Untitled article by W. C. G.

The Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Third-day, October 15, 1867

FromThe Advent Review & Sabbath Herald, Vol. XXX, No. 18

The Commentary.

By W. C. G.

Tell me the meaning of Scriptures. One gem from that ocean is worth all the pebbles of earthly streams.—M'Cheyne.

Infidel Objections to the Bible Answered. No. 18.

*_No Work to be done on the Sabbath under penalty of death._*—Whosoever doeth any work on the Sabbath day, he shall surely be put to death. Ex. xxxi, 15. And they found a man that gathered sticks on the Sabbath day . . . And all the congregation brought him without the camp, and stoned him with stones, and he died; as the Lord commanded Moses. Num. xv, 32, 36.

*_Jesus Christ Broke the Sabbath and justified his Disciples in the same._*—Therefore did the Jews persecute Jesus, and sought to slay him, because he had done these things on the Sabbath day. John v, 16. At that time Jesus went on the Sabbath day through the corn; and his disciples were an hungered, and began to pluck the ears of corn, and to eat. But when the Pharisees saw it they said unto him, Behold thy disciples do that which is not lawful to do upon the Sabbath day. But he said unto them . . . Have ye not read in the law, how that on the Sabbath days the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath, and are blameless. Matt. xii, 1-5.

A TOTAL misunderstanding of the nature and obligation of the Sabbath seems to have been the occasion of the above attempt to create a contradiction in the word of God. A misunderstanding, too, which is not peculiar to avowed infidels, but which characterizes many of the efforts of those who are in opposition to the Creator's great memorial.

Let us look at the case of the man who was stoned for picking up sticks on the Sabbath. We are not to suppose that the simple act of gathering a handful of sticks for the purpose of building a fire by which to warm himself, was the occasion of his summary punishment, for as we examine the nature of the case it is apparent that the offense was a willful, presumptuous transgression of the law. The children of Israel were so situated that no fire was needed, either for personal comfort or for culinary purposes, and as his crime was an aggravated one, he was made an example that others might see the awful consequences of willful disobedience.

To the declaration that our Saviour broke the Sabbath, and justified his disciples in so doing, we have only to quote his words in reply to the Pharisees, who preferred this charge against him: “It is lawful to do well on the Sabbath days.” He also declared that his disciples were guiltless of the charge of doing “that which is not lawful to do upon the Sabbath day.” Matt. xii, 7. Acts of mercy and works of necessity are now and always were lawful on the Sabbath, and the work which is forbidden by the commandment is servile labor, that which is not necessary on the Sabbath, and which can be done as well on some other day. W. C. G.