Category Archives: Exodus

Bible Study, Church/Ecclesiology, Exodus

Sabbath Rest – Part 3

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Having looked at the institution of the Sabbath Command, in both it’s first and second iterations of law from Mt. Sinai (Exodus 20) and then on the plains of Moab by way of Moses’ review (Deuteronomy 5), we turn now to several supporting passages.  These passages provide additional revelation on the details of the Sabbath, both how it should be observed and the consequences for its violation.  Additionally, we will see a renewed emphasis on what might best be called the Sabbath principle, i.e. that which concerns itself with a sabbath rest, but not necessarily one day in seven, or the Seventh Day.  Below, we will look at three supporting passages from Exodus 23, 31, and 34/35, and then in the next post, we’ll look at supporting passages from Leviticus 23, 24, and Numbers 28.

Exodus 23:10-19

In this passage, we find ourselves still at Sinai with Moses’ reception of the law and covenant from God.  The mention of the Sabbath comes not by means of observing the seventh day, as we might expect, but by means of sowing the land for six years and then giving it a Sabbath year in order to allow it to rest and lie fallow.  Practically, particularly in an agrarian society, this is wise and prudent counsel as it allows the land to recuperate.  However,  we now see a larger Sabbath principle of rest than simply 1 day in 7. Additionally, we find much more involved than individual rest, rather now it’s the land that is commanded to rest (though the obligation is on man to obey).  Further, this resting of the land allows the poor and then the beasts to eat of the land.  This passage is followed up by a restatement of the Sabbath Commandment, showing a clear relationship between both Sabbath concepts, or what I’m distinguishing as a Sabbath Principle and a Sabbath Command.  With this restatement, we have an added benefit of refreshment for ox, donkey, son of your female servant, and aliens.

Towards the end of this passage we see the introduction of the Three Feasts which God had commanded Israel to observe: Unleavened Bread, Feast of Harvest (Feast of Weeks), and Feast of Ingathering (Feast of Tabernacles or Booths).  According to this rule, all of the men of Israel were to come before the Lord these 3 times a year.  This becomes an important point when noting those times and feasts when God had actually commanded worship on  a particular day/days.

See also: Leviticus 25; 26

Exodus 31:12-18

This next passage summarizes the occasion at Sinai as the Lord finishes up His covenant instructions to Moses. Here we see three key reasons for observing or keeping the Sabbath followed by a restriction and subsequent punishment.  First, it is a sign between God and Israel throughout their generations.  Second, it’s purpose is to recognize that it is the Lord Who sanctifies them.  Finally, they were to keep the Sabbath because it was holy to them.

Additionally, in this passage we have the first mention of consequences for failing to observe the Sabbath, “Everyone who profanes it shall be put to death. Whoever does any work on it, that soul shall be cut off from among his people.15 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. “  Ex. 31:14-15

In these verses, consequences for violating the Sabbath are mentioned three times, put to death, cut off from among his people, put to death.   These punishments are buttressed with the assertion that the Sabbath is a perpetual covenant followed by a reiteration of the Sabbath as a sign…forever.  In other words, the punishment of death is given to Sabbath breakers because it is a violation of the covenant.  Just as the rainbow in the cloud was a sign of the Noahic Covenant and just as circumcision was a sign of the Abrahamic Covenant, so too in this instance is the Sabbath a sign of the Mosaic Covenant.  This important passage is further summarized by again stating the foundation for the Sabbath, “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” Ex. 31:17 Finally, verse 18 of this passage concluded God’s revelation and giving of commandments at Sinai…for now.

