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June 16, 2019 |
| What Is The Sabbath | ||
As a topic for study, the Sabbath is huge. Entire books have been written about it. To keep this study short, the focus will be very narrow. We'll only look at the Sabbath based on what can be seen from the 4th of the Ten Commandments.
The study Keeping The Sabbath, continues on by discussing how the Sabbath should be kept.
The Sabbath isn't different in the New Covenant but the application of it is different because the New Covenant is different. In the Old Covenant, once a young man became a Bar Mitzvah (son of the law) he became responsible for keeping the entire law. Failure to do so required atonement, a sacrifice, an animal of significant value.
The New Covenant was open to people who understood nothing of the law. By grace and by the atoning sacrifice of Jesus, it is now possible to break the law and be forgiven immediately. This makes it possible for a convert to make mistakes and to learn and grow, without being bankrupted by sacrifices.
A consequence of this is that there can be people at different levels of understanding within the church. Paul tells us how to handle that.
Who are you to judge a servant who is not yours? For if he stands, he stands to his master, and if he falls, he falls to his master, for it is appointed to his master to be able to establish him. (Romans 14:4)
The Holy Spirit will convict God's people. That isn't our job. Those who can teach the truth of the Bible should do so.
From the context of this verse we see Paul is speaking about matters of personal growth and observances, not matters of law. We would expect new believers to quickly adopt the basics of the law. Paul talks about people in the church who don't do this, with the final step being expelling them. In this verse, though, he is talking about the process of growing in the faith, where the Holy Spirit has a different path for each person.
For things like observances, each person is expected to do his best, according to the understanding he has received. Each person must assess himself and no one else can do that. We'll see later how this applies to the Sabbath
Many people don't realize that the Ten Commandments appear twice in the Bible. The first time is the one we know best, when God speaks them to the Israelites at Mount Sinai. The second time comes as the Israelites are about to enter the promised land and Moses is reviewing everything they have been through for the past 40 years. Therefore, the 4th commandment also appears twice.
We know God speaks face-to-face with Moses; Moses doesn't speak as a man with human failings. So we would expect the 4th commandment would be identical in both. But it is not.
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. 11 For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day; therefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day and made it holy. (Exodus 20:8-11 NASB)
Observe the sabbath day to 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 of the Lord your God; in it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter or your male servant or your female servant or your ox or your donkey or any of your cattle or your sojourner who stays with you, so that your male servant and your female servant may rest as well as you. 15 You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God brought you out of there by a mighty hand and by an outstretched arm; therefore the Lord your God commanded you to observe the sabbath day. (Deuteronomy 5:12-15 NASB)
It isn't like God to repeat things exactly. Why say the exact same thing twice when it has been written down? Instead he uses repetition as a teaching moment. In these verses we will see two techniques that God uses, seemingly un-necessary elaboration and differences that give deeper meaning.
For all practical purposes these two versions of the 4th commandment are the same at the start. The first small variation comes in the list of who should not do any work.
| you | you |
| your son | your son |
| your daughter | your daughter |
| your male or your female servant | your male servant or your female servant |
| your cattle | your ox or your donkey or any of your cattle |
| your sojourner who stays with you | your sojourner who stays with you |
The first question to be asked is, "who is this written to?". It's written to "you". That would seem to be an obvious reference to "everyone" but it goes on to list sons and daughters and other things. Why the elaboration? Why not just say "everyone"?
Also, it doesn't say "your spouse." Are spouses not included?
It's actually written to the head of a household, parent or parents. Every person is either the head of a household or a son, daughter, servant, or traveler in a household where someone else is the head.
There is more to that relationship though. By listing "your" sons, daughters, and others, it places responsibility on the head of the household to ensure that everyone within their household rests on the Sabbath. This includes travelers, i.e. guests.
It also includes cattle. We have to wonder how "you" would make sure your cattle rested. Would you force them to lie down? Would you stop them from running around or walking to far? The answer tells us something important about not working. It isn't about their work, or the work of your sons and daughters - it's about "your" work. Neither you nor anyone or anything you have authority over is to do your work, the work of your household.
That is supported by the exclusion of sheep, chickens, and other farm animals from this list. They do not do "your" work. They eat and produce food or become food or provide useful materials.
Now we come to the first significant difference. The version from Deuteronomy makes clear that cattle includes oxen and donkeys. The Exodus version does not. These were the two main work animals. Some bad hearted person might have tried to interpret "cattle" so it only included cows and bulls.
Sabbath - "The verb shâbath denotes 'rest,' not in the positive sense of relaxation or refreshment (which is nûaḥ, see v. 11, Exodus 23:12 b), but in the negative sense of cessation from work or activity."1
Remember - "Think of it always, so as never to forget it"2 "remember is used almost exclusively of historical facts"3
Observe - "Do as commanded"
The words "Remember" from Exodus and "Observe" from Deuteronomy are different to show the different aspects of Sabbath, remembering the rest from work that God took (more on this later) and performing the observance of resting from our work.
