Chapter 20
What Say the Scriptures? Of the Word, “Sabbath”
What Say the Scriptures? Of the Word, “Sabbath”
Perhaps, it begins to appear by now; and it subtly suggested at length seems to be…It advisable becomes upon reaching this point: In order to be taught of God’s seventh day “resting”, one need but resort to those, many and diverse, later, Old Testament passages, which elaborate, and expatiate the sabbath, the which are themselves education and instruction, explaining, and informing of the Bible’s Fourth Directive.
Because their sabbath recalls, and looks back to God’s having “rested” (traditionally), it is certain, that such a passage would address it, and clarify it. Careful and patient scrutiny of these, numerous, later scriptures should surely explain, and potentially expound the enigma of the Fourth Directive’s cardinal event.
A. Not That Many
Upon entry into such an investigation, however, one is immediately confronted by two redoubtable and forceful impediments: To begin with, there simply are not that many passages outside of the books of Moses, which employ the word, “sabbath”, and use the word, “sabbath”.
And among such Old Testament writings, only eleven (II Kings, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Hosea, Amos, The Psalms, Lamentations, Nehemiah, I and II Chronicles) even use, and accommodate the word in their text. And of these, four (Hosea, Amos, The Psalms and Lamentations) use the word only once. Only two (Ezekiel and Nehemiah) of the seven, using the word more than once afford it more than six or seven appearances.
In all, no more than about four dozen occurrences of the word, “sabbath” appear after the books of Moses. Such uses of this word and their potential explanations of God’s seventh day “resting” are thereby assessed, and thereby appraised as being not at all numerous and rather more scarce, indeed altogether fewer, than one might at first have expected, and predicted.
B. No Less an Impediment
Of these two above mentioned obstacles, however, the second is no less an impediment to one’s learning of God’s “resting”: When at length one does come across the word, “sabbath”, being used in a post Pentateuch1 passage, this use does not explain how, or why it came to be, and never appears to serve the purpose of such clarification.
Such scriptures seem almost completely disinterested in comment or mention of the origins of the sabbath: Seldom, if ever, is the word, “sabbath” escorted by any review of its beginnings outside of the books of Moses. (With the exception of the three obvious passages, Exodus 20:11 and Deuteronomy 5:15 of the two Fourth Directive “versions” and Exodus 31:17, this is equally true within the books of Moses themselves).
To later biblical authors, how, and why the sabbath originated are only important as an aid to a person’s practise of this sabbath: Application, not amplification is for them the most important and most urgent consideration; and this exhibits somewhat readily through the following few scriptures…
(RSV Isaiah 58:13-14) 13“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 in your own ways, or seeking your own pleasure, or talking idly; 14then you shall take delight in the Lord, and I will make you ride upon the heights of the earth; I will feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken”.
(RSV Jeremiah 17:21-22) 21“Thus says the Lord: ‘Take heed for the sake of your lives, and do not bear a burden on the sabbath day or bring it in by the gates of Jerusalem. 22And do not carry a burden out of your houses on the sabbath or do any work, but keep the sabbath day holy, as I commanded your fathers’”.
(RSV Ezekiel 20:11-13) 11“I gave them my statutes and showed them my ordinances, by whose observance man shall 1ive. 12Moreover, I gave them my sabbaths, as a sign between me and them, that they might know that I the Lord sanctify them. 13But the house of Israel rebelled against me in the wilderness; they did not walk in my statutes but rejected my ordinances, by whose observance man shall live; and my sabbaths they greatly profaned”.
(RSV Lamentations 2:5-6) 5“The Lord has become like an enemy, he has destroyed Israel; he has destroyed all its palaces, laid in ruins its strongholds; and he has multiplied in the daughter of Judah mourning and lamentation. 6He has broken down his booth like that of a garden, laid in ruins the place of his appointed feasts; the Lord has brought to an end in Zion appointed feast and sabbath, and in his fierce indignation has spurned king and priest”.
(RSV I Chronicles 9:32) “Also some of their kinsmen of the Kohathites had charge of the showbread, to prepare it every Sabbath”.
(RSV II Chronicles 36:20-21) 20“He took into exile in Babylon those who had escaped from the sword, and they became servants to him and to his sons until the establishment of the kingdom of Persia, 21to fulfil the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed its sabbath. All the days that it lay desolate it kept sabbath, to fulfil seventy years”.
As you can see, later biblical authors do not concern, and involve themselves with the Fourth Directive’s sabbath to re-examine its beginnings.
In their treatment of it, they disclose no intent to discuss its provenance, or to clarify its origin: Having already been instituted by God in both Exodus 20:11 (of the Fourth Directive) and Exodus 31:17, while yet being interpreted by Moses thereafter in Deuteronomy 5:15, additional clarification was simply unnecessary.
C. It Is They
By their very use of this word, “sabbath” in fact, the Bible’s later books are all composed on the assumption, that their readers had available, and were familiar with the original explanation for the sabbath, acquired by way of its earliest books: Because, after all, only the books of Moses recorded the sabbath’s institution, it is they, that were best suited to exposition of its origins.
As the cardinal event of the origin of the sabbath, God’s seventh day “resting” would be no less appropriately expounded, and explained at the time of its institution. Thus, by assuming available knowledge of such subject matter, the Bible’s later books must rely necessarily on the singular contribution of the writings of Moses.
And they confirm, that these writings are without substitute, when considering the basics and beginnings of the sabbath. We have, thus, completed something of a circuit, and are come full circle: We are back where we started, in our attempt to clarify the Fourth Directive’s assertion of God, the Almighty’s having “rested the seventh day” (KJV Exodus 20:11).