See also: Ezekiel 20

Ex. 34:18-28

Our third passage from the book of Exodus comes after the idolatrous golden calf incident, which was followed by Moses’ rage against the people and his breaking of the 2 tablets at the foot of Sinai.  In Exodus 34, we have God’s renewal of the covenant.  After an exhortation and warning against idolatry in the land, the next point of renewal is the feasts and the Sabbath.  Verse 18 outlines again the Feast of Unleavened Bread, tied to the Exodus from Egypt, while verses 19-20 describes the Feast of Weeks or first fruits.  In the midst of the discussion of feasts, we have the following verse, “Six days you shall work, but on the seventh day you shall rest. In plowing time and in harvest you shall rest.”  Plowing and harvest would have been the two most important seasons for Israel as they were directly related to their supply of food.  Resting at all during this time would run the risk of ruining a perfectly good day of making progress on either planting or harvesting food.  As such, it would recall the days prior to Sinai, Exodus 16, when they had previously been taught to rely on God’s provision for their food on the Sabbath. 

Just downstream of this passage is our final mention of the Sabbath in the book of Exodus.  Found in Exodus 35:2-3, the last statement on the Sabbath is perhaps the briefest, “Moses assembled all the congregation of the people of Israel and said to them, “These are the things that the Lord has commanded you to do. 2 Six days work shall be done, but on the seventh day you shall have a Sabbath of solemn rest, holy to the Lord. Whoever does any work on it shall be put to death. 3 You shall kindle no fire in all your dwelling places on the Sabbath day.”  While we have another consequence for violating the Sabbath, the only piece of new information that we have is an itemized restriction for the Sabbath, namely, “you shall kindle no fire in all your dwelling places.”  This, in combination with our mentions of punishment above, is significant when we consider Numbers 15:32-36, where we have the case study of the man who went out and gathered sticks on the Sabbath.  It is not so much the gathering of sticks which costs him his life at the hands of the stones thrown at him.  Rather it is that he intentionally violates the Sabbath by planning to build a fire.  This is a measure of direct rebellion against what God had instructed Moses to deliver to the people in the Exodus 35 passage above.

With our brief overview of these three supporting passages on the Sabbath from the book of Exodus, let’s summarize what we’ve seen so far.  First, the expansion of the Sabbath principle to include allowing the land to rest 1 year in 7.  This expands the concept of the Sabbath in which the people relied on the providence and sustenance of God for 1 day, now to include one whole year.  Additionally, this rest allowed for the land was an opportunity afforded for the poor and the beasts to eat of the land as well as providing refreshment for beasts, servants, and aliens.  Next, we saw three key purposes for observing the Sabbath including it as a sign between God and Israel, recognition of God as Sanctifier, and a covenant.  Finally, we saw the consequences, punishment by death, attached to the violation of the commandment, which was upheld in the case study from Numbers 15:32-36.  In our next post, we’ll examine three additional support passages for the Sabbath.

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Bible Study, Church/Ecclesiology, Exodus

Sabbath Rest – Part 2

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In our study of the Sabbath Rest, we must allow it to unfold progressively as God reveals it piece by piece, detail by detail.  In this way, we assure ourselves of a more rounded, Scriptural approach to understanding what the Sabbath means, and then eventually how it effects us today.  In our overview, we have seen various aspects of the theology of rest, which have brought us now to the topic of the Sabbath as given to Israel.  Introducing this for us in a recent post was Exodus 16, the familiar passage concerning God’s supply of manna (and quail), with the instruction for Israel to gather their bread each day, gathering extra on the 6th day and resting from labor on the 7th day.

In this post, we turn now to the giving of the law and the inauguration of the covenant with Israel, first in Exodus 20 where we find the codification of the Sabbath into law, given to Israel at Mt. Sinai and then the renewal of the covenant in Deuteronomy 5.  Our first passage is below

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 to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates.11 For in six days the Lord made heaven and 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 we have the Fourth Commandment and interestingly it provides a transition from the commandments focused Godward (#1-4, vertical) and the commandments focused manward (#5-10, horizontal).  Again, we see the concept for six days of work, which is just as commanded as the one day of rest, followed by the Sabbath observance  on the seventh day.  The widespread, nondiscriminatory nature of the observance, which simply includes “no work”, extends from the individual, to family, to servants, to livestock, to even the foreigner among you.

