Read: Genesis 2:1-2 NRSV
Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all their multitude. And on the seventh day God finished the work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all the work that he had done. So God blessed the seventh day and hallowed it, because on it God rested from all the work that he had done in creation.
Read: Exodus 20:8-11 NRSV
Remember the sabbath day, and keep it holy. For six days you shall labour and do all your work. But the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God; you shall not do any work—you, your son or your daughter, your male or female slave, your livestock, or the alien resident in your towns. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but rested the seventh day; therefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day and consecrated it.
Any discussion about rest begins with these two passages: after creating the universe, God rested and sanctified the seventh day for rest. And after bringing the Israelites up out of Egypt, God revealed his law, including a holy day of rest for his covenant people. Clearly rest should be important to us because it’s important to God. So important in fact that He feels the need to explain Himself in both passages. “…God blessed the seventh day…because on it God rested from all the work that he had done…” God doesn’t give any reasons why he created light and darkness or earth or water, but when He hallows the seventh day He tells us why.
Similarly, most of the ten commandments are simple, declarative sentences with no reasoning:
(“You shall not commit adultery. You shall not murder. ” etc.) However, the fourth commandment comes with a lengthy explanation: “For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but rested the seventh day.”
This week we will be studying passages from the book of Hebrews, a letter to a group of early Christians who were backsliding in their faith. The author is rebuking this group, reminding them of Jesus’ divinity and supreme sacrifice for them. He (or possibly she) draws on their shared cultural history: the deliverance of the Israelites from Egypt and the subsequent wanderings in the wilderness to remind them of God’s promise: to enter into His “rest.” That generation of Israelites never experienced the fulfillment of that promise. Failure after failure kept them out of the promised land until a whole generation had died out. The book of Hebrews reminds us that the same invitation is presented to us, thanks to the example of the royal priest, Jesus, but the same temptations wait for us along the way.
