Exodus 31:17

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.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

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.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

From creating his creatures, but not from governing and preserving them.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

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.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(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 Maker—to 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.”

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

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–32:18a).

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.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

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 Gen 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 Gill on Exo 20:11.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

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.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

It is a sign. See above, ver. 13. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth. See the comment on Exo_20:11. And was refreshed. Literally," and took breath." The metaphor is a bold one, but not bolder than others which occur in holy scripture. (Psa_44:23 Psa_78:65) It does but carry out a little further the idea implied in God"s "resting." We cannot speak of any of God"s acts or attributes without anthropomorphisms.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

On the seventh day he rested - And as the work of creation is worthy to be thus commemorated, so the great Creator is worthy to be thus imitated, by a holy rest the seventh day.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

וינפש AND WAS REFRESHED — Take it as the Targum renders it: ונח “and He rested”. Every form of נפש is derived from the noun נֶפֶש, soul; the idea is, that one calms his soul and takes breath when one reposes after the toil of labour. — And He of Whom it is written, (Isaiah 40:28) “[… the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth] fainteth not nor is He weary”, and Whose every action is accomplished by His mere command had the term “repose” written of (ascribed to) Himself in order to make comprehensible to the human ear what it can understand.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.