In verse 11, we arrive at the purpose for this observance, “For in six days the Lord made heaven and 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.”  Clearly, the first stated purpose (though remember the implied purposes from Exodus 16) for the Sabbath observance is it’s relationship to the Sabbath instituted by God at the conclusion of creation.  As a summary, we again find no mention of individual or corporate worship.  We see no command requiring any sort of religious duty or exercise.  It is by all accounts a call to remember the sabbath through resting from labor on the seventh day, the day which God had sanctified and set apart at Creation.  

In our second passage, from Deuteronomy 5, the context for this passage finds the people of God, still led by Moses, on the plains of Moab, near Jericho, just outside of the Promised Land of Canaan (Deuteronomy 34:1-8; Numbers 36:13).  The time period represented in this 5th book of the Torah, occurs roughly forty years after the Exodus from Egypt, i.e. about forty years after the first giving of the law cited above.  To this point, the rebellious generation has died out, except for Moses, Joshua, and Caleb, leaving behind the children of the Exodus generation to inherit the promised land (Deuteronomy 1:34-40).

In the fifth chapter of the book, Moses recounts the law, given at Sinai, for this new generation of Israelites.  The Fourth Commandment, the Sabbath, is recited as follows:

12 “‘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 to the Lord your God. On 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 livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates, 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 from there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore the Lord your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day. Deuteronomy 5:12-15

In this more recent statement of the commandment, we notice similar language with some nuances and then some definite additions.  First, we see the call to observe the Sabbath, whereas before the command was to remember.  The point is the same, it is a day to call the mind to a particular duty, namely to keep it holy.  Then we see the command, six days of labor, but the seventh is a Sabbath to the Lord.  Additionally, we see that this directive applies to the individual, children, servants, animals, and the sojourners among the community.  It is a comprehensive command for the entire community, man, woman child, beast, and even the outsider dwelling among the community.

However, after stating the prohibition against work for all members of the community, remember that the original commandment was founded on the creation Sabbath established by God in Genesis 2.  Here we would expect an identical statement, but that is not the case.  Instead, we see a foundation upon the Israelite exodus from Egypt.  Observe the Sabbath because on it you shall remember you were a slave in Egypt and God redeemed you with an outstretched hand.

These two passages form the basis for the law and commandment given to Israel to observe the Sabbath Day.  In them we find their foundation upon the creation Sabbath and upon the Israelite redemption from Egypt.  These reflections do not stop merely upon the acts of God, but are reflections upon God Himself.  The Sabbath draws attention to God as Creator, Sanctifier, and Redeemer, in addition to Sustainer and Provider that we saw in our previous passage from Exodus 16.  The Sabbath, as God has thus far revealed, is concerned with both His person and His work.  Yet in neither passage do we find any command for individual or corporate worship.  Nor do we find any command for any religious duty on this day.  It is simply a command to rest from labor, recalling God the Creator, God the Sanctifier, and God the Redeemer.  Further, it builds upon the passage from Exodus 16, where the people were taught to rely upon God as Provider and Sustainer.

 

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Bible Study, Church/Ecclesiology, Exodus

Sabbath Rest – Part 1

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The concept of rest is woven throughout Scripture from Genesis to Revelation.  As we have seen, rest punctuated God’s creation, it was created for Adam and should have been his final resting place, it was subsequently broken by the sin of this first man and his wife, and then with the arrival of Noah, we find an expectation for a return to this original rest.

It’s noteworthy that the significance of God’s creation ordinance of rest on the seventh day seems peculiarly absent from Genesis 2 throughout the remainder of the book, except for the aforementioned narrative on Noah.  We find no commands to observe a Sabbath day, no commands for corporate or even individual worship, and apart from Adam and Noah, no explicit revelation on the concept of rest, with perhaps the exception of implied rest in the covenant promises made with Abraham, see Genesis 12-24.  We might say the remainder of Genesis develops the prototypical people of rest and the typological place of rest.  However, with the Mosaic/Sinaitic/Old Covenant, there is renewed emphasis on the Sabbath Principle.  That said, the most detailed revelation on the concept of rest begins after Israel’s Exodus from Egypt and then through the giving of the law by God to Israel through Moses.  From here, rest becomes intertwined with a people, a promise, and a land.

