What Does Genesis 2:2 Mean?

God blesses the seventh day and makes it holy, the first instance of holiness in scripture. Before a mountain is called holy, before a burning bush, before a tabernacle or temple, a day receives the divine designation. Holiness enters the world not as a spatial category but as a temporal one: God sets this day apart from the other six, marks it as belonging to him in a distinctive way, and invests it with blessing. Time itself is sanctified before any place or person receives the same designation.

The blessing of the seventh day parallels the blessing given to sea creatures in 1:22 and to humanity in 1:28. To bless is to endow with a purposive function by divine word. The Sabbath day is "blessed" in the sense that it is given a function suited to its nature: rest, recognized holiness, the celebration of completion. The day's function is not to produce but to receive, to receive the acknowledgment that what God has made is enough, is whole, is good.

The basis for the day's holiness is stated: "because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation." The Sabbath is grounded in the completed creative act, not in the Sinai covenant. It predates Israel, predates the exodus, predates the commandments. The fourth commandment will call a particular people to observe a practice embedded in creation itself. The Sabbath is the oldest institution in the world.