Sabbath

which He had made. Then Elohim blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because He rested from all His
work on it, which Elohim had created to make” (Genesis 2:2-3)
When we think of the Sabbath, we often think of the Ten Commandments, which Yahweh gave when Israel
left Egypt under the leadership of Moses. The events of that period of Israel’s history---the Exodus---were
extraordinary. The plagues on Egypt, the death of all Egypt’s firstborn, the parting of the Red Sea, manna
coming from heaven and Yahweh giving Moses the Ten Commandments on stone tablets were all miraculous
occurrences.
These events were dramatic testimony to the birth of a new nation. And, in the midst of these incredible
beginnings, Yahweh told His new nation to remember something. “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy,”
He commanded His people (Exodus 20:8).
He pointed them back to creation, reminding them that “in six days Yahweh made the heavens and the earth,
the sea, and all which is in them, and He rested on the seventh day; on account of this Yahweh blessed the
Sabbath day and sanctified it” (verse 11).
The Sabbath commandment had an important spiritual purpose. It pointed Yahweh’s people to Him as their
Creator. It was a required weekly remembrance that there is a higher power and authority at work in our lives
and the lives of all humanity. Yahweh intended that the Sabbath be observed as a reminder of that fact.
Sabbath revealed by miracles
The significance of the Sabbath was evident before Yahweh gave the Ten Commandments to the nation of
Israel. For example, a few weeks earlier, after the crossing of the Red Sea, when the Israelites witnessed the
destruction of Pharaoh’s armies, Israel entered the vast desert wilderness of the Sinai Peninsula. Within a few
days, the Israelite’s food supplies, brought with them from Egypt, were exhausted. “You have brought us out
into this wilderness to kill all this assembly with hunger,” they cried to Moses (Exodus 16:3).
However, Yahweh was already a step ahead of them. He promised to send manna, a miraculous substance to
nourish and sustain them as long as they were in the wilderness (verses 4, 15-18).
But Yahweh imposed a condition. He would provide the manna only six days out of every seven. On the sixth
day there would be twice as much as usual, but none on the seventh day (verses 5, 22). Moses explained to the
people what Yahweh had told him: “’Tomorrow is a rest, a holy Sabbath to Yahweh…And lay up for
yourselves all that is left over, to keep it until morning…You shall gather it six days, and on the seventh is a
Sabbath, in it none shall be found’” (verses 23, 26).
But some didn’t listen and “on the Sabbath day some of the people went out to gather, and did not find any
(verse 27).
What was Yahweh’s reaction? “Yahweh said to Moses, ‘Until when do you refuse to keep My
commandments and My laws? See, because Yahweh has given the Sabbath to you, therefore He is giving to you
two days of bread on the sixth day. Each one of you remain in his place. Do not let anyone go out from his
place on the seventh day’” (verses 28-29).
Here, several weeks before giving Moses the Ten Commandments at Mount Sinai, Yahweh said the Israelites
were refusing to keep His commandments and laws! He also said, “Yahweh has given you the Sabbath.” He
didn’t say “is giving” or “will give”; He had already given them the Sabbath, to be observed every seventh day!
When Yahweh through Moses, commanded Israel, “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy” (Exodus 16:
28), He pointed them back to the original creation week.
Sabbath Set apart
In the book of Genesis we read of Yahweh creating the earth, then filling it with plants and animals and
forming it into a dazzlingly beautiful home for the first man and woman, Adam and eve. Here we read of the
real origin of the Sabbath: “And on the seventh day Elohim completed His work which He had made. And He
rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had made. And Elohim blessed the seventh day and
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