1Remember here also, that the Pentateuch (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy) constitutes those five books, authored my Moses, which begin the Bible.
Perhaps, it begins to appear by now; and it subtly suggested at length seems to be…It advisable becomes upon reaching this point: In order to be taught of God’s seventh day “resting”, one need but resort to those, many and diverse, later, Old Testament passages, which elaborate, and expatiate the sabbath, the which are themselves education and instruction, explaining, and informing of the Bible’s Fourth Directive.
Because their sabbath recalls, and looks back to God’s having “rested” (traditionally), it is certain, that such a passage would address it, and clarify it. Careful and patient scrutiny of these, numerous, later scriptures should surely explain, and potentially expound the enigma of the Fourth Directive’s cardinal event.
A. Not That Many
Upon entry into such an investigation, however, one is immediately confronted by two redoubtable and forceful impediments: To begin with, there simply are not that many passages outside of the books of Moses, which employ the word, “sabbath”, and use the word, “sabbath”.
And among such Old Testament writings, only eleven (II Kings, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Hosea, Amos, The Psalms, Lamentations, Nehemiah, I and II Chronicles) even use, and accommodate the word in their text. And of these, four (Hosea, Amos, The Psalms and Lamentations) use the word only once. Only two (Ezekiel and Nehemiah) of the seven, using the word more than once afford it more than six or seven appearances.
In all, no more than about four dozen occurrences of the word, “sabbath” appear after the books of Moses. Such uses of this word and their potential explanations of God’s seventh day “resting” are thereby assessed, and thereby appraised as being not at all numerous and rather more scarce, indeed altogether fewer, than one might at first have expected, and predicted.
B. No Less an Impediment
Of these two above mentioned obstacles, however, the second is no less an impediment to one’s learning of God’s “resting”: When at length one does come across the word, “sabbath”, being used in a post Pentateuch1 passage, this use does not explain how, or why it came to be, and never appears to serve the purpose of such clarification.
Such scriptures seem almost completely disinterested in comment or mention of the origins of the sabbath: Seldom, if ever, is the word, “sabbath” escorted by any review of its beginnings outside of the books of Moses. (With the exception of the three obvious passages, Exodus 20:11 and Deuteronomy 5:15 of the two Fourth Directive “versions” and Exodus 31:17, this is equally true within the books of Moses themselves).
To later biblical authors, how, and why the sabbath originated are only important as an aid to a person’s practise of this sabbath: Application, not amplification is for them the most important and most urgent consideration; and this exhibits somewhat readily through the following few scriptures…
(RSV Isaiah 58:13-14) 13“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 in your own ways, or seeking your own pleasure, or talking idly; 14then you shall take delight in the Lord, and I will make you ride upon the heights of the earth; I will feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken”.
(RSV Jeremiah 17:21-22) 21“Thus says the Lord: ‘Take heed for the sake of your lives, and do not bear a burden on the sabbath day or bring it in by the gates of Jerusalem. 22And do not carry a burden out of your houses on the sabbath or do any work, but keep the sabbath day holy, as I commanded your fathers’”.
(RSV Ezekiel 20:11-13) 11“I gave them my statutes and showed them my ordinances, by whose observance man shall 1ive. 12Moreover, I gave them my sabbaths, as a sign between me and them, that they might know that I the Lord sanctify them. 13But the house of Israel rebelled against me in the wilderness; they did not walk in my statutes but rejected my ordinances, by whose observance man shall live; and my sabbaths they greatly profaned”.
(RSV Lamentations 2:5-6) 5“The Lord has become like an enemy, he has destroyed Israel; he has destroyed all its palaces, laid in ruins its strongholds; and he has multiplied in the daughter of Judah mourning and lamentation. 6He has broken down his booth like that of a garden, laid in ruins the place of his appointed feasts; the Lord has brought to an end in Zion appointed feast and sabbath, and in his fierce indignation has spurned king and priest”.
(RSV I Chronicles 9:32) “Also some of their kinsmen of the Kohathites had charge of the showbread, to prepare it every Sabbath”.
(RSV II Chronicles 36:20-21) 20“He took into exile in Babylon those who had escaped from the sword, and they became servants to him and to his sons until the establishment of the kingdom of Persia, 21to fulfil the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed its sabbath. All the days that it lay desolate it kept sabbath, to fulfil seventy years”.
As you can see, later biblical authors do not concern, and involve themselves with the Fourth Directive’s sabbath to re-examine its beginnings.
In their treatment of it, they disclose no intent to discuss its provenance, or to clarify its origin: Having already been instituted by God in both Exodus 20:11 (of the Fourth Directive) and Exodus 31:17, while yet being interpreted by Moses thereafter in Deuteronomy 5:15, additional clarification was simply unnecessary.
C. It Is They
By their very use of this word, “sabbath” in fact, the Bible’s later books are all composed on the assumption, that their readers had available, and were familiar with the original explanation for the sabbath, acquired by way of its earliest books: Because, after all, only the books of Moses recorded the sabbath’s institution, it is they, that were best suited to exposition of its origins.
As the cardinal event of the origin of the sabbath, God’s seventh day “resting” would be no less appropriately expounded, and explained at the time of its institution. Thus, by assuming available knowledge of such subject matter, the Bible’s later books must rely necessarily on the singular contribution of the writings of Moses.
And they confirm, that these writings are without substitute, when considering the basics and beginnings of the sabbath. We have, thus, completed something of a circuit, and are come full circle: We are back where we started, in our attempt to clarify the Fourth Directive’s assertion of God, the Almighty’s having “rested the seventh day” (KJV Exodus 20:11).
1Remember here also, that the Pentateuch (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy) constitutes those five books, authored my Moses, which begin the Bible.