The Sabbath

In its many occurrences in the Bible the verb š-b-t refers explicitly to rest on the Sabbath. In the creation story, at the beginning of the Bible, we read that on the seventh day God ‘rested’ (Gen. 2:2) from his work of creation There are also many passages where the same verb is used simply for ‘to rest’ or ‘to cease’ without any reference to the Sabbath, For example,

‘As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will nevercease.’ Genesis 8:22

This need for rest underpins much of what the Bible talks about but there are essential ways of understanding this rest.

Origin of the Word ‘Sabbath’

The Akkadians were are a people living in southern Mesopotamia around 2350–2150 B.C. Sargon was their ruler who united several Sumerian kingdoms under his control. His capital was the city of Akkad. The ancient Babylonian dynasty followed after this dynasty. Abraham (around 2000 B.C.) lived in Ur, an ancient Babylonian city, but he then moved first to Haran and then to Canaan. Consequently he must have been influenced by Babylonian ideas and practices.

The Akkadians, like most people of that time, used the moon cycles for their chronology. The appearance of a new moon would be the beginning of a new month. The full moon was on the 15th day and that was taken as a time of rest and possibly celebration. This word ‘Shapattum’ is just the name of the 15th day of the lunar month in Akkadian and is also used to indicate a period of 15 days. There is no evidence that this day or period was used as a time of rest.

The root Akkadian and Babylonian words for ‘rest’ and ‘seven’ are similar. The Babylonians and Assyrians did not have a week in the sense that we are using for this word, namely a fixed and repeating cycle of seven days, nor did they have anything really comparable with the Jewish Sabbath. They did however have several schemes for dividing their lunar months into periods of a fixed number of days, defined by the phases on the moon: new moon, first quarter, full moon and third quarter. One of these schemes involves a set of special names for the first, seventh and fifteenth day of any month. The first day was called arḫu, which is the ordinary word for ‘moon’, ‘month’, and also ‘first day of the lunar month’. This word was related to the word for ‘moon, month’ in most other Semitic languages. The seventh day was called sebūtu, which is obviously derived from the word sebet which meant the number ‘seven’ and some suggest that this is the origin of the word ‘sabbath’. In ancient Babylonia, the Akkadian word shab/pattum corresponded to the fifteenth day of the month as a day of quieting God’s heart.

The Babylonians could have had a theoretical ‘day of rest’ but there is little evidence that people took any notice of these, One cuneiform text has been discovered furnishing, in parallel columns, synonyms or explanations of certain terms as follows:

“vm nukh libbi = shabattum”

This, literally translated, would be: "

“Day of rest of the heart = shabattum” (1)

However the idea that the Sabbath rest was a Babylonian concept is almost certainly untrue. One of the difficulties is the paucity of ancient material. Another problem is the dating of the scripts. All of the texts regarding the Babylonian ‘Sabbath’ as a day of rest are much later than Abraham’s period – being composed, at the very earliest, in the 12thcentury B.C. and likely into the first millenium B.C. It used to be argued that the Babylonian Sabbath must have existedat least as early as 1700 B.C., as it was originally thought that the Akkadian language became extinct then. Some early scholars tried to argue on this basis that the Babylonians had a distinct Sabbath or a day of rest but this is now doubted.Modern scholarship has shown that Akkadian persisted both as a written and spoken language until around 700 B.C. and as a written language until the first century A.D.. There may be a linguistic link between the Akkadian ‘Shapattum’ and the Hebrew ‘sh.b.t’ but scholars today do not think there is a cultural relationship between the two concepts.

The Hebrew Sabbath also was intimately connected with the changes and celebrations connected with the moon, indicating that the Sabbath had originally had its source in moon worship.

It was about 2000 B.C. that Abraham’s father, Terah and all his family emigrated from Ur in South Babylonia. We learn from cuneiform inscriptions, that Ur was the seat of the worship of the moon god. The other city mentioned in the Bible where Terah and his family lived for a while was Haran in Mesopotamia. This city was also the seat of the worship of the moon god, Sin.

So the first and second homes of the migrating ancestors of the Hebrews were places where the worship of the moon was especially cultivated, and where the Sabbath in a developed or germinal form may have been known.

