Remember the Day of Rest

“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.”  Exodus 20:8-10

The Hebrew word of “remember” actually means to “mark” or “set aside.” The Israelites didn’t need to be told to “remember” the Sabbath because all nations had been keeping time in weeks ever since creation (Gen. 2:1-3) [Note the references to the Sabbath in the sending of God’s manna, prior to the giving of this commandment (Ex. 16:23-29)]. But they did need to be reminded to mark it as a holy or rest day, as God had done in that first week.

The Hebrew word for “Sabbath” does not mean “Saturday” any more than it means “Sunday.” It means, simply, “rest” or “intermission.” The institution of the Sabbath (that is, one day out of every seven days to be “set aside” as a day of rest, worship, and remembrance of the Creator) was “made for man” and his good (Mark 2:27). It was even of benefit to the animals used by man (not the mention of “cattle” in the commandment). It had been a pattern observed since the completion of God’s six days of creation and making all things at the very beginning of the world history (note Gen. 2:1-3; Ex. 20:11).

It is still appropriate today, as well. “So there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God” (Heb. 4:9). All men have a deep need to remember their Creator and His completed work of salvation - especially in these days when both of these finished works are so widely denied or ignored.