Genesis 2:3

_AND GOD BLESSED THE SEVENTH DAY, AND SANCTIFIED IT: BECAUSE THAT IN IT HE HAD RESTED FROM ALL HIS WORK WHICH GOD CREATED AND MADE._ Blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it. On the creation of the various orders of aquatic and terrestrial animals God "blessed" them (Genesis 1:22; Genesis 1:28), and the repetition of this formula in the present instance indicates that the event referred to formed a continuous part of the same series of transactions. To "sanctify" a thing or a period of time is to set it apart from a common to a sacred use; and hence, its sanctification was a special distinction put upon the seventh day above the other six days-clearly meaning that it was to be consecrated to a religious purpose. The institution of the Sabbath is thus as old as creation; and the fact of its

3._And God blessed the seventh day _It appears that God is here said to bless according to the manner of men, because they bless him whom they highly extol. Nevertheless, even in this sense, it would not be unsuitable to the character of God; because his blessing sometimes means the favor which he bestows upon his people, as the Hebrews call that man the blessed of God, who, by a certain special favor, has power with God. (See Genesis 24:31.) Enter thou blessed of God. Thus we may be allowed to describe the day as blessed by him which he has embraced with love, to the end that the excellence and dignity of his works may therein be celebrated. Yet I have no doubt that Moses, by adding the word sanctified, wished immediately to explain what he had said, and thus all ambiguity is removed, because the second word is exegetical of the former. For קדש ...

1-3 After six days, God ceased from all works of creation. In miracles, he has overruled nature, but never changed its settled course, or added to it. God did not rest as one weary, but as one well pleased. Notice the beginning of the kingdom of grace, in the sanctification, or keeping holy, of the sabbath day. The solemn observing of one day in seven as a day of holy rest and holy work, to God's honour, is the duty of all to whom God has made known his holy sabbaths. At this time none of the human race were in being but our first parents. For them the sabbath was appointed; and clearly for all succeeding generations also. The Christian sabbath, which we observe, is a seventh day, and in it we celebrate the rest of God the Son, and the finishing the work of our redemption....

Verse Genesis 2:3. _AND GOD BLESSED THE SEVENTH DAY_] The original word ברך _barach_, which is generally rendered _to bless_, has a very extensive meaning. It is frequently used in Scripture in the sense of _speaking good of_ or _to_ a person; and hence literally and properly rendered by the Septuagint ευλογησεν, from ευ, _good_ or _well_, and λεγω, I speak. So God has spoken _well_ of the Sabbath, and _good to them_ who conscientiously observe it. _Blessing_ is applied both to God and man: when God is said to bless, we generally understand by the expression that he _communicates_ some good; but when man is said _to bless God_, we surely cannot imagine that he _bestows_ any gifts or confers any benefit on his Maker. When God is said to _bless_, either in the Old or New Testament, it signifies his _speaking good_ TO m...

- The Seventh Day 1. 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...

EXPOSITION 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 was a cosmos, arranged, ornamented, and filled with organized, sentient, and rational beings, with plants, animals, and man; and now the resplendent fabric shone before him a magnificent success—"lo! very good." This appears to be by no means obscurely hinted at in the appended clause, and all the host of them

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 do...

Genesis 2:1. Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made. These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens, And every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew: for the LORD God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was not a man to till the ground. But there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground. And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a...

SANCTIFIED In the Old Testament The same Hebrew word (qodesh) is translated sanctify, consecrate, dedicate, and holy. It means, set apart for the service of God. See refs. Following "Sanctify," (_ See Scofield) - (Genesis 2:3). _...

ANALYSIS AND ANNOTATIONS I. THE CREATION ACCOUNT The manner in which the book of Genesis begins leaves no doubt that it is the revelation of God. The creation account is historical truth. The question is how was it given? An answer to this question claims that the Jews obtained the account from the records of other nations concerning the origin of the universe and that they altered it according to their own religious ideas. This is an impossibility. The ancient heathen nations considered God and the universe one and had absolutely no knowledge of the existence of God independent of the universe, nor did they know anything of a creation of the world. Here is something wholly different from all the theories, mythologies and other inventions of the human race. How then was it given? By revelation of God is the only answer. No human being knew anything about the origin of the heavens and t...