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SUBJECT: The Sabbath
QUESTION: Was the Sabbath in effect before Exodus?
ANSWER:
How do you explain the following "before Exodus" scripture:
Genesis 2:1-3
1 Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the
host of them.
2 And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had
made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work
which he had made.
3 And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it:
because that in it he had rested from all his work which God
created and made.
Note: Notice that
it is the seventh day, not the first day of the week, which
God blessed and sanctified. The Sabbath is a memorial of
creation. Notice also that by the time you get to Exodus and
the giving of the 10 commandments, the 4th is stated
"Remember the Sabbath day..." which implies that it was
stated before. Why would God ask us to remember something
that had never before been stated?
Notice the JFB Commentary:
8. Remember the sabbath day--implying it was already known,
and recognized as a season of sacred rest. The first four
commandments [Exodus 20:3-11] comprise our duties to
God--the other six [Exodus 20:12-17] our duties to our
fellow men; and as interpreted by Christ, they reach to the
government of the heart as well as the lip (Matthew 5:17).
"If a man do them he shall live in them" (Leviticus 18:5
Nehemiah 9:29). But, ah! what an if for frail and fallen
man. Whoever rests his hope upon the law stands debtor to it
all; and in this view every one would be without hope were
not "the LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS" [Jeremiah 23:6 33:16] (John
1:17).
Notice the Matthew Henry
Commentary:
4. The fourth commandment concerns the time of worship. God
is to be served and honoured daily, but one day in seven is
to be particularly dedicated to his honour and spent in his
service. Here is,
(1.) The command itself (v. 8): Remember the sabbath
day to keep it holy; and (v. 10), In it thou shalt do no
manner of work. It is taken for granted that the sabbath was
instituted before; we read of God's blessing and sanctifying
a seventh day from the beginning (Genesis 2:3), so that this
was not the enacting of a new law, but the reviving of an
old law.
Notice the New Bible
Commentary
Revised (Eerdmans
Publishing)
Exodus 20:8-11--Remember; this is no new command. It goes
back to Genesis 2:1-3, This could have been forgotten by the
Israelites while in Egypt, and there are no references to it
in patriarchal times. It was to be observed perpetually.
Notice the commentary from
Wesley Notes:
The fourth commandment concerns the time of worship; God is
to be served and honoured daily; but one day in seven is to
be particularly dedicated to his honour, and spent in his
service. Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy; in it
thou shalt do no manner of work - It is taken for granted
that the sabbath was instituted before. We read of God's
blessing and sanctifying a seventh day from the beginning,
Gen 2:3, so that this was not the enacting of a new law, but
the reviving of an old law.
So here you have 4 commentaries which state that the Sabbath
command goes back to the beginning in Genesis.
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