Komentarz do Wyjścia 20:11

וינח ביום השביעי AND HE RESTED ON THE SEVENTH DAY — If one may say so, He recorded rest about Himself (recorded that He rested) to teach from this an inference à fortiori as regards a human being whose work is performed only by labour and toil — that he should rest on the Sabbath day (Mekhilta d'Rabbi Yishmael 20:11:2).

THE ETERNAL BLESSED THE SABBATH-DAY, AND SANCTIFIED IT. The verse is stating that the Sabbath-day will be blessed and hallowed because He has commanded to bless it and glorify it by remembering it. Therefore, He commanded us to rest thereon so that the day will be sacred to us, and that we should not do any work on it. And Rabbi Abraham ibn Ezra wrote that G-d blessed this day and sanctified it by endowing it with a greater capacity to enable the soul to receive additional wisdom than on all of the other days. I have already written concerning this matter by way of the Truth, [the mystic lore of the Cabala], on the verse in Vayechulu.⁴⁶⁷Genesis 2:1. Ramban’s discussion of the mystic nature of the blessing of the Sabbath is found there on Verse 3 (Vol. I, p. 60). From there, you will succeed in understanding that the expression ki sheisheth yamim asa hashem — [literally: “for six days the Eternal made”]⁴⁶⁸Here in the verse before us, which is generally translated: “for in six days the Eternal made.” — is not missing the letter beth, [which would make the verse read: “for in six days the Eternal made”]. Rather, the sense of the verse is that G-d made six days⁴⁶⁹Ramban is hinting here to what he wrote on Genesis 2:3, i.e., that the six days of creation allude to the six thousand years which are “all the days of the world.” See Vol. I, pp. 61-64. Thus the sense of the verse here is clearly, “for G-d made six days,” and not, “for in six days G-d made.” The six days represent the six milleniums of world-history, while the seventh millenium “will be wholly a Sabbath and will bring rest for life everlasting” (ibid., p. 64). and on the seventh day He ceased from work and rested.⁴⁷⁰Further, 31:17.

'כי ששת ימים עשה ה, the reason why the Torah repeats this theme on several occasions is to remind man to emulate his Maker, to model his own conduct according to what G’d has revealed about Himself. This can be done by intensive voluntary study of disciplines which we know G’d is fond of.