THE search for the origin of the Sabbath outside of Scripture has been disappointing. The search began during the 19th century, when archaeological discoveries of Babylonian texts prompted the search for Shabbat origins in that geographical location and time. Others searched for its origins in Ugaritic texts from Syria, from the Midianites in Sinai, and elsewhere. The consensus about the search for the origin of Shabbat is that there is no consensus. (1) It appears to be unique as a Scriptural institution originating at Creation and reaffirmed at Sinai.
The 7th-day Sabbath functions as a sign of the covenant that Adonai El made with His people (Exodus 13:17). Shabbat celebration provides a special place in time for communication and communion with Elohim, and in its wake, it brings physical, mental, and spiritual regeneration. (2) It also provides freedom and liberation from work, from competition, and from the tensions of everyday existence. In summary, it brings rest and renewal.
Those who keep Shabbat acknowledge Elohim as their Master - the Master of the Lives. They acknowledge Elohim as their Redeemer and Sanctifier. Through that acknowledgement, they give up any claim that Shabbat keeping is a way to gain life. Yet their obedience indicates that keeping the Torah (law) by the enabling power of Elohim is the proper way of life for each true son and daughter of Elohim.
Shabbat is a covenant sign with three time dimensions. It carries significance for the here and now; it reflects on the past; and it reaches into the future. It reflects back in that it was instituted at Creation and is a memorial of Elohim's creation of this world. It says something significant relating to Elohim's activity in the present, confirming as a covenant sign in the lives of those who acknowledge Adonai El as their Master that they have accepted His Rulership and redemption and that they live as they do by His power. The Shabbat reaches into the ultimate future, finding its complete fulfilment in the plan of salvation, when total, unlimited freedom and final redemption will be experienced.
The marvellous redeeming and sanctifying qualities inherent in Shabbat direct us from Elohim's "very good" (Genesis 1:31) creation in the beginning to a most glorious future of unhindered communion and unlimited access with both the Father and His Son Yeshua. The Sabbath links Creation (Genesis 2:2-3) with new creation (Isaiah 66:23). As such a link, it points forward to the future as a guarantee of a new heaven and a new earth, where the redeemed will enjoy uninterrupted face-to-face fellowship with Elohim forever and ever.
The Origin of the Sabbath
We read in both the Tanakh (Old Testament) and the Brit Hadashah (New Testament) that the 7th-day Sabbath has its origin at the creation of the world. This truth is affirmed in the Tanakh in Genesis 2:2-3: "On the seventh day Elohim was finished with his work which he had made, so he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. Elohim blessed the seventh day and separated it as holy; because on that day Elohim rested from all his work which he had created, so that it itself could produce." The Brit Hadashah reaffirms in the words of Yeshua and the Emissaries the fact that the 7th-day Sabbath has its origin in Eden (Mark 2:27; Hebrews 4:1-11).
Both Shabbat keepers and non-Shabbat keepers have long recognised that the 7th day mentioned in Genesis 2:2-3 is the 7th-day Shabbat. Note a contemporary example: "The word 'sabbath' is not employed [in Genesis 2:2-3]; but it is certain the author [of Genesis] meant to assert that Elohim blessed and hallowed [separated] the 7th day as the Sabbath." (3)
Elohim "rested" on Shabbat. Was Elohim in need of physical rest? Was Elohim worn out after His work of creation during Creation week? What was Elohim's real purpose in resting on the 7th-day of Creation week? It would be ludicrous to suggest that Elohim had become tired, because Elohim never tires, according to the Sacred Scriptures. Thus Adonai El's purpose for resting on Shabbat could not have been that He needed physical rest.
It would be Scriptural to suggest that Elohim rested on the 7th day to provide a divine example for human beings to follow. We must keep in mind that the 7th day of Creation week was the first full day of Adam's and Eve's life. Elohim took time on their first full day of life to engage in fellowship and communion with them by providing a day of rest, a routine that was to be followed on each seventh day of a seven-day cycle from then on.
The pattern that Elohim established for human beings by being our Example in rest indicates that we also are to work for six days and then rest on the 7th-day Shabbat. The Sabbath becomes a weekly high point, designed to call us aside from our regular activities of providing livelihood, protection, and care for ourselves and for our fellow human beings, and to communicate in a special way with the Creator, who also is our Saviour.
