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The first Sabbath
ever kept was in Exodus 16 which took place
30 days after the exodus. God gave it to
Israel to keep as a prelude to entering into
the Mosaic Covenant with them on Mount
Sinai. That means Israel was halfway to
Mount Sinai before God gave them the Sabbath
to observe.
Exodus 16:1 says, “They set out from Elim,
and all the congregation of the people of
Israel came to the wilderness of Sin, which
is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth
day of the second month after they had
departed from the land of Egypt.”
Sabbatarians will often argue that the Forth
Commandment said to “remember” the Sabbath
day. God
does not tell Israel to remember the
Sabbath in Exodus 16 like He does in Exodus 20:8
because this is the first time
anyone had ever heard about the
seventh day Sabbath being a day of rest.
God’s command to Israel to keep the Sabbath
holy.
Exodus 16:22-23 says, “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 LORD has commanded:
‘Tomorrow is a day of solemn rest, a holy
Sabbath to 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.’”
The book of Exodus says
Israel arrived at Mount Sinai on the same
day which means exactly two months after the
exodus, the fourteenth day of the third
month (see Exod. 12:2, 18; 13:4; 16:1).
Exodus 19:1-2 says, “On the third new
moon after the people of Israel had gone out
of the land of Egypt, on that day they came
into the wilderness of Sinai. They set out
from Rephidim and came into the wilderness
of Sinai, and they encamped in the
wilderness. There Israel encamped before the
mountain,”
If the Sabbath was a moral
issue and God expected everyone to keep it
then why did He wait a whole month before
telling Israel to observe the day?
Nehemiah says the Sabbath was made known
to Israel at the time God made His covenant
with them, not before! No one had ever
heard about the Sabbath before that.
Nehemiah 9:13-14 says, “You came down on
Mount Sinai and spoke with them from heaven
and gave them right rules and true laws,
good statutes and commandments, and you made
known to them your holy Sabbath and
commanded them commandments and statutes and
a law by Moses your servant.”
The Sabbath was meant
for Israel alone because it served as one of
the ceremonial signs of the Mosaic Covenant.
Exodus 31:12-17 says, “And the LORD said to Moses,
13 ‘You are to speak to the people of Israel
and say, ‘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. 14
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. 15 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. 16 Therefore the people of Israel
shall keep the Sabbath, observing the
Sabbath throughout their generations, as a
covenant forever. 17 It is a sign forever
between me and the people of Israel that in
six days the LORD made heaven and earth, and
on the seventh day he rested and was
refreshed.’”
And Ezekiel 20:12, 20 says, “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…20 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.”
These
two passages make it perfectly clear that
God gave the Sabbath to Israel alone as a
ceremonial sign of their covenant with Him.
The Sabbath could only serve as a sign
of the Mosaic Covenant if it was unique to
Israel. It had to distinguish Israel from
all the other nations. The Sabbath could not
function as a visible sign of God’s covenant
with Israel if everyone else was expected to
keep it. A sign sets something apart from
the rest. In fact, one of the main reasons
God gave Israel for keeping the Sabbath was
to remind them of how He delivered
them from Egyptian bondage (Exod. 16:23, 29; 31:13-18; Deut. 5:12-15).
God’s covenant with Israel:
Exodus 19:3-24:11 “describes events
surrounding the making of the covenant
between the Lord and Israel, using practices
and terms familiar in the culture. When a
powerful king (the suzerain) would send a
treaty to a less powerful king (the vassal)
informing him and his people of the
suzerain’s intention to rule them, the
treaty contained: (1) formal
self-identification of the more powerful
ruler; (2) a review of the history between
the parties as grounds for issuing and
accepting the covenant; (3) the requirement
of loyalty to the suzerain; (4) stipulations
regulating future conduct of the vassal; (5)
positive and negative consequences for
obedience or disobedience; and (6)
instructions for copying, storing, and
publicly reading the covenant.”
[1]
As the sign of the Mosaic Covenant,
the Sabbath was placed in the middle of the
legal document as a witness for the parties
involved.
