Remembering the 4th Commandment

The Seventh Day Sabbath

According to the Rabbis, non-Jews are required to observe and follow what are called the “Seven Laws of Noah.” This basic way of righteousness for all humankind is attested to in the book of Genesis (before the giving of the Torah at Sinai), found in various historical sources, and elaborated in the Talmud.(1) Properly understood, these prohibitions against idolatry, blasphemy, murder, stealing, sexual immorality, cruelty to animals, and an injunction to enforce social justice, are not merely single commandments, but broad categories of right behavior for all human beings. They form the minimal requirements for a righteous life before the Creator God. However, the rabbis also say that Gentiles who are drawn to God, and the fuller revelation of Torah as revealed at Sinai, may take on additional commandments in a sincere effort to walk the spiritual path.(2) This is clearly reflected in many places in the Prophets, particularly Isaiah 56, where the “man” or “son of the stranger” is blessed for drawing near to YHVH and keeping the Sabbath (vv. 2-8). These are clearly individuals drawn from the nations, likely including those from the Lost Tribes (see especially v. 8).(3) The final redemption includes all humankind learning the Way of Torah, including the Sabbaths and Festivals (Isa 2:2-4; 66:23; Zech 14:16-19). How much more the case for the tribes of Joseph and his companions! The prophets make it clear that there will be a return to Torah and a renewal of the Covenant made at Sinai with ALL Israel (Hosea 2:14-19 [16-21 in Hebrew text]; Jeremiah 31:31-34). Technically speaking, from a strictly halachic (Jewish Law) standpoint, those non-Jews who feel drawn to YHVH, even if they are from the Lost Tribes, are currently viewed as Gentiles, and minimally required to follow the Laws of Noah. Nonetheless, the awesome Fourth Commandment, while not included in the Seven Laws of Noah, has universal meaning and application, reaching back to Creation—dealing with the very identity of the Creator God! Surely those who are truly from the Lost Tribes can not help but be stirred by each of the Ten Commandments.

Isaiah speaks of a time when God would hide His face from both Israel and the nations, and people would walk in darkness, turning to spiritism and the occult in order to find answers:

Bind up the Testimony, seal the Torah among my disciples. And I will wait upon YHVH, that hides his face from the house of Jacob.... And when they say to you, seek those who are mediums and wizards, who whisper and mutter, should not a people consult their God? Should they seek the dead on behalf of the living. To the Torah and to the Testimony! If they do not speak according to this word, it is because there is no light in them. (Isaiah 8:16-22)

The setting of this text is immediately prior to the appearance of the Davidic Messiah, and the “great light” which finally comes, shines upon the Lost Tribes as well! They are clearly “the people who walk in darkness” in this context (see Isaiah 9:1-7). Note that the true disciples of YHVH, in this time, know and turn to the Torah, which is the true light in a world of darkness. Those who turn to other means of revelation end up stum- bling in the dark. But Isaiah also speaks of the Testimony. Just what is this Testimony?(4)

Notice carefully the instructions God gives to Moses at Sinai:

And you shall put the covering on top of the Ark [of the Covenant], and in the Ark you shall put the Testimony that I will give to you (Exodus 25:21).

Here we learn that the Testimony (edut) is something quite specific. It is an actual object that can be placed inside the Ark of the Covennant. Indeed, the Ark itself is often called the “Ark of the Testimony” (Exodus 25:16, 22; 40:21). In Exodus 31:7 it is even called “the Ark for the Testimony.” The more familiar term, “Ark of the Covenant” is merely a variation of the phrase “Ark of the Testimony” (compare Ex 32:15-16 with Deut 9:10-11). These texts make it plain that the whole point of having the Ark, which was a gold-plated wooden chest, or box, was to hold this Testimony! The Ark was the only furnishing in the inner room of the Temple, the Holy of Holies, which radiated the very Presence or Glory of YHVH. Here, before this Ark of the Testimony, God spoke directly to Moses, in an audible voice, and Moses would behold the “form” of YHVH Himself (Numbers 7:89; 12:8).

This Testimony is the very locus of the revelation of God’s Way. Moreover, the entire Tabernacle which Moses is instructed to build is called the “Tabernacle of the Testimony” (Exodus 38:21). In other words, this Testimony was central to the entire system of worship revealed to Moses. Many think of the Tabernacle as primarily a place for the ritual slaughter of animals. Actually, “animal sacrifices” were not the focal point of the Tabernacle, nor of the later Temple in Jerusalem. Rather, this special “Tent” is called the miqdash (“Sanctuary”) or the mishkan (“Dwelling” or “Tabernacle”). Both have to do with God actually dwelling among humans. YHVH tells Moses, “Make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them” (Exodus 25:8). In other words, the Tabernacle, or Temple, is the “earthly House” for the literal manifestation of the Glory of YHVH Himself. This Glory is described as appearing like a cloud or a fire. It was an actual physical manifestation that the people could see. Only Moses could go near to YHVH as He manifested Himself in this extraordinary way. And the Testimony is an integral part of this phenomenon. What then, was the Testimony? In Exodus 31:18 we read the plain answer:

And when He had made an end of speaking with him [Moses] on Mount Sinai, He gave Moses two tablets of the Testimony, tablets of stone, written by the finger of God.

