"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
The Sabbath, Kings & Priests
Lamentations 2:6
6 And He hath violently
taken away His tabernacle, as if it were of a garden: He hath destroyed his places of the assembly: the LORD hath caused the
solemn feasts and sabbaths to be forgotten in Zion, and hath despised in the indignation of his anger the king and the priest
Commentary
Perhaps a warning, not only to us, but to the spiritual and governmental leaders in our time as well of what happens when we profane
His Sabbath?. As for me and my house.......
"And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of
the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, And hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever.
Amen." Revelation 1:5-6
"And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou
wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation; And hast made us unto our
God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth." Revelation 5: 9-10
The Sabbath, Black & White
Ezekiel 20:16
16 Because they despised
my judgments, and walked not in my statutes, but polluted my sabbaths: for their heart went after their idols.
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.
Ezekiel 20:24
24 Because they had not
executed my judgments, but had despised my statutes, and had polluted my sabbaths, and their eyes were after their fathers'
idols.
Ezekiel 22:8
8 Thou hast despised mine
holy things, and hast profaned my sabbaths.
Ezekiel 22:26
26 Her priests have violated
my law, and have profaned mine holy things: they have put no difference between the holy and profane, neither have they shewed
difference between the unclean and the clean, and have hid their eyes from my sabbaths, and I am profaned among them.
Ezekiel 23:38
38 Moreover this they have
done unto me: they have defiled my sanctuary in the same day, and have profaned my sabbaths.
Commentary
Ezekiel devotes several chapters to the Sabbath, the statutes, the holy and the profane, the clean and the unclean, rebellion and
following the way of their fathers. In chapter 20 verse 21 YHWH equates not walking in His statutes and keeping his judgements as
rebellion. 1Samuel 15:23 says: "For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft,
and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the LORD, he hath also rejected thee from being
king." It apparently doesn't make much difference to YHWH whether we are rebellious or just plain stubborn about not keeping His
statutes and Sabbaths. Either way, this is not something I want to have to give an account for.
Keeping the Sabbath Because We Have to
Amos 8:4-5
4 Hear this, O ye that swallow
up the needy, even to make the poor of the land to fail,
5 Saying, When will the new moon be gone, that we may sell
corn? and the sabbath, that we may set forth wheat, making the ephah small, and the shekel great, and falsifying the balances by
deceit?
Commentary
Here we apparently have people who are keeping the Sabbath, and the New Moon (Rosh Chodesh) because they have to. Their minds
and their hearts were not in it and iniquity manifested. The condition of our hearts play an important role in whether YHWH accepts our
obedience or not. The previous scriptures tell us that we need to "delight" in His Sabbaths and statutes, not keep them because
we feel we have to. I believe that if we approach obedience the way these people did, that iniquity may manifest in us as well.
This reference also gets into some deeper issues which we will cover in a later study on Biblical Economics vs. The World Economic System.