The Sabbath and Genesis 2:1-3

Abstract

The Creation account of Gen 1:l-2:3 climaxes with the description of events connected with the seventh day in Gen 2:I-3:' 1. And the heavens and the earth were finished, and all their hosts. 2. And on the seventh day God declared finished his work that he had done, and he ceased on the seventh day from all his work that he had made.2 3. And God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because on it he ceased from all his work that God created and made. There is general agreement that the weekly Sabbath is at least partly in view in Gen 2:l-3.' The more controverted point is whether it is presented as a Creation ordinance, i.e., as something commanded for human beings to keep from the beginning of human history.