"Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it. "
– Exodus 20: 8-11 KJV
Before The 10 Commandments and the Torah
Exodus 16:23
23 And he said unto
them, This is that which the LORD hath said, Tomorrow is the rest of the holy sabbath unto the LORD: bake that which ye will bake
today, and seethe that ye will seethe; and that which remaineth over lay up for you to be kept until the morning.
Exodus 16:25-26
25 And Moses said, Eat
that today; for today is a sabbath unto the LORD: today ye shall not find it in the field.
26 Six days ye shall
gather it; but on the seventh day, which is the sabbath, in it there shall be none.
Exodus 16:29
29 See, for that the LORD
hath given you the sabbath, therefore he giveth you on the sixth day the bread of two days; abide ye every man in his place, let
no man go out of his place on the seventh day.
Commentary
We can clearly see from the above verses, that the Sabbath was in effect before the commandments were given to Moses at Mt.
Sinai. The giving of the Ten Commandments doesn't take place until Chapter 20.
The 10 Commandments
Exodus 20:8
8 Remember the sabbath
day, to keep it holy.
Exodus 20:10-11
10 But the seventh day is
the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy
maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates:
11 For in six days the LORD made heaven and
earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed
it.
Commentary
Here we can see that not only was the sabbath established prior to the giving of the Law, but it was in effect since the
very beginning at the time of creation itself (verse 11). We can also see that the sabbath is not a Jewish thing, verse 10 says the
sabbath day is the sabbath of the LORD's.
The Sabbath is a Sign
Exodus 31:13-16
13 Speak thou also unto
the children of Israel, saying, Verily my sabbaths ye shall keep: for it is a sign between me and you throughout your
generations; that ye may know that I am the LORD that doth sanctify you.
14 Ye shall keep the sabbath therefore; for
it is holy unto you: every one that defileth it shall surely be put to death: for whosoever doeth any work therein, that soul
shall be cut off from among his people.
15 Six days may work be done; but in the seventh is the sabbath of rest, holy
to the LORD: whosoever doeth any work in the sabbath day, he shall surely be put to death.
16 Wherefore the children
of Israel shall keep the sabbath, to observe the sabbath throughout their generations, for a perpetual covenant.
Ezekiel 20:12-13
12 Moreover also I gave
them my sabbaths, to be a sign between me and them, that they might know that I am the LORD that sanctify them.
13 But the house of Israel rebelled against me in the wilderness: they walked not in my statutes, and they despised my
judgments, which if a man do, he shall even live in them; and my sabbaths they greatly polluted: then I said, I would pour out my
fury upon them in the wilderness, to consume them.
Ezekiel 20:20-21
20 And hallow my sabbaths;
and they shall be a sign between me and you, that ye may know that I am the LORD your God.
21 Notwithstanding
the children rebelled against me: they walked not in my statutes, neither kept my judgments to do them, which if a man do, he
shall even live in them; they polluted my sabbaths: then I said, I would pour out my fury upon them, to accomplish my anger
against them in the wilderness.
Commentary
Exodus 31:16 says that the sabbath is a perpetual covenant (that means forever). Now I know what some of you are thinking, it says it is a
perpetual covenant for Israel and you're right, it does. Now, let's fast-forward about 1500 years and see if the Apostle
Paul can shed some light on this. In Galations 3:26-29 Paul states: " 26 For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ
Jesus. 27 For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. 28 There is
neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in
Christ Jesus. 29 And if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise.
We can't have it both ways. Everyone will quote this over and over again when it comes to the good stuff, eternal life, prosperity, blessings, and overcoming adversity, but when it comes to trust grounded obedience and living according to God's word, that was nailed to the cross (another study). Either we are Abraham's seed or were not. Yeshua made us (both Jew and Gentile) one body and tore down the wall of separation which excluded gentiles from access to the inner court. (Ephesians 2:14) If He tore it down and made us one body, what right do we have to put it back up?
The Aleph & Tav
Menorah
