CHAPTER 3: The Introduction of Sabbath Regulations
3.1 The purpose of the
regulations
Starting
from the time of the exodus, God gave the Israelites a number of regulations
that stipulated the practicalities of Sabbath-keeping. These were additional to
the Fourth Commandment and served to promote the sanctity of the day and to
reinforce the requirement to rest. God delivered some of the regulations at
Sinai as part of the Mosaic Law and gave others prior to, as well as after,
this event.
As we
learn about these regulations, a picture emerges of a heavenly Father patiently
teaching His young children the basic principles. In hindsight, we realize that
His intention was to prepare them for a time of maturity and grace through
faith in Jesus Christ. His will was that they would, by that time, grasp the
true spirit of the Sabbath without the need for the detail of the written Law
(Gal 3:23).
3.2 The Old Testament
regulations
3.2.1 No cooking
Not long
after leaving Egypt, God gave Moses the first Sabbath regulation, which related
to the preparation and cooking of food. The Book of Exodus records, “Then
[Moses] 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” ’ ” (Ex 16:23). In other words, Friday was
to be a day of readiness—a time for the people to prepare their meals ahead of
the Sabbath. In this way, the people could enjoy the holy day in a carefree
manner.
3.2.2 Remaining at home
During the
wilderness journey, God arranged for the people to gather manna for six days
and to rest on the seventh. On the sixth day, He instructed them to collect a
double portion, for no manna would fall on the following day. Nevertheless,
some people persisted in venturing out on the Sabbath, thereby provoking God to
anger: “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’ ” (Ex 16:28–29). God’s requirement was simple: the people could attend to
their daily needs over the course of six days, but they were to rest in their
tents on the seventh. However, it was evident that some people had difficulty
obeying even this basic rule.
3.2.3 No kindling of fire
Another
stipulation during the exodus period related to the making of fires: “You shall
kindle no fire throughout your habitations on the Sabbath day” (Ex 35:3). There
are two possible reasons why it equated to work. Firstly, it involved the
gathering of firewood, a task that would have been time-consuming and arduous
in the harsh environment of the wilderness. Secondly, a primary purpose of
kindling fire was to cook meals, an equally labour-intensive
chore. It was God’s good wish for the people to rest completely on the seventh
day, unfettered by their usual work routines.
3.2.4 Setting out the
showbread
Along with
giving instructions for the building of the tabernacle, God told Moses to make
a table of acacia wood, overlaid with gold, to place inside the holy place (Ex
25:23–30; 40:22–23). This was for the showbread:
“And you
shall take fine flour and bake twelve cakes with it. Two-tenths of an ephah shall be in each cake. You shall set them in two
rows, six in a row, on the pure table before the Lord. And you shall put pure
frankincense on each row, that it may be on the bread
for a memorial, an offering made by fire to the Lord. Every Sabbath [Aaron]
shall set it in order before the Lord continually, being taken from the
children of Israel by an everlasting covenant.”
Leviticus
24:5–8
Another
name for the showbread was the “bread of the Presence” (Ex 25:30,
RSV)—literally, bread set out in the presence of God. It was to be made with
the finest flour offered up by the people. On each Sabbath day, fresh showbread
was to be set out on the table, while the previous batch was to be eaten by
Aaron and his sons in a holy place (Lev 24:9). In this way, the showbread would
be an offering pleasing to God and an important symbol of communion between God
and man, and between man and man.
3.2.5 Burnt and drink
offerings
God
instructed the priests to make a special burnt offering and drink offering on
the Sabbath, in addition to the daily sacrifices (see Num 28:3–8): “And on the
Sabbath day two lambs in their first year, without blemish, and two-tenths of
an ephah of fine flour as a grain offering, mixed
with oil, with its drink offering—this is the burnt offering for every Sabbath,
besides the regular burnt offering with its drink offering” (Num 28:9–10). This
doubling of offerings emphasized the special nature of the day.
3.2.6 No ploughing
or harvesting
Prior to
their entry into Canaan, God commanded the people, “Six days you shall work,
but on the seventh day you shall rest; in plowing time and in harvest you shall
rest” (Ex 34:21). Life for the Israelites would change upon their arrival in
the promised land: they would finally be able to
settle down and farm the land. Nevertheless, God made it clear that, even
during the two most crucial and busy times in the agricultural calendar—the
seasons of ploughing and harvesting—the people were
not to neglect the holy Sabbath.
