One can read the Bible as history or as a living Word with ramifications for his own life, here and now. While not ignoring valid historical methods of communication, I prefer to see this history as ongoing. I want to know, God, does this have anything to do with me, today? Let's walk through the Sabbath Scriptures with that mentality.
1. Following the account of creation are these words in Genesis 2:2-3.
"On the seventh day, God ended His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made."
a. Who wrote this? Our longest tradition is that it came from the pen of Moses. Since Moses wrote it, some say that perhaps he had in mind the people of Israel before him in the wilderness. Perhaps, they speculate, adding the command just here was a motivation for them to keep this new invention called Sabbath, a gift to the Jewish people. When we take the maybes out, we're left with a statement spoken by God 2500 years before the man Moses lived! I do not doubt Moses' authorship, but I do doubt modern scholarship that speculates about human motivations, and questions authentic words from the Lord, trying desperately to confirm their own theological notions.
b. God had just finished his beautiful work of creation, which included one man and one woman. These humans were neither Jew nor Gentile. The need for calling out a special people to bring in a Messiah for sin did not exist, for at this moment, sin was nowhere to be found. There was only one class of humans, and during their existence He spoke these words.
God made this day holy for His own purposes, to declare to all ages that His work is completed and worthy of praise. This seventh day was to be a time of rest and rejoicing in the work of God. This is not speculation. God said it. Did He say it in the hearing of Adam? I would think it strange that humans never heard such a thing until Moses, but here the text is silent. We speculate that what would later be a 10-commandment practice, along with practices regarding respect for elders (later the 3rd commandment), keeping from adultery (7th) and murder (6th) , and stealing (8th), were somehow written in to the minds of men before being written down at Sinai. How it was written we shall not know for awhile. But that some communication was out there becomes obvious when the notion of the tithe suddenly appears in Genesis, and later this same tithe is incorporated into the legal system of Israel. Something is being said somehow. The point that is important to make here is that the day was set aside, that it was sanctified, long before the law that made it "official."
The question that must follow then is, if God blesses a day and sets it apart from the other days, can any man say that this blessing and sanctification is null and void? Can man either say, there is no day to be so revered, or, there is such a day, but it is not the seventh day? I do not answer this question, at least now, but it seems important that we take the time to try.
2. We must now skip those 2,500 years of history and come to the second book of the Bible, in the days of Moses. For this is the next mention of a special seventh day. Allow me to quote portions of Exodus 16:5, and 22-30.
"And it shall be on the sixth day that they shall prepare what they bring in, and it shall be twice as much as they gather daily... And it was so, on the sixth day, that they gathered twice as much bread... Then [Moses] said to them, This is what the Lord has said: Tomorrow is a Sabbath rest, a holy Sabbath to the Lord... [the next day] Moses said, Eat that today, for today is a Sabbath to the Lord; today you will not find it in the field... The Lord said...See! For the Lord has given you the Sabbath... Let every man remain in his place; let no man go out of his place on the seventh day [to gather manna]. So the people rested on the seventh day [from gathering manna]."
a. Here is the historic moment when the Sabbath, for 2,500 years special to God, if not to his created beings, is handed over to the Jewish people. For some, the case is closed here. The Sabbath is Jewish. Next question, please. But first, is this the only spiritual benefit given the Jews? Are we willing to say that everything given the Jews is, therefore, Jewish, and not to be tasted by other people groups? The Jewish Apostle to the Gentiles is not so willing:
Romans 3:2, "Unto them [the Jews] were committed the oracles of God." Oracles are sayings. We're talking about the Scriptures. Not only the works of Moses , but also the histories, the Psalms, the prophets. All of these were first given to Israel. Later in Romans, Paul adds a few more items:
Romans 9:4-5, "...Israelites, to whom pertain the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the service of God, and the promises; of whom are the fathers and from whom according to the flesh, Christ came..."
We need to re-open the case. It is clear that things given to Israel are not only Israel's. Why, the very idea of one God vs. the multitude of gods in Moses' day and in Abraham's day, was a truth entrusted to Israel, but meant for any who will receive it. Preserved by Jews, but not for Jews alone.
b. Another point to be suggested here is that even at this point in the wilderness, the "law" had not been officially pronounced from the mountain-top. Here are simply the people of God being told of the ways of God, one of which ways included a seventh day rest. This was a teaching that had fallen into oblivion, for sure, but so also was the very idea of one God and only one. The world had gone into madness in its definition and worship of deities. Israel is now raised up to be the guardian of truth.
So before the Sinai experience, before the law of God was oficialized, there was a Sabbath Day.
http://chosunhouse.com is a website I put together a few months back to get the word out to believers that they need to pray for North Korea. Just about every day I'm writing a blog featuring some news, a book, or a story of North Korea. There's a live news feed on the site, lists of resources, picture essays, and ways to respond to the overwhelming need in North Korea. Let's love Chosun together!
And who am I? A man found of God over 50 years ago, called to the ministry, serving the Lord as needed in my world. Married, member of a local church in the Chicago area, with full time work in public education. Who are you? Would love to fellowship with believers who respond on my site.
