Sabbath Commandment

The Sabbath Commandment

In this section we will look more deeply at the 4th Commandment. It includes the two sections of the Ten Commandment list, in Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5.

The Hebrew definition for key words is presented. Then we look at grace from the Commandment’s perspective. We conclude the Commandment with a prayer consideration.

The Hebrew definitions comes from, “Strong’s Concordance.”

Exodus 20

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 slave, or your female slave, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. For in six days the LORD made heaven and 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.

When Israel was about to enter the Promised Land Moses rehearsed all their history and God’s Law for them. In Deuteronomy 5 he repeated the Ten Commandments. However, he changed the reason for observing the 7th day Sabbath.

Deuteronomy 5

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 a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter or your male slave or your female slave, or your ox or your donkey or any of your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates, that your male slave and your female slave may rest as well as you. You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the LORD your God brought you out from there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore the LORD your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day.

We appreciate the Sabbath because it commemorates God’s creation, and what it entails. That’s a lot to consider and we can see why it needs to be weekly. We are dense and slowly come to a proper appreciation of God’s role in our lives.

As we investigate how creative God is we have a deeper level of appreciation to envelop ourselves with. He not only creates us, but also creates us for liberty! We really have no clue as to how much freedom God wants us to have until Jesus showed us during His 3 plus years of ministry. He lived in the reality of the Sabbath’s message and calls us into it. He showed us grace on steroids is the normal Kingdom of God way.

There are several key words to look at.

For the creation purpose of Sabbath observance, we have a few key words to define: remember, keep, rested, and blessed.

The Hebrew word for ‘Remember’, zakar, means remember, commemorate, consider, record, mention.

The Hebrew word for ‘Keep’, qadas, means to be holy, sacred, consecrated.

The Hebrew word for ‘Rested’, nuah, means settle, rest, wait.

The Hebrew word for ‘Blessed’, barak, means pronounce blessings, give praise, give thanks, extol.

In Exodus 20, putting the definitions in parentheses, next to the words, we have:

Remember (remember, commemorate, consider, record, mention) the Sabbath day, to keep (to be holy, sacred, consecrated) 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 slave, or your female slave, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested (settle, rest, wait) on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed (pronounce blessings, give praise, give thanks, extol) the Sabbath day and made it holy.

For the liberty purpose of Sabbath observance, we have these key words: Observe, remember, servant, keep.

Observe – samar – to keep, watch, observe, guard

Remember -zakar – remember, commemorate, consider, record, mention.

Servant – ebed – servant, slave, attendant.

Keep – samar – to keep, watch, observe, guard

In Deuteronomy 5, putting the definitions in parentheses, next to the words, we have:

Observe (to keep, watch, observe, guard) the Sabbath day, to keep (to keep, watch, observe, guard) it holy, as the LORD your God commanded you. 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 or your male slave or your female slave, or your ox or your donkey or any of your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates, that your male slave and your female slave may rest as well as you. You shall remember (remember, commemorate, consider, record, mention) that you were a slave (servant, slave, attendant) in the land of Egypt, and the LORD your God brought you out from there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore the LORD your God commanded you to keep (to keep, watch, observe, guard) the Sabbath day.

Prayer for Rest is larger than it seems. To put off labor and its roots in the brokenness of the world is really a week-long process. God is creating in your life an entrance into Edenic Sabbath observance. You have a goal this week; it takes clarity and courage to see it and focus on it. There is a lot of subtle cultural undertow that tries to suck you into the ocean of status quo chaos.

It’s more than the challenges of the world’s brokenness. There is an Enemy who has orchestrated a cultural slavery system to keep you in check and build his meaningless treasure houses. Are you really seeing this this week? Do you get the long-term implications?

Read the first 2 chapters of Exodus. See the rebellion in Israel against the status quo. It includes the words from Genesis 1, the creation account. Israel’s resistance fulfilled God's intended will for all of mankind - be fruitful, multiply and replenish the earth!

God honored Israel's initial drive for liberty in their core resistance. Sense the quest to live from the same context. There is a lot to pray for and implement. Pray every step until you see clearly what your faith challenge is. Plan to grow liberty in your life circle. Enlarge your circle of influence, bring the quest for Restful liberty into peoples' lives. This is how we can solidify peoples' salvation as the Enemy orchestrates his anti-God movements to an end-times crescendo!