I come from a home where my dad’s side were dairy farmers. Although milk was their main economic source, they had poultry (ducks and chickens) and pigs that I know of. The horse was to pull the trap cart. They grew their own vegetables and made much of their clothing. They chopped wood for hot water and cooking. They worked hard, long days, celebrated Sunday though certain farm chores were required, like milking. They, like mom, grew up during the great depression and some of their siblings participated in the Second War World. They knew what it was like to work hard, do with little and survive. After moving from the farm house into a house dad had built, having an additional three plots of land, dad grew vegetables and flowers. The flowers were for sale. After coming home from work in the summer, he would work the garden whilst it was still day light, before supper. In the winter he rose early to pick flowers for sale, before leaving for work. The work ethic coming from dad and mom poured over into the three children. Without using the words or terminology, imprinted in our minds was “There are no free rides in life. Hard work was required.” I am ever grateful to them for instilling a high work ethic into us as children. Many of those who grew up after us … and especially in the last 30 years, don’t have such an understanding. The concept of “entitlement” is evident. South Africa was a country producing workers that the world head hunted. Sadly that era has passed and died. Today, the highest production in the work place comes from America followed by Ireland. China is catching up, although working conditions are well below par. Our next text is:
Ge 2:1 Thus the heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array. 2 By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. 3 And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done.
Before getting into it, allow me to present a few secular facts. Here are are …
(i) It is claimed that the modern seven-day week can be traced back to the Babylonians, who used it within their calendar.
(ii) The seven-day week was adopted from the Hellenistic system by the 4th century AD, although its source is unclear. It was again transmitted to China in the 8th century by Manichaeans, via Kangiu (a Central Asian Kingdom near Samarkand), and is the most used system in modern China.
(iii) In Russia, the ordinary seven-day week had a bedfellow known as “the nepreryvka” (continuous working week). It was five days long, where workers had rest days staggered across the week. The Soviet economist and politician Yuri Larin proposed that the machines need never be idle. After eleven years of trial and error, the project was axed in June 1940. The experiment failed.
(iv) In the modern Western World, some factories and even stores run a 24 hour day. Stores are open so that workers may shop after their shift ends. As an example, if someone worked the second shift that ended at 11pm, they could do shopping afterwards before heading home to do chores and sleep, before rising for their next shift. There are many ways to “kill a cat”. Man comes up with “great” ideas and at times these ideas are in conflict with what God has decreed and requires.
Let me state that we live in the year 2023. We need essential services such as electrical, water and sanitation infrastructure 24 hours a day. We need hospitals and emergency care 24 hours a day. We have farms with fruits, vegetables, seedlings and cattle that need care every day. We need to police force, traffic police and other necessary support systems through each and every 24 hour period. This we understand. As we start Genesis chapter 2, we find that the creation account has been completed, but the story is incomplete. God says:
Ge 2:1 Thus the heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array.
The account of creation is complete, yet God’s story has not been completed, for we read:
Ge 2:2 By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. 3 And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done.
1) Creation was completed in six days but we have seven days in the week that God provided for us. History tells us that some have tried less days or more days in a week and have returned to 7 days a week. Does this not match perfectly with the amount of days in a year … 365 ¼ … with every 4th year being a leap year?
2) Work and Rest. The most notable matter in verses 2 and 3 are “work” and “rest”.
(1) God requires we work. The planet … and as we have it today, be it on farms, mines, business, factories, etc. need to be manned and worked otherwise the economy will collapse.
I’m reading a book the children gave me for my birthday … Truth to Power by Andre de Ruyter, who was CEO of Eskom for 3 years. He rightly says in his own words that when the electricity fails, the country collapses. To provide electricity you need a work force and an infrastructure that work. It is no good having people in the market place not working or who create problems that cause failures. Like de Ruyter says, and we may apply it to everyone … when a person does not work the family collapses … and we can turn it around saying … when the electricity grid collapses, the country collapses, the economy collapses and families collapse.
This may be said of every place of work to a lesser degree. God, who knows better, set us an example of a work ethic. There are six days of work, but note that it is not six days of 24 hours a day work! Because there is evening following the day’s work, rest, recreation and recuperation are required to enable one to work the next day. This is repeated for six days.
In our Western Society we generally work 8 to 9 hours a day. At times there is overtime but normally there are sufficient hours to work and sufficient hours for house chores, family and sleep before the next work day starts. Perhaps the biggest take away from today is not just that we are required to work for six days, we are required to work well and be productive. One of our grandsons told us about a missionary kid he knows. Whilst waiting to start university he has a job as a janitor at a stadium. His job is to walk the streets around the stadium and pick up litter. The janitor says it takes him two hours, yet he is paid for 4 hours. This is not his fault. They give him 4 hours to do what he is able to do in 2.
I recall how workers near to where we lived in Pretoria worked the center island of a main street. Of the 8 to 10 men, only one or two would have a spade or fork and seem busy. At the end of the day they packed up and when home with little to show for their combined 64 to 80 hours of work. One person could have done what they did in 2 hours. God’s 6 days of creation is our picture of a work ethic … and he looked at what he did and was pleased. Whoever you work for, are you able to look backwards over your day’s work and have pride for what you did? Are you able to stand back and say … “Lord, thank You for this work You have given me to do. I hope You are pleased with my service. I tried my best”?
Our Father in heaven, thank You for showing us what a week of work ought to look like and the satisfaction we ought to have after each week. Amen.