Ex. 23:12 “Six days thou shalt do thy work, and on the seventh day thou shalt rest: that thine ox and thine ass may rest, and the son of thy handmaid, and the stranger, may be refreshed.”
We are commanded to Keep the Sabbath, from sun down Friday evening to sun down Saturday evening. The purpose of the Sabbath is to rest and to sanctify the day. The Most High created heaven and earth in 6 days and rested on the 7th. In doing so He blessed it and sanctified it. The Israelite nation is also commanded to rest and sanctify the 7th day. Lev. 23:3 confirms that the 7th day is a day of rest and a convocation (assembly). Which means we are to assemble together but do no work outside of that assembly. Ex. 20:8 confirms the Sabbath to be a sanctified day, set apart from the other 6 days of the week. Lev. 23:3 “[Even these are my feasts] Six days shall work be done: but the seventh day is the Sabbath of rest, a holy convocation (assembly); ye shall do no work therein: it is the Sabbath of the Most High in all your dwellings.” Ex. 20:8 says we are to remember the Sabbath and keep it sanctified. Isn’t the Sunday Sabbath in honor of the Risen Messiah? The determination to change Saturday 7th day Sabbath to Sunday 1st day Sabbath was not based on the Messiah being resurrected on a Sunday, because he was not. The decision was originally made by Roman Emperor Constantine in the religion of Christianity. He decided this in honor of the sun god he worshiped, not the resurrection of the risen Messiah.
Daniel warned us that a persecuting power would come and change the Laws. Daniel 7:25 “And he shall speak great words against the Most High, and shall wear out the saints of the Most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time.”
"But the Sabbath is not always on Saturday"... There are some who say the Sabbath day changes from month to month, according to the Benedictine Perpetual Calendar, and will not always fall on a Saturday. In order to determine rather or not the present day calendar is accurate enough to sufficiently tell the days, months and seasons, we would have to do extensive research. While doing extensive research, are we keeping the Commanded Sabbath? We as a nation can spend the next 10 years trying to figure out if the 7th day is really the 7th day or we can keep the Sabbath on what has been deemed as the 7th day. The choice is yours. Remember, the spirit of confusion is always at work, and not always to resolve issues but to create issues and divide. The more issues arise, the more confusion. The more confusion, the less we are willing to attempt to keep the Sabbath.
"It doesn’t matter when we keep the Sabbath"... Some argue that the day we keep the Sabbath is of no importance at all, as long as we keep it. But remember the command specifically states to keep the Sabbath on the 7th day.
"We don’t need to keep the Sabbath"... Others say as long as you do everything to the glory of the Most High, the Sabbath is as good as kept. They claim, since Ex. 20:8 says, “Remember the Sabbath…” we don’t really need to keep it, only remember it. The word “remember” implies the Most High knew a day would come when we would forget the Law. Ex. 23:12 tells us to keep the Sabbath, not to just remember it. Since the Law defines sin, the Sabbath Law is one of the laws which define what sin is and not keeping the Sabbath is willful lawlessness.
Isaiah 58:13-14 “If you turn away your foot from the Sabbath, from doing your pleasure on my holy day; and call the Sabbath a DELIGHT, the holy of the LORD, honourable; and shall honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words: Then shall you delight thyself in the LORD...”
Exodus 31:13-17 “Speak you also unto the children of Israel, saying, Verily my Sabbaths you shall keep: for it is a SIGN between me and you throughout your generations; that you may know that I am the LORD that does SANCTIFY you. … 15 Six days may work be done; but in the Seventh is the Sabbath of rest, Holy to the LORD: whosoever doeth any work in the Sabbath day, he shall surely be put to death. 16 Wherefore the children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, to observe the Sabbath throughout their generations, for a PERPETUAL covenant. 17 It is a SIGN between me and the children of Israel FOR EVER: for in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, and on the Seventh day he rested, and was refreshed.”
Ezekiel 20:20 “…Hallow my Sabbaths; and they shall be a SIGN between me and you, that you may know that I AM THE MOST HIGH YOUR GOD.” By rejecting the Sabbath we are rejecting the Most High and his covenant with us.
**Law #88 Not to do prohibited labor on the seventh day (per Judaism)
Ex. 20:10 “But the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Most High: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, thy son, thy daughter, thy manservant, thy maid, thy cattle, thy stranger within thy gates.”
An extension of Law #87, found in Ex. 23:12, this Law specifies exactly who is to keep the Sabbath with us; neither you, your kids, your butler, your maid (your assistants), your farm animals or the strangers that live with you are to do work on this day but treat it as it is; a sanctified and blessed day of rest according to the everlasting covenant. ** have been placed by this Command because it needs to be changed. Per Maimonides' the Law is not to work on the seventh day (this was stated in #87). The Law here according to the scripture should be: Not to allow members of your household to work on the seventh day.
**Law #89 The court must not inflict punishment on Shabbat (per Judaism)
Ex. 35:3 “You shall kindle no fire throughout your habitations upon the Sabbath day.”
Per Judaism, the command is that the court must not inflict punishment on the Sabbath. Ex. 35:3 says we should not start a fire on the Sabbath. This is the actual command. This Law in today’s context points mainly to wives/ladies/cooks and how we should be cooking and cleaning around the Sabbath instead of on the Sabbath. In the biblical days, fire was generally used to cook food and to warm up the house. Maintaining such fire and putting it out was and is classified as work. The Law says not to start a fire on the Sabbath.
But cooking is a little different today. Yes a stove is easy to turn on, no wood burning involved. because it also involves cleaning up the kitchen after a meal. Once a meal is eaten on the Sabbath, should we be doing dishes that night or cleaning the kitchen? Per this command, the answer is no. We should try our best to clean as much as possible on Friday afternoon so you’re not left with too big of a mess on Saturday because doing any work (even that pertaining to fire/cooking) on the Sabbath is breaking the Sabbath.
***Law #90 Not to walk outside the city boundary on Shabbat
Ex. 16:29 “…Abide ye every man in his place, let no man GO
OUT of his place on the seventh day.”
The verse says, “let no man GO OUT of his place on the 7th
day.” We know that we are commanded to
assemble together if possible on the Sabbath, so this is why the interpretation
of this Command is not to leave the city boundary. We must leave our home but not travel outside of the city. Ultimately, we’re commanded
to assemble but to rest outside of that assembly. Once you’ve assembled, go back to your
resting place.
This Law can no longer be
kept by scattered Israel today because they no longer have a city boundary to
remain within the Sabbath. They are no
longer in the land.
Law #91 To sanctify the day with Kiddush and Havdallah
Ex. 20:8 “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.”
Per Judaism, Ex. 20:8 is commanding us to sanctify the day with Kiddush (a wine blessing) and Havdallah (a candle blessing). However, Ex. 20:8 does not command this. The command is to remember the Sabbath and keep it sanctified. That being said, this command has already been stated in Law #87 & #88. It does not need to be repeated. Judaists created this law to include their traditions of Kiddush and Havdallah and then based those traditions on Ex. 20:8. Therefore, this law has been omitted.
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