The big difference between these sets of verses comes in the reason that is given for keeping the Sabbath. The Exodus account says "For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day; therefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day and made it holy.
Here the reason for observing is tied to creation and it really comes in two parts:
| God | Man | |
|---|---|---|
| 6 | in six days […] made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them | in six days […] shall labor and do all your work |
| 1 | rested on the seventh day | shall not do any work |
So the Exodus account gives us the timing of the Sabbath and the blessing on the Sabbath. But there is only a coincidental connection to creation. The real connection is to God's cycle of work and rest.
The Deuteronomy account is completely different here. It says "so that your male servant and your female servant may rest as well as you. You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God brought you out of there by a mighty hand and by an outstretched arm; therefore the Lord your God commanded you to observe the sabbath day."
Here the reason is not at all tied to creation, which supports the statement that there is no connection to creation. Instead it appears to be tied to God freeing the Israelite slaves. If that was the case, though, then "therefore […] observe the sabbath day" would make no sense. There is no connection between "freedom" and "rest." A freed slave can rest or work as he chooses because he has the freedom to choose.
The real tie is not to freedom from slavery but to rest for slaves who had no rest. The immediately preceding sentence is about giving rest to slaves, "so that your male servant and your female servant may rest as well as you." Given that, it's hard to imagine how someone would come up with a theme of freedom from slavery. Instead, God is drawing another parallel.
This parallel has holes in it, though, and it is necessary for the reader to fill in those holes.
| Your servants | are to be given rest (do no work) | ||
| Remember | |||
| You (Israelites) | by (God's) mighty hand and outstretched arm | were brought out of Egypt | |
This leaves two gaps. The first is visible above. The second is that "given rest" is being equated with "being brought out of Egypt". We have to wonder how that makes sense.
| your servants | [by your [head of household] might and saving love] | are to be given rest (do no work) | |
| Remember | |||
| You (Israelites) | by (God's) mighty hand and outstretched arm | were brought out of Egypt [given rest] | |
The first gap is filled by the earlier understanding that the 4th Commandment is directed to the head of the household. It is both by his might and his love that the slaves are to be given rest. The message here is "Be like God."
The second gap is filled by understanding that, as slaves, the Israelites had no rest. They were required to work every day. Therefore, what God gave them was rest, not freedom. If the meaning was that God had given the Israelites freedom, redemption, or salvation, then the parallel would only work if God had told them to free, redeem, or save their slaves - none of which make sense.
God didn't only give them a day of rest they could enjoy in Egypt. If they had stayed in Egypt they likely would have had their day of rest taken from them. He also "brought [them] out of there" to give them rest in the Promised Land, the rest for Israel as a people. We see this made clear in Hebrews where it discusses the Israelites who wandered in the desert on the way to the Promised Land.
Do not harden your hearts to anger him, like the rebellious, and as the day of temptation in the wilderness 9 When your fathers tempted me and they proved and saw my works 40 years. 10 Because of this, I was weary with that generation, and I said, "That is a people which deceives their heart, and they have not known my ways." 11 And I swore in my anger, "They shall not enter my rest." (Hebrews 4:8-11)
The Deuteronomy version implies the Promised Land is a kind of rest, a place of rest. This fits with the theme of the 4th commandment, which sets aside a time of rest. Also, when God says "enter my rest" we see the 7th day rest that God took is also the rest that comes with eternal life. Hebrews 4 uses it that way as well. We see then that the Sabbath celebrates different kinds of rests that God has given his people.
Quite often in the Bible, God will describe things in different ways. Maybe the descriptions come at different times, as it does here with the two accounts of the Ten Commandments. Maybe that comes from different authors. God never uses one description as a replacement for the other, or to correct the earlier one. He does use them to get his people to see something in a deeper way, by understanding how they describe the same thing.
In these verses we've seen both what the Sabbath is, and is not. Our understanding of the Sabbath is bigger and also clearer.
We skipped past something in the 4th commandment, "therefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day." What is the point in blessing a day? Will it be a brighter day because of that blessing or perhaps a longer day? No. Blessing a day does nothing that benefits the day.
The blessing is for mankind. Many Christians are looking for blessings. There is one in the Sabbath - though most reject it. We obtain that blessing by keeping the Sabbath.
Many people want to tie the Sabbath to worship. A look at the commandment should be enough to show there is no connection. That doesn't seem to be enough though.
People see the Jews going to church on the Sabbath and Jesus did as well and they think that shows the Sabbath is connected to worship. We need to be careful to separate commandment from practice. The Jews had many practices, some good and some bad. Sometimes those practices can inform us; sometimes we need to run away from them. We do need to understand they are the result of decisions by men, not the commandments of God.
