way. God willed a creation ordered by Sabbath rest. But it is a recalcitrant creation resistant to the purposes of the very one by whom and for whom the world exists. The incongruity is asserted about creation. It is also true of Israel, the paradigm of creation. God has such high hopes for Israel: “I thought how I would set you among my sons, and give you a pleasant land, a heritage most beauteous of all nations. And I thought you would call me, My Father, and would not turn from following me” (Jer.