Where is the Sabbath in Genesis? It is fully answered right here in the fourth commandment itself. Notice in Genesis that God blessed the seventh day:
Genesis 2:3
And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made.
Now when we return to the commandment, verse 10 reads:
Exodus 20:10
But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God
The fourth commandment says God blessed the seventh day, and then says that the seventh day “is the sabbath” day. The words “is the” makes it ever clear that the seventh day of Genesis 2:3 is the same seventh day of the fourth commandment, which God himself says that is the “sabbath” day.
If there is any doubt, God repeats it one more time in the Decalogue:
Exodus 20:11
For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.
Again, the “seventh day” was the day He “blessed” – which he names as the “sabbath day.” And in case we are not sure of which day this was, God specifies it here by saying that it was the day after he made the “heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is”…the seventh day of creation is clear (Genesis 2:2-3).
The question, therefore, “Is the Sabbath day mentioned anywhere in the book of Genesis?” This question is fully answered by the Almighty himself, because the Hebrew word “shabbath” translated “sabbath” in Exodus 20:11 is, says YHWH himself, the “seventh day” mentioned in Genesis 2:1-3. If the seventh day of Genesis 2:1-3 is not connected to the Sabbath day of Exodus 20:8-11, why did Moses make such a connection? The answer is clear, and stands unrefuted: because the seventh day of creation week is the sabbath day of the moral Law.
Is there therefore now any need to search for the Sabbath in the book of Genesis? Is not the answer the Almighty gave thorough enough with the, “thundering, and the lightning, and the noise of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking?” in the fourth commandment not enough? (Exodus 20:18)
Says the Psalmist, “For ever, O LORD, thy word is settled in heaven.” -Psalm 119:89. Yet, many urge for more proof of the Sabbath within the book of Genesis only, so we move on to show that its existence is made evident in Genesis 2:1-3 by Moses’ use of the words…
A Connection Between Hebrew Words
The word “rested” in Genesis 2:2 is the translation of the Hebrew word “shabath” and is often used in the Old Testament within the context of “ceasing” or “resting.” When God “rested” on the seventh day, He “ceased” from all his labor, which he had performed in the previous six days. Note, the two definitions given for this Hebrew word by Brown Driver Briggs:
1) to cease, desist, rest
2) (Qal) to keep or observe the sabbath
First and foremost it means to “cease, desist, rest,” but then we find it can also mean to “keep or observe the sabbath,” because to keep the Sabbath means to cease from your own labor and rest upon the seventh day.
Exodus 20:11
(11) For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath [shabbath] day, and hallowed it.
The Hebrew word translated “sabbath” in the fourth commandment is “shabbath” and is, says Strong’s Hebrew/Greek concordance, “intensive of ‘shabath.’ Already we find a connection between Hebrew words. Now that we have learned how closely related Genesis 2:1-3 is to Exodus 20:8-11, when we read in Genesis that God “rested on the seventh day” He was in essence “keeping the Sabbath day.”
So, while the Hebrew word “shabbath” is not found in Genesis, the Hebrew word “shabath” is, and its close connection and nearly same meaning is but more proof that a “sabbath day” rest is what is intended in Genesis 2:1-3.
The Sabbath in Genesis
It has been argued many times that neither the Sabbath commandment nor Sabbath observance is found anywhere in the Old Testament book of Genesis. That the same Hebrew word “shabbath” as found in the fourth commandment (Exodus 20:8) is nowhere to be found therein and that therefore because of this, the Sabbath is completely absent from the book of Genesis. Since this is true, it has been argued that the first appearance of the Sabbath is in Exodus 16 as a commandment, and in Exodus 20 as part of the moral law.
Yet the truth about the Sabbath’s existence in Genesis has been acknowledged by both Adventists and non-Adventists alike.
We will continue this series…stay tuned…stay connected. God bless.
May it now forever be settled that God’s law truly is “sure, they stand fast for ever and ever…” -Psalms 111:7-8
Recommended Website
LLT Productions. Revelations from History and the Bible. Sabbath History – A Brief History of the Change of the Sabbath from the Seventh Day to the Lord’s Day.
https://sabbathhistory.com/?utm_source=March+2012&utm_campaign=monk+revolution&utm_medium=email
The Origin of the Biblical Sabbath and the Historical-Critical Method: A Methodical Test Case. Journal of the Adventist Theological Society, 4/1 (1993): 17-46. Click on the following link to access: https://digitalcommons.andrews.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1460&context=jats