Genesis 2:1

Thus the heavens and the earth were finished,.... Perfected and completed in the space of six days, gradually, successively, in the manner before related; by the word and power of God they were on

Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. Thus the heavens and the earth were finished. This sentence does not refer to the arrangements which have just been described as made on the six days.

GENESIS CHAPTER 2 The sabbath insituted and blessed, . A rehearsal of the creation; and, (1.) Of vegetables, . The earth watered, . (2.) Of man, . His habitation, . Trees for his delight and food; as also the tree of life and knowledge, . Its pleasant situation and riches, . Man’ s employment, . Every tree given him but that of knowledge, . This denied on pain of death, . A purpose to create the woman, and the reason thereof, . Beasts and fowls named by Adam, . The woman made of Adam’ s rib, presented to him, , and owned by him, . Marriage ordained, . Their state whilst innocent, . All the creatures in heaven and earth are called their hosts, for their multitude, variety, order, power, and subjection to the Lord of hosts. Particularly the host of heaven in Scripture (which is its own best interpreter) signifies both the stars, as , , ; and the angels, as ; who from these words appear to have been created within the compass of the first six days, which also is probable from . But it is no wonder that the Scripture saith so little concerning angels, because it was written for the use of men, not of angels; and God would hereby take us off from curious and impertinent speculations, and teach us to employ our thoughts about necessary and useful things.

Genesis 2:1 Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them.Ver. 1. All the host of them.] His upper and nether forces, his horse and foot, as it were, all creatures in heaven, earth, or under earth; called God’ s host, for their (1) number, (2) order, (3) obedience. These the Rabbins call magnleh cheloth, and matteh cheloth, the upper and lower troops ready pressed. Kimchi

II. THE SABBATH.(1) Were finished.—The first three verses of this chapter form part of the previous narrative, and contain its Divine purpose. For the great object of this hymn of creation is to give the sanction of the Creator to the Sabbath. Hence the ascribing of rest to Him who wearies not, and hence also the description of the several stages of creation as days. Labour is, no doubt, ennobled by creation being described as work done by God; but the higher purpose of this Scripture was that for which appeal is made to it in the Fourth Commandment, namely, to ennoble man’s weekly rest. Among the Accadians, Mr. Sayce says (Chald. Genesis. p. 89), the Sabbath was observed—so ancient is its institution—but it was connected with the sun, moon, and five planets, whence even now the days of the week take their titles, though the names of Scandinavian deities have been substituted in this country for some of their old Latin appellations. Here every idolatrous tendency is guarded against, and the Sabbath is the institution of the One Almighty God. The host of them.—The word translated host does not refer to military arrangement, but to numbers gathered in crowds. This crowded throng of heaven sometimes means the angels, as in 1 Kings 22:19; oftener the stars. Here it is the host both of heaven and earth, and signifies the multitudes of living creatures which people the land, and seas, and air.

CHAPTER II The seventh day is consecrated for a sabbath, and the reasons assigned, 1-3. A recapitulation of the six days' work of creation, 4-7. the garden of Eden planted, 8. Its trees, 9. Its rivers, and the countries watered by them, 10-14. Adam placed in the garden, and the command given not to eat of the tree of knowledge on pain of death, 15-17. God purposes to form a companion for the man, 18. The different animals brought to Adam that he might assign them their names, 19, 20. The creation of the woman, 21, 22. The institution of marriage, 23, 24. The purity and innocence of our first parents, 25. NOTES ON CHAP. II Verse 1. And all the host of them]. The word host signifies literally an army, composed of a number of companies of soldiers under their respective leaders; and seems here elegantly applied to the various celestial bodies in our system, placed by the Divine wisdom under the influence of the sun. From the original word צבא tsaba, a host, some suppose the Sabeans had their name, because of their paying Divine honours to the heavenly bodies. From the Septuagint version of this place, παςὁκοσμοςαυτων, all their ornaments, we learn the true meaning of the word κοσμος, commonly translated world, which signifies a decorated or adorned whole or system. And this refers to the beautiful order, harmony, and regularity which subsist among the various parts of creation. This translation must impress the reader with a very favourable opinion of these ancient Greek translators; had they not examined the works of God with a philosophic eye, they never could have given this turn to the original.

NOTE ON THE SABBATH In connexion with the Institution of the Sabbath recorded in Genesis 2:1-3 the following points deserve to be noticed. 1. The writer gives the reason for the sanctity among the Hebrews of the Seventh Day, or Sabbath. As, in chap. 17, he supplies an answer to the question: What is the origin of the Hebrew sacred rite of circumcision? so, here, he gives an answer to the question: What is the origin of the observance of the Sabbath? 2. Whereas the Hebrew rite of circumcision is described as having its origin in the command of God delivered to Abraham, the Father of the Chosen People, the origin of the Sabbath is treated as more ancient and uniquely sacred. As an institution, it follows at once upon the work of Creation. Whatever its import, therefore, may be, it is regarded by the writer as universal in its application. The Divine rest from Creation, like the Divine work of Creation, was a pledge of Divine Love, not to the Jew only, but to the whole world. 3. From the first, God is said to have “blessed” and “sanctified” the seventh day. In other words, he invested the seventh day with the quality of highest value and advantage to those who observed it; stamped its observance with the seal of Divine approbation; and “set it apart,” as distinct from the other six days, for sacred purposes. 4. The account of the origin of the Sabbath, given in this passage, is followed in the legislation, Exodus 31:17 (P), and seems to have supplied the appendix to the primitive form of the Fourth Commandment as found in the Decalogue of Exodus (Genesis 20:11). In the Deuteronomic Decalogue (Deuteronomy 5:12-15) the observance of the Sabbath is enjoined, without any reference to the days of Creation, but with an appendix explaining its humanitarian purpose. “And thou shalt remember that thou wast a bondman in the land of Egypt, and the Lord thy God brought thee out thence by a mighty hand and by a stretched out arm: therefore the Lord thy God commanded thee to keep the sabbath day.” A similar explanation for the observance of the Sabbath is found in the so-called Book of the Covenant (Exodus 20:22 to Exodus 23:33 E), which contains the earliest collection of Hebrew laws: “Six days thou shalt do thy work, and on the seventh day thou shalt rest: that thine ox and thine ass may have rest, and the son of thy handmaid, and the stranger, may be refreshed” (Exodus 23:12). In the old ritual laws of Exo 34:10-28, the observance of the seventh day is commanded as a duty with which no pressure of field labour is to interfere: “Six days thou shalt work, but on the seventh day thou shalt rest; in plowing time and in harvest thou shalt rest” (Genesis 2:21). What relation exists between the Hebrew institution of the Sabbath and Babylonian usage is a question which has been much discussed in recent years.

- The Seventh Day 1. צבא tsābā' “a host in marching order,” a company of persons or things in the order of their nature and the progressive discharge of their functions.

SEVENTH DAY — SABBATH, Genesis 2:1-3. 1. All the host of them — That is, all the things, animate and inanimate, which made up the several works of creation.