3.2.7 No burden-bearing and
trading
Later on,
during the ministry of the prophet Jeremiah (circa 627–580 BC), God stipulated a prohibition relating to
the carrying of burdens. “Thus says the Lord: ‘Take heed to yourselves, and
bear no burden on the Sabbath day, nor bring it in by the gates of Jerusalem;
nor carry a burden out of your houses on the Sabbath day, nor do any work, but
hallow the Sabbath day, as I commanded your fathers’ ” (Jer 17:21–22).
This
prohibition was linked to trading, for we learn that the Jews had been doing
business with the merchants coming into Jerusalem on the Sabbath day. It led to
God issuing this severe warning through Jeremiah: “But if you will not heed Me
to hallow the Sabbath day, such as not carrying a burden when entering the
gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath day, then I will kindle a fire in its gates,
and it shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem, and it shall not be quenched”
(Jer 17:27).
It was
unfortunate that the people chose not to heed God’s words, for the judgment was
realized in 586 BC, whereby the city of
Jerusalem and the temple were destroyed by the Babylonians. Later on, a new
generation of Jews began making the same mistake when they returned from exile.
Nehemiah responded swiftly by reinstating the Sabbath rest in order to prevent
further judgment coming upon the nation (Neh 10:31; 13:15–21).
3.3 Penalty for breaking
the Sabbath
God’s
requirement was for His people to stop all routine work and to rest on the
Sabbath. He set out this principle clearly in the Fourth Commandment (Ex 20:10;
Deut 5:14). However, because of the wayward nature of some, He had to stipulate
a severe judgment—the death penalty—to deter wilful
transgression:
“You
shall keep the Sabbath, therefore, for it is holy to you. Everyone who profanes
it shall surely be put to death; for whoever does any work on it, that person
shall be cut off from among his people. Work shall be done for six days, but
the seventh is the Sabbath of rest, holy to the Lord. Whoever does any work on
the Sabbath day, he shall surely be put to death. 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
31:14–17
In the
Book of Numbers, we learn of an unfortunate occasion where this judgment had to
be enacted. It records how, during the course of the wilderness journey, a man
was caught collecting sticks one Sabbath day and was brought before Moses.
Now while
the children of Israel were in the wilderness, they found a man gathering sticks
on the Sabbath day. And those who found him gathering sticks brought him to
Moses and Aaron, and to all the congregation. They put
him under guard, because it had not been explained what should be done to him.
Then the Lord said to Moses, “The man must surely be put to death; all the congregation shall stone him with stones outside the
camp.” So, as the Lord commanded Moses, all the
congregation brought him outside the camp and stoned him with stones, and he
died.
Numbers 15:32–36
From this
incident, we gain some important insights. Firstly, we see that God required
the seventh day rest to be observed in an absolutely faithful manner, and His
nature was such that He could not overlook a deliberate act of sin. Secondly,
the severity of the punishment was undoubtedly meant to deter the spread of
insubordination. Thirdly, we come to understand God’s capacity to dispense
kindness and severity in equal measure, bringing to mind the sober warning of
the apostle Paul: “Therefore consider the goodness and severity of God: on
those who fell, severity; but toward you, goodness, if you continue in His
goodness. Otherwise, you also will be cut off” (Rom 11:22).
3.4 Conclusion
Starting
from the time of the exodus, God gave the Israelites a number of Sabbath
regulations to promote the sanctity of the day and to reinforce the requirement
to rest. However, it is debatable whether He meant all of them to be
implemented for the duration of the Old Testament period. This is because some
of the regulations appeared to be circumstance and time-specific. There were
those, for example, that seemed to be targeted at the nomadic period, and
others, to the settlement period. However, there were some regulations that
were obviously of a more enduring nature, such as those to do with the
showbread and the offerings. These would have been implemented for as long as
there was a physical temple in which the people could worship. Nevertheless,
once Jesus Christ died, resurrected and established His spiritual temple—the
church (Eph 2:19–22; Heb 8:2, 5)—even these ceremonial practices became
unnecessary. This was because, by that time, the shadow had passed, to be
replaced by the true substance (Heb 10:1).
© January 2012 True Jesus Church.