Exodus 20:8 is the Third or Fourth Commandment that God gave to Moses on Mt. Sinai, depending on certain Cristian sects or Jews, respectively. The generally recognized text of Exodus 20:8 is as follows: “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.” Some who love God and who’ve comes across this Commandment may have wondered, ‘OK, Lord, so we’ll remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy. So, what is the Sabbath day, and how do we keep it holy?’ One thing at a time…
What is the Sabbath day? According to Exodus 20:10 it is a day that “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.” Why? Because Verse 11 says “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.” Because God rested from work on the seventh day and made it holy, we are to rest on every seventh day that comes around and treat it holy as well.
What is considered work in this context? As Exodus 20:10 alludes to, it is any undertaking engaged in for gain, profit and your own pleasure. Another way to look at it is any “work” that can be done on the first six days of the week and therefore should not be done on the Sabbath day. And as Exodus 20:10 also alludes to, this applies to anyone who may be associated with you as in your family or servants who may help you in your work in some way, and it applies to your objects of profit or of use in your work such as livestock. And this Commandment extends to anyone else who may be on your property.
Exodus 31:14 is a warning. It says, “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.” Questions may arise as to what you CAN do on the Sabbath? One of the things is to devote your time to God, including sharpening your understanding of Him and praying to him for good health for you and yours among other things.
‘But wait,’ you may ask. ‘Since God rested on the seventh day, would he acknowledge and respond to us on the Sabbath?’ Yes, God rested on the seventh day, but He didn’t make the seventh day the Sabbath for Himself personally. To be sure, Jesus says in Mark 2:27, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.” It was made for our rest. Arguably, one may wonder if God ever rested after the seventh day that He rested. Well, all the clerics and their congregations don’t appear to believe so since they use the Sabbath day to get His attention. Which is not a bad thing since he is a jealous God that craves attention as much of humanity has understood between what is in the Bible and how others act.
So what are some things we can do on the Sabbath, particularly what cannot wait until another day? We can help those who may need our help. In Matthew 12:9–14, Jesus restores a man’s withered hand on the Sabbath. When the Pharisees ask him how he is allowed to do such work on the Sabbath, he responds in Verses 11 and 12, “Which one of you who has a sheep, if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will not take hold of it and lift it out? Of how much more value is a man than a sheep! So it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.”
In another instance, in Luke 13:10–17, Jesus frees a woman from her disability on the Sabbath. And here again he is criticized to doing so on the Sabbath. His response? In Verses 15 and 16 he says, “You hypocrites! Does not each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from the manger and lead it away to water it? And ought not this woman, a daughter of Abraham whom Satan bound for eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath day?”
In line with these two incidents, there’s a larger thing to consider. In Genesis 1, God creates the heavens and the earth and all life on the earth, including man, and in Verse 31 He says that all is “very good.” We may surmise that God wishes, between His Creation and His commanding Adam and Eve to “be fruitful and multiply” as He says in Verse 28, that His Creation prosper so that neither man nor beast nor other living things are compromised. The inference is that His Creation continues to prosper for generations. In a sense, by doing things to that end we are acting in God’s image as He would act to help us on our Sabbath.
So aside from anything we may do and not be stricken down for it, what CAN we do on the Sabbath? We can rest and increase our love and understanding of God and His wondrous Works.
What is the Sabbath day? According to Exodus 20:10 it is a day that “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.” Why? Because Verse 11 says “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.” Because God rested from work on the seventh day and made it holy, we are to rest on every seventh day that comes around and treat it holy as well.
What is considered work in this context? As Exodus 20:10 alludes to, it is any undertaking engaged in for gain, profit and your own pleasure. Another way to look at it is any “work” that can be done on the first six days of the week and therefore should not be done on the Sabbath day. And as Exodus 20:10 also alludes to, this applies to anyone who may be associated with you as in your family or servants who may help you in your work in some way, and it applies to your objects of profit or of use in your work such as livestock. And this Commandment extends to anyone else who may be on your property.
Exodus 31:14 is a warning. It says, “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.” Questions may arise as to what you CAN do on the Sabbath? One of the things is to devote your time to God, including sharpening your understanding of Him and praying to him for good health for you and yours among other things.
‘But wait,’ you may ask. ‘Since God rested on the seventh day, would he acknowledge and respond to us on the Sabbath?’ Yes, God rested on the seventh day, but He didn’t make the seventh day the Sabbath for Himself personally. To be sure, Jesus says in Mark 2:27, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.” It was made for our rest. Arguably, one may wonder if God ever rested after the seventh day that He rested. Well, all the clerics and their congregations don’t appear to believe so since they use the Sabbath day to get His attention. Which is not a bad thing since he is a jealous God that craves attention as much of humanity has understood between what is in the Bible and how others act.
So what are some things we can do on the Sabbath, particularly what cannot wait until another day? We can help those who may need our help. In Matthew 12:9–14, Jesus restores a man’s withered hand on the Sabbath. When the Pharisees ask him how he is allowed to do such work on the Sabbath, he responds in Verses 11 and 12, “Which one of you who has a sheep, if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will not take hold of it and lift it out? Of how much more value is a man than a sheep! So it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.”
In another instance, in Luke 13:10–17, Jesus frees a woman from her disability on the Sabbath. And here again he is criticized to doing so on the Sabbath. His response? In Verses 15 and 16 he says, “You hypocrites! Does not each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from the manger and lead it away to water it? And ought not this woman, a daughter of Abraham whom Satan bound for eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath day?”
In line with these two incidents, there’s a larger thing to consider. In Genesis 1, God creates the heavens and the earth and all life on the earth, including man, and in Verse 31 He says that all is “very good.” We may surmise that God wishes, between His Creation and His commanding Adam and Eve to “be fruitful and multiply” as He says in Verse 28, that His Creation prosper so that neither man nor beast nor other living things are compromised. The inference is that His Creation continues to prosper for generations. In a sense, by doing things to that end we are acting in God’s image as He would act to help us on our Sabbath.
So aside from anything we may do and not be stricken down for it, what CAN we do on the Sabbath? We can rest and increase our love and understanding of God and His wondrous Works.
