Stephen
Terry, Director
Covenant Sign
Commentary
for the May 29, 2021 Sabbath School Lesson
"Moses assembled the
whole Israelite community and said to them, 'These are the things the Lord has
commanded you to do: For six days, work is to be done, but the seventh day
shall be your holy day, a day of sabbath rest to the Lord. Whoever does any
work on it is to be put to death.'" Exodus 35:1-2, NIV
Seventh-day Adventists
have long considered the Sabbath to be a covenant sign of God's people in the
last days prior to Christ's return. That belief is based on a passage in
Revelation, chapter 12 that says that remnant will be keeping the commandments of
God and having the witness about Jesus.[i] If the commandments of God
are believed to be referring to the Ten Commandments given to Moses on Mount Sinai,
then at the heart of that Decalogue is the Sabbath commandment. That could make
it germane for identifying a people distinct for commandment observance. Strangely,
there is mostly agreement throughout Christendom as to the ongoing significance
of the other nine commandments, but the Sabbath observance command continues to
be a bone of contention across denominations.
Some claim the Sabbath
was done away with by grace. But if that is the case, why was it the only commandment
so treated? We certainly do not say that the laws about murder, theft, and
adultery are no longer necessary because of grace. This seems odd. Perhaps it
is also significant that the Sabbath commandment is the only one that says "remember."
It is almost like it was already known we would forget, and for many, we have. So,
beginning with that single word, we would do well to briefly revisit the history
of the Sabbath.
The first mention of a
seventh-day rest is found where we would expect, in the beginning at Creation.[ii] It came into being at the
word of God and was infused with a special blessing unique to that day. A peace
exists with that day that does not reveal itself on the other days. The
remaining days of the week are given to work and other secular activities, but all
that ceases on the Sabbath. Each week, the family looked forward to the light
of the first star on Sabbath eve, heralding the beginning of the Sabbath. The oldest
child was often given the task of watching for that star and announcing its
presence. Preparations for the evening meal had been made throughout the day
and once the star appeared the family and Sabbath guests would enjoy a meal
together to welcome the Sabbath. Scripture would be recited, blessings shared. The
Sabbath blessing often felt as though God was especially present for the meal
and would remain for the hours of the Sabbath.
Some say that they keep
the commandment by being close to Jesus every day. While being continually
close to God in our daily walk is certainly desirable, it is not a substitute for
the commandment. The commandment not only tells us to remember the Sabbath, but
also to work six days each week. It seems impossible then to do either one for
seven days each week without failing to do the other. This does not mean that one
cannot bring the spirit of the Sabbath blessing into our daily lives. But we do
not do it by refraining from working or ignoring the weekly Sabbath. Instead,
we do it by bringing Jesus to others so they can also experience peace and
rest.[iii]
While the Sabbath is
not mentioned by name until we come to the Exodus, there is some justification
for assuming that it was a practice of the Patriarchs and their ancestors for
several reasons. First, there is no specific mention of a command for animal sacrifice
either, but through Abel's example,[iv] we find it practiced from the
very beginning, and it was still being done right up to the time the Israelites
went down to Egypt.[v]
Sabbath observance may parallel this by being understood without needing further
documentation. Second, unlike the rest of the commandments being introduced at Mount
Sinai, this mention of the need to remember implies not only that it was once
observed, but also that it had been forgotten, perhaps like it has been by many
today. At the time of Moses, we maybe understand how this could happen after
living for four centuries under Egyptian rule. In that society, there was no
separation of church and state. Even Joseph, as faithful as he was, married
into the Egyptian state religion.[vi] Little wonder that others,
inspired by his example, freely turned to the Egyptian religion over time,
especially if it offered them position and advantages. As more and more did
this, the Sabbath could naturally fall into disuse, especially if it
contradicted some requirement of the Egyptians or their religion. Failure to
make such accommodation to the Egyptians' religious beliefs could not only
cause one's career options to disappear in a puff of smoke, but it could also
even cost one's life.