These mysterious tablets are further described in the next chapter. They are written on both sides, engraved with the writing of God Himself (Exodus 32:15). This is quite phenomenal, that the Eternal God Himself would literally write on two tablets of stone His Testimony, and give them to Moses to be preserved at the very heart of the Sanctuary, within the Ark of the Covenant. The Tabernacle was understood to be a physical model of the heavenly Sanctuary (Exodus 25:9). In other words, it is an earthly reflection of the Glory of YHVH and His perfect and righteous Way or Torah—expressed in His Testimony.

Written on the tablets are the Ten Commandments (literally “Ten Words”), spoken by God Himself to all Israel at Mount Sinai, as well as the related laws and commandments that make up the Torah (Exodus 24:12; 34:28). At this unprecedented moment in history, God Himself gave awesome Testimony to His eternal Way of justice and righteousness—literally speaking the Ten Commandments in an ear splitting voice that terrified the entire nation, while Mount Sinai quaked with an awesome display of smoke and fire. This incredible historical event is recorded in Exodus 19-20 and recounted by Moses in Deuteronomy 5. I would urge every sincere seeker of YHVH and His Way to slowly and soberly read through those chapters. The great and unique character of this Sinai revelation cannot be overemphasized. This is the one time in human history that the Creator God—YHVH, the Everliving One—has literally spoken to humanity in such a way! Think about it. People today ask, “Where is God?” They wonder why, if God exists, we have no word from heaven. If God were to speak today, actually and literally for all the world to hear, what would He say? I think the answer is obvious. Although God has hidden Himself from humankind in working out a specific and strategic Plan, He has not always been silent, nor will He be so in the future.

These Ten Commandments are the heart and core of the Torah. God spoke these words, “and he added no more” (Deuteronomy 5:22). They are complete within themselves, perfect, and never to be changed or abrogated. Rabbi J. H. Hertz has commented eloquently on this point:

The Decalogue is a sublime summary of human duties binding upon all mankind; a summary unequalled for simplicity, comprehensiveness, and solemnity; a summary which bears divinity on its face, and cannot be antiquated as long as the world endures. It is at the same time a Divine epitome of the fundamentals of Israel’s Creed and Life.... (Pentateuch and Haftorahs, p. 294)

This Testimony should be memorized word for word by every follower of the Way, and taught by heart to our children and our children’s children. It is a beautiful and unparalleled summary of the basic contours of God’s Eternal WAY for all humankind. Each of these Ten Commandments, including the seventh day Sabbath, was known and practiced by those who knew God, from Adam to Moses. We read that Enoch “walked with God,” and that Noah was a “righteous man” (tzadik) who also walked with God (Genesis 3:22; 6:9). God reminds Isaac that Abraham was chosen because he “kept My commandments, My statutes, and My laws” (Genesis 26:5). Although these men and women did not know the Torah in the precise codified form given to the nation of Israel through Moses, they certainly knew this basic Way of justice and righteousness (see Genesis 18:19). These Ten “Words,” as they are called, are much more than mere “commandments” which one might view in a superficial or legalistic way. Each represents a topical heading, an entire Way of living, broken down into logical categories, e.g., idolatry, human sexuality, property rights, the sacredness of life, human speech, and so forth. They are amplified and expanded throughout the Scriptures.

Observing the Seventh Day Sabbath

Remembering the seventh day (Saturday) Sabbath is an absolutely vital part of mankind’s return to the true Biblical Faith. This fourth commandment is not some minor statute or ordinance to be changed or abrogated with the passing of time. It is an essential part of the Testimony and every bit as important, and as universal, as the commandments regarding murder, idolatry, or adultery. To our human way of thinking this statement sounds extreme and even absurd. But God’s “thoughts” are not our “thoughts” (Isaiah 55:8). It is impossible for us to grasp the tragic suffering and loss which have resulted from humanity’s profanation of this Sacred Day. The Sabbath Day is vitally connected to knowing and understanding God as Creator and experiencing His Presence. Our loss of this pillar of the Faith has probably contributed more to our disconnection from the Jewish people, and thus to the rejection of the Hebraic roots of the Biblical Faith, than any other single factor.