It seems probable, therefore that the division of time based on the month is a very ancient pre-Mosaic institution not originating with the Israelites, but brought by them from South Babylonia. The The origin of a Sabbath rest for all people seems to have been introduced around 1400 B.C. when God spoke to Moses and gave the Ten Commandments.

The significance of ‘seven’

The ancient Babylonians, as later among the Israelites, regarded the number seven as especially prominent and sacred. Seven was the number of the spirits who came from the depths. The number of knots tied by the women who sat by the bedsides of their husbands to conjure the evil spirit was seven or twice seven. The mythical serpent mentioned in their hymns had seven heads, and their sacred tree had seven branches. There were seven gates to the underworld; seven or fourteen gods are mentioned frequently; there were seven evil spirits; cleansings or sprinklings were repeated seven times; seven planets were recognized, studied, and even held to be among the gods.

The number ‘seven’ is attributed to have a divine significance in many ancient civilisations. Thus the ancient buildings of the Naboteans, such as seen in their city of Petra, often had seven steps.

Multiples of seven do show up sometimes in these calendrical texts, and sometimes have work prohibitions associated with them. However that nearly every day of the month had prescriptions or instructions such as ‘joy/rest of the heart’ or ‘do not go outside’ associated with them at some point of the year. However it has been shown that the Babylonian population almost universally ignored, except when choosing thy to get married on. They would avoid getting married on unlucky days, their version of Friday the 13th, but would choose to get married on ‘lucky days’ There is no evidence that any day of the month was a rest from trade.

There is one cuneiform tablet about the intercalary month of Elul. This month was inserted into the calendar when the lunar months became unsynchronised with the farming year because the lunar year was short by six days compared to the solar year.. We read in this tablet that the seventh, fourteenth, nineteenth, twenty-first and twenty-eighth days were Sabbaths. Directions are given in this tablet for the observance of the day by the ‘ruler of the great nations’ and on these days he must not eat certain kinds of food, nor change his garments, nor offer sacrifices. Furthermore the riding on a chariot and issuing of royal decrees was forbidden. It was not proper on these Sabbaths for a person to curse someone or for an augur to mutter his divinations. This tablet shows us only the nature of these Sabbaths that the diviners suggest are kept by the king and priests. An examination of the Elul Calendar shows that the word that was used for the ‘unlawful day’, ‘dies nefastus’, is Akkadian but it is now thought that this tablet was written after the time of Moses. Consequently the significance of this to what happened is ancient Babylon is dubious.

It is therefore clear that much of the ‘month’ of the Babylonians resembled the Hebrew ‘month’ of the Levitical law. Each month was begun with the feast of the new moon. The Arabs also greeted the new moon well before they received their practice of the Sabbath from the Syrians much later. The Arab term for this time of monthly joy at the new moon was ‘ahalla’, which is connected with the Hebrew word for festal joy ‘hallel’. This strongly suggests that the greeting of the new moon was such an ancient and universal custom that the word used for that occasion became the common word for all festival rejoicing.

The Hebrew word for ‘oath’, ‘she•vu•ah,’ is closely related to the number seven, ‘she•va’. The first time ‘she•va.’ is mentioned is in the first chapter of Genesis. From this moment on, it became the key for major landmarks of the Jewish life cycle. Words such as Sabbath (‘Sha•bat’); a week (‘sha•vu•ah’); and Pentecost (‘sha•vu•ot’) are all related to the number seven, along with many more. ‘Sha•vu•ot’ is the holiday of Pentecost which is celebrated a day after counting seven weeks from Passover. You can’t miss the double seven here! The ‘Pente’ in Pentecost relates to the 50th day (7×7+1) after Passover when the Pentecost is celebrated.

In Hebrew the word ‘'to swear,’ means ‘to be bound by the holy seven.’ and is considered holy, as well as being very binding. A famous oath was made by Abraham and Abimelech where Abraham reinforced the oath with a gift of seven lambs. The oath was to testify Abraham’s ownership of a well of water. Abraham named the place where the oath was taken ‘Beersheba,’ today a major city in Israel. This name means: ‘the well of the seven’ (Genesis 21:22-32).

