The Ten Commandments is one of the most recognizable sections in the Bible. I first heard about them when I was still a little boy. Hollywood even made a movie with the same title in 1956. But what if I were to tell you the words, “Ten Commandments” are not found anywhere in the Bible? It’s true. That is because in the three places where “Ten Commandments” appear in the Bible, it does not say, “Ten Commandments”, but “Ten Words” in the Hebrew. The Ten Commandments are sometimes called the Decalogue, and I think this may be the reason why. But, nobody wants to hear or say, “Ten Words” to another, so let’s pretend they are the “Ten Commandments”. But just between you and me, we know they are really the Ten Words.
As you know already, the Ten Commandments contained instructions how the Israelites were to live in relation to God, and also how they were to live in relation to other Israelites. In the days when I first actually paid attention and read Exodus 20, all the commandments seemed rather reasonable. That is, all except one. Of the Ten Commandments, the commandment to “Remember the Sabbath day, and to keep it holy” stood out as interesting to me, unexpected, perhaps even a little bizarre.
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 of the LORD your God; in it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter, your male or your female servant or your cattle or your sojourner who stays with you. For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the 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.
I feel that we, as 21st century Christians, tend to overlook God’s commandment to Israel to remember the Sabbath, and to keep it holy. If I am honest, I feel we don’t give it as much thought as the Bible seems to say we should. I say this because, firstly, this commandment is Number Four on the list. It is the fourth most important commandment. Secondly, God says more about the fourth commandment than about the other nine commandments in Exodus 20. Thirdly, although it comes in last among the four commandments that have to do with the Israelites’ relationship with God, it comes before any other commandment that has to do with the Israelites’ relationship with each other. Fourthly, the commandment applies to the living animals and sojourners too, and not limited to the Israelites. All to say, we need to pay attention to the Fourth Commandment. The Sabbath was not a casual thing for God, and it was not meant to be a casual thing for Israel either. Remembering the Sabbath, and keeping it holy was an important aspect of Israel’s true worship of God.
The Fourth Commandment may seem most unexpected to us today. But I sense that in the days of Exodus, perhaps the principle behind the commandment may not be as unexpected to the Israelites as we think. They may have, in a strange way, seen it coming. The reason is because sometime in the past, they had been introduced to the concepts of rest and the Sabbath already. God had been laying the foundation for it for a long time. As a matter of fact, God laid the foundation in the first week of creation.
Genesis 2.2–3
By the seventh day God completed His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made.
The Bible says that after God worked on his creation for six days, on the seventh day he rested from all his work. For six days, the text reads, “and God said”. But it didn’t on the seventh day. God rested not because he was thoroughly exhausted. He rested simply because there was no work left to be done. The Bible says not only did God rested from all his work, he also blessed and sanctified it. The seventh day was unlike all the other days. God did not bless the other days. He also never called the other days holy. He only blessed the seventh day. He only declared the seventh day holy.
It is interesting to me how the Israelites kept the Fourth Commandment. What does it mean to remember the Sabbath? Remember what? When God commanded the Israelites to remember the Sabbath, I sense he meant for Israel to recall the week of creation. In the same way God rested and did no work on the seventh day of creation, Israel was to remember that, and do likewise. And how were the Israelites to keep the Sabbath, or any day for that matter, holy? We know a little bit who is a holy person or where is a holy place, but what is a holy day? The holi-days in our modern calendars have largely lost their meanings, and they are no help to us at all. What makes and not make a Sabbath holy? At the minimum, keeping the Sabbath holy meant for Israel to put the day to a different use. As God put the seventh day to a different use, Israel was to put the seventh day to a different use as well. But it goes further than that. Is it possible God declaring the Sabbath holy may be saying that the Sabbath day is dedicated to himself? And that the Sabbath belongs to the Lord? I think so. Check out the possessive language in these verses.
Ezekiel 22.8 You have despised My holy things and profaned My sabbaths.
Isaiah 58.13 If because of the sabbath, you turn your foot
From doing your own pleasure on My holy day,
And call the sabbath a delight, the holy day of the LORD honorable,
And honor it, desisting from your own ways,
From seeking your own pleasure
And speaking your own word,
When God rested on the seventh day, the seventh day was not even called the Sabbath, yet. And there was also no commandment concerning the seventh day given by God, yet. But as we shall see, the fact that God rested on the seventh day set a precedent on which future Sabbath related commandments will be based. We will learn together how much the concepts of rest and the Sabbath in the rest of the Bible were going to be a big deal to God.