scriptures, concludes that "There remaineth therefore a rest (sabbatismos) to the people

of God" (Heb. 4: 9).

To keep this hope alive in the hearts of His people, the Lord placed the observance of

the Sabbath day prominently in the tables of the covenant. To impress us still further

with the extreme importance of this symbolic number, the Lord has multiplied these

sabbatic observances. The word that is translated "rest" in Gen. 2: 2 and 3 is shabath.

The law of Moses contains a series of feasts, or holy days, that carry on a progression of

sevens. We have the seventh DAY (Lev. 23: 3); seven DAYS (Lev. 23: 6); seven

WEEKS (Lev. 23: 15); the seventh MONTH (Lev. 23: 24);  the seventh YEAR

(Lev. 25: 4); seven times seven YEARS (Lev. 25: 8) and seventy times seven

YEARS (Dan. 9: 24).

Here we have design and purpose.  The glorious Jubilee, when every debt was

cancelled, every man set free, every inheritance entered and enjoyed; the annual Feast of

Tabernacles in the seventh month when every man sat, as it were, under his own vine and

fig tree and none made him afraid; the prophetic period of Dan. 9: after which Israel's

restoration should be complete, all speak of the same thing, and pledge the attainment of

the same goal.

From our three studies in the time factor of Gen. 1: 1 - 2: 3 it is abundantly evident

that a knowledge of this feature is by no means of mere academic interest, but that it

enters into the very fabric of revealed truth, and is no mean factor in its interpretation.

Our attention having been wholly occupied with "time", we have hitherto found no

opportunity to give heed to the testimony of the Scriptures concerning "place". We have

the first topographical note in early Genesis:

The name of this country, in which Paradise was planted, means "delight", and the

word occurs in various forms six times, being translated "pleasure" and "pleasures", "to

delight", "delights", and "delicates". Eden itself, the country, is named exactly 14 times

in the O.T., where it is found in Genesis, Isaiah, Ezekiel and Joel. As we should expect,

the name is found in other languages. In Arabic it signifies "delight", "tenderness" and

"loveliness" (Firuzabadi Kamus).  In the cuneiform texts it signifies the plains of

Babylon, and in the Accado-Sumerian (inhabitants of Mesopotamia that preceded the

Babylonians) it is Edin, "the fertile plain". The Greek word hedone, meaning "pleasure",

is used in the LXX of Isa. 37: 12; Ezek. 27: 23 and Amos 1: 5, although these

"Edens" have no reference to Gen. 2: 8. It was because of their beauty or pleasantness

that the districts were called by this name. The Eden of Gen. 2: 8, is the most ancient