1. And all their host] The 'host of heaven' (צְבָא הַשְּׁמַיִם) is frequently mentioned in the OT, and denotes sometimes the heavenly bodies, especially as objects of worship (Dt. 419 etc.), sometimes the angels considered as an organised army (1 Ki. 2219 etc.). The expression 'host of the earth' nowhere occurs; and it is a question whether the pl. suff. here is not to be explained as a denominatio a potiori (Ho.), or as a species of attraction (Dri.). If it has any special meaning as applied to the earth, it would be equivalent to what is elsewhere called מְלֹא הארץ (Is. 63 341, Dt. 3316 etc.)—the contents of the earth, and is most naturally limited to those things whose creation has just been described.[1] In any case the verse yields little support to the view of Smend and We., that in the name 'Yahwe of Hosts' the word denotes the complex of cosmical forces (Smend, AT Rel.-gesch. 201 ff.), or the demons in which these forces were personified (We. Kl. Proph. 77).—2. And God finished, etc.] The duplication of v.1 is harsh, and
1. צבא] Lit. 'host' or 'army'; then 'period of service' (chiefly
military), G κόσμος and V ornatus look like a confusion with צְבִי. Used
of the host of heaven, Dt. 419 173, Is. 2421 4026, where V has in the first
case astra, in the others militia; G κόσμος in all.—2. ויכל] For the
alleged negative sense of Piel (see above), examine Nu. 1725, or (with
מן) 1 Sa. 1013, Ex. 3433 etc.—מלאכח] the word "used regularly of the
work or business forbidden on the Sabbath (Ex. 209. 10 352, Jer. 1722. 24
al.)" (Dri.); or on holy convocations (Ex. 1216, Lv. 1629 2328ff., Nu. 297).
It has the prevailing sense of regular occupation or business, as Gen.
3911, Jon. 18.—השביעי1] [E]GS Jub., Ber. R. הששי, given as G's reading
in Mechilta (cf. p. 14 above).—וישבת] The omission of continued
subj. (אלהים) might strengthen We.'s contention that the clause is a
gloss (see p. 10 above): it occurs nowhere else in the passage except
possibly 17. The verb שבת (possibly connected with Ar. sabata = 'cut
off,' or Ass. šabātu = 'cease,' 'be completed': but see KAT3, 593 f.)
appears in OT in three quite distinct senses: (a) 'cease to be,' 'come
to an end'; (b) 'desist' (from work, etc.); (c) 'keep Sabbath' (denom.).
Of the last there are four undoubted cases, all very late: Lv. 252 2332
2634f., 2 Ch. 3621. But there are five others where this meaning is at
least possible: Gn. 22. 3, Ex. 1630 2312 3421 3117; and of these Ex. 2312
3421 are pre-exilic. Apart from these doubtful passages, the sense
- ↑ Cf. Neh. 96 "the heavens, the heavens of the heavens, and all their host, the earth and all that is upon it, the seas and all that is in them."
