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imply rest, but not necessarily so. The writer of Gen. 2:3 is not stressing rest from work
but rather God’s ceasing from His creative work since it was complete.
TO RETURN
A. Verb.
$
(
, 7725), “to return or go back, bring back.” This verb occurs in several
Semitic languages (not in Phoenician-Punic and Ethiopic) including Ugaritic (1550-1200
B.C.) and in all periods of Hebrew. It occurs about 1,060 times in biblical Hebrew and
about 8 times in biblical Aramaic (in the form
$
).
The basic meaning of the verb is movement back to the point of departure (unless
there is evidence to the contrary). In the first occurrence of this verb God told Adam that
he and Eve would “eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou
taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return” (Gen. 3:19).
Used in this emphasis,
$
can be applied specifically of returning along a path
already traversed: “So Esau returned that day on his way unto Seir” (Gen. 33:16). The
word can mean “turn away from,” as in Ps. 9:3: “When mine enemies are turned back …
,” or “reverse a direction,” as in 2 Kings 20:10: “… Let the shadow return backward ten
degrees.” It can mean the opposite of going out, as when the raven Noah sent forth was
constantly going “to and fro” (Gen. 8:7)—this phrase, however, may also mean merely
constant movement; the raven went about constantly “here and there” (cf.
NASB
). In Gen.
8:3 the word is used of the receding of the flood water; the water went (
) down
(
$
, “returned”) steadily.
The verb can also mean “to follow after”: “Behold, thy sister-in-law is gone back
unto her people, and unto her gods: return thou after thy sister-in-law” (Ruth 1:15).
-
$
can imply the cessation of something. In this sense, the word can imply “to go
away or disappear”: “And tarry with him a few days, until thy brother’s fury turn away”
(Gen. 27:44). It can refer to the initiation of the cessation of something. In some cases
violence is the means of bringing something to cease: “How then wilt thou turn away the
face of one captain of the least of my master’s servants …” (2 Kings 18:24). In Isa. 47:10
the verb implies both turning away and destroying: “Thy wisdom and thy knowledge, it
hath perverted thee.…”
In the case of spiritually returning (metaphorically) to the Lord,
$
can mean
“turning away from” following Him (Num. 14:43), “turning from” pursuing evil (1 Kings
8:35), and “to return” to Him and obey Him (Deut. 30:2). The verb can also be used in
close relation to another verb to indicate the repetition of an action presented by the other
verb: “… I will again feed and keep thy flock” (Gen. 30:31).
B. Nouns.
$
(
, 4878), “backturning; apostasy.” This noun occurs 12 times, and
it refers to “backsliding” in Hos. 14:4: “I will heal their backsliding, I will love them
freely: for mine anger is turned away from him.”
Other nouns related to the verb
$
occur less frequently.
$
is found 8
times, and it may mean “return” or “beginning” (1 Sam. 7:17) and “answer” (Job 21:34).
-
$
occurs once to mean “coming back” or “turning back” (Isa. 30:15).