The way in which God creates is designed to provide a pattern for Israel’s life. He works for six days and then rests on the seventh, not because he was exhausted by the onerous work of creation, but in order to provide a pattern of life for Israel, who did need to work and rest. The orderliness of his creative acts helps Israel to make the distinctions necessary for her life in the promised land. The account explains and exemplifies holiness. The ordinary and the special, the common and the holy