GENESIS 2:2

 

Q: Two questions arise: First, this looks like God is still working on the 7^th day. Is that true?

 Also, why would God need to rest at all?

 

The apparent contradiction is that God is still finishing work on seventh day. (LXX and Samaritan

 Pentateuch say "sixth day." ) Medieval rabbi Rashi solved the problem by postulating that what God

 created on the seventh day was Rest. Another possibility is a textual confusion between sixth (hashishi)

 and seventh (hashebi'i). A third proposal is the rabbinical idea that God created the Sabbath (holy time)

 on the seventh day.

 

There is the necessity of rest as an escape from work and acquisitiveness, trusting God to meet our

 needs through 6 days of activity, a day to indulge in the creativity we were meant for. “Leisure is a

 mental and  spiritual attitude. In leisure, man too celebrates the end of his work by allowing his inner

 eye to dwell for a while upon the reality of the Creation.” (Pieper)

 

Did God need to rest and recuperate from the effort of creation? No, the Hebrew word simply means

 “to cease, complete.” No, as a Jewish sage has said, “the sabbath was not created because of the six

 days; the six days were created with a view to the sabbath.” Retirement is the summit of life: the full

 achievement of everything. God decides to stop working so as to allow mankind the freedom to create

 on his own and/or to rest as he has. Most commentators stress that God has not stopped being active in

 the world; he merely rested from initial creation. See John 5:17 indicating that God is active today in

 healing.

The same word “accomplished” appears in Ecclesiastes 1:11 when Solomon looked over all his great

 accomplishments.