschel, Abraham Joshua, and Susannah Heschel. 2005. The Sabbath. Illustrated edition. New York, NY: Farrar Straus Giroux.