When Joshua besieged Jericho we read that seven priests, blowing seven trumpets were to lead God’s people around the city for seven days. It was on the seventh day they marched around the city seven times. It was only then that the walls collapsed and the city was taken.

Is it a coincidence that the word ‘she•vu•ah’ (oath) is mentioned in the Bible seven times - twice in the Old Testament and five times in the New Testament?

Meaning of ‘Sabbath’ in the Old Testament.

The theory that there was an intimate connection of the moon with the religious observances of the ancestors of the Hebrews, explains why many passages in the Bible refer to the observance of the moon. The many places where new moons and Sabbaths are mentioned together would suggest, that Sabbaths and the course of the moon had had at some time a very close connection. The Hebrew word for month is חודש (Khodesh) contains the root חד”ש meaning ‘new’. Each month began with the feast of the New Moon.

It is plain also that the full moons had a religious significance to the Hebrews. The only month they knew was the lunar month. Their year was twelve lunar months or 354 days, and began with the new moon just preceding the ripening of the barley. The first sheaves were carried to the altar at the feast of the Passover, which was on the first full moon of the year (Leviticus 23:9-14). When, because of the shorter lunar year, the first full moon seemed likely to come before the barley was ripe, an extra month was inserted into the calendar. The cycles of time were regulated by the moon rather than by the sun. This was the case with their feasts and their periods of sowing and reaping which were intimately connected.

The first full moon of the year was at the beginning of the harvest. This was the Passover, on the fourteenth of Abib or Nisan, when the Passover lamb was slaughtered so that God’s people could be freed from their captivity (Exodus 12:I6,18; Joshua 5:10). The Passover was to be a day of rest and was therefore a Sabbath. In connection with the fact that the Passover was celebrated when the moon was full suggests that it was a nocturnal feast. The supper was in theevening (Exodus 16:12)

“And you will sing as on the night you celebrate a holy festival,” Isaiah 30:29

“I will stop all her celebrations, her yearly festivals, her New Moons her Sabbaths days.” Hosea 2:I I:

These verses indicate that the nights following these feasts were passed in singing, and merriment. There was clearly an understanding that what God required was not just an outward adherence to the religious rules but hearts who seek God. Thus King Hezekiah prayed for those who were ritually unclean,

“May the LORD, who is good, pardon everyone who sets his heart on seeking God – the LORD, the God of his fathers – even if he is not clean according to the rules of the sanctuary.” 2 Chronicles 30:18-19

That the new moon was also observed as a festival among the Hebrews is shown by many Biblical passages. The tabernacle was to be set up on the first day of the first month (Exodus 40: 2, 17). The New Moon feasts and other appointed festivals were to be greeted with blasts from trumpets (Numbers 10:10). In David’s conversation with Jonathan he repeatedly mentions the ‘New Moon Feast’ that they all celebrated (I Samuel 20: 5, I8, 24, 27). In the Psalms both the Full Moon and the New Moon are described as God’s ordinances that had been observed at least since the time of captivity in Egypt.

“Sound the ram’s horn at the New Moon, and when the moon is full, on the day of our feast; this is the decree for Israel, an ordinance of the God of Jacob.” Psalms 81:3

There were special offerings both for the Sabbaths and whenever there was a new moon.

“On the Sabbath day, make an offering of two lambs a year old, without defect . . . On the first of every month, present to the Lord a burnt offering of two young bulls, one ram and seven male lambs a year old, all without defect.” Numbers 28:9,11

The time of the new moon was an occasion for special events,

On the first day of the seventh month hold a sacred assembly and do not do any of your ordinary work.” Numbers 29:1

The New moon and the Sabbaths were connected in the thought and religious observances of the Hebrews. When the son of the Shunammite woman that Elisha had stayed with suddenly died, she wanted his urgent presence, She asked her husband,

“ ‘Please send me one of the servants and a donkey so I can go to the man of God quickly and return.’ ‘Why go to him today?’ he asked. ‘It’s not the New Moon or the Sabbath.’” 2 Kings 4:22-23

In the days of Solomon the duty of the Levites was to organise the temple worship:

“They were also to stand every morning to thank and praise the LORD. They were to do the same in the evening and whenever burnt offerings were presented to the LORD on the Sabbaths, and at New Moon feasts and at appointed festivals.” 1 Chronicles 23:30-31