Another important idea expressed in Genesis 2:2-3 is that Elohim "sanctified" or "hallowed" or "separated" or "made holy" the seventh day. What does the idea of making the seventh-day Sabbath holy communicate? Is it to provide this day with a magical quality of holiness, present only on this particular day? The basic meaning of "making holy" or "sanctifying" suggests that the term, as used here, describes an act of Elohim in setting this day apart from all other days for the purpose of the sanctifying presence of the Creator.
The holiness with which the Sabbath is imbued connotes a special manifestation of Elohim's presence on this particular day. The Sabbath holiness and Elohim's holiness and the holiness of Elohim's people are all in one way or another interrelated. Elohim's purpose for asking His people to "'"observe my Shabbats"'" is because "'" I am Adonai who sets you apart for me"'" (Exodus 31:13). Elohim's holiness, man's holiness, and the holiness of Shabbat all belong together.
It is also stated that Elohim "blessed" the Sabbath. The idea of blessing in Scripture is extremely rich. In the Tanakh the word for blessing generally denotes a bestowal of some material good (Deuteronomy 11:26; 28:1-14; Proverbs 10:22; 28:20). But it is also used in other situations. For example, we find such expressions as "blessed be ... my people" (Isaiah 19:25). Only rarely do we find that the Elohim of the Tanakh blessing things: Once it was recorded that Adonai blessed the fields (Genesis 27:27) and once that He blessed the animals (Genesis 1:22).
Only in Genesis 2:3 and in Exodus 20:11 is it stated that Elohim blessed the Sabbath. Probably this means that through the Sabbath, Elohim mediates the divine blessing to the person who keeps the Sabbath day and who thus joins himself to Elohim in a covenant relationship. This implication would seem to assure anyone who enters into fellowship and communion with Elohim by keeping His Shabbat that he or she will be blessed with fullness of life in the physical, mental, and spiritual spheres.
Shabbat and Manna
It is interesting that the familiar story of Adonai giving manna to Israel, as reported in Exodus 16, is the setting in which Elohim teaches the Israelites before Sinai the importance of Shabbat keeping. The incidental manner in which Shabbat is introduced in Exodus 16 and the emphasis that Elohim places upon it for proving "'whether they will walk in my law or not'" (Exodus 16:4, RSV) implies that the Sabbath was previously known. This is the point made by G.H. Waterman: "In fact, the equation of the sabbath with the seventh day, the statement that the L-rd gave the Israelites the sabbath, and the record that the people, at G-d's command rested on the seventh day all point unmistakingly to the primeval institution of the sabbath." (4)
Adonai chooses the miraculous gift of the manna (Exodus 16:4-30) as the occasion to teach the greater, perpetual gift of Shabbat. In at least three way the gift of the manna served to identify Shabbat and emphasize its holy character: First, a regular portion of manna fell each day, but on the 6th day a double portion was provided. Second, no manna fell on the Sabbath day. Third, the portion kept over from the 6th day for Shabbat was preserved unspoiled, while any kept over from other days would spoil.
Shabbat and Commandment
In a real sense the Ten Commandments constitute the heart of the 5 books of Moshe (Moses), if not of the entire Scripture. They provide Elohim's foundation for life, defining man's relationship with his fellowmen and with Elohim. The larger setting for giving the Ten Commandments in Exodus 20 is Adonai' s making a covenant with His people. In this sense the Decalogue provides a legal basis for the covenant relationship. But this interrelationship must be understood in its true role.
It may be advantageous to understand the legal aspect of the covenant relationship in a sense similar to that of the wedding license, in a contract of marriage. A Marriage may be legalised by a wedding license, but it becomes a true marital relationship only when the legal terms of the contract are fleshed out with love as the partners share life together. So the Decalogue as law is legally binding, though not in a restrictive sense. Its terms represent Adonai' s love for human beings and represent Elohim's true nature and character.
