For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth and the sea and all that is in them, but on the seventh day He rested. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and set it apart as holy.
Israel knew from creation's history that God rested the seventh day and sanctified it, but no command to keep it had been given until Sinai, prepared by the manna's pattern. Now the seventh day becomes the Lord's own rest-day, consecrated by the complete cessation of all work, man and beast alike, within the gates.
AI summary
Commenting on Exodus 20:8-11
For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, &c. And of which six days, and of the several things made in each of them, see the notes on the first chapter of Genesis: and resteth the seventh day: which does not suppose labour, attended with weariness and fatigue; for the Creator of the ends of...
God spoke these words Himself with dreadful pomp, not merely whispered through conscience or providence, but with the authority of Jehovah, the self-existent One. He bound Israel threefold: by His nature as eternal Lord, by covenant as their God, and by His power to reward obedience and punish disobedience.
AI summary
Commenting on Exodus 20:1-11