Old Testament Essays (Dec 2017)

Creation Rest: Genesis 2:1-3 and the First Creation Account

  • Matthew Haynes,
  • P. Paul Krüger

DOI
https://doi.org/10.17159/2312-3621/2017/v30n3a8
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 30, no. 3
pp. 663 – 683

Abstract

Read online

In this article, the nature of God’s rest in the first creation account is examined by describing what “rest” entailed for God. It is suggested that God’s notion “rest” emerges from the creational activity of the first six days, that it continues into the present time, and that it serves as a counterpoint to the notions of rest presented by other cultures of the ANE. It is also argued that, while God rested on the seventh day, humanity was busy with its appointed tasks of subduing the earth, exercising dominion, and expanding the borders of the garden as they multiply and fill the earth.

Keywords