The Weekly Sabbath Instituted at Creation, and Not at Sinai
By Editor
WHILE the argument itself is familiar to all, many will read with interest the opening portion of the first article in our first paper, the Present Truth (July, 1849). THE article was written by James White. The whole of that first paper — aside from a few notes and a publisher's announcement — was devoted to the Sabbath and the law, showing the perpetual obligation of the ten commandments, and the distinction between the moral law and the ceremonial law. We can give but the opening portion of the article:— The Weekly Sabbath Instituted at Creation, and Not at Sinai
“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. 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.” Gen. 2:2, 3. Here God instituted the weekly rest, or Sabbath. It was the seventh day. He blessed and sanctified that day of the week, and no other; therefore the seventh day, and no other day of the week, is holy, sanctified time. God has given the reason why he blessed and sanctified the seventh day. “Because that in it he had rested from all his work which God had created and made.” He rested, and set the example for man. He blessed and set apart the seventh day for man to rest from his labor, and follow the example of his Creator. The Lord of the Sabbath said, “The Sabbath was made for man.” Mark 2:27. Not for the Jew only, but for man, in its broadest sense, meaning all mankind. The word man in this text means the same as it does in the following texts: “Man that is born of a woman is of few days, and full of trouble.” Job 14:1. “Man lieth down and riseth not: till the heavens be no more.” Verse 12. No one will say that man here means Jews, or Christians; but the whole human race. The Sabbath was made for man, for the whole race of man. Adam, Noah, and Abraham were men; therefore the Sabbath was made for them, as well as for Moses and the Jews. We are men, and the Sabbath is made for us. God has given the following reason, in the decalogue, why man should keep his holy Sabbath: “For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it.” Ex. 20:11. Here our minds are directed back more than twenty-five hundred years, to the creation and holy rest in Eden, for the origin of the Sabbath. This plain fact every candid mind must see. God did not bless and hallow the Sabbath day at Sinai,—no, no. This he had done in Eden twenty-five hundred years before. “And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it.” Gen. 2:3. The Sabbath was marked and guarded with miracles by Jehovah, and kept by Israel in the wilderness of Sin, thirty days before they came to Sinai. “And it came to pass, that on the sixth day they gathered twice as much bread, two omers for one man. . . . To-morrow is the rest of the holy Sabbath unto the Lord: bake that which ye will bake to-day, and seethe that ye will seethe; and that which remaineth over lay up for you to be kept until the morning.” “And Moses said, Eat that to-day, for to-day is a Sabbath unto the Lord: to-day ye shall not find it in the field. Six days ye shall gather it; but on the seventh day, which is the Sabbath, in it there shall be none. “And it came to pass, that there went out some of the people on the seventh day for to gather, and they found none. And the Lord said unto Moses, How long refuse ye to keep my commandments and my laws? See, for that the Lord hath given you the Sabbath. . . . So the people rested on the seventh day.” See Ex. 16:22-30. The children of Israel departed from Egypt on the fifteenth day of the first month, and came to the wilderness of Sin on the fifteenth day of the second month. Here God gives them bread from heaven, and reminds them of the Sabbath. From the wilderness of Sin they journeyed to Rephidim, and from Rephidim they came to the desert of Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the third month. Mark this: God gives them manna, reminds them of his Sabbath, and guards it with miracles thirty days before they saw Mount Sinai, and thirty-two days before God spake from the smoking mount the ten commandments. We frequently hear the assertion that the Sabbath is not mentioned in the Bible till after the law was given from Mount Sinai; therefore the seventh-day Sabbath is the Sabbath of the old Jews, and is abolished. Not long since, a second advent preacher made this false statement to me. Another person repeated this statement to me not two weeks since. Now, I hope all who are laboring under this mistaken view will look again. Please read the history of the journey of Israel from Egypt to Mount Sinai, found in Exodus. THUS this first article in our first paper went on, showing that the foundations of the Sabbath were laid at creation, the Sabbath being God's own appointed memorial for all mankind. And this same Sabbath truth is winning obedient hearts to-day in regions altogether unknown when that article was written.