The Flow of Holiness and the Activation of Divine Blessing: Naḥmanides on Creation and the Sabbath

God blessed the seventh day and declared it holy. (Genesis 2:3)

[ . . . ] For this is not actually perceptible to human senses. The truth is that the blessing on the Sabbath day is a fount of blessing, and it is the foundation of the world. “Hallowing” it really means arranging that it would draw from the realm of holiness. If you understand what I have just said, you will also understand the comment in Genesis Rabbah about the Sabbath, unlike the first six days, having no partner, and about the Assembly of Israel being its partner, and you will comprehend that there is in truth an extra soul on the Sabbath.

All the work of creation that He had done. (Genesis 2:3)

[ . . . ] It seems to me that this expression is saying that He ceased “to make” [as the end of our verse literally says] anything more out of what He had created [from nothing]. So He ceased both the “creating” of the first day and the “making” of the subsequent days. Perhaps it could be that the last Hebrew word of the verse really connects to “cease,” which would make it “God ceased [from] doing all the work of creation.” For comparable syntax, see the Hebrew of Genesis 11:8, 41:49, Exodus 19:12, 2 Chronicles 8:15, and many more. 

But the word also implies that the six days are all that was created “for doing,” implying that the six days of creation represent the six thousand years that the world will last. That is why the sages say that the “day” of the Holy One equals one thousand years. 

The first two days had nothing but water, with no completed thing, corresponding to the first two thousand years, during which there was no one to invoke the Lord by name (Genesis 4:26). The light created on the first day corresponds to the first one thousand years, the lifetime of Adam, who was the light of the world, acknowledging his Creator. (It could be that Enosh did not worship idols until his grandfather Adam was dead.) The separation caused by the firmament on the second day corresponds to the separation of the righteous Noah and his sons from the wicked who were sentenced to death by drowning. 

The third day has the appearance of the dry land and the plants, corresponding to the third one thousand years, which began when Abraham was 48 years old, at which time he too first invoked the Lord by name (Genesis 12:8) and flourished by attracting many people to know the Lord, as our tradition interprets the souls that they had gotten in Haran (Genesis 12:5). For he was singled out to instruct his children and his posterity to keep the way of the Lord by doing what is just and right (Genesis 18:19). This took its natural course until his descendants received the Torah at Sinai. The Temple was built on that same “day,” at which point all the commandments (which are the “fruit” of the world) could finally be fulfilled. You must understand that twilight is already the beginning of the next day which means that the era of each day would begin just slightly before it. Thus Abraham was born during the second millennium. You will find the same with each and every “day.” 

The fourth day, on which the sun, moon, and stars were created, corresponds to the fourth millennium, which began just 72 years after the First Temple was built and lasted 172 years after the destruction of the Second Temple. During this “day,” all the Israelites enjoyed light (Exodus 10:23), for the Presence of the Lord filled the House of the Lord (1 Kings 8:11). The light of Israel became a fire atop the altar, crouching there like a lion to consume the offerings. Then their light diminished and they were exiled, as the light of the moon disappears just before the birth of the new moon. But it shone on them again during the Second Temple, when the fire crouched atop the altar like a dog. That evening, the two great lights set, and the Temple was destroyed. 

The fifth day, when the sea creatures and birds filled the earth, corresponds to the fifth millennium, which began 172 years after the destruction of the Second Temple. That is when the nations began their dominion, when mankind [became] like the fish of the sea, like creeping things that have no ruler. He has fished them all up with a line, pulled them in his trawl (Habakkuk 1:14–15), and there was no one seeking the Lord. 

On the morning of the sixth day, the earth brought forth the various kinds of animals, and this actually occurred before sunrise: When the sun rises, they come home and couch in their dens (Psalms 104:22); then man was created, in the image of God, and began his period of dominion: Man then goes out to his work to his labor until the evening (Psalms 104:23). That is the sixth millennium. At its beginning the animals have dominion—the kingdoms who do not know the Lord—but by the time the sun rises, after just one-tenth of the day, the redeemer will come, of whom it is said, his throne is as the sun before Me (Psalms 89:37). This is the son of David, made in the image of God: One like a human being came with the clouds of heaven; he reached the Ancient of Days and was presented to Him. Dominion, glory, and kingship were given to him (Daniel 7:13–14). This will be in the year 5118, when the word of the Lord spoken by Daniel will be fulfilled: From the time the regular offering is abolished, and an appalling abomination is set up—it will be a thousand two hundred and ninety days (Daniel 12:11). Based on the change of days from fish and birds to animals, it would seem that the beginning of the sixth millennium will be the time of the fourth beast—fearsome, dreadful, and very powerful (Daniel 7:7), a kingdom drawing closer to truth than the earlier ones. 

The seventh day, the Sabbath, alludes to the world to come, which will be entirely Sabbath and eternal rest. 

May God preserve us during all these “days” and assign our lot with those who serve him wholeheartedly.