If the Tireless Creator Rested, How Much More Must We

Rav Aha bar Yoshiyah says: "You and your son and your daughter," these are the minor children. Or is it only the grown children? You say, but they are already commanded. So what does Scripture teach by "you and your son and your daughter"? These are the minor children. "Your manservant and your maidservant," these are those within the covenant. Or is it only an uncircumcised slave? When it says, "that the son of your maidservant and the stranger may be refreshed" (Exodus 23:12), the uncircumcised slave is already mentioned. So what does Scripture teach by "your manservant and your maidservant"? These are those within the covenant. "And your stranger," this is the righteous convert. Or is it only the resident alien? When it says "and the stranger," the resident alien is already mentioned. So what does Scripture teach by "and your stranger"? This is the righteous convert. (Exodus 20:11) "For in six days" and so forth: this tells that it was weighed against all the works of creation. "And He rested on the seventh day": but is there weariness before Him? Has it not already been said, "Do you not know, have you not heard... He gives strength to the weary" (Isaiah 40:28-29), and "By the word of the LORD the heavens were made" (Psalms 33:6)? What then does Scripture teach by "and He rested on the seventh day"? Rather, as it were, He wrote concerning Himself that He created His world in six days and rested on the seventh. And these things are an inference from minor to major: if the One before whom there is no weariness wrote concerning Himself that He created His world in six days and rested on the seventh, then a human being, of whom it is written, "man is born to toil" (Job 5:7), how much more so. "Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and sanctified it." "He blessed it" with manna, and "sanctified it" with a blessing, the words of Rabbi Yishmael. Rabbi Akiva says: "He blessed it" with manna and "sanctified it" with the luminaries. Rabbi Shimon ben Yehudah of Kfar Akko says in the name of Rabbi Shimon: "He blessed it" with manna and "sanctified it" with the light of a person's face. "Therefore the LORD blessed," and so forth.