Here are some thoughts on the Sabbath and Worship:
The Sabbath is part of the law, part of the Ten Commandments. We don't find it acceptable to break the other 9 commandments. Nowhere does the Bible say it's ever OK to commit adultery and we are never allowed to kill someone just because "he needed killin'." The Sabbath is one of the Ten Commandments so, naturally, we think of the Sabbath as law.
We also see that Jesus says there are situations where the Sabbath doesn't apply. If the Sabbath is a law, it is a wishy-washy law. Exceptions like these are typical of an observance, not a law.
So which is it? Is the Sabbath a law or an observance? The answer is, both. More exactly, it is a hidden law with a visible observance.
There are vertical connections in the Ten Commandments. Five of them, one tablet, deal with our relationship with God; the other five, from the other tablet, deal with our relationship with each other. At the time of Jesus there were Rabbis who understood that there were also horizontal connections between the Ten Commandments, the 1st with the 6th, the 2nd with the 7th, the 3rd with the 8th, and so on.
The 4th pairs with the 9th which says, "You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor". Therefore the hidden 4th commandment would be something like, "You shall not bear false witness against God", or "do not lie about what God has done", or stated positively, "tell the truth about what God has done."
This would include all the rests from God's rest after creation to our final rest with him. It seems that God knew there would be people who would deny everything from creation to final rest.
All we see of the 4th commandment is the observance, which says, "Remember the Sabbath" or "Observe the Sabbath." The hidden part is entirely hidden in the text. To make certain that we did not forget everything God had done and thus make it into a lie, God setup an observance.
In the same way, Jesus said "do this in Remembrance of me". Passover is an observance that keeps us from forgetting what Jesus did for us.
Being an observance doesn't make the 4th commandment any less important. It means there are times, usually rare, when it can't be observed, at least not completely. Things happen, circumstances sometimes conspire against our best intentions. The Sabbath isn't a death pact: do it or die trying.
Jesus spoke with the Pharisees about some of the cases in their own lives when it was necessary to do things the Sabbath didn't allow.
All of the Ten Commandments need to be understood in the context of the two greatest commandments, "You shall love the lord Yahweh your God from all your heart and from all your soul and from all your power and from all your mind" and "You shall love your neighbor as yourself."
From this and from Jesus' examples of Sabbath exceptions, we understand that situations like possible loss of life or loss of significant property are included. Also, in this pagan world we live in, there are times when it just isn't possible to keep the Sabbath.
Someone might wonder that exceptions could be abused. They could be. A good hearted person will do his best; a bad hearted person will find reasons not to.
No person was likely to understand it from reading the Ten Commandments, but the Sabbath is a feast day. There is no restriction on eating food; a person can eat food.
The Sabbath is also a fast day. It might seem that a day couldn't be both a fast day and a feast day at the same time. How would a person eat and not eat on the same day? The answer is that a feast is always about food but a fast can be about many things and food is only one of them.
Isaiah talks about it when God is correcting Israel. Chapter 58 begins with God telling Israel that her fasts are unacceptable because of evil things they are doing. Then, suddenly, the topic changes to the Sabbath. God does this intentionally to show that seemingly unconnected ideas are connected.
If because of the sabbath, you turn your foot from doing your own pleasure on My holy day, and call the sabbath a delight, the holy day of the Lord honorable, and honor it, desisting from your own ways, from seeking your own pleasure and speaking your own word […] (Isaiah 58:13)
The Sabbath is a fast from doing the things that you want to do.
The Sabbath is about rest and only about rest. There are so many people who aren't satisfied with that. They want to see something in the Sabbath that isn't there.
The Rabbis from long ago understood that, on Mount Sinai, Moses entered into God's realm, a place where time does not exist. There, God gave him the Ten Commandments and told him about the tabernacle and all the objects that were to be in it. As Moses is about to leave, God mentions the Sabbath again. God was initiating two things:
In the New Covenant the tabernacle is a bit different. The tabernacle of the Old Covenant pointed to a change where the spirit of God would be within us. In the New Covenant we see the beginnings of that change. The Sabbath remains as it was.
In only the two descriptions of the 4th Commandment, we've seen a lot of detail. Some of this was summarized previously.
There are many other verses that discuss the Sabbath. Mostly they define how the Sabbath is to be kept, and mostly that is done by example. There also verses, though, that add additional facets to the Sabbath, such as its connection to the feast days or its eschatological (end-times) connection, which was only briefly mentioned here.
In the end, it probably isn't possible to completely answer the question, what is the Sabbath? All we can say right now is that there is a lot to it.
1Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges https://biblehub.com/commentaries/exodus/20-8.htm
2Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges https://biblehub.com/commentaries/exodus/20-8.htm
3Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges https://biblehub.com/commentaries/deuteronomy/5-12.htm