Probably most of us do not have a good handle on what to do with the Sabbath. It seems important to God, yet we know we're not under the Law, but we're not sure what that looks like. So we do what we do, or we don't do what we don't do, but are not sure we've got it right. We don't think we'll ever know for sure, so we dismiss the whole subject and hope for the best.
Martha and I are still working on this ourselves, and we're doing better now that we're retired, but we know the Sabbath is not just for retirees. So while we're not really qualified to teach about it, we would like to share several perspectives that have been uncovered for us in the Text, and hope they will be helpful to you as you wrestle with this topic.
Origins
The first indication comes from Genesis 2:2-3, where God rested from all his work on the 7th day. He blessed the 7th day and made it holy because he rested. What does it mean that the day is blessed and holy? We'll look at this more through the lesson, but for now let's just say that it is special. There's something extra good about it.
The next time we see the 7th day concept, it has to do with God supplying manna. And here the 7th day is actually called Sabbath. In Exodus 16:21-29, they Israelites are told to gather manna for 6 days, and gather twice as much on the 6th day. There will be none on the 7th day; it is a holy Sabbath to the Lord. Nevertheless, some people went out to gather it, and found none. Moses tells the people, "Bear in mind that the Lord has given you the Sabbath... Everyone is to stay where they are on the 7th day; no one is to go out". This special blessed holy day is a good thing; it is a gift from God to his people. But they didn't see it as any different than the other 6 days and were choosing to ignore it. They were missing the point that God was giving them something good.
The word for Sabbath in Hebrew is Shabbat. It comes from the verb shavat, which means, "to cease". Shabbat means "day of ceasing". It has more to do with "ceasing" than it does with "resting". You do something for 6 days; you don't do it on the 7th.
The next time the concept of the Sabbath appears in the Scripture is when God gave the Torah on Mt. Sinai, as described in Exodus 20:8-11. Remember the Sabbath day. Keep it holy. It is clear here, that what is to be ceased from is work. This is the only command that references another story -- Creation. Here we get the reason why God wants no work on the 7th day -- he stopped working then. He blessed the 7th day and made it holy, and somehow he wants his people to experience it as a blessed and holy day. So, they, too, are to not work on that day.
God goes on to give the entire Torah with the 613 laws (mitzvot). A lot of them reflect the idea of 7. Some examples:
- The land is to take a Sabbath rest every 7 years.
- There is a 7-year cycle for how the tithe from the crops are to be handled
- Slaves are set free after 7 years of work
- The year of Jubilee is an extra year thrown in after 7 sets of 7 years
- Several of the feasts are 7 days long, and some follow others by multiples of 7 days.
The 10 Commandments are re-iterated in the Book of Deuteronomy, and the Sabbath comes up here again in 5:12-15. This time the story related to the command is not Creation, but their deliverance by God from slavery in Egypt. "Therefore the Lord your God has commanded you to observe the Sabbath day". He wants them to remember and celebrate their deliverance from slavery, their freedom, by using that day to honor him and to not work.
Intent/purpose
There are several facets to the Sabbath that give us different pictures of it:
- It is an issue of rhythm. For the people of Israel, God was reformatting their calendar. The Egyptian calendar had a 10-day week, including a 2-day weekend. God's pattern is a 7 day week with 1 day off. We see this reflected in a couple of different ways:
- God is setting an example to be followed: "This is the rhythm and cadence I have built into the world. You are not designed to always be going; you are designed to take a break." Constantly going is annoying. The breaks are what makes a rhythm pleasant.
- God is not tired after creating, such that he needs to rest and catch his breath. The word is more about "ceasing" than "resting". He stopped to celebrate all the good he had created. He gave the Sabbath as a gift; you work, then you celebrate. Work followed by celebration.
- It is an issue of freedom. God tells Israel, "Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and I brought you out. Remember what slavery was like; it's not going to be that way with me. But if you don't take a break, you might as well still be in Egypt". And if we don't take a break, we might as well be a slave to our work, and we probably are. And on another level, perhaps we should be using the Sabbath to remember and celebrate our release from slavery to sin.
