CHAPTER 2: The Exodus Period

2.1         The wilderness journey

The Book of Exodus is the epic account of the Israelites’ enslavement in Egypt, their subsequent delivery by God under the leadership of Moses, and the forging of a new relationship between God and His people. As we read about the start of the wilderness journey, we discover that the people had little or no notion of Sabbath-keeping. Whether the practice was lost during their time in Egypt or earlier is unclear, as the Bible does not elaborate. What is evident, however, is that God had to teach His people the basic principles. Chapter 16 records that He began this process in tandem with the miraculous bestowal of manna:

So they gathered it every morning, every man according to his need. And when the sun became hot, it melted.

And so it was, on the sixth day, that they gathered twice as much bread, two omers for each one. And all the rulers of the congregation came and told Moses. Then he said to them, “This is what the Lord has said: ‘Tomorrow is a Sabbath rest, a holy Sabbath to the Lord. Bake what you will bake today, and boil what you will boil; and lay up for yourselves all that remains, to be kept until morning.’ ” So they laid it up till morning, as Moses commanded; and it did not stink, nor were there any worms in it. Then Moses said, “Eat that 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 the Sabbath, there will be none.” Now it happened that some of the people went out on the seventh day to gather, but they found none. And the Lord said to Moses, “How long do you refuse to keep My commandments and My laws? See! For the Lord has given you the Sabbath; therefore He gives you on the sixth day bread for two days. Let every man remain in his place; let no man go out of his place on the seventh day.” So the people rested on the seventh day.

            Exodus 16:21–30

In short, God told Moses to instruct the Israelites to gather manna for six days and to collect a double portion on the sixth day, for none would fall on the seventh; the latter would be a day of rest. 

At this juncture, God had yet to enshrine the Sabbath in law, so there were no penalties for transgression. However, the people were exhibiting the beginnings of rebellious tendencies, for some chose to venture out on this day, against God’s explicit instructions (see Ex 16:27). This situation provoked Him to exasperation (Ex 16:28–29) and most likely influenced the manner and detail in which He later instructed the Israelites to keep this day. 

2.2         The Sabbath included in the Ten Commandments

Exodus 19 records the Israelites’ arrival at Mount Sinai, marking a watershed in the history of the nation. It was here that God established a covenant with His people, pledging to make them His “special treasure” and a “kingdom of priests and a holy nation” (Ex 19:5–6). The only condition was that they resolved to obey Him by keeping His divine law. The latter comprised the Ten Commandments (Ex 20:1–17) and a set of ordinances that would guide their religious and community life (e.g. Ex 21–23:19).

Significantly, God took care to emphasize the special nature of the Ten Commandments. He did this by writing them with His own finger onto tablets of stone (Ex 31:18) and instructing Moses to place them inside the ark of the covenant (Deut 10:2). The Book of the Law that was scribed by Moses (Ex 24:4, 7), on the other hand, was placed beside the ark (Ex 24:4; Deut 31:26). It is unclear whether the Book of the Law contained both the Ten Commandments and the religious, civil and criminal laws (as is traditionally assumed), or merely the latter^[1]. Either way, God’s symbolic action reinforced the unique status of the Ten Commandments and their unalterable nature. Indeed, God’s intention was that they would serve as a perpetual moral code for His people from that time onwards. The first three commandments set out man’s obligations towards God, while the latter six set out his obligations to his fellow man.

The Fourth Commandment concerned the Sabbath:

“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your manservant, nor your maidservant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger 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 the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.”

            Exodus 20:8–11

“Observe the Sabbath day, to keep it holy, as the Lord your God commanded you. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall not do any work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your manservant, nor your maidservant, nor your ox, nor your donkey, nor any of your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates, that your manservant and your maidservant may rest as well as you. And remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and that the Lord your God brought you out from there by a mighty hand and by an outstretched arm; therefore the Lord your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day.”

            Deuteronomy 5:12–15

“Speak also to the children of Israel, saying: ‘Surely My Sabbaths you shall keep, for it is a sign between Me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I am the Lord who sanctifies you…Therefore the children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, to observe the Sabbath throughout their generations as a perpetual covenant. It is a sign between Me and the children of Israel forever; for in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day He rested and was refreshed.’ ”

            Exodus 31:13, 16–17

The length and detail of this particular commandment served to highlight the importance of the day and God’s wish for the people to be clear about why they had to observe it, and how they were to do so.