King Solomon wrote to the king of Tyre asking for help in building the temple,

“. . . for making burnt offerings every morning and evening and on the Sabbaths, at the New Moons and at the appointed festivals of the LORD our God.” 2 Chronicles 2:4

“Solomon sacrificed burnt offerings to the LORD, according to the daily requirement for offerings commanded by Moses for the Sabbaths, the New Moons and the three annual festivals – the Festival of Unleavened Bread, the Festival of Weeks and the Festival of Tabernacles.” 2 Chronicles 8:12-13, 31:3

The prophet Isaiah acknowledged that these outward religious practices were continuing up to the days of the Babylonian exile, but he adds what God thought of them!

“‘The multitude of your sacrifices – what are they to me?’ says the LORD. ‘I have more than enough of burnt offerings, of rams and the fat of fattened animals; I have no pleasure in the blood of bulls and lambs and goats. . . . stop bringing meaningless offerings! Your incense is detestable to me. New Moons, Sabbaths and convocations – I cannot bear your worthless assemblies. Your New Moon Feasts and your appointed festivals I hate with all my being.’” Isaiah 1:11-14

Any religious practices, even those arranged by God are worthless if people’s hearts are not right with God. What God foresees will be when all people will come and worship him every day.

“‘From one new moon to another and from one Sabbath to another, all mankind will come and bow down before me,’ says the LORD.” Isaiah 66:23

By the time of exile in Babylon in the sixth century BC Ezekiel looked forwards to the day when these festivals, the sabbath and the New Moon festivals, would be called ‘times of worship’ when God’s people would gather together in the temple,

“On the Sabbaths and the New Moons the people are to worship in the presence of the LORD at the entrance of that gateway.” Ezekiel 46: 3

All these religious festivals were to be celebrated after the Children of Israel returned from exile in Babylon.

“It will be the duty of the prince to provide the burnt offerings, grain offerings and drink offerings at the festivals, the New Moons and the Sabbaths – at all the appointed festivals of Israel.” Ezekiel 45:17

Before the Babylonian exile, in the 8th century B.C., these festivals did continue but not the people’s commitment to their God.

“I will expose her lewdness . . . I will stop all her celebrations: her yearly festivals, her New Moons, her Sabbath days – all her appointed festivals. . . . but me she forgot.” Hosea 2:10-11

The prophet Amos, who also lived in the 8th century B.C. was also scathing about people keeping the religious festivals but neglecting what they should represent.

“I hate, I despise your religious feasts; I cannot stand your assemblies. Even though you bring me burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them. . . . Away with the noise of your songs! I will not listen to the music of your harps.” Amos 5:21-23

The many places where new moons and Sabbaths are mentioned together are significant. Throughout the entire pre-exilic literature, the Sabbath occupies only the second place alongside of the New Moon, which are always mentioned first and foremost as days of rest. There were other purposes such as assembling, sacrificing and of feasting but rest from work was the major feature.

The chief point in the observance of the Sabbath from earliest times appears to be rest. It is probable that this was an important element in the Sabbath of the Akkadians and in that of the ancestors of the Hebrews. The earliest records we have of the Sabbath show that the element of rest was invariably connected with it. In the last part of the eighth century B.C. all work was still was suspended on the Sabbath but the hearts of the people remained far from God. People were saying

“ ‘When will the New Moon be over that we may sell grain, and the Sabbath be ended that we may market wheat.?’ - skimping the measure, boosting the price and cheating with dishonest scales, buying the poor with silver and the needy with a pair of sandals, selling even the sweepings with the wheat.” Amos 8:5-6

Around 6oo B.C., Jeremiah wrote,

“Be careful not to carry a load on the Sabbath day or bring it through the gates of Jerusalem . . . but keep the Sabbath holy by not doing any work on it then . . .” Jeremiah 17:21-27).

The ‘Sabbath’ during the Babylonian exile

In the exile period Sabbath keeping became a mark of fidelity among the Jews and its observance was strictly insisted upon. It became much more than a day of rest becoming a day when it was essential to attend the newly established local synagogue. So the Sabbath came to be more a day of worship and spiritual meditation than formerly. Isaiah said that God looked forward to a day when living God’s way and not speaking idle words would be a feature of those living in the day of rest.

