Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Exodus 31:17
It [is] a sign between me and the children of Israel forever: for [in] six days the LORD made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested, and was refreshed.
17. for earth ] verbatim as Exo 20:11.
rested ] desisted (from work), or kept sabbath: see on Exo 20:8.
was refreshed ] lit. took breath, a strong anthropomorphism: elsewhere used only of men, Exo 23:12, 2Sa 16:14 .
18a. communing ] speaking. See on Exo 25:22.
tables of the testimony ] i.e. of the Decalogue (see on Exo 25:16). So Exo 32:15; Exo 34:29 .
18b. tables of stone ] as Exo 24:12 (E), where see the note. E’s narrative in Exo 24:12-15 a must have been followed by a statement that Moses, after remaining some time on the mountain (Exo 32:1), received from God the tables of stone, of which these and the following words are the close. The intermediate part has been replaced by the narrative of P (Exo 24:15 b 32:18 a).
written with the finger of God ] hence Deu 9:10. The practice of inscribing laws on tables of metal or stone was very general in antiquity: Rome, Athens, Crete, Carthage, Palmyra, Babylonia, all supply examples; it would be no cause for surprise, if the original of some of the laws contained in the ‘Book of the Covenant’ were to be brought to light by excavation in Palestine. That the tables on which the Decalogue was written are said to have been inscribed by ‘the finger of God’ (cf. Exo 34:1) is an expression (Di.) of the sanctity and venerable antiquity attributed to them.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Verse 17. Rested, and was refreshed.] God, in condescension to human weakness, applies to himself here what belongs to man. If a man religiously rests on the Sabbath, both his body and soul shall be refreshed; he shall acquire new light and life.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
It is a sign, a sign of the covenant between us, that I will be their God, and they will be my people; both which depends upon this amongst other duties, and upon this in an eminent degree.
Was refreshed; not as if he had been weary with working, which surely he could not be with speaking a few words, nor can God be weary with any thing, Isa 40:28; but it notes the pleasure or delight God took in reflecting upon his works, beholding that every thing he had made was very good, Gen 1:31.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
It is a sign between me and the children of Israel for ever,…. In like sense as the land of Canaan was given them for an everlasting possession; and the covenant of circumcision, and the ordinance of the passover, and the fast on the day of atonement, were for ever; that is, unto the end of the Jewish world and state, at the coming of Christ, when a new world and state of things began, see
Ge 17:8
for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested, and was refreshed; which is to be understood figuratively after the manner of men, who ceasing from toil and labour find rest and refreshment; but not really and properly, for as not labour, and weariness, and fatigue, so neither rest nor refreshment can be properly said of God; but this denotes his cessation from the works of creation, though not of providence, and of the delight and pleasure he takes in a view of them; this is observed, not as the foundation of this law, and the reason of its being made, but as an illustration of it, and as an argument, showing the reasonableness of it, and the similarity of it with what God himself had done, and therefore the enjoining of it could not reasonably be objected to.
[See comments on Ex 20:11].
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(17) For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth.Whatever other grounds there were for Sabbath observance, this idea always lay at its root. Man was through it to be made like unto his Makerto have from time to time a rest from his labours, as God had had (Gen. 2:2-3)and thereby to realise the blessedness of that final rest which he may be sure remaineth for the people of God.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
Exo 31:17. And was refreshed The original word signifies, primarily, to respire, take breath, and so to be refreshed; and can only be applied to, or understood of God, more humano (after the manner of men), just as resting is applied to him: see the note on Gen 2:2 and it perhaps would be better rendered, and ceased from his work. Accordingly the LXX have it , and Houbigant requievit.
REFLECTIONS.Next to the repeated warnings against idolatry, we find no injunctions so frequent as those which regard the sabbath. These indeed have the most immediate connexion with each other, nothing being so effectual to turn them from false gods as the strict and religious observance of that day which was devoted to the worship of the true God. And as it was the means of sanctifying them, it has still the same gracious tendency to us; nor does any thing conduce more to the sanctification of our hearts and lives, than the careful observance of this holy day: whilst, on the contrary, the neglect of it is the most evident proof of a mind estranged from God, and an inlet to every abomination which naturally flows from forgetfulness of him. The breach of the sabbath was, among the Jews, punished with death: our laws too make it penal; and many who have been brought to an ignominious death have confessed this to be the beginning of their ruin. But though men elude human penalties, and with impunity continue in pleasure, business, idleness, gaming, the service of their lusts, and indulgence of their appetites, to profane these sacred hours: the time approaches when a judge shall sit upon the throne, with whom there is no respect of persons; when every sabbath-breaker will find, to his unutterable sorrow, that the wages of his sin is everlasting death.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Exo 31:17 It [is] a sign between me and the children of Israel for ever: for [in] six days the LORD made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested, and was refreshed.
Ver. 17. He rested, and was refreshed. ] This is spoken to our apprehensions, and for our imitation.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
a sign: that Jehovah is our God-that Christ is LORD.
heaven and earth. One of thirteen occurrences. See note on Deu 4:26.
refreshed. Hebrew = verbal form of nephesh (App-13). Figure of speech Anthropopatheia (App-6). See note on Exo 23:12.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
a sign: Exo 31:13, Eze 20:12, Eze 20:20
six days: Gen 1:31, Gen 2:2, Gen 2:3, Heb 4:3, Heb 4:4, Heb 4:10
and was refreshed: God, in condescension to human weakness, applies to himself here what belongs to man; though it may refer to the delight and satisfaction with which he contemplated the completion of all his works, and pronounced them very good. Gen 1:31, Job 38:7, Psa 104:31, Jer 32:41
Reciprocal: Gen 2:1 – Thus Gen 17:8 – everlasting Exo 20:11 – General Exo 31:15 – Six days Rom 4:11 – the sign
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Exo 31:17. On the seventh day he rested, and was refreshed And, as the work of creation is worthy to be thus commemorated, so the great Creator is worthy to be imitated by a holy rest on the seventh day. The expression, was refreshed, is spoken after the manner of men. It seems to signify that delight and complacency with which God surveyed all his works, and pronounced them good, Gen 1:31. Of this divine pleasure we may form some faint idea, by comparing it to that solace and refreshment which a benevolent mind enjoys upon bringing into execution some noble and arduous, some generous and well concerted plan for advancing the glory of God and good of mankind.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
31:17 It [is] a sign between me and the children of Israel for ever: for [in] six days the LORD made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he {h} rested, and was refreshed.
(h) From creating his creatures, but not from governing and preserving them.