The Ten Commandments called, in turn, for a response of love from Israel (see Deuteronomy 6:4-5). It has been stated with deep insight that the Ten Commandments were "representative of Elohim's love in that its injunctions, both negative and positive, led not to restriction of life, but into fullness of life. It demanded a response of love, not because obedience would somehow accumulate credit in the sight of Elohim, but because the grace of Elohim, experienced already in the liberation from Egypt and in the divine initiative in the covenant promise, elicited such a response from man in gratitude." (5)
We will now focus our attention on the 4th Commandment: "'Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labour and do all your work, but the seventh day is a sabbath of Adonai your Elohim; in it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter, or your male servant or your female servant or your cattle or your sojourner who stays with you. For in six days Adonai made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day; therefore Adonai blessed the sabbath day and made it holy," (Exodus 20:8-11, NASB).
This commandment is the longest of the 10 and stands at the centre of the Decalogue. In it Elohim gives a positive command: "Six days you shall labour and do all your work" (verse 9). This positive command finds its analogue in the "shall not" command of verse 10, where Adonai states clearly: "You shall not do any work or your son or your daughter, nor your male servant or your female servant or your cattle or your sojourner who stands with you." Thus we have two commands here, one stating that people are to labour six days, and the other that they shall not labour or do any work on the seventh day. Similarly, we have in this commandment two motivations for keeping Shabbat, each complementing and amplifying the other. The first one, positive also in its slant, indicates that Elohim would want man to do all his labour in the first six days of the week because the seventh day is the Sabbath to Adonai. The second motivation begins with a negative prohibition but ends positively by linking the prohibition from doing any work on the Sabbath day to the fact that Adonai Himself created everything in six days and rested on the seventh day Himself.
In the wording of the Shabbat commandment as reiterated by Moshe (Moses) in Deuteronomy 5:12-15, we also note two motivations. The first, stated in verse 14, is identical with the first motivation in the Exodus 20 wording: "The seventh day is a sabbath of Adonai your Elohim" ( NASB).
But the second is significantly different, as given in verse 15 (NASB): "You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and Adonai your Elohim brought you out of there by a mighty hand and by an outstretched arm."
The difference should be recognised for what it is and should not be overemphasised. The Exodus reference is to Elohim's creative work undertaken in 6 days during Creation week. To rest on the Sabbath was to remember that human beings, as part of Elohim's created order were totally dependent on the Creator. The creation theme, as various scholars have emphasised, is also present in the Deuteronomy 5 account. In this passage reference is made to the Exodus from Egypt that marks in effect "the creation of Elohim's people as a nation, and the memory of that event was also a reminder to the Israelites of their total dependence upon Elohim." (6)
Thus Exodus 20 refers to the Creation at the beginning of the world, and Deuteronomy 5 refers to another beginning, the beginning of Elohim's people. In other words, a profound thematic relationship exists between the motivation in Exodus 20 and in Deuteronomy 5 as regards Shabbat. Creation is the common theme - Elohim's creative power.
Shabbat - A Covenant Sign
The creation theme appears not only in Exodus 20:11 and in Deuteronomy 5:15, but it also recurs in Exodus 31:16-17 in connection with Shabbat as a sign between Adonai and His people, a covenant sign: "The people of Isra'el are to keep the Shabbat, to observe Shabbat through all their generations as a perpetual covenant. It is a sign between Me and the people of Isra'el forever; for in six days ADONAI made heaven and earth, but on the seventh day he stopped working and rested." In the Tanakh (Old Testament) Shabbat is designated four times as a "sign" (see Exodus 31:13, 17; Ezekiel 20:12, 20).
What does it mean for Shabbat to be a "sign"? In English sign can have several meanings. In its broadest scope, it applies to an action, condition, quality occurrence, or visible object that points to a fact or conveys a meaning: It is appropriate to understand Shabbat as a sign in the sense in which the Scriptures uses the term sign. To determine this sense, we will investigate a few of the 78 times in the Tanakh in which the term is used.
In 3 instances we have signs associated with covenants. The first such sign is the rainbow (Genesis 9:12-13, 17). Then we find "sign" connected with circumcision in the covenant made with Abraham (Genesis 17:11) And the third instance associates "sign" with "covenant" in reference to Shabbat as a sign of the covenant that Adonai made with His people on Mount Sinai in Exodus 31 (see also Ezekiel 20). By assigning to these events in the history of salvation certain characteristics or by assigning to these events the character of a sign, these events and the phenomena associated with them take on value far beyond the subject and the event themselves.