“If you keep your feet from breaking the Sabbath and from doing as you please on my holy day, if you call the Sabbath a delight and the LORD’s day honourable, and if you honour it by not going your own way and not doing as you please or speaking idle words, then you will find your joy in the LORD, and I will cause you to ride in triumph on the heights of the land and to feast on the inheritance of your father Jacob.’ For the mouth of the LORD has spoken.” Isaiah 58:13-14

After the exile, the Sabbath seems to retain this strictness. Nehemiah was aghast when he saw people breaking the Sabbath rules.

“In those days I saw people in Judah treading winepresses on the Sabbath and bringing in grain and loading it on donkeys, together with wine, grapes, figs and all other kinds of loads. And they were bringing all this into Jerusalem on the Sabbath. Therefore I warned them against selling food on that day. People from Tyre who lived in Jerusalem were bringing in fish and all kinds of merchandise and selling them in Jerusalem on the Sabbath to the people of Judah. I rebuked the nobles of Judah and said to them, “What is this wicked thing you are doing—desecrating the Sabbath day? Didn’t your ancestors do the same things, so that our God brought all this calamity on us and on this city? Now you are stirring up more wrath against Israel by desecrating the Sabbath.” Nehemiah 13:15-18

He then made it a criminal offence to break the Sabbath rules.

The ‘Sabbath’ under the Maccabeesi (2)

The original conquest of Jerusalem by Alexander the Great’s general Ptolemy Lagos had been facilitated by the Jews’ refusal to fight on their holy day. In 320 B.C.E. Ptolemy I “Soter” approached the city under the pretext that he only wished to offer sacrifices in the Temple; but he then seized it without resistance from the Sabbath-observance natives. The Greek historian Agatharchides of Cnidus cited this episode, concluding from it, “that experience taught the whole world—except for that nation—the lesson not to resort to dreams and traditional fancies about the law.”

Judah Maccabee and his followers were not the first Jewish faction to take up arms against Antiochus Epiphanes, the Greek king who ruled the Seleucid Empire, btween 175 B.C. and 164 B.C.. and his anti-Jewish edicts. According to the Book of Maccabees, a previous contingent of militant Jewish families escaped from Jerusalem and went into hiding in the wilderness. The Greek forces tracked them down and encamped opposite them, prepared to attack them on the Sabbath day. Those devout Jews announced that they preferred to place their faith in divine protection rather than desecrate the Sabbath by hurling rocks or fortifying their hiding places on the sacred day of rest—“for they said: Let us all die with clear consciences; heaven and earth testify for us that you are killing us unjustly.” Their faith resulted in the slaughter of a thousand pious and trusting Jews.

According to the Second Book of Maccabees the same tactic was again employed in 168 B.C.E. by Antiochus’ general Apollonius who entered Jerusalem under the guise of a delegation negotiating peace; but when the Sabbath arrived his force of 22,000 mercenaries perpetrated a sneak attack on the unwary and unarmed populace who thought they were watching a military parade. Apollonius, however, set to massacring all the adult males and enslaving the women and children.

Mattathias the Hasmonean and his sons were among the survivors of that treacherous operation, and their decision to wage war on the Sabbath was a response to it. They realized that the spiritual zeal that is normally expressed in the scrupulous observance of Sabbath restrictions would ultimately be their undoing if there were no Jews left to carry out God’s law. For this reason they issued an unprecedented declaration:

“Let us fight against anyone who comes to attack us on the Sabbath day; let us not all die as our kindred died in their hiding places.”

This idea was later articulated by Simeon ben Menasya in the Talmud who expounded the verse “And the children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath to observe the Sabbath” as teaching: “you should desecrate one Sabbath so as to allow the observance of many Sabbaths.”

