Sabbath Part 1

The history of Sabbath.

Genesis 2:1–3 ESV

Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done. So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation.

Welcome to another men’s bible study!

For the next few weeks we will be discussing Sabbath.

For those of you who don’t know me, I’m Elliott Gibbs, I’m one of the local elders here at renovation GVL.

Lets open with a word of prayer and we can get started.

Prayer.

Sabbath, I think most of you know what it is, or at least have some ideas about it, but even so, I think it is going to be worth walking through the history of Sabbath, tracing its origins to where we are today, so we can get a full picture of this idea of Sabbath.

So that is what we will talk about today.

Next week I want to talk in detail about Old and New covenants, and how these effect the way we practice Sabbath.

Week three will be about practical ways to practice Sabbath in our modern American life.

And week four will be on Sabbath in eternity.

I’m still in the middle of studying and writing all this, so the agenda is subject to change.

Just a reminder, I’m not infallible, I’m not a PHD, I’m just a guy who reads the bible and tries to make since of it.

So be good Barinas and study this stuff for yourself and don’t just take my word for it.

So lets read that verse again from the beginning of Genesis.

Genesis 2:1–3 ESV

Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done. So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation.

So, here in the very beginning we see the pattern of Sabbath show up.

God, after 6 days of intense and majestic creation, he chooses to rest.

the Hebrew word here for rest is Sabat.

The word doesn’t mean rest in the way we think about it. when you think of rest, what are some things that come to mind?

in this case Sabat, literally means to cease, to desist.

We know God didn’t need to rest, he wasn’t tired. He didn’t need to evaluate his creation and see if he got it right.

What he needed to do what stop. To cease his work.

Now this is a tangent, and I don’t think we are going to go down it very far, so if your interested I will say, go investigate.

But if you study creation, the patterns and order of creation is not random. the pattern is form and filling.

How many of you notice the lights in the sky proceed the creation of the sun moon and stars?

you can see this pattern show up as the law is passed down, and it gives us an idea of how God is dealing with his creation.

anyway go study it...

The point I want to make here is this Sabat, is setting a pattern that for all creation. God isn’t just making a holiday for Himself.

Look at all these great things I did… now on the 7th day we will have a holiday dedicated to me!… it is so much more than that.

I don’t know if you guys have looked into this much, and you might just take it for granted, but have you wondered at why the 7 day week is so universal?

Think back to that creation account, God says he puts the bodies in the heavens to tell times and seasons

We have 24 hours in a day as the earth rotates around the sun, a month is defined by the cycles of the moon, a year is a full rotation around the sun...

What is a week?

it is not marked by these celestial bodies… it is arbitrary.

I will come back to this again in minute, but I want you to see the difference in what God is setting up. The seven day week is not a pattern of creation, it is a pattern of our creator.

Lets keep going..

Ok, so we are following the Sabbath through the history of the bible, and we don’t actually have a Sabbath yet, we have sabat, rest… so where does Sabbath show up?

We have to go through all the years of the patriarchs, through 400 years of slavery in Egypt and to Moses and the Law.

