“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 to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made heaven and 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.”
Exodus 20:8-11 (ESV)
As this commandment revolves around the word “sabbath,” I think it would be helpful if we begin by defining what that term means. Literally translated, “sabbath” means to cease, stop, or conclude. The word first appears in Genesis 2:2, where we're told that “…on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested (sabbath) on the seventh day from all his work that he had done.” Thus, the baseline for our understanding of the fourth commandment is that, ultimately, the point of the Sabbath is rest.
When this commandment is brought up again in Deuteronomy 5:12-15, we learn that a big part of the rationale for why the Israelites were supposed to rest on the seventh day was because they weren’t allowed to do so while they were slaves in Egypt. Moses explained in verse 15, "You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God brought you out from there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm.” The Israelites had to toil away week in and week out without a break. This was not God's design. As a nation, they were not to emulate their former taskmasters but were, instead, supposed to mimic God in creation. If the Lord “rested” for 24 hours, so should his people.
Furthermore, it wasn’t only the Israelites who were commanded to rest, but also their servants, livestock, and even visitors sojourning in the land (cf. Ex. 20:10; Deut. 5:15). Thus, this commandment wasn't only intended to strengthen the Jew's relationship with God; it was also a means by which they could bless others. In this way, the fourth commandment is like a bridge that spans the gap between commandments that primarily deal with God (1-3) and those that deal with everyone else (5-10). A proper relationship with God will always move a person to love others (cf. Mar. 12:30-31).
A brief survey of the Sabbath throughout the O.T. will show how seriously the Jews took this commandment. To break the Sabbath would've led to a person being "cut off" from the Israelites (cf. Ex. 31:14). Probably one of the most extreme examples of this comes in Numbers 15:32-36, where a man was stoned to death because he was caught gathering wood on the Sabbath. And one of the main gripes the Pharisees had with Jesus was that he kept performing miracles on the Sabbath (cf. Mar. 1:29-31; 3:1-6; Lu. 13:10-17; 14:1-6; Jhn. 5:1-18; 9:1-6). For an Israelite, to break the Sabbath was a severe offense.
But, while there were strict punishments for breaking the Sabbath, there were many promises associated with it as well. For instance, every seventh year, called the "Sabbath Year," the land in Israel wasn't to be farmed (cf. Lev. 25:1-7). This would allow the soil time to rest and replenish its nutrients, and even wild animals were allowed to eat whatever grew. God would ensure that the year before a Sabbath Year would be fruitful enough to provide during the year of rest. Another example would be the "Year of Jubilee," which occurred every 49 years (7 Sabbath Year cycles). In addition to the regular proceedings of a Sabbath Year, any land sold to pay someone's debt would be returned to its original owner during the Year of Jubilee (cf. Lev. 25:10).
Now, you might be wondering what's the point of all that backstory. And the point I wanted to show was that the purpose of the Sabbath is rest. I feel like I've been very clear. But, as they say, "repetition is the mother of learning;" so, again, at its core, the Sabbath is about one thing: rest.
God rested on the seventh day of creation because he wanted to show us that life is more than just work. When the Jews were set free from Egyptian enslavement, they weren't supposed to squeeze every minute out of every day out of every week out of every month out of every year to pursue profit. With intent and purpose, they were told to set aside one day just to rest. Even when it comes to the Sabbath Year and the Year of Jubilee, we can see the theme of rest woven throughout. The land would be given time to recoup, animals would be given a break from their scavenging, and Israelites, who had fallen on hard times in the past, were given a second chance at a better life moving forward.
From a worldly perspective, these practices seem insane. The mantra that says only the fittest survive has no framework for rest. One of my favorite songs from a nearly by-gone generation highlights this principle well. Tennessee Ernie Ford’s 16 Tons goes like this:
You load 16 tons, what do you get?
Another day older and deeper in debt
St. Peter, don't you call me 'cause I can't go
I owe my soul to the company store
Outside of the scriptures, life beats to the rhythm of “work, work, work.” And, as Tennessee sang, some people are so consumed with working that many of them live as if they don’t have time enough even to die. This is not to say that the Bible doesn’t promote good honest hard work. It does (cf. Prov. 6:6-11; 2 Thess. 3:10; 1 Tim. 5:8). But God also knows that work can become the sole focus of our life. Work can easily take the place of worship if we’re not careful. And while we, as Christians, are not commanded to uphold the Sabbatical laws (cf. Col. 2:16-17; Rom. 14:5), we would do well to understand the importance of rest.
When we set aside a little time, or even an entire day, to rest, we are actively relying upon God to take care of us. Rather than take what limited time we've been given and burn it away at the alters of our careers or self-interests, we ought to take time to be still with God.
As a pastor, I have to constantly remind myself that God gives the increase (cf. 1 Cor. 3:6-8), not me. It does not matter how long I plant or how much I water; the Lord is in charge of the harvest. I mustn't think that my working overtime will make any amount of growth happen. Yes. I must do my due diligence. Yes. I must put in my hours. But I know when I've gone far beyond what's expected and have begun to nurse a "workaholic” mindset. Sadly, when this happens, I find that I care more about my bottom line, ego, and agenda than my relationship with God. This is a thing that must never happen. There is great wisdom in knowing when it is time to work and when it is time to rest. Like a well-placed pause in a play or performance, resting gives more meaning to the actions before and after. When we do not allow time with God, our lives turn into one incessant dialogue of activity with no real significance. Rest—communing with God—is what we should be moving towards, not avoiding.
If ever we find ourselves run ragged, we have forgotten one of the most comforting things that Jesus ever said in Matthew 11:28-30, “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light." In Christ, we can experience a near-constant Sabbath day rest. We no longer have to toil away trying to find our identity and satisfaction in what we can do with our hands. Jesus defines who we are, and it is Jesus who satisfies our every longing (cf. Ps. 107:9).
To live out the Sabbath in our lives is to do what we can through God’s strength and for God’s glory but then leaving it up to Christ to make the difference (cf. 1 Thess. 5:24). We can only do so much in this life, and do not fool yourself; it is never enough. But Christ is always enough. What we lack, he more than makes up for. To know and live in this truth is to discover rest as it was meant to be when it was first created in the Garden. Resting in Christ is an Eden-like rest; it is the walking-with-God-in-the-cool-of-the evening kind of rest where we bask in the paradise of a newly created world, knowing that the Creator of the universe will take care of us.
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