GATHERING
THE SABBATH
WHAT IS IT?
In the beginning, at Creation, even before the Torah was given, God set aside the seventh day of the week, the Sabbath, and “made it holy”. And God rested from all his work on that day, as he later would command His people to do.
Genesis 2:2–3
And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done. So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation.
And during the exodus from Egypt, still before the Torah was given at Sinai, God provided manna but not on the Sabbath. At this time, still before the Torah was given at Sinai, God commanded through Moses that the Sabbath was a day given to His people as a day of rest.
Exodus 16:21–30
Morning by morning they gathered it, each as much as he could eat; but when the sun grew hot, it melted. On the sixth day they gathered twice as much bread, two omers each. And when all the leaders of the congregation came and told Moses, he said to them, “This is what the Lordhas commanded: ‘Tomorrow is a day of solemn rest, a holy Sabbathto the Lord; bake what you will bake and boil what you will boil, and all that is left over lay aside to be kept till the morning.’ ” So they laid it aside till the morning, as Moses commanded them, and it did not stink, and there were no worms in it. Moses said, “Eat it today, for today is a Sabbath to the Lord; today you will not find it in the field. Six days you shall gather it, but on the seventh day, which is a Sabbath, there will be none.” On the seventh day some of the people went out to gather, but they found none. And the Lord said to Moses, “How long will you refuse to keep my commandments and my laws? See! The Lord has given you the Sabbath; therefore on the sixth day he gives you bread for two days. Remain each of you in his place; let no one go out of his place on the seventh day.” So the people rested on the seventh day.
Then on Mount Sinai, God give the Torah to Moses, who delivers it to the people. Part of that Torah includes what we call the Ten Commandments. The fourth commandment pertains to the keeping of the Sabbath:
Exodus 20:8–11
“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 servant, or your female servant, 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.
Later, after God gives detailed instructions about the tabernacle, the altar, the basin, the menorah, the priests, etc, he finishes that section of commands by repeating again the command regarding the Sabbath, saying “above all, you shall keep my Sabbaths”. In other words, more important than all the other commands, is this one:
Exodus 31:13–16
Above all you shall keep my Sabbaths, for this is a sign between me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I, the Lord, sanctify you. 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. Six days shall work be done, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest, holy to the Lord. Whoever does any work on the Sabbath day shall be put to death. Therefore the people of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, observing the Sabbath throughout their generations, as a covenant forever.
The keeping of the Sabbath was to be permanent – as a covenant forever. Note that while this particular passage says this command is for the people of Israel, this can be and should be generalized to “God’s people”, as later the Gentiles were grafted in to Israel, and made partakers of the covenant (Lancaster, Grafted In). Note also that the Ex 20:8-11 says that this law applies to the “sojourner” with your gates... in other words, to any foreigner / Gentile (גֵּר gēr) who is among them. And Isaiah also speak of the foreigners / Gentiles who “join themselves to the Lord” who keep the Sabbath:
Isaiah 56:6–7
And the foreigners who join themselves to the Lord, to minister to him, to love the name of the Lord, and to be his servants, everyone who keeps the Sabbath and does not profane it, and holds fast my covenant— these I will bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer; their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be accepted on my altar; for my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples.
The Sabbath was so important to God, that the penalty for not keeping it was death!
Exodus 35:2–3
Six days work shall be done, but on the seventh day you shall have a Sabbath of solemn rest, holy to the Lord. Whoever does any work on it shall be put to death. You shall kindle no fire in all your dwelling places on the Sabbath day.”
In Leviticus 23, when God gives instructions regarding his appointed times, the Sabbath is the very first on the list. It is the only weekly appointed time; the rest being annual appointed times.
Leviticus 23:1–3
The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, These are the appointed feasts of YHWH that you shall proclaim as holy convocations; they are my appointed feasts. “Six days shall work be done, but on the seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest, a holy convocation. You shall do no work. It is a Sabbath to YHWH in all your dwelling places.
God says through Isaiah, if we honor the Sabbath, He will bless us, making us “ride on the heights of the earth”:
Isaiah 58:13–14
“If you turn back your foot from the Sabbath, from doing your pleasure on my holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight and the holy day of the Lord honorable; if you honor it, not going your own ways, or seeking your own pleasure, or talking idly; then you shall take delight in the Lord, and I will make you ride on the heights of the earth; I will feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”
Throughout history God spoke through His prophets (Isaiah, Ezekiel, Jeremiah, Nehemiah, Malachi) to warn His people of the importance of keeping the Sabbath, and of His punishment for breaking it. Ezekiel says the following:
Ezekiel 20:12, 20:20, 22:8
Moreover, I gave them my Sabbaths, as a sign between me and them, that they might know that I am the Lord who sanctifies them... and keep my Sabbaths holy that they may be a sign between me and you, that you may know that I am the Lord your God... You have despised my holy things and profaned my Sabbaths.
