In a game of horseshoes the winner in any one round goes to the one whose horseshoe lands the closest to the peg. As the saying goes "close only counts in horseshoes." Best of all is a horseshoe that lands as a ringer and is touching, so that it is nearly connected to the peg. Deciding whose horseshoe is closest is sometimes easy to determine and sometimes hard to determine. Likewise sometimes the issue of deciding in communication who or what is closest or connected in the context is very important to understanding what a person is trying to communicate.
Take for an example a couple who misunderstands one another because one person changes the subject without the other one realizing it. I hope this has never happened to you! The listener thinks the previous immediate context is still the immediate or connected context, when in fact other things are now closer or connected in the speaker's mind. This can spell disaster! This is a good thing to avoid when disagreeing.
I am concerned that the most immediate context or the closest thing is being overlooked, when we read: "Then God blessed the seventh day and made it [the seventh day] holy, because in it [the seventh day] He rested from all His work which He had created and made" (Genesis 2:3). I think most people read this passage as though the most immediate thing being referred to is that "God rested from all His work" rather than the most immediate thing being "the seventh day." My eyes tell me this is a reversal of what lands closest to the action peg of "blessed ... and made holy."
Let me be even clearer. I think God "blessed" not "rested from all His work," but "the seventh day." Likewise, I think God "made holy" not the "rested from all His work," but "the seventh day." This does not mean that rest is not blessed or made holy, it only means that it is not the immediate thing that God is blessing or making holy in this context. This is very important for the meaning of "made holy" or "sanctified."
This is because the immediate thing of "the seventh day" is in continuity with the six days before it, because it is yet another day, while the action of "rested" is in contrast to the thing and action of work, because it is an action quite different from work. Whether we see a continuity or whether we see a contrast as closest in the context, influences largely how we see the meaning of holy.
Let me outline the difference another way:
If God blessed and made holy the day, then He:
1) blessed the seventh day and made rest to re-occur through the seventh day being fruitful, multiplying and filling time on earth, and
2) made holy the seventh day and made rest to occur the whole day through the seventh day being a whole day of observance.
On the other hand, if God blessed rest, then He:
1) blessed His rest from all His work and made the seventh day the day to observe it.
2) made holy His rest from all His work and made the seventh day the day to observe it.
Either way, the first favors holy means whole. The second favors holy means separate. But remember, He didn't bless rest, he blessed the seventh day. Remember, He didn't make holy rest, He made holy the seventh day. The seventh day is what falls closest to the peg of holy, not the rest. I think it is important to also remember that keeping things whole is no less important than keeping things separate in God's earlier process of creation. May God bless you and keep you whole this day.
In Christ,
Pastor Jon
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