Exodus 35:1-3 – Keeping the Sabbath

For most Christians, observing the Sabbath takes a very low priority. By examining the activities most would engage in on the Sabbath day will reveal how importantly they view the Sabbath. When we know how much God values us in keeping the Sabbath will help us attach more importance to it. Right in the very first book of the Bible God already introduced the concept of the Sabbath rest. The Creation account tells us that God took six days to work on creation but on the seventh day He rested from all His works.

When we look at the number of times God refers to Sabbath observation in the Book of Exodus, we will begin to appreciate the priority God has on this matter. He placed a very high premium on keeping the Sabbath. Let’s enumerate them. In Exodus 20:8-11 in giving the Ten Commandments, God said “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.” Prior to giving of the Ten Commandments, we read about His provision of the manna for His people in the wilderness. Exodus 16 reveals that the manna would fall twice as much on the sixth day, for on the seventh day none would fall. God was essentially enforcing a sabbath rest for His people then.  When God instructed Moses on the Book of the Covenant, in Exodus 23:1012, He again brought in the subject of the Sabbath. And again in Exodus 31:12-17, in the instruction on the construction of the Tabernacle the topic of the Sabbath was once again brought up.

What about Exodus 34? When God gave instruction to His people after He forgave them for the golden calf situation, He said in verse 21, “You shall work six days, but on the seventh day you shall rest; even during plowing time and harvest you shall rest.” What does this imply? God was making sure that the Sabbath would be observed at all times. Whether in the season of sowing or harvesting, the Sabbath must be kept. In fact, if there was a time to take advantage and work harder, it would be when the harvest was blooming. Yet God insisted that they should rest even during harvest time. And now in verses 2-3 of Exodus 35, He again said, “For six days work may be done, but on the seventh day you shall have a holy day, a sabbath of complete rest to the Lord; whoever does any work on it shall be put to death. You shall not kindle a fire in any of your dwellings on the sabbath day.” All these tell us the gravitas God attached to observing the Sabbath.

What does God want when He said, “You shall not kindle a fire in any of your dwellings on the sabbath day”? He wants us to rest from mundane duties. We can always find the reason why we should be doing things during the Sabbath rest. There will always be work to catch up, rooms to tidy, and, etc. Yet the Bible tells us the best way to honor the Sabbath is to spend the day honoring God. It is not to get busy but learn to truly rest in the Lord. If we work hard for six days, we will have time to rest in the Lord on the seventh day.  

The reason God insisted that the Israelites keep a day of weekly rest was so that they could spend a day in a week to build on their love for Him. This exercise would keep them from thinking about other matters and hence prevent them from turning to idols. This is the same for us. We should keep that day free and make God our focal point. And in doing so, we will reduce the time to consider earthly matters and make time to meditate on the love of God and His bountiful grace upon our lives. It will also help us to make time to stay in His love and in nurturing our relationship with Him. The point is this: the more time we spend that day to nurture our relationship with God, the more effective we will be the rest of the six days. So, let us learn to rest on the Sabbath and keep it holy as God did!