In 63 B.C.E. the Roman general Pompey took advantage of the internecine civil war between the Hasmonean rivals Hyrcanus II and Aristobulus II, using it as the occasion to capture Jerusalem. However, his construction of siege towers outside the walls was hindered by the constant harassment by the Jews inside the city. Eventually, Pompey realized that the most effective strategy would be to concentrate his construction activities on Saturdays because the Jews did not allow themselves to violate the Sabbath for strategic purposes that did not involve direct combat. In this way the Romans were eventually able to erect their towers and siege engines without interference, allowing Pompey to enter Jerusalem and thereby perpetrate a massacre of the city’s inhabitants with minimal losses to his own forces. This brought an end to a century of Jewish independence under the Hasmonean dynasty.

Clearly keeping the Sabbath Law was not a way of ensuring God’s help and protection.

The ‘Sabbath’ in Genesis

It is significant that in Genesis chapter 1 the days are not given names, only numbers one to seven. The seventh day was very different because there was no further work of creation on that day.

“By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creation that he had done.” Genesis 2:2-3

It is as if God wanted man to have a day of rest on every seventh day. It was the rest from work and not the day that was holy. Although the prime focus of the Sabbath was to rest, in remembrance that God had created us and his world, there was later a reminder that it was also to be used for corporate meetings. The appointed feasts of the people were also for meeting together.

“These are my appointed feast, the appointed feasts of the LORD, which you are to proclaim as sacred assemblies. There are six days when you may work, but the seventh is a sabbath of rest, a day of sacred assembly.” Genesis 23:3

That a day of rest from ordinary work was the initial intention is made clear from the need for Sabbath years. Every seventh year the fields were to be allowed to rest and not to be farmed. The people would live on the excess of the sixth year’s harvest and any crops growing spontaneously.

“For six years you are to sow your fields and harvest the crops, but during the seventh year let the land lie unplowed and unused. Then the poor among your people may get food from it, and the wild animals may eat what is left. Do the same with your vineyard and your olive grove.” Exodus 23:10-11

In the sabbath year, each field was to lie fallow, at rest, which appears to be a sound agricultural practice. Leviticus 25 again ordains a sabbath year, one in every seven (Leviticus 25:1-7), but adds a jubilee year, one in every fifty (7 times 7, plus one), to sanctify Israel’s internal economy (Leviticus 25:8-17).

The importance of ‘rest’.

In 1793 the French Revolutionaries decreed the seven-day week was to be totally abandoned, and each month was to be divided into three ten day periods, with the last day of each decade being a rest day. Each day of the new ten day week was given a new name - that of an animal, a tree or flower. This new calendar, however, never caught on. It was widely used for a time in conducting the affairs of State, but the ordinary people found it hard to change from the Gregorian system they were long accustomed to. One of the main complaints was that they now had only one day off in ten, instead of one in seven. The experiment was finally abandoned on January 1st, 1806, when the Emperor Napoleon proclaimed that henceforth the Gregorian calendar would be used throughout the French states. Similar attempts were also made to introduce a ten day week both in ancient Egypt and for a short time in Russia after their revolution, but these also failed.

A lack of rest has many detrimental consequences. For example, sleep is increasingly recognized as important to public health, with sleep insufficiency linked to motor vehicle crashes, industrial disasters, and medical and other occupational errors. Individuals who experience a lack of sleep are also more likely to suffer from chronic diseases such as hypertension, diabetes, depression, and obesity, as well as from cancer, increased mortality, and reduced quality of life and productivity. The National Institutes of Health suggests that school-age children need at least 10 hours of sleep daily, teens need 9-10 hours, and adults need 7-8 hours. However, because of demanding work schedules, 24-hour television and constant access to electronic technologies, most individuals are getting far less than what is needed to rest and be replenished.(3)

Meaning of ‘Sabbath’ in the New Testament

The New Testament is written in Greek. The most common Greek word for ‘week’ is ‘hebdomas’, ἑβδομάς, a classical word for ‘group of seven’. But occasionally the ‘week’ is called ‘sabbaton’, σάββατον. This is clearly the case in Luke 18:12, the story of the pious tax collector and the hypocritical Pharisee, where the latter says that he fasts δὶς τοῦ σαββάτου, which must mean ‘twice a week’, not ‘twice on the Sabbath’. The names of the week days from Sunday to Thursday are formed from the cardinal or (more commonly) ordinal numbers plus the genitive σαββάτων. For example, in Matthew 28:1 μία σαββάτων ‘Sunday’, is usually understood as ‘(day) one of the week’, although it could also be understood to mean ‘(day) one of the (cycle of) Sabbaths’.

