After six days of creation, the first three days of making sky, earth, and sea spaces and the latter three days of filling those spaces (Genesis 1), God, having ended His work of creating and making, rested on the seventh day, blessed it, and made holy a fourth space (Gen. 2:1-3). The seventh day had no “evening and morning” to give it a concluding persona.

Why does Genesis 1 end before including the seventh day? Why is the seventh day the beginning of Genesis 2? What are we to make of the distinctive style of the six days of creation contrasted with the pattern-breaking structure of the seventh day?

Genesis 1’s 434-word count shows God delivering His three-tiered creation out of darkness and chaos by dividing and blessing through judgment to sanctify it for His dwelling. The fourth Hebrew letter, dalet, דֶלֶת, letter sum 434, (4 + 30 + 400), signifies a door, a space of transition from outside to inside the house. Often, the door stood for the character of the household, cleansed and full of shalom. “The judgment” (434) of Elohim “to sanctify” (434) at the door carry the same numeric signature as the dalet, 434, (11² + 12² + 13² ). God’s deliverance of His creation (Genesis 1), projected forward, leads to a doorway where judgment and holiness take place, a door of light to Eden’s Sabbath (Genesis 2). God impressed Cain with the same idea that a sin offering lying at the door to Eden’s garden would restore him to the rest of God’s presence.  It prefigured the Passover door marked with the blood of the Lamb. In Hebrew culture, judgment occurred at the door or gate, and the judge carried out justice as a refuge defending the oppressed. The judge was seen as the door to life (Seekins, p. 162, 175). Eden’s (עֵדֶן) word picture says, “to see the judge” (ע + דן) is “eternal life” (עד +נ). In the end, there is a door standing open to the throne room of God (Rev. 4:1).

The fourth letter links to the fourth commandment, a seven-day Sabbath cycle created on the fourth day. The words for “light” (maw-ore/meh-o-raw, Strong’s H3974, and ore, Strong’s H215) occur eight times in creation’s fourth paragraph (Gen. 1:14-19). The function of day four’s lights is indicated eleven times by the prefix lamed (to/for): to separate, for signs, for appointed feasts, for days and years, for lights, to give light, to govern the day, to govern the night, to give light, to rule, and to divide. Four and eleven will be discussed later as central to atonement and the Calculated Hebrew Calendar (CHC).

Genesis 2 describes the seventh day with the Creator King enthroned in its sacred space and the creation of His co-rulers in the fruitful garden of Eden, linking Genesis 1 and 2, making full the holy space of time.

Genesis 2 outline:
The three-fold seventh-day signature of creation, the King taking up residence (Gen. 2:1-3)

Day three of Genesis 1, no human formed (Gen. 2:4-6)

Man created to have dominion over the earth (Gen. 2:7)

Man put in the garden and given trees for food (Gen. 2:8-9)

Four rivers flow out of Eden to fructify the earth (Gen. 2:10-14)

Man put in the garden to tend and keep, not to eat from one tree (Gen. 2:15-17)

Day six of Genesis 1, no partner found (Gen. 2:18-20)

Woman built to rule in fruitfulness with the man (Gen. 2:21-22)

The man and woman govern with their King in Eden’s garden home (Gen. 2:23-25)

Like God put the luminaries in the sky to give light upon the earth and to rule the day and the night, dividing between light and darkness, God also put humans in the garden to rule by His tree of life with its dividing rivers of life, the Holy Spirit, flowing out to all the earth.

With a backdrop of chaos in Genesis 1:2, God establishes and fills the heavens, waters, and earth, marking a door to Eden. Genesis 2 incorporates the Genesis 1 theme of created space and its population linked by a door, but now with the distinctness of holiness.  Likewise, there is filled space and a door in Noah’s three-story ark and in the three-sectioned tabernacle and temple, marking justice. And the Passover’s bloody door is the entrance to YHWH’s three holyday seasons in time in which He bids us to come before His Presence, justified.

Takeaway:
The form of Genesis 1 and 2’s chapter break points forward to a door of entrance, of justice, to dwelling in God’s holy space, where humans enjoy living and ruling by His wisdom under His kingship. Chapter 2 is about who fills the sacred space of the Sabbath. Dwelling with God, absorbing the light of His Presence, is an abundant, infinite Eden Sabbath. In the next blog, the door’s identity is tied to the sacrifice lying at the door.

Fun Factors:
The word count of Genesis 1 and 2 equal 762, the sum of four consecutive prime numbers, 181, 191, 193, and 197, the 42^nd , 43^rd , 44^th , and 45^th primes, the 19^th , 20^th , and 21^st Pythagorean primes.

181 = 10² + 9², 3 × 181 = 543, the value of “I AM who I AM”; 543 + 345 = 888, Greek for Jesus Christ; 345 = letter sum of Moses
191 = 3 × 4³ – 1; 1091 stamps Israel’s deliverer and exodus with light (more on this in Blogs 42 and 43 Fun Factors)                                                                    193 = 12² + 7², 12 and 7 relate to the 19-year Metonic cycle’s common and leap years
197 = 14² + 1², 14 concerns the Passover, and 14 + 1 = 15 relates to the night of the exodus
762 = 6 × 127; 127 = Hebrew “King of Glory” of Psalm 24, opening the everlasting doors to take us into His residence

Genesis 1’s letter sum is 100099 = 31(50² + 27²), 31 is the numeric value of El, 50 is jubilee restoration, and 27 relates to the cube Holy of Holies
Genesis 2:1-3, the seventh day, 144 letter sum = 10502, the same as “And God finished” = 152
Genesis 1 plus Genesis 2:1-3 (100099 + 10502) = 110601 = 3² × 12289; 12289 = 108² + 25² and is the 1470^th prime (1-4-7 × 10) and the 725^th Pythagorean prime, 725 = 7² + 26²
Squaring Genesis 1’s six days of creation added to a separate seventh, 6² + 1² = 37, the constant of God’s names and appellations.