(17) For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth.--Whatever other grounds there were for Sabbath observance, this idea always lay at its root. Man was through it to be made like unto his Maker--to have from time to time a rest from his labours, as God had had (Genesis 2:2-3)--and thereby to realise the blessedness of that final rest which he may be sure "remaineth for the people of God." Verse 17. - It is a sign. See above, ver. 13. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth. See the comment on Exodus 20:11. And was refreshed. Literally," and took breath." The metaphor is a bold one, but not bolder than others which occur in holy scripture (Psalm 44:23; Psalm 78:65). It does but carry out a little further the idea implied in God's "resting." We cannot speak of any of God's acts or attributes without anthropomorphisms. for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested, and was refreshed; which is to be understood figuratively after the manner of men, who ceasing from toil and labour find rest and refreshment; but not really and properly, for as not labour, and weariness, and fatigue, so neither rest nor refreshment can be properly said of God; but this denotes his cessation from the works of creation, though not of providence, and of the delight and pleasure he takes in a view of them; this is observed, not as the foundation of this law, and the reason of its being made, but as an illustration of it, and as an argument, showing the reasonableness of it, and the similarity of it with what God himself had done, and therefore the enjoining of it could not reasonably be objected to. See Gill on Exodus 20:11. |