The very fact that the Sabbath commandment is one of these great Ten Commandments of YHVH clearly sets it apart as a major component of the Way of YHVH. It would not be included as part of this great Code, this awesome Testimony of YHVH Himself, unless it was an indispensable part of God’s Way for humankind. There are two accounts of the Ten Commandments recorded in the Torah. The first is the original giving of the Torah, recorded in Exodus 20. The second is in Deuteronomy 5, forty years later, where Moses reminds the new generation of that awesome face to face encounter with YHVH Himself at Sinai. It is instructive to compare these two accounts of the Sabbath commandment side by side:

Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor, and do all your work; but the seventh day is the Sabbath of YHVH your God; in it you shall do no work ... for in six days YHVH made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore YHVH blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy. (Exodus 20:8-11)

Observe the Sabbath day, to keep it holy, as YHVH your God commanded you. Six days you shall labor, and do all your work; but the seventh day is the Sabbath of YHVH your God, in it you shall not do any work ... And remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and YHVH your God brought you out from there by a mighty hand and by a outstretched arm; therefore YHVH your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day. (Deuteronomy 5:12-15)

The concluding phrases, which I have emphasized in both quotations, are quite interesting. In the Exodus account we are told why YHVH blessed the Sabbath and made it holy. In Moses’ summary account in Deuteronomy we are told why YHVH commanded Israel to observe or keep the Sabbath day. Both concepts are important to an understanding of this Commandment and its essential rationale.

Let’s begin with the point made in the Exodus account—that the Sabbath day goes back to the Creation Week of Genesis 1:1-2:3. There we find the same essential thought:

Thus the heavens and the earth and all the host of them, were finished. And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had done, and He rested (Hebrew verb shabbat) on the seventh day from all his work which he had done. Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because in it He rested from all his work which God had created and made. (Genesis 2:1-3)

Here we see that the Sabbath day is grounded in the patterned activity of God Himself. Just as God blessed humankind on the sixth day, telling them to “be fruitful and multiply” (Genesis 1:28), He also blessed the seventh day at the time of Creation, and made it holy. He set it apart from the six other days of the week, sanctifying it as a sabbath or “rest” day. The Sabbath is a memorial of Creation. It testifies to YHVH’s unique activity as the Creator of all things. It is as universal as humankind. YHVH, through Isaiah the Prophet declares, “Blessed is the man who keeps the Sabbath from profaning it and keeps his hand from doing any evil” (Isaiah 56:2). In this section of Isaiah all humanity is addressed and the observance of the Sabbath is tightly linked with following the Way of Righteousness more generally. To remember the Sabbath day is to acknowledge YHVH as our great Creator and ourselves as His creatures. It is a fundamental step in the path of justice, love, and righteousness.

It is interesting to note that there is no other reason that we humans universally observe the seven day week. Think about it. Our other cycles of time—days, months, and years, are controlled by the movement of earth and moon in relationship to one another and to the sun. Yet there is no such seven day cycle, or week, associated with our solar system. The seven day week is actually created by the cycle of the seventh day Sabbath. This weekly cycle, signified by the Sabbath day, was clearly known from the beginning of humankind. Cain and Abel bring their offerings “at the end of days,” probably referring to the seventh day Sabbath (Genesis 4:3, literal translation). Noah and his family enter the ark precisely seven days before the Flood begins (Genesis 7:4, 10). Later, when the Flood is over, Noah sends out the raven and the doves, over a period of several weeks, following the same seven day weekly cycle (Genesis 8:10, 12). Throughout the world, from ancient through modern times, the seven day week has been known. In fact, there is ample linguistic evidence that the seventh day, from ancient times, was even called the “Sabbath” in most of the major language groups of humankind.(5)

The point Moses makes in the second account, recorded in Deuteronomy 5, has to do with why the Sabbath day was specifically given to the people of Israel. Not only does the Sabbath day look back to YHVH as Creator, but it also pictures the mighty redemptive acts of YHVH in releasing or bringing “rest” to the entire nation of Israel, when they were suffering bitter bondage in Egypt. In other words, the Sabbath day reminds us of the two most basic aspects of YHVH’s mighty acts: Creation and Redemption. The Sabbath day is made a special sign between YHVH and the people of Israel, a perpetual covenant throughout their generations (Exodus 31 :12ff.). They were to be a perpetual witness to the Testimony spoken by YHVH Himself at Sinai, revealing, to the nations of the world, the One Creator God who works His redemptive Plan in history.

