Genesis 2:3

3 En God heeft den zevende dag gezegend, en die geheiligd; omdat Hij op denzelven gerust heeft van al Zijn werk, hetwelk God geschapen had, om te volmaken.

Genesis 2:3 Meaning and Commentary

Genesis 2:3

And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it
A day in which he took delight and pleasure, having finished all his works, and resting from them, and looking over them as very good; and so he pronounced this day a good and happy day, and "sanctified" or appointed it in his mind to be a day separated from others, for holy service and worship; as it was with the Jews when they became a body of people, both civil and ecclesiastical: or this is all said by way of prolepsis or anticipation, as many things in this chapter are, many names of countries and rivers, by which being called in the times of Moses, are here given them, though they were not called by them so early, nor till many ages after: and according to Jarchi this passage respects future time, when God "blessed" this day with the manna, which descended on all the days of the week, an omer for a man, and on the sixth day double food; and he "sanctified" it with the manna which did not descend at all on that day: besides, these words may be read in a parenthesis, as containing an account of a fact that was done, not at the beginning of the world, and on the first seventh day of it; but of what had been done in the times of Moses, who wrote this, after the giving of the law of the sabbath; and this being given through his hands to the people of Israel, he takes this opportunity here to insert it, and very pertinently, seeing the reason why God then, in the times of Moses, blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it, was, because he had rested on that day from all his works, ( Exodus 20:11 ) and the same reason is given here, taken plainly out of that law which he had delivered to them:

because that in it he had rested from all his work, which God
created and made;
which shows, that this refers not to the same time when God blessed and hallowed the seventh day, which was done in the times of Moses, but to what had been long before, and was then given as a reason enforcing it; for it is not here said, as in the preceding verse, "he rested", but "had rested", even from the foundation of the world, when his works were finished, as in ( Hebrews 4:3 ) even what "he created to make" ^F5, as the words may be here rendered; which he created out of nothing, as he did the first matter, in order to make all things out of it, and put them in that order, and bring them to that perfection he did.

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FOOTNOTES:

F5 (twvel-arb) "creavit ut faceret", V. L. "creaverat ut faceret", Pagninus, Montanus.

Genesis 2:3 In-Context

1 Alzo zijn volbracht de hemel en de aarde, en al hun heir.

2 Als nu God op de zevende dag volbracht had Zijn werk, dat Hij gemaakt had, heeft Hij gerust op den zevende dag van al Zijn werk, dat Hij gemaakt had.

3 En God heeft den zevende dag gezegend, en die geheiligd; omdat Hij op denzelven gerust heeft van al Zijn werk, hetwelk God geschapen had, om te volmaken.

4 Dit zijn de geboorten des hemels en der aarde, als zij geschapen werden; ten dage als de HEERE God de aarde en den hemel maakte.

5 En allen struik des velds, eer hij in de aarde was, en al het kruid des velds, eer het uitsproot; want de HEERE God had niet doen regenen op de aarde, en er was geen mens geweest, om den aardbodem te bouwen.