Tag: sabbath

Remember to Rest

Posted on by jovial_cynic

But God remembered Noah and all the animals and all the livestock that were with him in the ark; and God caused a wind to pass over the earth, and the water subsided.
Genesis 8:1 (NASB)

The first line in Genesis 8 starts by telling us that God remembered Noah. Noah’s name means rest.

Over and over in Genesis and Exodus, God remembers his covenant. God remembers his promise.

Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy
Exodus 20:8 (NASB)

And the first time God tells US to remember is when He introduces Sabbath. He’s reminding us to rest.

A Final Rest

Posted on by jovial_cynic
I’ve said before that Genesis 1 appears prophetic. It’s not merely saying what happened, but what is happening, and what will happen. There are many Revelation parallels.

Genesis 2 hints at this as well.

The heaven and the earth were finished, and all their array.
On the seventh day God finished the work that had been undertaken: [God] ceased on the seventh day from doing any of the work.
Genesis 2:1-2 (The Contemporary Torah, JPS, 2006)

We have a day of rest every week, and while we could get lost in a cycle of week-in and week-out, it’s written in a way to show us that rest is a finality. It is FINISHED. It points to a future forever-rest.

Gen 2 gives us a clue.

The words that I highlighted in the first post are the same word: “finished.” Kala.

But they have different forms in the text there in the passage. They mean different things.

The first instance of “finished” is in the pual form. This idea of completion. “It’s done.” God finished it, perhaps the way one might finish a task or an assignment.

But the second instance is in the piel form. It carries a more… ominous meaning. It’s not just being done, but having brought something to an end. To fulfill. In some instances, to destroy in its finality.

Perhaps this points to a future newness. A new heaven; a new earth.

A final Sabbath.

Vast Array

Posted on by jovial_cynic
Guest Author @Randallthetrue from Twitter/X:

So the heavens and the earth were finished with all their forces.
Genesis 2:1 (John Goldingay, The First Testament)

What I love about this translation (John Goldingay, The First Testament, A New Translation, is it uses the word forces.

This opens up many lines of thought.

First Question: What forces is it talking about? I can think of many such as gravity, air currents, electricity, life (breathing and so on), photosynthesis… there are many.

Next the Scripture states that says God rested. but what is interesting is the forces He instituted did not stop. When He spoke them into existence they were always there. They never stop for the Sabbath. Mankind was told to take a Sabbath and in a different way the fields of the earth were told to be Sabbathed as well.