In the early days of the Christian church, there were some sincere Jewish Christians who were trying to impose the keeping of these festivals on the early Christians. The apostles vehemently opposed these restrictions. Paul wrote,

“Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day. These were a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ.” Colossians 2:16-17

This was not how the apostles understood the Sabbath. Or other festivals. They were pictures of the gospel of Jesus Christ and nothing more. Many people were by then becoming Christians from Gentile backgrounds and the early church leaders became convinced that these Christians must not be obliged to follow Jewish law. This first Council of apostles decreed,

“It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us not to burden you with anything beyond the following requirements: you are to abstain from food offered to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals and from sexual immorality. You will do well to avoid these things.” Acts 15:28-29

It is significant that neither circumcision nor Sabbath observance nor ‘unclean foods’ were included. What seemed to be the concern was not to provoke unnecessarily an unhelpful reaction from the Jews whom they were trying to reach with the gospel.

There always have been groups of Christians who have similarly suggested that it is more spiritual to keep certain religious rules such as some form of Sabbath observance, abstaining from shellfish or any animal foods. Such rules tend to separate those Christians from others in the world they are called to reach. It seems that their religious observances are more a priority than fulfilling the Lord’s commission. I was once asked to help arbitrate a split in a Polish church where the elders were insisting that the women wear hats to church!

Jesus’ view of the Sabbath

This is very important. Jesus repeatedly undermined the religious view of the Sabbath where no work or related activities were allowed. He deliberately healed people on the sabbath, so antagonising the religious Pharisees. It is significant that Jesus performed seven miracles on Sabbath days:

1. Simon Peter’s Mother-in-Law Matthew 8:14-15 Mark 1:29-31 Luke 4:38-39

2. The man with a withered hand Matthew 12:9-13 Mark 3:1-6 Luke 6:6-11

3. The man born blind John 9:1-16

4. The crippled woman Luke 13:10-17

5. The man with Dropsy Luke 14:1-6

6. The man in the synagogue with an evil spirit Mark 1:21-28, John 4:31-36

7. The lame man by the pool of Bethesda John 5:1-18

The Pharisees conclusion was clear,

“This man is not from God, for he does not keep the Sabbath.” John 9:16

Yet Jesus kept insisting that they had misunderstood the significance of the Sabbath.

On one occasion Jesus and his disciples were walking through some cornfields and his disciples picked some ears of corn, presumably to chew on as they were hungry.

“The Pharisees said to him, ‘Look, why are they doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath?’ He answered, ‘Have you not read what David did when he and his companions were hungry and in need? In the days of Abiathar the High Priest he entered the house of God and ate the consecrated bread, which is lawful only for priests to eat. And he also gave some to his companions.” Mark 2:24-26

Jesus then added a classic statement that should control our thinking about the significance of the day of rest,

“The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.” Mark 2:27-28

The day of rest was given by God for our benefit. Its strict observance should never be made into a means of pleasing or satisfying God.

Jesus and the apostles continued to attend the local synagogues wherever they went to but as the differences between the gospel and Judaism became more apparent, the Christians were no longer welcome. Furthermore many Gentiles were joining the church and they were not welcome to attend the local synagogue either. The early Christians wanted to meet to hear what Jesus had taught his apostles and to remember his death on the cross so that they come to be acceptable to God. It is therefore no surprise that new plans had to be thought up. Thus when Paul visited Ephesus he spoke boldly in the synagogue for three months,

“But some of them became obstinate; they refused to believe and publicly maligned the way. So Paul left them. He took the disciples with him and had discussions daily in the lecture hall of Tyrannus.” Acts 19:9

We read that on his way back from his second missionary journey he met the Christians in Troas where,

“On the first day of the week we came together to break bread. Paul spoke to the people . . .” Acts 20:7

The phrase ‘break bread’ probably meant they had a meal together but it may be that at this meal they remembered the death of the Lord Jesus on their behalf. It does suggest however that the Christians no longer felt obligated to meet together on the Sabbath.