- It is an issue of identity. It tells us of the self-image God wants for us. God's worth and dignity are not defined by his work. He wasn't any less God on the 7th day. Your worth does not come from your work either. Don't let yourself be defined by your work. Your identity comes from being God's creation, from being his child. All week long we identify ourselves by what we do. We need the break. If you don't take a break, you allow the world to define you, not God. The Sabbath is a reminder that God made us holy and special in his image.
- It is an issue of trust. Will God provide for you if you take the Sabbath off to spend time with him? The lesson from the manna is that he will. Think about this.... it's not just that God provided manna. He didn't just turn on some natural force in the earth; it was not on auto-pilot... He had to do something to make manna 6 days of the week and not on the 7th. He had to do something to make it last "twice as long" on the 6th day. He was involved daily in their sustenance. Doesn't that say we can trust God to be involved in providing for us?
- The rabbis will tell you that the story of the giving of the Law in Exodus 20 is like a Hebrew wedding, and we'll look at that more in a bit. But the sabbath is the wedding ring. It is the sign that he made his people holy/special. The Sabbath is about your relationship with God. Who do you spend time with? Not keeping the Sabbath is like taking the wedding ring off.
- It is a gift. To the Hebrews, it is the highlight of the week. The week builds in anticipation of the Sabbath. It's a time of celebration, not just crashing or catching up before starting over the next week. Will you receive it as a gift to be celebrated?
Israel's struggle
This was a struggle Israel dealt with continually. The prophets were continually calling the people back to matters of justice, righteousness, and keeping the Sabbath. These are the things that seem to matter most to God. Here are some sample passages from the prophets particularly related to the Sabbath (we'll take up the matters of justice and righteousness in future lessons):
- Jeremiah 17:21-27 speak of blessings for keeping the Sabbath and punishments for not
- Isaiah 56:1-7 speak of blessings even to foreigners and eunuchs who keep the Sabbath
- Isaiah 58:13-14 speak of blessings for keeping the Sabbath and finding delight in it
- Ezekiel 20:12-24 speak of the Sabbath as being a sign between God and Israel so that they would know that he had made them holy. They should rejoice in it. But they rejected it. This is a very interesting passage, because it seems that God is conflicted about it. He wants to punish them, and threatens them with destroying them in the wilderness, not bringing them in to the land he had given them, and dispersing them among the nations. But he says that for the sake of his name, he punished them only to the extent he could keep his name from being profaned among the nations that were aware that he had brought them out of Egypt into the Promised Land. It is amazing to me, how not keeping the Sabbath seems to affect God. Perhaps it sheds some light on the passage in Exodus 20:5 where He says he is a "jealous God". As people, we don't have the right to be jealous, because we don't really own anything. But God owns everything, people are the crown of His creation, and he wants to be in relationship with them and is deeply hurt when that is not returned.
- Amos 8:4-6 speaks of the people being anxious for the Sabbath to be over so they can go back to work, and back to exploiting the poor.
From the Talmud
It seems there are a couple of ways Israel could have chosen to approach this. They could have chosen to live by the spirit of what God intended, or they could try to put some parameters on it to quantify it. I don't know who started it (and surely it was with good intentions, and the Pharisees certainly took it to the nth degree), but Israel chose to devise a system to define work, so they could know for sure that they were not working on the Sabbath. So there were 39 categories of prohibited activities (melakhah or melakhoth):
1. plowing earth
2. sowing
3. reaping
4. binding sheaves
5. threshing
6. winnowing
7. selecting
8. grinding
9. sifting
10. kneading
11. baking
12. shearing wool
13. washing wool
14. beating wool
15. dyeing wool
16. spinning
17. weaving
18. making two loops
19. weaving two threads
20. separating two threads
21. tying
22. untying
23. sewing stitches
24. tearing
25. trapping
26. slaughtering
27. flaying
28. tanning
29. scraping hide
30. marking hide
31. cutting hide to shape
32. writing two or more letters
33. erasing two or more letters
34. building
35. demolishing
36. extinguishing a fire
37. kindling a fire
38. putting the finishing touch on an object
39. transporting an object (between private and public domains, or over 4 cubits within a public domain)
Where did they get these categories? They are derived from the kinds of work that were necessary for the construction of the Tabernacle. In a future lesson we're going to see how the instructions that were given for the construction of the Tabernacle parallel God’s 7 days of Creation. Apparently the ancient Hebrews saw it that way, too, because they equated the work of construction of the Tabernacle with God’s work in Creation, as far as defining what to stop doing on the Sabbath in order to stop working.