There are two basic concepts associated with the Sabbath in these accounts—to remember it, and to observe, or guard it, as holy. The instructions in Scripture on how to keep or observe the Sabbath day holy are few. The basic idea is that one ceases from normal “labor” or creative activity, setting the day apart (from Friday sunset until Saturday sunset), as a time of physical and spiritual rest and refreshment. In other words, one “keeps the Sabbath holy” by not treating this day as profane or ordinary time. Isaiah speaks of calling the Sabbath a delight, a day to be honored. To “pursue one’s own affairs” is considered “trampling” on the day (Isaiah 58:13, see Nehemiah 13:15-18). The keynote of the Sabbath day is joy. It is a wonderful “sanctuary in time,” carved out of the profane and mundane activities and surroundings of our everyday lives. Those who have learned to truly remember and guard this holy day as a Sabbath can testify to the incredible blessing it brings upon family and friends as well as the profound and peaceful sense of the very presence of YHVH. The Rabbis say that rather than Israel keeping the Sabbath, the Sabbath has kept Israel. There is great truth to this saying. The Sabbath is the most ancient observance of humankind. It has continued in an unbroken cycle since the days of Adam. It has always been a sign or mark between YHVH and His followers, who live in a covenant relationship with Him, testifying that He alone is Creator and Redeemer.

It is worth noting that historical research indicates the early adherents of the Nazarene movement observed the seventh day Sabbath, not Sunday. It was only in the 2nd century C.E., under the pressure of a strongly anti-Jewish, anti-nomian, pagan sentiment which had developed in the Western churches, that “Christians” substituted Sunday for the Sabbath and began to lose touch with the Judaic or Torah roots of the Nazarene faith. This has all been carefully documented by recent scholars.(6) In the same way, Mohammed, in the 7th century C.E., substituted Friday for Saturday as the holy day to be observed by his Moslem followers. Observing either Sunday or Friday as a kind of “substitute sabbath” robs one of the profound and positive impact of YHVH’s original Testimony. We are told to remember a specific day, the seventh of the week—not the first or the sixth. It does make a difference which day is the Sabbath. It is a matter of being in tune with the specific cycle of “rest” which represents the oldest religious observance on our planet. Further, a return to the seventh day Sabbath puts one back in communion with the Jewish people, who have faithfully maintained this Commandment through the ages, as well as with multiple thousands of others who are seeking to “live by every word of YHVH.” It was and still is a kind of “test” commandment, signifying those who live in covenant relationship with the Creator God (Exodus 16:4, 28-30). It is a vital part of the “restoration of all things” which all lovers of the Bible seek.

The Prophet Jeremiah tells us to seek the “ancient paths where the good way is, and walk therein, and you will find rest for your souls” (Jeremiah 6:16). Those of us who have experienced the joy of Shabbat can truly testify that it is the “good way.” Each Sabbath day, week by week, we are brought together in a worldwide spiritual fellowship and solidarity that stretches back to Eden and forward to the coming Kingdom of God—when the whole world will experience the true Sabbath peace (Isaiah 66:22-23).

footnotes:

(1) See especially b. Sanhedrin 56a-60a; also Aaron Lichtenstein, The Seven Laws of Noah, New York: Rabbi Jacob Joseph School Press, 1981. [back]

(2) The rabbis do prohibit Gentiles from observing the Sabbath as Jews, i.e., followng all the halachic (Oral Law) prescriptions, since, as they understand things, it becomes a sign for Israel (see Exodus 31:12-17), when observed in the specific ways given to Moses at Sinai. [back]

(3) See the insightful comments in this regard by Rabbi Elijah Benamozegh, Israel and Humanity, New York: Paulist Press, 1995, pp. 249-252. [back]

(4) “Torah and Testimony,” (audiotape) by James Tabor, is available through Emmanuel, P.O.B. 442, Athens, TN 37303. [back]

(5) Hundreds of languages, spread throughout the globe, actually name the seventh day of the week with some derivative form of the Hebrew word shabbat. There are too many examples to cite here, but a selective sample would include: Assyrian sabatu; Persian shambid; Caucasus region samat; Central Africa assebatu; North Africa assebt; West Africa essibt; Hungary szombat; Abyssinia sanbat; Java saptu; Afghanistan shamba; Malta issibt; Turkey essabt; Borneo sabtu; Arabic assabt. Even the Romance languages of Europe, though eventually Christianized, still maintain this ancient “Jewish” designation for Saturday, the seventh day; Latin sabbatum; French samedi; Italian sabbato; Romanian sambata. [back]

(6) See, e.g., Samuele Bacchiocchi, Anti-Judaism and the Origin of Sunday, Rome: Pontifical Gregorian University Press, 1975: available through Biblical Perspectives, 230 Lisa Lane, Berrien Spring, MI 49103). The best popular account of the general departure of Christianity from its early Jewish roots is Hugh Schonfield, Those Incredible Christians [back]