Sabbath: A Commandment,
A Gift, And A Sign
BIBLE STUDY, OLD TESTAMENT
Numbers 15:32-36 (NIV)
32 While the Israelites were in the wilderness, a man was found gathering wood on the Sabbath day. 33 Those who found him gathering wood brought him to Moses and Aaron and the whole assembly, 34 and they kept him in custody, because it was not clear what should be done to him. 35 Then the Lord said to Moses, “The man must die. The whole assembly must stone him outside the camp.” 36 So the assembly took him outside the camp and stoned him to death, as the Lord commanded Moses.
This is quite a hectic story – before you fully freak out – let’s dive into the context.
The Israelites and the Sabbath
This incident occurred during the 40 years the Israelites lived in the wilderness. They came out of slavery in Egypt and wandered in the wilderness before entering the Promised Land.
While they were in the wilderness, God gave Moses the Ten Commandments on Mount Sinai. The third commandment the Lord gave them is to observe the Sabbath and keep it holy (Exodus 20:8-11). But what does that mean?
So much can be said – Sabbath observation has no known parallels with any of the ancient Near Eastern cultures. The practice was unique to the Israelites and embedded in their culture.
However, to begin with the Israelites had no idea what it meant to keep the Sabbath. The Lord certainly did not leave it to the Israelites to guess but gave specific instruction on how the Sabbath was to be observed and kept holy.
THE HEBREW WORD – SABBATH – LITERALLY MEANS TO STOP.
During Israel’s wilderness wanderings, God provided manna daily. They were not supposed to keep any for the next day. On the sixth day they gathered twice as much so they could keep it until the seventh day and observe the Sabbath (Exodus 16). The Sabbath is a day to stop working, rest, and enjoy God’s provision.
The violation of this law had very serious consequences. The Sabbath law was in fact one of the four commandments that carried the death penalty (Exodus 31:14-15). It’s important to note that the Lord communicated the consequences along with all other specifics to the Israelites.
What shall we do with the stick-gatherer?
Most scholars suggest that the gathering of sticks was associated with lighting a fire, which was associated with food preparation, which was ultimately associated with work.
And not only was work forbidden on the Sabbath, but also no fires were to be lid (Exodus 35:3) and no cooking was to be done (Exodus 16:23). However, the act of gathering sticks was not particularly forbidden on the Sabbath.
Is the gathering of sticks really a sufficient association with work?
In favour of this, it says in verse 34 that Moses and Aaron did not know what to do with the man. In contrast, it says in verse 33 that the people who found the man gathering sticks knew it was wrong.
It’s probably fair to suggest that the man would have been aware that the gathering of sticks was not a proper activity for a Sabbath day. And as much as it is what the man did – it is what he did not. He did not rest, He did not enjoy God’s provision, He did not enjoy community – he did not observe the Sabbath.
But let’s be honest most of us probably have only one question, how God could be so drastic about something trivial like gathering sticks. Let’s look into two very interesting aspects together that for me at least make very clear why God is so serious about this principle.
1. Rejecting God and returning to Egypt
In Egypt the Israelites were slaves, meaning they did not get a day off, they did not have the right to rest and stop labouring. But God brought them out of slavery and gave the Israelites the Sabbath not only as a commandment, and a gift, but also as a sign between Him and His people (Exodus 31:13).
THE SABBATH SIGNIFIED THAT THE ISRAELITES WERE NO LONGER SLAVES, BUT THE PEOPLE OF GOD UNDER HIS CARE.
Many scholars suggest that the man’s offense evokes the experience of total servitude in Egypt. It reflects a desire to return to the rule of Pharaoh and signifies the rejection of the lordship of God.
We have to understand that God was in the business of building a nation that was unlike Egypt (where they had come from) or any other nation (where they would go to). The Israelites had been slaves in Egypt for 400 years (Gen. 15:13). This is really not a short stay, but generations that would live and die identifying as slaves. During those 40 years in the wilderness, God was restoring their identity as the people of God under His care. Really, it took God 40 years to get 400 years of Egypt out of the Israelites.
THE PURPOSE OF THE TEN COMMANDMENTS WAS NOT SIMPLY A COMMANDMENT TO BE OBEYED, BUT TO BUILD A NATION THAT WOULD BE HEALTHY AND PROSPEROUS AND COULD LAST FOR CENTURIES.
2. Sabbath of the land
Leviticus 25:4 (NIV)
But in the seventh year the land is to have a year of sabbath rest, a sabbath to the Lord. Do not sow your fields or prune your vineyards.
God commanded that not only the Israelites should have a day of rest but also the land should have a year of rest.
The sad story is that the Israelites later neglected the Sabbath for 490 years. This accumulates to 70 years of missed Sabbath days. The Israelites might have thought God was not serious about His command, at last they were getting away with it decade after decade.
Eventually, Judah was overrun by Babylon and taken into captivity for – get this – a total of 70 years.
2 Chronicles 36:21 (NIV)
The land enjoyed its sabbath rest; all the time of its desolation it rested, until the seventy years were completed in fulfilment of the word of the Lord spoken by Jeremiah.
Fact is, God takes His commandments serious and violating them has serious consequences. The question is: Do we take what He says seriously?
The Sabbath today
You might wonder if the Sabbath is still relevant for you and me today. First up, it’s one of the Ten Commandments – we do not discuss whether or not a Christian is allowed to murder but we discuss whether or not we should keep the Sabbath. This makes honestly no sense to me.
The violation of the principle of the Sabbath still carries the death penalty – it’s slow suicide. – Ps. Robert Morris
Many of us our not much different than the Israelites. We think we get away with not resting – week after week, year after year, and decade after decade – without even realising that all we do is to harm ourselves.
We work and keep working, and we do not stop working. Busyness has become a status symbol. The busier you are, the more important you must be. Let me be clear about what this means: being busy has become an idol. And let’s face it, but this has not stopped at the doorsteps of our churches. In the Western Christian world, we mistreat and undervalue the principle of the Sabbath. We have largely failed to integrate the practice of the Sabbath into our lives as a vital element of Christian discipleship.
You and I were not created for a 24/7 lifestyle. The creation account tells us that on the sixth day God created mankind in His own image (Gen. 1:27). The seventh day was a day of rest. Note, that before humans did anything – be fruitful, multiple, subdue the earth, rule over creation (Gen. 1:28) – they rested. We are made to work from rest not to rest.
Some of us might still identify more as slaves in Egypt than children of God under His care. It’s time to leave Egypt and enter into His rest. I would encourage you to dive deep into all that the Bible has to say about the Sabbath rest and renew your understanding of the gift of the Sabbath.