Sabbath Observance

The sense of the sabbath as a sign of the covenant between God and God;s people has changed radically since Moses brought the command down off the mountain, but it has remained an ideal for God’s people in its contemporary redefinition. The miracle of the biblical tradition is that it speaks to each age, each culture, in a dynamic, instructive way. It is in this timelessness that the meaning of the sabbath shifts and yet survives for God’s people.

The subject of our lesson is early instruction to the Israelites regarding the Sabbath. But his instruction was not the first on this subject. The first mention of the word Sabbath as anoun was when God provided manna as the Israelites sojourned toward Mount Sinai. Two days’ worth was to be gathered on the sixth day of the week so the people could rest on the seventh - the Sabbath (). On any other day, gathering more than one day’s worth resulted in spoilage (16:20). But manna gathered on the sixth day and saved for the Sabbath did not spoil (16:24).

In the third month after leaving Egypt, the Israelites assembled in front of Mount Sinai (). There God spoke to them and gave them the Ten Commandments (20:1-17). The requirement to keep the Sabbath was the fourth of those and was the longest (20:8-11). Further instructions regarding the Sabbath followed. These required land to be left fallow one year in seven; a weekly Sabbath rest for every person and beast of burden was mandatory (23:10-12).

Moses confirmed the covenant with the people in ; then God called him again to the top of the mountain to receive more instructions (24:12). A break of sorts occurs with when Moses “stayed on the mountain forty days and forty nights.” The section that follows () records God’s commands about the construction of the tabernacle and how to furnish it. Today’s text comes at the conclusion of this section.

Sacred Sabbath -

section.

Exodus 31:12–15 NRSV

The Lord said to Moses: 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. 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. Six days shall work be done, but the seventh day is a sabbath of solemn rest, holy to the Lord; whoever does any work on the sabbath day shall be put to death.

This is not the first mention of Sabbath in our Bibles. The first occurs in . Going back further, when says that “on the seventh day [God] rested from all his work,” the Hebrew word translated for rest is Sabbath; but there it is a verb, not a noun as in . also features the verb form of this word: “God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work or creating.” There is no mention, however, of how the seventh day was sanctified (made holy) or how (or whether) God’s people observe it as such.

God here is issuing another covenant sign for the people of Israel. The people are to keep the Sabbath so they may know that “I am the Lord, who makes you holy.” To be made holy by God is to rise to the ideal of being created in God’s image. It is the fullest realization of that divine creative impulse that brought humans into being. It takes humankind out of the ordinary day-to-day perception of life and allows a glimpse through God’s holy eyes. To be made holy is to be sanctified or set apart.

What helps you most to guard your sanctification in and for Christ? Why?

In verse 14, we learn that the Sabbath day itself is holy. The people keep the day because they are made holy by, but God has made the day holy. The primary means of observing or keeping the Sabbath is refraining from work. Rest - which is what the word Sabbath means- is the key to keeping the day as God intends. Anyone who desecrates the Sabbath by doing any work on the day is to be put to death. Since the day itself is holy, as God is holy, so to defile the day with work is an act of blasphemy.

The sanctity of the Sabbath is paramount. No work may be done on that day. Jesus summarizes the nature of the Sabbath this way: “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath” (). The Sabbath was instituted to provide relief from labor. It’s hard to keep one’s spiritual defenses up when the body is continually exhausted.

Under what circumstances, if any, is it appropriate to approve an exception to a command of God?

Continual Covenant - ,

Exodus 31:16–17 NRSV

Therefore the Israelites shall keep the sabbath, observing the sabbath throughout their generations, as a perpetual covenant. It is a sign forever between me and the people of Israel that in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested, and was refreshed.”

Some believers honor the Sabbath in various ways even today, with practices varying widely. Some import Sabbath regulations from the old covenant into their understanding of the church’s responsibility; some folks refer to Sunday, as the Sabbath, the first day of the week. According to these believers, only those who respond to emergencies (i.e., fire, police, hospital staff, etc>) should engage in work on Sunday. Still others take a more temperate view, holding a personal preference for refraining from work on Sunday but not insisting on the practice by others.

How would you respond to a fellow believer who insists that worship, rest, and essential functions are the only allowable activities for Christians on Sunday?

In verse 17 the writer states that the Sabbath observance serves as a sign of God’s covenant with Israel. The tribes will be in constant contact with pagan groups during and after taking the promised land. The pagans’ observance of how the Israelites rest on the Sabbath can serve as a witness that the Israelites are a separate people, who are faithful to the one, true God. This God is the Creator of the heavens and the earth.

The admonitions to keep the Sabbath follows basic logic. Rest must follow work if any person is going to remain healthy, to retain the holy sense of creation in God’s image. Reverence for who God is and the logic of rest from labor remain the two major threads of Sabbath meaning central in the covenant. The holiness God promises in sabbath observance is meant to refresh humankind, to recreate people on a regular basis as surely as the seven days of creation placed our predecessors on this earth.

How have you seen Christian observance of a day off influence culture?

Conclusion

Although Sabbath requirements are no longer in force, are there benefits in the Sabbath principle of regular, periodic rest? Since the new covenant is bound intrinsically with Christ’s resurrection from the dead, we honor him on the day he won that victory. This is the first day of the week, the Lord’s Day, the day we call Sunday.

Taking a day off for rest can be associated with a variety of health benefits, including stress management. But even if keeping the Sabbath principle as a day of rest is legitimate for one’e personal health and devotion, it is not something to be demanded of others or made a test of fellowship. The Sabbath was made for man (), and each man (or woman) is free to apply the principle of Sabbath rest as seems best for them. But the fulfillment, the substance, is Christ.

Prayer

Father, thank you for the eternal rest promised to your people. May we live faithful to your Son, Jesus, using our time, our work, and our rest to honor him. We pray in his name. Amen.

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