Keeping Sabbath - Part 1

THE SABBATH COMMANDMENTS | WORKING ON SABBATH | OFFERING SACRIFICES | BUYING FOOD ON SABBATH | YOUR OWN PLEASURE

MOVING CARGO | PART 2 | PART 3 |  PART 4

Psalm 92 is titled 'A Psalm or Song for the Sabbath Day.' The psalmist says "It is a good thing to give thanks to Yahweh, and to sing praises to your name, O most High." And that's just the beginning of the good things Yahweh has in store for those who keep His Sabbath. Yahweh's people want to keep Sabbath for two reasons: to receive the blessings that keeping it yields and also just to please Yahweh because we love him.

YAHWEH KEPT THE SABBATH

What was the first holy thing in the history of the world? A lamb sacrificed by Abel? A block of stone used for an altar? No, it was a block of time to be used by us - Sabbath! The first recorded observance of Sabbath is in Genesis 2:2-3 "And on the seventh day Elohim ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. And Elohim blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because in it he had rested from all His work which Elohim created and made." We learn a lot from just these two little verses. Yahweh did several things:

• He worked for six days. He had a week of accomplishment which has yet to be matched. We don't know how hard that was for Him.

• On the seventh day He set the work completely aside.

• He blessed the seventh day. Nothing done by man in all of history could erase that blessing from Sabbath!

• He sanctified the seventh day. Sanctified means he set it apart for special purposes related to Him and His activities.

• The reason He set it apart is BECAUSE He rested, to be a period of time to remember the time when He rested after the creation.

  Top

THE SABBATH COMMANDMENTS

The Sabbath commandments which are given in the scriptures tell us some other elements of keeping Sabbath. Here are the basic Sabbath commands together with where they may be found.

• The seventh day is the Sabbath. Exodus 20:10

• Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Exodus 20:8

• A holy convocation [calling everyone together]. Leviticus 23:3

• Six days shall you labor, and do all your work: Exodus 20:9

• In the Sabbath you shall not do any work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, your manservant, your maidservant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger that is within your gates: Exodus 20:10

• On the seventh day you shall rest: in earing time and in harvest you shall rest. Exodus 34:21

• You shall kindle no fire throughout your habitations upon the Sabbath day. Exodus 35:3

• And remember that you were a servant in the land of Egypt, and that Yahweh your Elohim brought you out from there with a mighty hand and by a stretched out arm: therefore Yahweh your Elohim commanded you to keep the Sabbath day. Deuteronomy 5:15

Throughout the scriptures we may find examples of how Sabbath has been kept properly, broken, or kept wrongly. Let's review several of these to learn more about how we will keep Sabbath.

Top

WORKING ON SABBATH

Numbers 15:32 And while the children of Israel were in the wilderness, they found a man who gathered sticks upon the Sabbath day. . . The story goes on to tell how this man had to be stoned to death because of his willful disobedience of the Sabbath commandment. The same penalty is applicable today. Yahweh does not change (Malachi 3:6). If we break the Sabbath commandment now we are also subject to the death penalty unless Yahweh forgives us for Yahshua's sake.

OFFERING SACRIFICES

Several scriptures (1 Chronicles 9:32, 1 Chronicles 23:31, 2 Chronicles 2:4, 2 Chronicles 8:13, 2 Chronicles 31:3 and Ezekiel 45:17) speak about offering sacrifices on the Sabbath day. This is part of the Sabbath because Sabbath is a day set apart for worshiping Yahweh. Has this ancient tradition changed? Is it "out of fashion" to offer sacrifices to the Creator? Does Yahweh still cherish the sacrifices of his people? Of course He does! Yahweh's people are still keeping Sabbath in worship and sacrifice to Yahweh. In the New Testament period we don't offer animal sacrifices; Hebrews 13:8 teaches us to offer the sacrifices of our lips in sincere prayers of praise and thanks to our Heavenly Father.

Top

BUYING FOOD ON SABBATH

There are some 'Sabbath keepers' who see nothing wrong with going to a store or restaurant on a weekly Sabbath or an annual Sabbath Day to buy food. This is clearly not scriptural! If you couldn't tell from the basic command in Exodus 20:10 that no one should be working on Sabbath and no one should be working for you then you can see the specific example in Nehemiah 10:31, "And if the people of the land bring WARES OR ANY FOOD ON THE SABBATH DAY TO SELL, THAT WE WOULD NOT BUY IT OF THEM ON THE SABBATH, OR ON THE HOLY DAY: and that we would leave the seventh year, and the exaction of every debt".

Also read Nehemiah 13:15-22:
In those days I saw some people in Judah treading wine presses on the Sabbath, and bringing in sheaves, and loading asses; as also with wine, grapes, and figs, and all manner of burdens, which they brought into Jerusalem on the Sabbath day: and I testified against them in the day in which they sold food.

There dwelt men of Tyre there too, who brought fish, and all types of wares, and sold them on the Sabbath to the children of Judah, and in Jerusalem. Then I contended with the nobles of Judah, and said to them, "What EVIL THING is this that you do, and profane the Sabbath day? Did not your fathers that sort of thing, and did not our Elohim bring all this evil upon us, and upon this city? Yet you bring more wrath upon Israel by profaning the Sabbath!"

And it came to pass, that when the gates of Jerusalem began to be dark before the Sabbath, I commanded that the gates should be shut, and charged that they should not be opened until after the Sabbath: and I set some of my servants at the gates, so that no burden should be brought in there on the Sabbath day.

Then I testified against them, and said to them, "Why do you lodge about the wall? If you do so again, I will lay hands on you" [and not as a blessing]. From that time forth they did not come on the Sabbath any more.

And I commanded the Levites that they should CLEANSE THEMSELVES, AND THAT THEY SHOULD COME AND KEEP THE GATES, TO SANCTIFY THE SABBATH DAY. Remember me, O my Elohim, concerning this also, and spare me according to the greatness of your mercy.

Top

YOUR OWN PLEASURE

Isaiah 58:13 If you turn away your foot from the Sabbath, from doing YOUR PLEASURE on my holy day; and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of Yahweh, honorable; and shall honor Him, not doing your own ways, nor finding your own pleasure, nor speaking your own words.

Amos 8:5 Saying, 'When will the new moon be gone, that we may sell corn? and the Sabbath, that we may set forth wheat, making the ephah small, and the shekel great, and falsifying the balances by deceit?'

MOVING CARGO

Jeremiah 17:21, 22, 27 Thus says Yahweh; "Take heed to yourselves, and BEAR NO BURDEN ON THE SABBATH day, nor bring it in by the gates of Jerusalem; Neither carry forth a burden out of your houses on the Sabbath day, neither do any work, but hallow the Sabbath day, as I commanded your fathers. . . .

But if you will not hearken to me to hallow the Sabbath day, and not to bear a burden, even entering in at the gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath day; then will I kindle a fire in the gates of it and it shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem, and it shall not be quenched."

If you stay close to the scriptural way of keeping the Sabbath you will receive the blessings intended for those who cherish this sign of the bond between Yahweh and His people.

In the next part we will look at some help in Sabbath keeping from the Master of the Sabbath.