Okay, so we’ve got all of these categories of work. Each of them encompasses many specific work activities which would be prohibited. For example, while "winnowing" (category 6) usually refers exclusively to the separation of chaff from grain, and "selecting" (category 7) refers exclusively to the separation of debris from grain, they both refer in the Talmudic sense to any separation of intermixed materials which renders something edible that was previously inedible. Thus, filtering undrinkable water to make it drinkable falls under these categories, as does picking small bones from fish.
Here are some other examples from the Talmud. The Talmud was written after the time of Jesus, but it codified the laws that were in existence before and during his time:
- You couldn't travel more than three thousand feet...some say you
can't go more than nineteen hundred and ninety-nine steps, if you take
the two thousandth step, you've violated Sabbath. The only way you can
go further than that is if you put some food nineteen hundred and
ninety-nine steps away on Friday before Sabbath; then once you get to the
food on Sabbath, you get another nineteen hundred and ninety-nine steps. You
can either go further or come back. It's like the food represents an extension to your house.
Wherever there were narrow streets, you could lay a piece of wood or a piece of rope over the entrance to the street between the dwellings on each side and you could make the street like the entrance to a house so you could go another three thousand feet or nineteen hundred and ninety-nine steps beyond that.
Both of these seem to have their origin in Moses’ statement, “No one is to go out”, regarding gathering manna on the 7th day. But what it became reminds me of a typical video game where if you get to a certain place in a timely manner, you get more life to continue playing.
- You could lift something up and put something down, but only from certain places to certain places. You could lift it up in a public place and put it down in a private place, or you could lift it up in a private place and put it down in a public place, or you could lift it up in a wide place and put it in a legally free place and on and on and on.
- No burden could be carried that weighed more than a dried fig, or half a fig carried two times.
- If you put an olive in your mouth and rejected it because it was bad, you couldn't put a whole one in the next time because the palate had tasted the flavor of a whole olive.
- If you threw an object in the air and caught it with the other hand, it was a sin. If you caught it in the same hand, it wasn't.
- If a person was in one place and he reached out his arm for food and the Sabbath overtook him, he would have to drop the food and not return his arm with it, or he would be carrying a burden and that would be sin.
- A tailor couldn't carry his needle. The scribe couldn't carry his pen. A pupil couldn't carry his books.
- No clothing could be examined lest somehow you find a lice and inadvertently kill it.
- Wool couldn't be dyed.
- Nothing could be sold. Nothing could be bought.
- Nothing could be washed.
- A letter could not be sent even if it was sent via a heathen.
- No fire could be lit.
- Cold water could be poured on warm, but warm couldn't be poured on cold.
- An egg could not be boiled even if all you did was put it in the sand.
Modern Judaism
Here are some thoughts from modern Judaism:
- Electricity: Orthodox and some Conservative authorities rule
that turning electric devices on or off is prohibited as a melakhah;
however, authorities are not in agreement about exactly which one(s).
One view is that tiny sparks are created in a switch when the circuit is
closed, and this would constitute lighting a fire (category 37). If the
appliance is purposed for light or heat (such as an incandescent bulb
or electric oven), then the lighting or heating elements may be
considered as a type of fire that falls under both lighting a fire
(category 37) and cooking (i.e., baking, category 11). Turning lights
off would be extinguishing a fire (category 36).