We are first going to see God reestablish this pattern in Exodus 16

Exodus 16 ESV

They set out from Elim, and all the congregation of the people of Israel came to the wilderness of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after they had departed from the land of Egypt. And the whole congregation of the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness, and the people of Israel said to them, “Would that we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the meat pots and ate bread to the full, for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.” Then the Lord said to Moses, “Behold, I am about to rain bread from heaven for you, and the people shall go out and gather a day’s portion every day, that I may test them, whether they will walk in my law or not. On the sixth day, when they prepare what they bring in, it will be twice as much as they gather daily.” So Moses and Aaron said to all the people of Israel, “At evening you shall know that it was the Lord who brought you out of the land of Egypt, and in the morning you shall see the glory of the Lord, because he has heard your grumbling against the Lord. For what are we, that you grumble against us?” And Moses said, “When the Lord gives you in the evening meat to eat and in the morning bread to the full, because the Lord has heard your grumbling that you grumble against him—what are we? Your grumbling is not against us but against the Lord.” Then Moses said to Aaron, “Say to the whole congregation of the people of Israel, ‘Come near before the Lord, for he has heard your grumbling.’ ” And as soon as Aaron spoke to the whole congregation of the people of Israel, they looked toward the wilderness, and behold, the glory of the Lord appeared in the cloud. And the Lord said to Moses, “I have heard the grumbling of the people of Israel. Say to them, ‘At twilight you shall eat meat, and in the morning you shall be filled with bread. Then you shall know that I am the Lord your God.’ ” In the evening quail came up and covered the camp, and in the morning dew lay around the camp. And when the dew had gone up, there was on the face of the wilderness a fine, flake-like thing, fine as frost on the ground. When the people of Israel saw it, they said to one another, “What is it?” For they did not know what it was. And Moses said to them, “It is the bread that the Lord has given you to eat. This is what the Lord has commanded: ‘Gather of it, each one of you, as much as he can eat. You shall each take an omer, according to the number of the persons that each of you has in his tent.’ ” And the people of Israel did so. They gathered, some more, some less. But when they measured it with an omer, whoever gathered much had nothing left over, and whoever gathered little had no lack. Each of them gathered as much as he could eat. And Moses said to them, “Let no one leave any of it over till the morning.” But they did not listen to Moses. Some left part of it till the morning, and it bred worms and stank. And Moses was angry with them. Morning by morning they gathered it, each as much as he could eat; but when the sun grew hot, it melted. On the sixth day they gathered twice as much bread, two omers each. And when all the leaders of the congregation came and told Moses, he said to them, “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.’ ” So they laid it aside till the morning, as Moses commanded them, and it did not stink, and there were no worms in it. Moses said, “Eat it today, for today is a Sabbath to the Lord; today you will not find it in the field. Six days you shall gather it, but on the seventh day, which is a Sabbath, there will be none.” On the seventh day some of the people went out to gather, but they found none. And the Lord said to Moses, “How long will you refuse to keep my commandments and my laws? 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.” So the people rested on the seventh day. Now the house of Israel called its name manna. It was like coriander seed, white, and the taste of it was like wafers made with honey. Moses said, “This is what the Lord has commanded: ‘Let an omer of it be kept throughout your generations, so that they may see the bread with which I fed you in the wilderness, when I brought you out of the land of Egypt.’ ” And Moses said to Aaron, “Take a jar, and put an omer of manna in it, and place it before the Lord to be kept throughout your generations.” As the Lord commanded Moses, so Aaron placed it before the testimony to be kept. The people of Israel ate the manna forty years, till they came to a habitable land. They ate the manna till they came to the border of the land of Canaan. (An omer is the tenth part of an ephah.)

So we see mana doesn’t show up on the 7th day. God clearly wants Israel to know He is their provider, and will provide even when they rest on the seventh day.

What we see here is the sabbath becoming a kind of tithe

So next we have the 10 commandments given in Exodus 20:1-17

Exodus 20:1–17 ESV

And God spoke all these words, saying, “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. “You shall have no other gods before me. “You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments. “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain. “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, 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. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the 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. “Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you. “You shall not murder. “You shall not commit adultery. “You shall not steal. “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor’s.”

So now we have the first moral imperative for a Sabbath, that it is a day set apart, belonging to the Lord.

it roots the grounds for this in the creation order, calling back to God’s pattern for work and labor.

But something new is added, particular for a people coming out of slavery,

This day is now dedicated to their God. it because a day of worship.

Not the Sabat was always holy. it was always set apart.

But now we have something new attached to it.

Ok, lets keep reading, jump ahead to Exodus 31:13-16

Exodus 31:13–16 ESV

“You are to speak to the people of Israel and say, ‘Above all you shall keep my Sabbaths, for this is a sign between me and you throughout your generations, 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, that soul shall be cut off from among his 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. Therefore the people of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, observing the Sabbath throughout their generations, as a covenant forever.

Oh man…

Now we have up the stakes even more. The Sabbath now becomes a covenant with Israel. A sign that the Lord sanctifies them… Now I need you to hold onto this idea cause it is going to be important later.

But now the Sabbath has gone from God’s ordered pattern, to a moral obligation, to a sign of God’s covenant with Israel.

We see the Jews go into exile, primarily for their idolatry, but in part because of this broken covenant.

when they return, they return egger to keep all of Gods commands,

And as things tend to do, the pendulum swings back to far in the other direction.

The pharisees...

Jesus...

Acts and the apostolic fathers...

Acts 20:7 ESV

On the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread, Paul talked with them, intending to depart on the next day, and he prolonged his speech until midnight.

Colossians 2:16 ESV

Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath.

Romans 14:5 ESV

One person esteems one day as better than another, while another esteems all days alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind.