When God said remember in Exodus 20:8 was he referring to Genesis 2:2 or Exodus 16:23?
The fourth commandment stated:
Exodus 20:8-10 (NASB)
8 “Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. 9 Six days you shall
labor and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is a sabbath of the
Lord your God; in it you shall not do any work, you or your son or
your daughter, your male or your female servant or your cattle or your
sojourner who stays with you."
Sabbath, the seven day ,was to be kept by the Israelites as a holy day to "Lord their God," it was a day to rest,relax including slaves and animals, but also a day to focus on spiritual matters.
Exodus 20:8 refers to Exodus 16:23, 31:13-14 and Deuteronomy 5:12-14. He was not referring to Genesis 2:2
Exodus 16:23 (NRSV)
23" He said to them, “This is what the Lord has commanded: ‘Tomorrow
is a day of solemn rest, a holy sabbath to the Lord; bake what you
want to bake and boil what you want to boil, and all that is left over
put aside to be kept until morning.’”
Exodus 31:13-14 (NRSV)
13 "You yourself are to speak to the Israelites: “You shall keep my
sabbaths, for this is a sign between me and you throughout your
generations, given in order that you may know that I, the Lord,
sanctify you. 14 You shall keep the sabbath, because it is holy for
you; everyone who profanes it shall be put to death; whoever does any
work on it shall be cut off from among the people."
Deuteronomy 5:12-14 (NRSV)
12 "Observe the sabbath day and keep it holy, as the Lord your God
commanded you. 13 Six days you shall labor and do all your work. 14
But the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God; you shall not
do any work—you, or your son or your daughter, or your male or female
slave, or your ox or your donkey, or any of your livestock, or the
resident alien in your towns, so that your male and female slave may
rest as well as you."
After reviewing his creative work, God rested from further creative works on the earth and so blessed the seventh day . This is what the Sabbath day was, God's day of rest, the commandments were given to Moses many generations later.
Genesis 2:2-3 (NRSV)
2 "And on the seventh day God finished the work that he had done, and
he rested on the seventh day from all the work that he had done.3 So
God blessed the seventh day and hallowed it, because on it God rested
from all the work that he had done in creation."
Unlike the preceding six creative days, his day of rest has not been announced "and god saw that it was good" for it has not yet ended. (Hebrews 4:9-10)