The ‘Sabbath’ meaning for Christians

The meaning of the Sabbath for Christians is made clear in the book of Hebrews. The Sabbath was a symbol for the ultimate day of rest that Christians experience in the presence of God.

“Therefore, since the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us be careful that none of you be found to have fallen short of it. For we also have had the good news proclaimed to us, just as they did; but the message they heard was of no value to them, because they did not share the faith of those who obeyed. Now we who have believed enter that rest, just as God has said, “So I declared on oath in my anger, ‘They shall never enter my rest.’” Hebrews 4:1-3

The day of rest is a state that all true Christians should be enjoying now. Those who reject the rule of Christ can never experience this rest. Just as God ceased from his creating work on the Sabbath day, so all Christians cease from trying to impress God by how we behave but come to rest on the finished work of the Lord Jesus on our behalf. He is our rest and our salvation. What a terrible state to be in. Yet there are some people who are trying to live in a way that will make them acceptable to God but have never come to enter Chris’t’s kingdom of rest for themselves,

“They shall never enter my rest.” Hebrews 4:5

This state of rest and security, of being in a relationship with God through Christ, is to be cherished and shared above all else. The writer to the Hebrews continued to urge people to act immediately and enter the rest God has prepared for them,

“Therefore since it still remains for some to enter that rest, and since those who formerly had the good news proclaimed to them did not go in because of their disobedience, God again set a certain day, calling it “Today.” This he did when a long time later he spoke through David, as in the passage already quoted: “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.” Hebrews 4:6-7

This understanding of the Sabbath is so important. The promised Land that Joshua entered was to be a picture of the eternal promised land God has prepared for all his people. The writer continued,

“For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken later about another day. There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; for anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from their works, just as God did from his. Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will perish by following their example of disobedience. Hebrews 4:8-11

The promise of God, given in Scripture, is clear. We all instinctively know whether we are experiencing that security through being forgiven our sin against God and know that peace and rest he offers us in the midst of all the trials and problems we now face in this world.

“For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. 13 Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.” Hebrews 4:12-13

God knows where we are standing and welcomes us all to experience his Sabbath rest today.

Commitments of Christians

Does this mean that there are no rules for all Christians? Yes it does, there are no rules. However there are principles we must follow. Just as in a marriage there are principles that must be followed by both people if the marriage is to work. We must consider how to please our partner. So it is with the Lord Jesus. How can we get to know him better and effectively fulfil what he has chosen us for if we take the relationship for granted. We need get to know our Bibles. How we all need the encouragement of other believers. If we refuse to get to know the Word of God, refuse to pray and involve our Lord in all we are doing how can our relationship with him grow? If we refuse to meet up with other Christians, to learn, to encourage them and to be encouraged, we will soon drift in our relationship with our Lord and his people. After Pentecost the new believers met to be taught by the apostles what Jesus had taught them, and they met every day! Timothy was reminded that the greatest need was for Christians to be taught the word of God so we can know God’s mind. Church rules are no substitute for understanding the Bible.

“In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I give you this charge: Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction. For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry.” 2 Timothy 4:1-5

It was to encourage other believers that Christians need to keep meeting up with others.

“… not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching” Hebrews 10:25

In this passage, the Greek word used for assembling is “episynagoge,” which suggests an official meeting. This meeting would include worship, prayer, reading, teaching, hearing, and studying the Word. Our priority now is to know the Lord Jesus as well as we can and then live our lives in a way that honours him, as a day is approaching when we will have to give an account for the decisions we have made.

Old Testament Sabbath rules have been replaced by something much better, a close relationship with God himself. We can understand why the Judaising Christians wanted to keep rules as the basis for the church but, as Jesus taught us, new wine cannot be stored in old wineskins.

BVP

Sept 2022

I Rawlinson, PI. 32, Nr I, 16 = Cuneiform Texts from Babylonian Tablets, etc., in the British Museum, Part XVIII, PI. 23, 17 (K. 4397).

2 Information taken from https://people.ucalgary.ca/~elsegal/Shokel/191220_Rest-Resistance.html

3 Institute of Medicine. 2006. ‘ Sleep Disorders and Sleep Deprivation: An Unmet Public Health Problem.’ Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.