Texts in Conversation
Genesis describes God finishing creation on the seventh day, resting, and making the day special. Exodus 31 echoes this, describing God resting and following the seven-day pattern himself as the reason the Sabbath is a sign between God and Israel.
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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. 4 This is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created—when the Lord God made the earth and heavens.
Exodus 31:17
Hebrew Bible
16 The Israelites must keep the Sabbath by observing the Sabbath throughout their generations as a perpetual covenant. 17 It is a sign between me and the Israelites forever; for in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day he rested and was refreshed.’” 18 He gave Moses two tablets of testimony when he had finished speaking with him on Mount Sinai, tablets of stone written by the finger of God.
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Notes and References
... In Exodus 31:12–17, in the context of the construction of the Tabernacle, the Sabbath command is reiterated. This associates the Sabbath with the central place for Israelite worship and communion with God. This location of the command does two things. It shows that the Sabbath is regarded as more important than the building of the Tabernacle because the Israelites were to keep the Sabbath even during its construction, and it shows that the regular worship of God and his presence among them will be grounded in the Sabbath. There are many similarities between this Sabbath legislation and other Sabbath legislation in the Old Testament. There is the obvious emphasis on abstention from work. The last verse cited above echoes the passage in the Decalogue, giving God’s rest on the seventh day as the reason for the Sabbath command. ...
* 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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