Go to Related Reading
About this book

Genesis

About this book

The Seventh Day

Chapter 2

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.⁠

The Garden and the First Humans

4 This is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created—when the Lord God made the earth and heavens.⁠ 5 Now no shrub of the field had yet grown on the earth, and no plant of the field had yet sprouted, for the Lord God had not caused it to rain on the earth, and there was no man to cultivate the ground. 6 Springs would well up from the earth and water the whole surface of the ground.⁠ 7 The Lord God formed the man⁠ from the soil of the ground⁠ and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life,⁠ and the man became a living being.⁠ 8 The Lord God planted an orchard in the east, in Eden;⁠ and there he placed the man he had formed.⁠ 9 The Lord God made all kinds of trees grow from the soil, every tree that was pleasing to look at and good for food.⁠ (Now the tree of life⁠ and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil⁠ were in the middle of the orchard.)⁠ 10 Now a river flows from Eden⁠ to water the orchard, and from there it divides into four headstreams. 11 The name of the first is Pishon;⁠ it runs through the entire land of Havilah, where there is gold. 12 (The gold of that land is pure; pearls and lapis lazuli are also there.) 13 The name of the second river is Gihon;⁠ it runs through the entire land of Cush. 14 The name of the third river is Tigris; it runs along the east side of Assyria. The fourth river is the Euphrates. 15 The Lord God took the man and placed him in the orchard in Eden to care for it and to maintain it.⁠ 16 Then the Lord God commanded the man, “You may freely eat fruit from every tree of the orchard, 17 but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will surely die.”⁠ 18 The Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone.⁠ I will make a companion for him who corresponds to him.”⁠ 19 The Lord God formed out of the ground every living animal of the field and every bird of the air.⁠ He brought them to the man to see what he would name them, and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name. 20 So the man named all the animals, the birds of the air, and the living creatures of the field,⁠ but for Adam no companion who corresponded to him was found.⁠ 21 So the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep, and while he was asleep, he took part of the man’s side and closed up the place with flesh. 22 Then the Lord God made a woman from the part he had taken out of the man,⁠ and he brought her to the man. 23 Then the man said, “This one at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh;⁠ this one will be called ‘woman,’ for she was taken out of man.”⁠ 24 That is why a man leaves his father and mother and unites with his wife,⁠ and they become one family.⁠ 25 The man and his wife were both naked, but they were not ashamed.⁠

Texts in conversation

Compare Genesis 2:2 and Exodus 40:33

Hebrew Bible

Share:

Summary

Exodus describes finishing the Tabernacle using the same language Genesis uses for finishing creation. This shared language links the Tabernacle with creation itself, presenting it as a small representation of all of creation.

Passages

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.
750–400 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Genesis

Exodus 40:33

Hebrew Bible
32 Whenever they entered the tent of meeting, and whenever they approached the altar, they would wash, just as the Lord had commanded Moses. 33 And he set up the courtyard around the tabernacle and the altar, and put the curtain at the gate of the courtyard. So Moses finished the work. 34 Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle.
750–400 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Exodus

References

"... Particularly instructive in this connection is the Ugaritic text that tells of the building of Baal’s temple and describes the burning of the fire during six days (compare Exodus 35:3) with its extinguishing on the seventh day. In this manner, the work is brought to conclusion, and Baal begins with the preparations for the dedicatory festivities (ANET 2: 134 [Ginsberg]). Similarly, there is undoubtedly significance in Buber and Rosenzweig’s previously mentioned claims, that the completion of work on the Tabernacle is described in language that generally resembles the conclusion of P’s Creation narrative. The following comparison demonstrates this similarity (Genesis 1:31, Exodus 39:43; Genesis 2:1, Exodus 39:32; Genesis 2:2, Exodus 40:33; Genesis 2:3, Exodus 39:43) ... Practically speaking, the Sabbath commandment becomes operative with the building of the Tabernacle, which according to P represents the classic Revelation of God to his people. It appears that the priesthood dramatized the conclusion of Creation by the Sabbath in the same way that the people of the Ancient Near East dramatized the Creation in their cultic dramas. The Sabbath, in fact, represented the conclusion of a cultic cycle, for on the Sabbath they changed the showbread (Leviticus 24:5–9), and the temple guards (2 Kings 11:5, 9) ..."
Moshe Weinfeld, The Place of the Law in the Religion of Ancient Israel, VTSup 100 (Leiden: Brill, 2004), 100–101.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

Your feedback

Genesis 2:2 and Exodus 40:33

Leave a comment

Your questions and comments are welcome!

Comments

Glossary

Search the Library