Scholars of the ancient Near East have known for decades what most Bible readers have never been told: the pattern of the seven-day creation account in Genesis 1 follows the pattern of ancient temple construction narratives almost point for point.

In texts from Egypt, Mesopotamia, and the wider Levantine world, the building of a Great King’s temple proceeds through a structured sequence of days, culminating in the deity taking up residence and resting within the completed house.

The seventh day, when God rests, is enthronement.

The Great King has finished his palace-sanctuary and taken up his throne within it.

And the vassal pair he places in the garden—charged to dress it and to keep it—are given exactly the role assigned to priests in a temple. To serve and work and labor in tending God’s garden temple.