THE FINISHING OF CREATION.
A CORRESPONDENT sends us some inquiries on this subject, and asks an explanation of the meaning of the following verses in the Scripture narrative, being the last verse of chap. 1 and three verses in chap. 2 of the Book of Genesis: “And God saw every thing that he had made; and behold it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.” “Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them.” “And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made.” “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.” We submit the following remarks, in the hope that our friend, and perhaps other Sunday-school teachers, will be helped in their study of this most important narrative. The difficulty which some find in Gen. i, 31, and ii, 1, 2, arises from a misconception of the artlessness and truthfulness of the language, as judged by the Hebrew idiom. We can say, in English, “he finished on the seventh”; or, “he finished by the seventh.” In Hebrew there would be the same preposition (ב) in both cases; any ambiguity that might arise, when that ambiguity was of any consequence, being settled by the context. So here. Just above, the work of the sixth day had been especially described, bringing down the whole to the beginning (that is, the evening) of the seventh, by which time all was finished, and the great rest begins. The first verses of the second, whether by the same writer or not, evidently refer to the first chapter, as is shown by the conjunction were—and so the heavens, etc., were finished. Then follows the benediction of the seventh, with the mention of the cessation from work on that day. It is called a finishing, or ending, to make an impressive verbal parallel (or paronomasia) with the language of the preceding summary: “So the heavens and earth were finished”—all done on the previous day, ending at the evening, or beginning, of the seventh; “and then God ended, finished, or ceased to work on the seventh.” What follows takes away all ambiguity by the change of the word: “And God rested (sabbathed, wayyishboth, instead of the previous wayyekal) on the seventh day from all his work, which he had done.” This is the simple explanation of it; though the peculiar language somewhat puzzled the Septuagint translator, and occasioned his rendering sixth day, instead of seventh, which is evidently exegetical, or explanatory, and by no means warrants the conclusion that he had before him a different Hebrew text. There is the same method adopted in the Syriac, and in the Samaritan; which latter is beyond all doubt, a mere accommodation to the Septuagint, as Gesenius proves.175 The Targums and the Vulgate correspond exactly to the Hebrew text, and so do all the early Jewish and Arabic versions and commentaries. Although of no importance, it may be noted that Mohammed charges the Jews with a change of the Sabbath (Koran, ch. xvi); whereupon his commentator, Al Zamakhshari, gives a long and absurd account of the manner in which it came about. It is evident, however, that he knew nothing of the original; but had only heard of the difference in the Greek version, which he endeavors to turn in favor of Friday, the sixth day, or Mohammedan Sabbath. It need only be said that the words rendered finished and ended are the same in the Hebrew text. They appear to have been varied by the English translator, to avoid the seeming difficulty in transferring the Hebrew idiom, or giving something that would resemble it.—Independent.