The World Was Finished but the Bridal Canopy Lacked a Bride

Another interpretation of "and they were finished" (Genesis 2:1): It may be compared to a king who built himself a bridal canopy, plastered it, paneled it, and decorated it. What was the canopy still lacking? A bride to enter within it. So too, what was the world lacking? The Sabbath. And this is one of the things they altered for King Ptolemy, as written in the hint, section three. "From all His work" (Genesis 2:3): The Holy One, blessed be He, created His world not with toil and not with labor, but in order to exact punishment from the wicked who destroy the world that was created with toil and labor. And what was the world created with? With tranquility and security, with calm and quiet. So long as the hands of its Maker were still handling them, they kept stretching out and expanding; once the hands of their Maker came to rest, repose was granted to them, and "He rested" His world "on the seventh day." When a mortal king of flesh and blood collects a levy, he does not give a bounty; but the Holy One, blessed be He, gives a bounty and also collects a levy, as it is said, "And God blessed... and rested."