This may be why the
requirements regarding observing the Sabbath, as well as the other commandments,
were so draconian while Israel was in the desert. It may have been a tit-for-tat,
showing that they should take the worship of God every bit as seriously as they
took the Egyptian religion. While we have the example of someone being stoned to
death for Sabbath breaking[vii] during the desert sojourn
as well as someone being stoned for blasphemy,[viii] we do not find either
being treated as capital crimes once in the Promised Land. Even idolatry, something
that may have become an enduring part of Israelite religious DNA in Egypt, lasted
all the way to the Babylonian captivity and was not typically considered a capital
crime though it violated the Decalogue.
Interestingly, and
perhaps with some significance, when God's authority was challenged directly,
as with Kora, Dathan, and Abiram, God intervened directly bringing death and
destruction upon them and their households through fire and earthquake.
However, when the Commandments were violated, the people themselves were
required to administer punishment through stoning. Why the difference? The Bible
does not say. But since the practice may have fallen into disuse after the
stoning of Achan for theft at the border of the Promised Land after the defeat
of Jericho, one can surmise that the desert experience was a unique environment
that made it necessary. Could it be that an entire race, used to being driven
by slave masters had been so brutalized that an extraordinarily strong
disincentive to rebel was necessary? Was it part of the training necessary for
the conflict to come? We can only guess. One day we may be able to ask God
about it, unless by then, we decide the matter is moot.
After the Babylonian
captivity, the Israelites who returned to Jerusalem were extremely zealous for
the Commandments. Idolatrous worship of images was a thing of the past, and
Sabbath observance became so intricately detailed that instead of a rest, it
became an onerous burden. Jesus, who regularly observed the seventh-day Sabbath[ix], tried to lift that burden. He
pointed out that man was not created for the purpose of keeping the Sabbath,
but that man was gifted the Sabbath as a special blessing.[x]
Some have felt that
Jesus kept the Sabbath before the cross but that afterwards the seventh-day
Sabbath was done away with. But his most fervent apostle, Paul, continued to
keep the Sabbath long after Jesus' death, resurrection, and ascension.[xi] Some have cited one meeting
Paul had with believers on a Sunday (First Day)[xii] as evidence that the
Sabbath was done away with. But for this one first-day meeting, texts cite 84
seventh-day Sabbath meetings that Paul participated in. The weight of the
evidence in favor of continued seventh-day Sabbath observance is telling. But
it does not end there. After the second Jewish revolt against Rome in the early
second century, many Christians sought to distance themselves from Judaism so
the Romans would not see them in the same light as the rebellious Jews.
Judaizing, as Sabbath observance and other Jewish practices were now called,
fell out of favor. An excellent example of the arguments for such change can be
found in Justin Martyr's "Dialogue with Trypho," written in the mid second
century. Tensions continued between those keeping the seventh-day Sabbath and
those arguing against it and in favor of changing the day to honor Jesus'
resurrection. Since neither faction had the power to enforce their desire on
the other, things remained at an impasse until the fourth century when
Constantine put the power of the state at the disposal of the church. The Canons
of the Council of Laodicea in the latter part of the fourth century made it
clear that Judaizing would no longer be tolerated. An interesting sidelight to
that controversy is that this council also forbade the ordination of women.
Such proscription would seem unnecessary if women were not continuing to be
ordained into the fourth century. Everything changed once the church became a
patriarchal hierarchy backed by the state. That same model continues for most
denominations into the present.
It is understandable
that we have in many ways gone full circle back into Egypt where our religious
practice is often decided by what advantages it offers. Perhaps as a vestige of
the anti-Semitism of the Christianity that arose in the fourth century, it can
be difficult to observe the seventh-day Sabbath. Many employers, including government,
are far more understanding of those wanting to observe Sunday as opposed to
Saturday. I personally felt the ire of the military when I requested the time
to worship on the seventh day instead of the approved Sunday. I was even
threatened with prison over the issue. That whole experience was a miraculous,
parting-of-the-Red-Sea kind of experience for me that I have shared many times.
That and other similar experiences have all served as personal confirmation of
God's special blessing for those who receive the seventh day he created. It is
easy to follow the crowds and not rock the boat by being different, but the
crowds are not headed for heaven.[xiii] In a time when even some former
seventh-day Sabbath keepers have forgotten the blessings contained in the Sabbath,
is it any wonder that those who remain faithful, the remnant, are identified as
those who keep the commandments of God?