Another view is that a device plugged into an electrical outlet of a wall becomes part of the building, but is nonfunctional while the switch is off; turning it on would then constitute building (category 35) and turning it off would be demolishing (category 34). Some schools of thought consider the use of electricity to be forbidden only by rabbinic injunction, rather than because it violates one of the original categories.
Solutions to the problem of electricity: - The use of preset timers (Shabbat clocks) for electric appliances, to turn them on and off automatically, with no human intervention on Shabbat itself.
- Shabbat lamps have been developed to allow a light in a room to be turned on or off at will while the electricity remains on. A special mechanism blocks out the light when the off position is desired without violating Shabbat.
- Some Orthodox Jews also hire a "Shabbos goy", a Gentile to perform prohibited tasks (like operating light switches) on Shabbat.
- Some Conservative authorities reject altogether the arguments for prohibiting the use of electricity.
- Automobiles: Orthodox and many Conservative authorities
completely prohibit the use of automobiles on Shabbat as a violation of
multiple categories, including lighting a fire, extinguishing a fire,
and transferring between domains (category 39). However, the
Conservative movement's Committee on Jewish Law and Standards permits
driving to a synagogue on Shabbat, as an emergency measure, on the
grounds that if Jews lost contact with synagogue life they would become
lost to the Jewish people.
A halakhically authorized Shabbat module added to a power-operated mobility scooter may be used on the observance of Shabbat for those with walking limitations, often referred to as a Shabbat scooter. It is intended only for individuals whose limited mobility is dependent on a scooter or automobile consistently throughout the week.
- Modifications to work around the prohibitions:
- Seemingly "forbidden" acts may be performed by modifying technology such that no law is actually violated. In Sabbath mode, a "Sabbath elevator" will stop automatically at every floor, allowing people to step on and off without anyone having to press any buttons, which would normally be needed to work. (Dynamic braking is also disabled if it is normally used, i.e., shunting energy collected from downward travel, and thus the gravitational potential energy of passengers, into a resistor network.) However, many rabbinical authorities consider the use of such elevators by those who are otherwise capable as a violation of Shabbat, with such workarounds being for the benefit of the frail and handicapped and not being in the spirit of the day.
- Many observant Jews avoid the prohibition of carrying by use of an eruv. This is a type of structure, largely schematic, with both public and private entrances, so it nullifies crossing domain boundaries. Others make their keys into a tie bar, part of a belt buckle, or a brooch, because a legitimate article of clothing or jewelry may be worn rather than carried. An elastic band with clips on both ends, and with keys placed between them as integral links, may be considered a belt.
Jesus
The Pharisees’ original intent was to sincerely obey the law so God’s blessings would come to Israel, and so the Messiah would come and free them from their bondage. But this missed the heart of the matter and became an end in itself, and just led to self-righteousness. Preventing work on the Sabbath became their number 1 issue. And in their hypocrisy, they developed all kinds of things that made the Sabbath worse than every other day, because of their unbelievable restraints.
Given what this had evolved to, it’s no wonder that Jesus and the Pharisees tangled over the Sabbath. Jesus was always doing something good on the Sabbath, and the Pharisees were always after him about it because it was their number 1 issue.
- In the story of the healing of the blind man in John 9:16, keeping the Sabbath was their litmus test for being godly or a sinner, no better than the tax collectors and prostitutes they looked down on.
