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Genesis ends the creation narrative with God resting on the seventh day. Psalm 132 calls the temple God’s resting place, where he sits enthroned, describing divine rest as ruling from the temple rather than literal rest.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Genesis 2:2
Hebrew Bible
1 The heavens and the earth were completed with everything that was in them. 2 By the seventh day God finished the work that he had been doing, and he ceased on the seventh day all the work that he had been doing. 3 God blessed the seventh day and made it holy because on it he ceased all the work that he had been doing in creation.
Psalms 132:8
Hebrew Bible
6 Look, we heard about it in Ephrathah; we found it in the territory of Jaar. 7 Let us go to his dwelling place. Let us worship before his footstool. 8 Ascend, O Lord, to your resting place, you and the ark of your strength. 9 May your priests be clothed with integrity. May your loyal followers shout for joy.
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Notes and References
"… In fact, however, although the idea of divine rest in the ancient Near Eastern includes retirement as one possibility, other texts examined above showed rest as the freedom to rule. In the Hebrew Bible, Psalm 132 provides a key passage, in which not only is the temple identified as the resting place of Yahweh but we also find rest identified with rule, for in the temple he sits enthroned. In this sense, divine rest is not primarily an act of disengagement but an act of engagement. No other divine rest occurs in the Hebrew Bible than the rest that is associated with his presence in his temple. This, combined with the data that were presented concerning divine rest in temples in the ancient Near East, confirms that the idea of deity resting, as on the seventh day in Genesis 1, is a clear indication to the reader that a temple metaphor underlies the understanding of the deity’s status. …"
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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