Genesis 2:1-7 — ‘rest,’ ‘mist’ and ‘breath’

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God created things in the physical world to explain what happens in the spiritual world. What is the spiritual teaching behind “rest,” “mist” and “breath” in Gen. 2:1-7?

‘rest’ vs. ‘cease’

Gen. 2:1 — “the heavens were finished” kalah (Strong’s No. 3615)

Ex. 31:18 — “When He had finished speaking with him upon Mount Sinai, He gave Moses two tablets ….”

Gen. 2:2 — “God finished His work which He had made” melachah (Strong’s 4399, derived from melech, or messenger). God finished his message.

Gen. 2:2 — “and He rested on the seventh day” shabbat (Strong’s 7673)

How is shabbat used throughout the Bible?

Gen. 8:22 — Translated as “cease.” Same as in Gen. 2:1 where God “ceased” His work. Heb. 4:9-10 says “there remains a Shabbat-rest for the people of God” just like God’s rest on Day 7.

Deut. 32:26 — Make the remembrance “cease.”

The word Shabbat, used to refer to the seventh day of the week, literally means “cease” and not “rest.” On Shabbat, we are to “cease” not just “rest.”

Jer. 48:33 — Caused all the wine to “fail” or “cease” from the winepress.

How would you keep Shabbat holy, like God made Shabbat holy in Gen. 2:1? How do you “cease” from all your “labor”? In Isaiah 58, in the context of the “solemn rest” of the Day of Atonement, there is a call to observe the Sabbath and call it a delight.

Amos 8:4 — Cause the wicked to “fail.”

Ex. 12:15— “On the first day [of the Feast of Unleavened Bread] you shall remove leaven out of your houses….”

Messiah Yeshua said we are to be watchmen at the end. Don’t concern yourself with the cares of this world (Mark 4:1-20).

Psa. 8:2— “still the enemy and the avenger”

2nd Kings 23:11— “takes away the horses”

Lev. 23:32 —“It shall be unto you a sabbath of rest, and ye shall afflict your souls…” The word which is translated as “rest” is literally “cease.”

Gen. 2:3 — “He rested from all His work … and hallowed it.” literally baruch (Strong’s 1288). Baruch here is translated as “bless,” but the root meaning is “kneel.” God blessed the Sabbath by cleaning it — the root meaning of kadesh (“santcified,” Strong’s 6942) — and keeping it holy. 

Time alone is God’s domain so in a sense, time is as the tabernacle of God.

‘mist from the earth’ and ‘man of the dust’

Gen. 2:6—“but there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground.” The water came up from the ground, it didn’t come down from the sky as rain. Why? How much water would the mist create? What did God do with the water?

Gen. 2:7 — “Then 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 is the verb form of nephesh, inflate, blow up. What is God “inflating/breathing” into Adam? God did not breathe into the nostrils of the animals. 

Eze. 37:9 — “Then said He unto me: ‘Prophesy unto the breath, prophesy, son of man, and say to the breath: Thus saith the Lord GOD: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live.’” This word is ruach Strong’s 7307. What spirit is entering the dry bones? Is this is the same spirit that entered Adam at the beginning?

Speaker: Richard Agee.