Our first encounter with this fresh revelation of rest occurs in Exodus 16 within the context of God providing manna from heaven in order to supply food and sustenance for the Wilderness Generation of Israel.  Manna was God’s response to the grumbling of the people and the means to further reveal His glory to them, but it came with restrictions.

In the Wilderness of Sin, just prior to their arrival at Sinai, God instructed Moses that the people should go out each day and collect a day’s worth of manna, as God’s way of “testing” their obedience.  On the 6th day they were told to gather twice as much (Ex. 16:1-6).  Following this, we find an interesting note, “At evening you shall know that it was the Lord who brought you out of the land of Egypt, 7 and in the morning you shall see the glory of the Lord, because he has heard your grumbling against the Lord.”  There is intertwined with the upcoming miracle of the manna provision a recognition and remembrance of the Israelite redemption from Egypt.  This should not be ignored, particularly as we consider the relationship between the manna and Sabbath below and then additional passages on the Sabbath in subsequent posts.

After the appearance of God’s glory, perhaps a preview of the upcoming revelation at Sinai, the grumbling people were informed that they would be provided quail in the evenings and manna in the mornings so that they would know that, “I am the Lord your God,” a common recognition formula that God often employs to instruct His people on who He is.  

When morning came, Moses relayed the command of the Lord to the people to take as much as they could eat, an omer, according to the number of people in each tent.  Those who gathered a lot, had nothing left over, while those who gathered little had no want.  Furthermore, Moses instructed them in the prohibitions that the Lord had commanded, i.e. not to gather more than a day’s worth, but the people did not listen and the manna grew worms and rotted (vs. 16-21).  Day after day they gathered, but on the 6th day they gathered twice as much as per God’s command

“This is what the Lord has commanded: ‘Tomorrow is a day of solemn rest, a holy Sabbath to the Lord; bake what you will bake and boil what you will boil, and all that is left over lay aside to be kept till the morning.’” 24 So they laid it aside till the morning, as Moses commanded them, and it did not stink, and there were no worms in it.25 Moses said, “Eat it today, for today is a Sabbath to the Lord; today you will not find it in the field. 26 Six days you shall gather it, but on the seventh day, which is a Sabbath, there will be none.”

27 On the seventh day some of the people went out to gather, but they found none. 28 And the Lord said to Moses, “How long will you refuse to keep my commandments and my laws? 29 See! The Lord has given you the Sabbath; therefore on the sixth day he gives you bread for two days. Remain each of you in his place; let no one go out of his place on the seventh day.” 30 So the people rested on the seventh day.

This passage is a fascinating application, perhaps introduction, and even more a test of obedience (Ex. 16:4), to the Sabbath command that would follow and as was typical with Israel, they disobeyed and failed their test.  In a very real sense, this was a display of the purpose behind the Sabbath principle, namely, total reliance and trust in the promises of God and a recognition of Who He is.  By going out on the 7th day, it was actually displaying a lack of faith in God.  Yes, it was rest from personal labors, i.e. gathering manna, but more than that it was rest from gathering daily provisions because of trusting in God to provide.  Additionally, we should not lose sight of the mention of the exodus from Egypt in this passage, as it’s relationship with the Sabbath will become more prominent in another passage later on.  This event was so significant to the history of Israel that God commanded Moses to collect a jar of manna for a continual reminder of God’s provision and faithfulness.  Finally, as it relates to our concept of Sabbath rest, we may note that there is no command to worship or perform a specific religious duty, whether corporately or individually.  Simply to rest from collecting food and rely on who God is and what He has promised.

 

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