strongly suggests a composition of sources.—on the seventh day] ⅏GS read sixth day (so also Jubilees, ii. 16, and Jerome, Quæst.), which is accepted as the original text by many comm. (Ilg. Ols. Bu. al.).[1] But sixth is so much the easier reading that one must hesitate to give it the preference. To take the vb. as plup. (Calv. al.) is grammatically impossible. On We.'s explanation, see above, p. 9 f. The only remaining course is to give a purely negative sense to the vb. finish: i.e. 'desisted from,' 'did not continue' (IEz. De. Di. Dri. al.). The last view may be accepted, in spite of the absence of convincing parallels.—and he rested] The idea of שָׁבַת is essentially negative: cessation of work, not relaxation (Dri.): see below. Even so, the expression is strongly anthropomorphic, and warns us against exaggerating P's aversion to such representations.[2]—3. blessed . . .
'desist' (b) is found only in Ho. 74, Jb. 321 (Qal); Ex. 55, Jos. 2225,
Ezk. 1641 3410 (Hiph.); of which Ho. 74 (a corrupt context) and Ex. 55,
alone are possibly pre-exilic. In all other occurrences (about 46 in all;
9 Qal, 4 Niph., 33 Hiph.) the sense (a) 'come to an end' obtains; and
this usage prevails in all stages of the literature from Am. to Dn.; the
pre-exilic examples being Gn. 822, Jos. 512 (?) (Qal); Is. 173 (Niph.);
Am. 84, Ho. 14 213, Is. 1610 (?) 3011, Dt. 326{26}, 2 Ki. 235. 11, Jer. 734 169
3629 (Hiph.). These statistics seem decisive against Hehn's view (l.c.
93 ff.) that שָׁבַת is originally a denom. from שַׁבָּת. If all the uses are to
be traced to a single root-idea, there can be no doubt that (b) is primary.
But while a dependence of (a) on (b) is intelligible (cf. the analogous
case of חָדַל), 'desist' from work, and 'come to an end' are after all very
different ideas; and, looking to the immense preponderance of the latter
sense (a), especially in the early literature, it is worth considering
whether the old Heb. vb. did not mean simply 'come to an end,' and
whether the sense 'desist' was not imported into it under the influence
of the denominative use (c) of which Ex. 2312 3421 might be early
examples. [A somewhat similar view is now expressed by Meinhold
(ZATW, 1909, 100 f.), except that he ignores the distinction between
'desist' and 'come to an end,' which seems to me important.]—3. ברא לעשות
. . .] The awkward construction is perhaps adopted because ברא
could not directly govern the subst. מלאכה. G has ἤρξατο . . . ποιῆσαι.
- ↑ Expressly mentioned as G's reading in Mechilta: see above, p. 14, and Geiger, l.c. 439.
- ↑ In another passage of P, Ex. 3117, the anthropomorphism is greatly intensified: "God rested and refreshed Himself" (lit. 'took breath').—See Jast. (AJTh. ii. 343 ff.), who thinks that God's 'resting' meant originally "His purification after His conquest of the forces hostile to