- In Luke 13:10-21 we have the story of Jesus healing the woman who had been crippled by a spirit for 18 years, on the Sabbath. The Pharisees would not allow doing more on the Sabbath than keeping someone from dying. Jesus says they do more than that on the Sabbath for their donkeys. One of the reasons the Sabbath was given was to remember being set free from slavery in Egypt. This woman was in bondage from Satan. So why shouldn’t she be set free on the Sabbath? What could be more appropriate than that? His opponents are humiliated, and the people are delighted. The fact that Jesus goes on to teach about the Kingdom of God in the same context indicates that he was up to something far bigger than just challenging the Pharisees on their turf. He is demonstrating the Kingdom with this miraculous healing and the good that it did. He’s bringing the Kingdom right there, and saying that it is going to start small – a healing here and there, religious traditions challenged along the way – and grow over time into something that will pervade everything and bless everyone.
- In Matthew 12:9-14 there's the story of Jesus, on the Sabbath, healing the man with the crippled hand. Jesus says it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath. He is referencing the hierarchy that existed within the Jewish laws. It was okay, and required if necessary, to break lesser laws to uphold higher ones. Jesus says they're already doing that when they rescue a sheep on the Sabbath; how much more valuable is a person than a sheep? So it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath. (As an aside, in the event that a human life is in danger, a Jew is not only allowed, but required to violate any halakhic law that stands in the way of saving that person (excluding murder, idolatry, and forbidden sexual acts)).
- In Matthew 12:1-8, we have the story of the Pharisees accusing the disciples of breaking the Sabbath because they were picking and eating heads of grain as they went through the fields. Now picking random grain heads to eat while on the road which wanders through someone's field was totally acceptable; you just couldn't do it on a big scale, but grabbing what you could eat as you passed by was fine. Jesus must have just galled the Pharisees to no end, when he asks, "Haven't you read ....?" Of course they've read it; they've got it memorized. Here again, Jesus is addressing the inherent hierarchy within the Jewish laws, to point out to them how misplaced their fanaticism with the Sabbath was:
- The priests, in order to perform their Sabbath duties, actually have to break the law every Sabbath, and that's okay; the temple laws were higher than the Sabbath laws.
- David was allowed to eat the bread that only priests were to eat; preserving life was a higher law than the temple laws.
- Jesus states that he is greater than the temple (and therefore greater than the Sabbath), and backs this up by referring to himself as the Son of Man, picking up on a Messianic reference from Daniel 7:13-14 which also suggests the Messiah would be divine. As Creator God, he created the Sabbath, so of course, he is Lord of it.
- The statement, "I desire mercy, not sacrifice" comes from Hosea 6:6, where God is berating Israel for their disobedience for not being committed to him from their hearts, and trying to make up for it by their sacrifices. Jesus is telling the Pharisees that their fanaticism with the Sabbath laws is like Israel in that picture: it's not what God wants; they've missed the heart of it. If they had understood that, it would never had occurred to them to bring the subject up.
- The same story is recorded in Mark 2:23-28, but Jesus adds that the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. The Sabbath is a gift. And as the Son of Man, who made the Sabbath, has authority over it.
- Jesus has many scathing condemnations for the Pharisees and the teachers of the law in Matthew 23 and Luke 11. In Luke 11:46, he says, "Woe to you experts in the law because you load people down with burdens they can hardly carry, and you yourselves will not lift one finger to help them". Here he is surely talking about the burdens of their Sabbath laws.
- Contrast that with Matthew 11:28-30, where Jesus says his yoke (his interpretation of the Text) is easy, his burden is light, and people will find rest. He will not burden the people with a complicated system. He wants the people to know God's heart. He says this in the context of the Sabbath incidents we just looked at, just preceding them, so they clearly illustrate his meaning here.
Here is a story from the life of Jesus, which is maybe not so much about his view of the Sabbath day as it is about his view of the Sabbath purpose.
- In Mark 1:21-28 Jesus is teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum (his home town). Synagogue service was the place to be on Sabbath; it was the town event of the week. He amazes people with his teaching and his authority. He casts out a demon from a man. News about him spreads all over Galilee. He is on everyone's radar from that point on.
- In Mark 1:29-31, as soon as they leave the synagogue, Jesus goes to Peter's house, and heals his mother-in-law, and then she waits on them. It's like both of them were "working".
