Sabbath

sanctified it, because He rested from all His work on it, which Elohim had created to make” (Genesis 2:2-3).
This day was different from the other days of creation week. Yahweh blessed the seventh day and sanctified
it. The word sanctify means to set apart as holy; Yahweh specifically set apart the seventh day as holy. We
read three times in these two verses that Yahweh did not work on this day. The emphasis is that this was His
day of rest. It was Yahweh’s Sabbath rest.
Some people dispute this interpretation, saying this was not the origin of the commanded day of rest, noting
that the Sabbath isn’t mentioned here. However, the Hebrew word translated “rested” is shabat, which is the
root word for “Sabbath.” Shabat means to cease, or rest, and it is from this that the Sabbath gets its meaning as
“a day of rest.” To paraphrase the account in Genesis 2, “Elohim sabbathed on the seventh day from all His
work.” The Hebrew language is clear and unambiguous in its intent.
When Is the Sabbath to Be Kept?
Our convention of starting a new day at midnight is an arbitrary, humanly devised practice. Yahweh, who
created the heavenly bodies and set them in motion to mark the passage of time (Genesis 1:14), counts time
differently---from evening to evening.
We see this indicated in the creation account in Genesis 1. After dividing day from night, Yahweh tells us
that “there was evening and there was morning the first day” (verse 5). “Evening” is mentioned first, followed
by “morning.” Yahweh describes each day’s creation in similar terms (verses 8, 13,19, 23, 31).
In the Bible, evening began when the sun went down (Joshua 8:29; 2 Chronicles 18:34; Nehemiah 13:19;
Mark 1:32), and at that time a new day began. Regarding His Sabbaths, Yahweh commands that they be
observed “from evening to evening” (Leviticus 23:32). This was the usual way at that time of calculating the
beginning and ending of days (Exodus 12:18).
In New Testament times, days were calculated the same way. Mark 1:32 records that, after the sun had set,
marking the end of one Sabbath, crowds brought many ailing people to Yahshua to be healed, having waited
until after the Sabbath to come to Him. The Gospel accounts also record that Joseph of Arimathea entombed
Yahshua’s body before evening to keep from working on a approaching annual Sabbath (Matthew 27:57-60;
Mark 15:42-46; Luke 23:50-54).
Yahweh, Creator of the Sabbath, determines when it begins and ends, and it was observed from sunset to
sunset throughout the Bible. His Sabbath begins Friday evening at sunset and ends Saturday evening at sunset.
Sabbath made for humankind
Remarkably, some will still argue that this doesn’t prove the Sabbath existed from creation week and wasn’t
instituted until given to Israel at Mount Sinai and that it was then given only to the physical nation of Israel for a
limited time.
However, Messiah Yahshua Himself dispelled this notion. “The Sabbath came into being for man’s sake, not
man for the Sabbath’s sake,” He explained to some who completely misunderstood its intent and purpose (Mark
2:27). He clarified the great underlying principle of the Sabbath day that so many have missed through the
centuries: The Sabbath, far from enforcing a tiresome bondage or sanctioning a list of forbidden activities, is
something Yahweh made for man! It was sanctified---made holy---when mankind was made, with Yahweh
creating Adam and Eve on the sixth day of creation week and creating the Sabbath on the following day
(Genesis 1:26-31; 2:1-3).
To Messiah Yahshua the Sabbath was positive and beneficial, not the oppressive burden some religious
leaders had made of it in His day. Notice Yahshua’s choice of words. The Sabbath wasn’t something just for
the nation of Israel; He said it was made for man---for all humanity---and observing it wasn’t a meaningless
practice forced on people to bring only hardship and difficulty.
The seventh day was made for man, created expressly for mankind’s benefit and well being! Several other
translations bear this out: “The Sabbath was made for the good of man,” says Today’s English Version. “The
Sabbath was made for the sake of man,” reads the New English Bible. The Williams New Testament says,
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