The Sabbath is a covenant sign "between me and you throughout your generations" (Exodus 31:13; compare Ezekiel 20:12), Adonai had said to Isra'el. The person who keeps Shabbat in the right spirit thereby signifies that he or she stands in a saved relationship with Elohim.
The Sabbath as a sign imparts to the believer first of all the knowledge that Adonai is his covenant Elohim. It also indicates that Adonai "sanctifies" His people (Leviticus 20:8; 21:8; 22:32, Ezekiel 37:28) by making them His "holy" (set apart) people (Exodus 19:6; Deuteronomy 7:6; Leviticus 19:2-3).
The Sabbath as a sign of divine sanctification needs further amplification. Let us look more closely at Exodus 31:13, a Shabbat text that explicitly states, "You shall keep my Sabbaths, for this is a sign between me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I, Adonai your Elohim, sanctify you" (RSV). An entirely new aspect of the Shabbat as a sign is emphasised here, the idea of the Shabbat as a "sign" of sanctification. A person who looks at Shabbat keeping in a legalistic or Pharisaic way may think that Shabbat keeping itself will sanctify him or her. Not at all! The states that Elohim does the sanctifying. That sanctification is an act on the part of Adonai El for His people never be overlooked.
The sanctification process is as much the work of Elohim's redemptive love as is Heaven's saving and redemptive work of Adonai through Yeshua. Righteousness and sanctification are both activities of Elohim. "I, Adonai your Elohim, sanctify you." Thus Shabbat is a sign that imparts the knowledge of Elohim as Sanctifier. "The Shabbat given to the world as the sign of Elohim as the Creator is also the sign of Him as the Sanctifier."
The second new idea in Exodus 31:13 is that Shabbat is a sign of knowledge: "That you may know me." The Hebrew concept of knowledge is extremely broad. Knowledge contains intellectual, relational, and emotional aspects. "To Know" does not simply mean to know a fact intellectually, particularly when a person is the object. It means to have a meaningful relationship with the one known. Thus "to know Adonai" means to be consciously in the right relationship with Him. It means to "serve" Him (1 Chronicles 28:9); it means to "fear" Him (Isaiah 11:3; Psalm 119:79; Proverbs 1:7); it means to "believe" Him (Isaiah 43:10); it means to "trust" Him (Psalm 9:10); it means to "seek" Him (Psalm 9:10); and it means to "call on" His name (Jeremiah 10:25; Psalm 79:6).
The text states clearly that Shabbat is a sign of the covenant between Adonai and His people throughout all of their generations for the purpose that " ' "you may know that I, Adonai your Elohim, sanctify you" ' " (Exodus 31:13, RSV). The Sabbath as a sign in respect to knowledge relates to the fact that Adonai is known as the One who sanctifies His people. It is Adonai who makes His people holy. This knowledge is saving knowledge. The believer who truly understands the meaning of Shabbat and Shabbat keeping understands that the Master of the Shabbat is also his Master. His Master is the Creator. His Master is the Redeemer. His Master is also the Sanctifier.
The Shabbat functions in yet another sense as a sign. It serves as a mark of separation, indicating to people of other religions or to people who do not keep Shabbat that a unique relationship exists between Adonai El and His Shabbat-keeping people. Functioning as a sign of recognition, Shabbat separates His people from the rest of humankind unto Elohim. As Cain was recognised by a sign that Adonai put on him, so Elohim's people are recognised by Shabbat that keeps them separated unto Elohim for service to the world.
A 19th century writer has aptly captured a major aspect of this particular function of Shabbat as a sign: "By keeping His Shabbat sacred we are to show that we are His people. His word declares Shabbat to be a sign by which to distinguish the commandment-keeping people. ... Those who keep Adonai' s Torah will be one with Him in the great controversy commenced in heaven between Satan and Elohim." (8) The Shabbat is a sign of separation and a distinguishing mark of Elohim's people, making them visible within the sphere of the great controversy between the powers of good and the powers of evil.
