Page:A critical and exegetical commentary on Genesis (1910).djvu/138

36 1. And all their host] The 'host of heaven' is frequently mentioned in the OT, and denotes sometimes the heavenly bodies, especially as objects of worship (Dt. 4$19$ etc.), sometimes the angels considered as an organised army (1 Ki. 22$19$ etc.). The expression 'host of the earth' nowhere occurs; and it is a question whether the pl. suff. here is not to be explained as a denominatio a potiori (Ho.), or as a species of attraction (Dri.). If it has any special meaning as applied to the earth, it would be equivalent to what is elsewhere called (Is. 6$3$ 34$1$, Dt. 33$16$ etc.)—the contents of the earth, and is most naturally limited to those things whose creation has just been described. In any case the verse yields little support to the view of Smend and We., that in the name 'Yahwe of Hosts' the word denotes the complex of cosmical forces (Smend, AT Rel.-gesch. 201 ff.), or the demons in which these forces were personified (We. Kl. Proph. 77).—2. And God finished, etc.] The duplication of v.$6$ is harsh, and

1. ] Lit. 'host' or 'army'; then 'period of service' (chiefly military), G 🇬🇷 and V ornatus look like a confusion with. Used of the host of heaven, Dt. 4$1$ 17$19$, Is. 24$3$ 40$21$, where V has in the first case astra, in the others militia; G 🇬🇷 in all.—2. ] For the alleged negative sense of Piel (see above), examine Nu. 17$26$, or (with ) 1 Sa. 10$25$, Ex. 34$13$ etc.—] the word "used regularly of the work or business forbidden on the Sabbath (Ex. 20$33$ 35$9. 10$, Jer. 17$2$ al.)" (Dri.); or on holy convocations (Ex. 12$22. 24$, Lv. 16$16$ 23$29$, Nu. 29$28ff.$). It has the prevailing sense of regular occupation or business, as Gen. 39$7$, Jon. 1$11$.—$8$] [E]GS Jub., ''Ber. R.'', given as G's reading in Mechilta (cf. p. 14 above).—] The omission of continued subj. might strengthen We.'s contention that the clause is a gloss (see p. 10 above): it occurs nowhere else in the passage except possibly 1$1$. The verb (possibly connected with Ar. sabata = 'cut off,' or Ass. šabātu = 'cease,' 'be completed': but see KAT$7$, 593 f.) appears in OT in three quite distinct senses: (a) 'cease to be,' 'come to an end'; (b) 'desist' (from work, etc.); (c) 'keep Sabbath' (denom.). Of the last there are four undoubted cases, all very late: Lv. 25$3$ 23$2$ 26$32$, 2 Ch. 36$34f.$. But there are five others where this meaning is at least possible: Gn. 2$21$, Ex. 16$2. 3$ 23$30$ 34$12$ 31$21$; and of these Ex. 23$17$ 34$12$ are pre-exilic. Apart from these doubtful passages, the sense