John Calvin Commentary Genesis 2:3

"And God blessed the seventh day, and hallowed it; because that in it he rested from all his work which God had created and made." — Genesis 2:3 (ASV)

And God blessed the seventh day. It appears that God is here said to bless in the way humans do, because they bless one whom they highly extol. Nevertheless, even in this sense, it would not be unsuitable to the character of God, because his blessing sometimes means the favor which he bestows upon his people, as the Hebrews call that man the blessed of God who, by a certain special favor, has power with God .

Enter, you blessed of God. Thus we may be allowed to describe the day as blessed by him, which he has embraced with love, so that the excellence and dignity of his works may be celebrated in it. Yet I have no doubt that Moses, by adding the word "sanctified," wished immediately to explain what he had said, and thus all ambiguity is removed, because the second word is exegetical of the former.

For קדש (kadesh), with the Hebrews, is to separate from the common number. God therefore sanctifies the seventh day when he renders it illustrious, so that by a special law it may be distinguished from the rest. Hence it also appears that God always had regard for the welfare of men.

I have said above that six days were employed in the formation of the world; not that God, to whom one moment is as a thousand years, needed this succession of time, but so that he might engage us in considering his works. He had the same purpose in view in the appointment of his own rest, for he set apart a day selected from the rest for this special use.

Therefore, that blessing is nothing other than a solemn consecration, by which God claims for himself the meditations and activities of men on the seventh day. This is, indeed, the proper work of the whole life, in which men should daily apply themselves to consider the infinite goodness, justice, power, and wisdom of God, in this magnificent theater of heaven and earth.

But, so that men would not be less diligently attentive to it than they should be, every seventh day has been especially selected for the purpose of supplying what was lacking in daily meditation. First, therefore, God rested; then he blessed this rest, so that in all ages it might be held sacred among men; or he dedicated every seventh day to rest, so that his own example might be a perpetual rule.

The purpose of the institution must always be remembered, for God did not command men simply to keep holiday every seventh day, as if he delighted in their indolence, but rather that they, being released from all other business, might more readily apply their minds to the Creator of the world.

Lastly, that is a sacred rest, which withdraws men from the impediments of the world, so that it may dedicate them entirely to God. But now, since men are so reluctant to celebrate the justice, wisdom, and power of God, and to consider his benefits, that even when they are most faithfully admonished they still remain torpid, a significant stimulus is given by God’s own example, and the very precept itself is thereby made pleasing.

For God cannot more gently allure or more effectively incite us to obedience than by inviting and exhorting us to the imitation of himself. Besides, we must know that this is to be the common practice not of one age or people only, but of the whole human race.

Afterwards, in the Law, a new precept concerning the Sabbath was given, which was peculiar to the Jews and only for a time, because it was a legal ceremony foreshadowing a spiritual rest, the truth of which was manifested in Christ. Therefore, the Lord more frequently testifies that he had given, in the Sabbath, a symbol of sanctification to his ancient people. For this reason, when we hear that the Sabbath was abrogated by the coming of Christ, we must distinguish between what belongs to the perpetual ordering of human life and what properly belongs to ancient figures, the use of which was abolished when the truth was fulfilled.

Spiritual rest is the mortification of the flesh, so that the sons of God should no longer live for themselves or indulge their own inclination. Insofar as the Sabbath was a figure of this rest, I say, it was only for a time; but inasmuch as it was commanded to men from the beginning so that they might engage in the worship of God, it is right that it should continue to the end of the world.

Which God created and made. Here the Jews, in their usual method, engage in foolish talk, saying that God, being overtaken in his work by the final evening, left certain animals imperfect, such as fauns and satyrs, as though he were an ordinary craftsman who needs time.

Such monstrous ravings prove their authors to have been delivered over to a reprobate mind as a dreadful example of the wrath of God. Regarding the meaning of Moses, some interpret it this way: that God created his Works in order to make them, inasmuch as from the time he gave them existence, he did not withdraw his hand from their preservation.

But this exposition is harsh. Nor do I more willingly subscribe to the opinion of those who attribute the word "make" to man, whom God placed over his works, so that he might apply them to use and, in a certain sense, perfect them by his labor. I rather think that the perfect form of God’s works is noted here; as if he had said God so created his works that nothing should be lacking for their perfection, or the creation has proceeded to such a point that the work is in all respects perfect.