Shabbat - Seal of Elohim
It has been recognised time and again that the Shabbat commandment is found at the centre of the Ten Commandments. How appropriate, since it relates to both the divine-human dimension and the human-human dimension! It is also appropriate as analogous with the position of seals on ancient official documents. The Shabbat commandment identifies the Master of Shabbat in a special way and indicates His sphere of authority and ownership. In these aspects - namely,
(1) the identity of deity as Adonai, who is the Creator (Exodus 20:11; 31:17) and who thus holds a unique place,
and
(2) the sphere of His ownership and authority over "heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them" (Exodus 20:11, RSV; compare 31:17) - the Shabbat commandment has the characteristics of a typical seal on international ancient Near Eastern treaty documents. These seals are typically in the centre or middle of the treaty documents and contain also -
(1) the identity of the deity in whose name the treaty is sworn (usually a pagan deity)
and
(2) the sphere of ownership and authority (usually a limited geographical area).
By analogy the Shabbat functions as a "sign" (Exodus 31:13, 17), or in this instance rather as a seal, between Adonai and His people ("between Me and you") and is thus the seal of the relationship between Adonai and His own people. This is significant for the believer, because in keeping the seventh-day Shabbat, as did our Creator at the end of Creation week, the believer acknowledges Him as Creator and Re-creator (Redeemer and Sanctifier). The believer also acknowledges Elohim's ownership and authority over all creation, even over himself. It makes the believer part of Elohim's covenant community of true worshipers.
These are but a few of the highlights of the riches of the Shabbat within the covenant. The Shabbat is truly a gift from Elohim for human beings. It provides divinely appointed time for human rest within the restlessness of humanity.
**** **** ****
References:
1. See the detailed discussions about Shabbat origins in Gerhard F. Hasel, "The Sabbath in the Pentateuch," The Sabbath in Scripture and History, ed. Kenneth A. Strand (Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald, 1982), 21-43; idem., "Sabbath," Anchor Bible Dictionary, vol. 5 (D.N. Freedman, ed.; New York: Doubleday, 1992, 849-856; idem., "The Origin of the Biblical Sabbath and the Historical-Critical Method: A Methodological Case Study," Journal of the Adventist Theological Society 4/1 (1993) 17-46.
2. See the development of this concept in Abraham Joshua Heschel, The Sabbath: Its Meaning for Modern Man (New York: Noonday Press, 1951), 13-24.
3. G.H. Waterman, "Sabbath," Zondervan Pictorial Encyclopedia of the Bible, vol. 5 ed. Merrill C. Tenney (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan, 1975), 183.
4. Ibid. 184.
5. P.C. Craigie, The Book of Deuteronomy (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, 1976), 150.
6. Ibid. 157.
7. E.G. White, Testimonies for the Church, vol. 6, 350.
8. E.G. White, Selected Messages, bk 2, 160.
* Unless indicated, Scriptural quotations in this article are from The Complete Jewish Bible, translated by Dr. David H. Stern. Copyright (C) 1998 by Dr. David H. Stern.
** Originally published in 1982 under the title Covenant in Blood, The Promise is a revised edition of Dr. Gerhard F. Hasel's classic work on the meaning of the biblical covenants.
What is man's responsibility in salvation? What kind of works must he do to please Elohim? Or, is it a matter of believing a list of doctrines about Yeshua? What is the basis of Christian assurance?
Revised and updated by Dr. Hasel's son Michael, a university professor and archaeologist, The Promise provides answers to these questions and powerfully illuminates Elohim's gracious arrangement with men and women, signed in blood. You owe it to yourself to read this book and know the sure foundation on which you stand as a redeemed child of Elohim.
Before his death in 1994, Gerhard F. Hasel, Ph.D., served as dean of the Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary in Berrien Springs Michigan, and was a specialist in Old Testament studies. He authored several widely circulated books and contributed to many theological journals and reference works. Dr. Hasel's scholarship won him respect both inside and outside the SDA Church.
Michael G. Hasel is Professor of Near Eastern Studies and Archaeology at Southern Adventist University and Director of the Institute of Archaeology. He has published over 40 professional articles and reviews and several scholarly books. Michael lives with his wife Giselle, and their two children in Ooltewah, Tennessee.
The above article was reprinted and adapted from The Promise - God's Everlasting Covenant by Gerhard F. Hasel & Michael G. Hasel. Published by Pacific Press Publishing Association Nampa, Idaho USA. Copyright (C) 2002 by Pacific Press Publishing Association.