Firstly, God instructed the people to remember the Sabbath and to keep it holy (Ex 20:8; Deut 5:12). This day belonged to Him: it was the “Sabbath of the Lord [their] God” (Ex 20:10). Secondly, He stipulated the way to sanctify it, which was to stop work and to ensure that their children, servants, animals and the foreigners in their midst did likewise (Ex 20:10; Deut 5:14). Thirdly, He explained that the Sabbath would remind them of a number of important matters: His creation, His own resting, His blessing and sanctification of that day (Ex 20:11; 31:17), and His act of deliverance (Deut 5:15). Finally, the Sabbath would serve as a perpetual sign, affirming the people’s status as God’s holy nation (Ex 31:13).    

2.3         A holy and joyful convocation

God referred to the Sabbath as a holy convocation^[2]—a time for the people to rest and to assemble for worship: “Six days shall work be done, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest, a holy convocation. You shall do no work on it; it is the Sabbath of the Lord in all your dwellings” (Lev 23:3). He also spoke of it as a joyful feast (Lev 23:1–3), an occasion for the Israelites to recall and celebrate His gracious acts of creation and deliverance (Ex 20:11; Deut 5:15).

2.4         Festival sabbaths 

Aside from the seventh day of the week, God also termed a number of other days as “sabbaths”:

•     The Feast of Trumpets: the first day of the seventh month (Lev 23:24).

•     The Day of Atonement: the tenth day of the seventh month (Lev 23:32).

•     The beginning and the end of the Feast of Tabernacles: the fifteenth and the twenty-second days of the seventh month (Lev 23:35–36, 39).

God gave the following instructions to Moses concerning these sabbaths:

“Speak to the children of Israel, saying: ‘In the seventh month, on the first day of the month, you shall have a sabbath-rest, a memorial of blowing of trumpets, a holy convocation. You shall do no customary work on it; and you shall offer an offering made by fire to the Lord.’ ”

And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: “Also the tenth day of this seventh month shall be the Day of Atonement. It shall be a holy convocation for you; you shall afflict your souls, and offer an offering made by fire to the Lord. And you shall do no work on that same day, for it is the Day of Atonement, to make atonement for you before the Lord your God. For any person who is not afflicted of soul on that same day, he shall be cut off from his people. And any person who does any work on that same day, that person I will destroy from among his people. You shall do no manner of work; it shall be a statute forever throughout your generations in all your dwellings. It shall be to you a sabbath of solemn rest, and you shall afflict your souls; on the ninth day of the month at evening, from evening to evening, you shall celebrate your sabbath.”

Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to the children of Israel, saying: ‘The fifteenth day of this seventh month shall be the Feast of Tabernacles for seven days to the Lord. On the first day there shall be a holy convocation. You shall do no customary work on it. For seven days you shall offer an offering made by fire to the Lord. On the eighth day you shall have a holy convocation, and you shall offer an offering made by fire to the Lord. It is a sacred assembly, and you shall do no customary work on it. These are the feasts of the Lord which you shall proclaim to be holy convocations, to offer an offering made by fire to the Lord, a burnt offering and a grain offering, a sacrifice and drink offerings, everything on its day—besides the Sabbaths of the Lord, besides your gifts, besides all your vows, and besides all your freewill offerings which you give to the Lord.’

‘Also on the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when you have gathered in the fruit of the land, you shall keep the feast of the Lord for seven days; on the first day there shall be a sabbath-rest, and on the eighth day a sabbath-rest.’ ”

            Leviticus 23:24–39

The festival sabbaths were distinct from the weekly Sabbaths, but were likewise holy convocations on which the Israelites could rest from their mundane routines and worship God wholeheartedly.

2.5         Conclusion

The exodus journey was a time when God began forging a new covenantal relationship with the Israelites—one that included an obligation on the part of the latter to uphold the holy Sabbath. He guided them to fulfil this requirement by giving them a six-day cycle of manna followed by a seventh day of compulsory rest. Later, God set out the Fourth Commandment which made clear the nature of the Sabbath, the reasons for observing it and how the people were to do so.

 

© January 2012 True Jesus Church.