The Divine Invention of Rest
We're all familiar with the history of creation as summarized in the Mosaic Law -- "For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it." [Exodus 20:11] But there's a curious aspect -- some have even called it an anomaly -- in the detailed narrative of Genesis, which frames and underlines the creation account.
Newton's First Law is known to every High School science student -- "Every object in a state of uniform motion tends to remain in that state of motion unless an external force is applied to it." Sometimes this is shortened to "An object in motion will remain in motion, and an object at rest will remain at rest, unless acted upon by an external force." We call it "the law of inertia," and it is involved in everything from crankshafts to spacecraft. It is inertia which keeps a bowling ball rolling until it strikes the backstop, and keeps the pins standing still until the ball imparts motion and scatters them. It is inertia which keeps an arrow moving to its mark, and inertia which holds the target in place when it is struck. Inertia, in conjunction with gravity, keeps planets in their orbits and stones on the ground.
Although Newton codified the law of inertia and thereby named it, he was hardly the first to notice its effects. Two thousand years earlier, philosophers such as Plato identified the need for that which moves to have been moved by some other force, a principle he called "imparted motion." Aristotle realized that as each moving object had itself been moved, all motion must begin with a "Prime Mover." Theologian Thomas Aquinas, five centuries before Newton, studied Aristotle's works and realized that this "Prime Mover," this "first cause, Himself uncaused" (Latin: primum movens immobile) had to be God Himself, "for in Him we live and move and have our being ..." [Acts 17:28]. But the law of inertia asserts not only that motion must at some point be imparted; it also demands that something already in motion cannot come to rest without the application of some external force.
The opening chapters of Genesis, like all of Scripture, are God-breathed, infallible and inerrant. The first chapter relates the six days, each with a morning and an evening, in which God created all things. The chapter concludes with the words, "Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good. So the evening and the morning were the sixth day." [Gen. 1:31] The creation of "things" has concluded; the second chapter opens "Thus the heavens and the earth, and all the host of them, were finished." [Gen. 2:1] But the following verse, Genesis 2:2, may be faithfully translated "And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done." Another translation renders the verse "And God completed on the seventh day His work that He did, and He abstained on the seventh day from all His work that He did." Looking closely, it seems this verse is telling us that, while God's creation of *things* ended with the close of the sixth day, some aspect of creation was "completed" or "finished" on the seventh.
"An object in motion will remain in motion unless acted upon by an external force." The first six days of creation were filled with motion as the heavens were arrayed, the oceans filled, the world populated. Everything had been called into being and set in motion by "the unmoved mover," and at the end of the sixth day the entire history of the created universe was one of motion. And then, on the seventh day, the work of creation was completed, finished, framed and illustrated by that which only God could impart -- rest. God hallowed that day, the day of rest, the day when He could declare of creation -- as He did years later of salvation -- that "it is finished!" And to this day, across the world and throughout the generations, believers have kept that one day in seven apart as the emblem, the reminder, the setting of God's creation and sustenance of everything. If we view that hallowed day of rest as nothing more than a time for our own physical, or even spiritual, refreshment, we have missed an important point and a great blessing, for the Sabbath is, in effect, God's signature upon the works of His hand.
"So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation." [Gen. 2:3]
_________
Gary Fisher
We're all familiar with the history of creation as summarized in the Mosaic Law -- "For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it." [Exodus 20:11] But there's a curious aspect -- some have even called it an anomaly -- in the detailed narrative of Genesis, which frames and underlines the creation account.
Newton's First Law is known to every High School science student -- "Every object in a state of uniform motion tends to remain in that state of motion unless an external force is applied to it." Sometimes this is shortened to "An object in motion will remain in motion, and an object at rest will remain at rest, unless acted upon by an external force." We call it "the law of inertia," and it is involved in everything from crankshafts to spacecraft. It is inertia which keeps a bowling ball rolling until it strikes the backstop, and keeps the pins standing still until the ball imparts motion and scatters them. It is inertia which keeps an arrow moving to its mark, and inertia which holds the target in place when it is struck. Inertia, in conjunction with gravity, keeps planets in their orbits and stones on the ground.
Although Newton codified the law of inertia and thereby named it, he was hardly the first to notice its effects. Two thousand years earlier, philosophers such as Plato identified the need for that which moves to have been moved by some other force, a principle he called "imparted motion." Aristotle realized that as each moving object had itself been moved, all motion must begin with a "Prime Mover." Theologian Thomas Aquinas, five centuries before Newton, studied Aristotle's works and realized that this "Prime Mover," this "first cause, Himself uncaused" (Latin: primum movens immobile) had to be God Himself, "for in Him we live and move and have our being ..." [Acts 17:28]. But the law of inertia asserts not only that motion must at some point be imparted; it also demands that something already in motion cannot come to rest without the application of some external force.
The opening chapters of Genesis, like all of Scripture, are God-breathed, infallible and inerrant. The first chapter relates the six days, each with a morning and an evening, in which God created all things. The chapter concludes with the words, "Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good. So the evening and the morning were the sixth day." [Gen. 1:31] The creation of "things" has concluded; the second chapter opens "Thus the heavens and the earth, and all the host of them, were finished." [Gen. 2:1] But the following verse, Genesis 2:2, may be faithfully translated "And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done." Another translation renders the verse "And God completed on the seventh day His work that He did, and He abstained on the seventh day from all His work that He did." Looking closely, it seems this verse is telling us that, while God's creation of *things* ended with the close of the sixth day, some aspect of creation was "completed" or "finished" on the seventh.
"An object in motion will remain in motion unless acted upon by an external force." The first six days of creation were filled with motion as the heavens were arrayed, the oceans filled, the world populated. Everything had been called into being and set in motion by "the unmoved mover," and at the end of the sixth day the entire history of the created universe was one of motion. And then, on the seventh day, the work of creation was completed, finished, framed and illustrated by that which only God could impart -- rest. God hallowed that day, the day of rest, the day when He could declare of creation -- as He did years later of salvation -- that "it is finished!" And to this day, across the world and throughout the generations, believers have kept that one day in seven apart as the emblem, the reminder, the setting of God's creation and sustenance of everything. If we view that hallowed day of rest as nothing more than a time for our own physical, or even spiritual, refreshment, we have missed an important point and a great blessing, for the Sabbath is, in effect, God's signature upon the works of His hand.
"So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation." [Gen. 2:3]
_________
Gary Fisher
posted by Gary at 3:03 PM
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