Thus, from the Hebrew Scriptures we see that the Sabbath was set apart by God since creation, given as a command to His people even before the Torah at Sinai, later as one of the ten commandments, emphasized over other commands, punishable by death, applicable to foreigners / Gentiles, and to be observed forever – for all generations.
With that as background we can now look at the NT references to the Sabbath.
A careful reading of the Apostolic Scriptures (New Testament) will show that Yeshua never broke the Sabbath, or taught others that it was no longer relevant. Neither did his apostles or Paul ever teach that the Sabbath was no longer to be observed. On the contrary, every evidence we have in Scriptures shows that the followers of God were always expected to keep the Sabbath.
Mark 2:27–28
And he said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is lord even of the Sabbath.”
Acts 13:44
The next Sabbath almost the whole city gathered to hear the word of the Lord.
Acts 15:21
For from ancient generations Moses has had in every city those who proclaim him, for he is read every Sabbath in the synagogues.”
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
How Did Sunday Worship Replace The Sabbath?
There are several articles that document how this change took place. Several of them are available in the download section.
By way of the briefest of summaries, several factors can be seen to contribute. First, after the time of Christ, Roman persecution of Jews was increasing. Then came the First Revolt, and a few decades later, the Second Revolt. Since these were revolts of the Jewish people against Rome, Christians were motivated to separate themselves from the Jews, both in the minds of the populace as well as the rulers.
At the same time, Jews were viewing Christians as heretics. They were being forced out of the synagogues because of their belief in Yeshua. The 19th benediction of the Amidah was added as a curse against Christians, and any who would not pray it were threatened to be expelled from fellowship.
In addition, syncretism was a factor. The planetary weekwas in common use in ancient Rome from the beginning of the Christian Era. The days of the week were named from the heavenly bodies as follows: Sun, Moon, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, Saturn. The day of the Sun began the series and was regarded as the most important day. Christian converts from paganism tended to cling to their veneration of the Sun and, therefore, of Sunday. In early Christian art and literature the image of the Sun was often used to represent Christ, the true "Sun of righteousness." Bacchiocchi points out that early Christians ceased to pray facing Jerusalem, and instead prayed facing the sunrise (East).
Rome and Alexandriabegan to worship on Sunday at some point in the 2nd Century. At other locations, Christians kept the seventh day Sabbath until much later. There was, however, a gradual shift toward Sunday, probably as a result of Roman influence, until by the 12th Century it was nearly universal.
The quotes below shed some light on the thinking that encouraged this transition:
Ignatius (~100 AD),bishop of Antioch (Syria) writes to the churches of Asia Minor: "Let us therefore no longer keep the Sabbath after the Jewish manner, and rejoice in days of idleness...But let every one of you keep the Sabbath in a spiritual manner...not in relaxation, not in eating things prepared the day before, not in finding delight in dancing and clapping which have no sense in them." (Epistle to the Magnesians)
Justin Martyr,from Rome, ~150 AD, condemned Sabbath observance and provided the earliest account of Christian Sunday worship services: "And on the day called Sunday, all who live in cities or in the country gather together to one place, and the memoirs of the apostles or the writings of the prophets are read, as long as time permits; then, when the reader has ceased, the president verbally instructs, and exhorts to the imitation of these good things. Then we all rise together and pray, and, as we before said, when our prayer is ended, bread and wine and water are brought, and the president in like manner offers prayers and thanksgivings, according to his ability, and the people assent, saying Amen. . . . But Sunday is the day on which we all hold our common assembly, because it is the first day on which God, having wrought a change in the darkness and matter, made the world; and Jesus Christ our Saviour on the same day rose from the dead. For He was crucified on the day before that of Saturn; and on the day after that of Saturn, which is the day of the Sun, having appeared to His apostles and disciples, He taught them these things, which we have submitted to you also for your consideration."
Constantine:His famous Sunday law of March 7, 321 reads as follows: "On the venerable Day of the Sun let the magistrates and people residing in cities rest, and let all workshops be closed. In the country, however, persons engaged in agriculture may freely and lawfully continue their pursuits; because it often happens that another day is not so suitable for grain-sowing or for vine-planting; lest by neglecting the proper moment for such operations the bounty of heaven should be lost." (This seems to be a pagan reasoning rather than Christian.)
The Council of Laodicea about A.D. 364: The council showed respect for the Sabbath as well as Sunday, but Canon 29 stipulated:"Christians shall not Judaize and be idle on Saturday but shall work on that day; but the Lord's day they shall especially honour, and, as being Christians, shall, if possible, do no work on that day. If, however, they are found Judaizing, they shall be shut out from Christ.”
Pope Gregory (Pope from A.D. 590-604) demanded that all secular activities should cease on Sunday so that the people could devote their time to prayer.
By the twelfth century, Sunday had become quite fully the church substitute for the seventh day.