- Mark 1:32-34, that evening after sunset (because they waited for Sabbath to be over), the whole town shows up on Jesus' door, with all their sick and demon-possessed people, and he heals them. The whole town. This had to be a very late night.
- Mark 1:35, Jesus is up very early in the morning while it was still
dark, and he goes to be alone to pray. This is Jesus' Sabbath. He
spends it with God. He's taking a break. He is a very balanced
person. We ascribe a lot of importance to our busyness. Jesus has
unbelievably important work and limited time to do it, yet he takes
breaks. Our culture worships on the altar of production. We associate
busyness with importance and production. Even Socrates said, "Beware of
the barrenness of a busy life". Nothing we do is that important that we shouldn't take a
break to nurture our relationship with God.
Why does Jesus take a break? He's got to be tired. He's exhausted at time, and the gospels aren't ashamed to acknowledge it. But it was more important for him to spend his Sabbath with the Father. He prays. God will speak. He will gain clarity on what to do next. He needs to leave the busy space and get to a space where he can breathe, think, pray, and listen to God. - In Mark 1:36-38 the disciples find him and exclaim that everyone is
looking for him. "People are waiting for you. Come on! You've got
work to do back there". But Jesus has been able to gain clarity about
what he is to do, because he's been able to focus on his purpose.
"Let's go somewhere else -- to the nearby villages -- so I can preach
there also. That is why I have come".
Doing ministry in Capernaum would have kept him from his mission. He needs to turn away from the good to do the best. Saying "yes" to good things doesn't make them right. Say "no" to good things so you can say "yes" to the best things. Spending time with God, as his Sabbath, has given him the proper perspective.
Application
Here is the Sabbath practice from one of our teachers. He is a teaching pastor, so he "works" on Sunday. He takes the Sabbath on Saturday. It's a day of rest. He doesn't do the things that define him the other 6 days. No emails on Saturday. Sermon preparation ends at 5:30 on Friday, and he doesn't touch it again until Sunday morning. Sabbath is a day of re-connection with God and within his family. His wife and kids know that however crazy the week is, they have him full time on Sabbath. Be creative. Try to be outside. Try to have as much fun as you can put into a day. Sabbath is about being a human being, not a human doing. Leaving the world of the 6 days gives clarity and focus about how to re-engage it the next week.
Another of our teachers gives a Sabbath lesson in which the giving of the Law on Mt. Sinai is the model for a Jewish wedding. The Cloud is the tent under which the bride and groom stand. The 10 Commandments are God's covenant for Israel, like a groom gives to his bride. And the Sabbath is the wedding ring of Sinai (Ezekiel 20:12 says it is the sign that he made his people holy). The Sabbath is about spending time with God. If we "take the ring off", we spend that time with someone or something else. It's like being unfaithful in marriage.
There are different perspectives that have been presented here, and we're probably all going to apply them differently, but here are some questions we should probably wrestle with:
- Can you see God's heart for the Sabbath?
- Can you receive the Sabbath as a gift from God?
- Can you make it the high point of the week and spend the day with God?
- What do you need to do differently?
Handouts
Origins
Genesis 2:2-3
Exodus 16:21-26
Exodus 16:27-29
Shabbat
shavat
Exodus 20:8-11
Deuteronomy 5:12-15
Intent/purpose
Rhythm
Freedom
Identity
Trust
Wedding ring
Gift
Israel’s struggle
Jeremiah 17:21-27
Isaiah 56:1-7
Isaiah 58:13-14
Ezekiel 20:12-24
Amos 8:4-6
Talmud
melakhah, melakhoth
Modern Judaism
Jesus
John 9:16
Luke 13:10-21
Matthew 12:9-14
Matthew 12:1-8
Mark 2:23-28
Luke 11:46
Matthew 11:28-30
Mark 1:21-28
Mark 1:29-31
Mark 1:32-34
Mark 1:35
Mark 1:36-38
Brad
George
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