“It was customary
among the peoples of the ancient Near East
that when an overlord made a covenant or
contract with those he conquered, a copy of
the written agreement was kept in the
sanctuary of the ruling party and another in
the sanctuary of the ruled party. A typical
feature of such covenants was that the seal,
or sign, was placed at or near the center of
the treaty document. This is similar to
contracts of today. If one acquires a loan
from a bank or makes some kind of other
financial deal with another, it is common
that the parties involved receive a copy of
the agreement stipulating the benefits,
obligations, and penalties if the contract
is broken. These contracts, or agreements,
come into effect once the appropriate
signatures are in place. But in the case of
the covenant made between God and Israel,
both copies (the two tablets) were placed in
one sanctuary, since God was both the ruling
party and Israel’s God. And the signature of
this contract was observance of the Sabbath
command, which was placed near the center of
the tablets of the covenant.” [2]
Another proof that Exodus 16 is
the first time the Sabbath was given as a
day of rest is how the Old Testament
introduces a new Holy day.
The
first time any Jewish Holy day is mentioned
in scripture, it always lacks the definite
article (i.e. “a” Sabbath), just like Exodus 16
reads.
• None of the Jewish Holy
days are introduced for the first time in
scripture with the definite article “the”
but with the indefinite “a” or “an”.
•
The indefinite article is used both before
and after something has been instituted, but
the definite article (“the” Sabbath) is
never used the first time something is
introduced.
• This proves that the weekly
Sabbath did not exist before Exodus 16:22-23.
• Every Jewish Holy day follows this same
pattern!
Examples:
First Time
Instituted: ⇨ After Instituted:
Tomorrow is “a” Sabbath: Exodus 16:23 ⇨
the Lord has given you “the” Sabbath: Exodus 16:29.
“a” memorial: Exodus 12:14 ⇨
“the” Lord’s Passover: Exodus 12:21, 27.
“a” holy convocation:
Leviticus 23:21 ⇨ “the” day of Pentecost: Acts 2:1.
“an” alter: Genesis 8:20 ⇨
“the”
altar: Genesis 8:20.
“a” day of
atonement: Leviticus 23:27 ⇨ “the” Day of
atonement: Leviticus 23:28; 25:9.
Some people will argue that the Sabbath was
given before the rest of the Law was given
on Mount Sinai so it must be kept today.
Just because God made something a
requirement before He gave the other
requirements of the Mosaic Covenant doesn’t
mean they are still in effect today.
Circumcision, the Passover, and the Sabbath
were all given to Israel before God gave
them the rest of the laws in the covenant
but are not required of Christians in the New Covenant
(Acts 15:1-20; Col. 2:11; 2:16-17; 1 Cor. 5:7; Rom. 14:5-12; Eph. 2:11-16; Gal. 4:10-11).
The Hebrew
word for Sabbath (shabbath), that is used in
the Ten Commandments is never found in the
book of Genesis. No one before Moses was
ever told to keep the Sabbath. If they did,
why are there no examples of anyone keeping
it from Adam to Moses? The Patriarchs were
never instructed about the Sabbath, but were
instructed about: being fruitful and
increasing in number: Gen. 1:26-22; ruling
over the earth: Gen. 1:28; their diet: Gen. 1:29-30; 2:16-17;
Gen. 9:1-4; marriage: Gen. 2:24; Gen. 34:9;
offerings: Gen. 4:3-4; 14:20;
altars: Gen. 8:20; Priests: Gen. 14:18;
and circumcision: Gen. 17:10.
Why is there no mention of God giving
instructions on how to keep the Sabbath day
holy to anyone if they actually kept it?
And, how could the Sabbath be called a sign
of Israel’s deliverance from captivity in
Egypt if the Patriarchs already observed the
day (Exod. 16:6-7; 20:2; 31:13-18; Deut. 5:12-15)?
Conclusion: The first
time God gave the Sabbath to anyone to keep
was in Exodus 16, not before.
References:
1. see: The CSB Study
Bible: Exodus 19:3-24:11.
2. see: Meredith
G. Kline, The Structure of Biblical
Authority. Grand Rapids, Mich. Eerdmans;
1975, 1972; p. 18, 59.
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