Notes on Genesis | AdventAI

The Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Mar 26, 1867

Notes on Genesis.

CHAPTER II. verse 2. And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made &c.

“Ended.] That angels were previously created we may infer from Ps. viii, 5, where man is said to be made ‘a little lower than the angels,’ who therefore previously existed. ‘The morning stars,’ and ‘the sons of God,’ who could be no other than angels, praised God on the occasion. Job xxxviii, 4, 6, 7. See Doddridge’s Lectures.”—Williams.

“On the Seventh day.] The Septuagint, Syriac, and Samaritan render sixth, which should be considered the genuine reading. The interchange of the two Hebrew letters, which stand for six and seven, and are very similar in shape, will account for the discrepancy.”—Dr. A. Clarke.

Verse 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.

“This is evidently historical, and not by anticipation: for the reason subsisted from the beginning; and was more cogent immediately, than it could be at a distance of more than two thousand years, when the command was solemnly renewed from mount Sinai, long after sin had marred the beauty of the great Creator’s works: and it concerns the whole human race, as much as the nation of Israel. This is confirmed by the custom of measuring time by weeks, which has generally prevailed in the world; and which is most reasonably accounted for, by supposing it to have arisen from an original tradition, handed down from Adam and Noah to all their posterity. And the silence of Moses concerning the observance of the Sabbath by the patriarchs, so far from proving that they were not commanded to observe it, will not render it so much as probable that they did not actually keep it, to those who attentively consider how much darkness rests on many similar subjects, in the scriptural history of the Church. Yet some intimations are given in this book, which show that the patriarchs divided time into weeks, and regarded the seventh day. (viii, 6–14. xxix, 27.)—The ‘Sabbath, being made for man,’ was no doubt co-eval with his creation.—Even in the state of innocence, Adam and Eve were employed in dressing and keeping the garden; and though exempt from sin and suffering, yet their rational nature was capable of a far more exalted state; and they were taught to consider themselves as preparing for it by progressive improvement. The seventh day, therefore, being blessed and sanctified by God, separated from common employments, and consecrated to religious worship; on it especially they were required to remember their Creator, to contemplate his works, and to render Him their tribute of thankful praise; and this would, even in Paradise, be conducive to the glory of God, and beneficial to them; perhaps absolutely necessary to their safety and felicity.” Ex. xvi, 22–27, xx, 8–11.—Scott.

“Seventh.] The Heb. shabah, from which come the German sieben, and the English seven, is derived from a root signifying to be full, complete, entirely made up; seven therefore is often called the perfect number. No number recurs in Scripture so often: and as it cannot have an abstract virtue or significancy, its constant use here carries in it some important allusion. What more probable than that it is founded on this history here?”—Bush.

“One of the most striking confirmations of the Mosaic history of the creation, from heathen sources, is the general adoption of the division of time into weeks, which extends from Europe to Hindoostan, and has equally prevailed among the Hebrews, Egyptians, Chinese, Greeks, Romans, and northern barbarians. The other divisions of time arise from natural causes, respecting the sun and moon. The division into weeks, on the contrary, seems perfectly arbitrary, and to have been derived from some remote tradition, (as that of the creation,) which was never totally obliterated from the memory of the Gentiles.”—T. H. Horne.

Verse 6. But there went up a mist from the earth and watered the whole face of the ground.

It appears that there was no rain previous to the flood; but the earth was watered in the way here indicated. Dr. A. Clarke says: “The plain meaning seems to be this, that the aqueous vapor, ascending from the earth, and becoming condensed in the colder regions of the atmosphere, fell back upon the earth in the form of dews.”

Verse 7. And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.

“Breathed, &c.] This is spoken after the manner of men; and we are only to understand from it, that God Himself, by his divine energy, gave to the human creature, which he had formed, that power of respiration, which is the cause and continuance of animal life.”—Dodd, Hewett.

Verse 19. And out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof.

“Language, says Johnson, must have come by inspiration: a thousand, nay a million of children could not invent a language; while the organs are pliable, there is not understanding enough to form a language; and by the time there is understanding enough, the organs are grown stiff. We know that after a certain age we cannot learn a language.”—Life of Dr. J. D’Oyly and Mant.