THE SABBATH A COMMEMORATIVE INSTITUTION
By R. C. P.
Good Authorities on the Subject—Agreement That the Rest Day Points Back to Creation—Not a Memorial of Deliverance from Egypt Alexander Campbell thus speaks of the Sabbath as a commemorative institution: “Heaven left not this fact, the creation, the basis of a thousand volumes, to be gathered from abstract reasonings, vitiated traditions, ingenious analogies, or plausible conjectures, but from a monumental institution which was as universal as the annals of time, as the birth of nations, and as the language spoken by mortals—an institution, too, which, notwithstanding its demand not only of the seventh part of all time, but of the seventh day in uninterrupted succession, was celebrated from the creation to the Deluge, during the Deluge, and after the Deluge till the giving of the law.”—“Popular Lectures,” pages 283, 284. The Jews Claim That the Sabbath Was Instituted at Creation
The following letter upon this question was addressed by a clergyman to a Jewish rabbi: “Battle Creek, Michigan, October 14, 1886. “Do the Jewish people hold that the Sabbath was set apart in Eden, or at Mount Sinai? Do they keep the Sabbath as a memorial of their deliverance from Egypt?” To these questions he received the following reply: “Des Moines, Iowa, October 18, 1886. “In reply to your inquiries, allow me to say: 1. The Jews universally celebrate the Sabbath as a weekly memorial of creation, being that God Himself rested on the seventh day, and said it should be a day of rest. 2. We do not keep the Sabbath as a memorial of our deliverance from Egypt. The fourteenth day of Nisan, or the Passover, is celebrated by the Jewish people as a memorial of their deliverance from Egypt. “(Signed) Rabbi L. Freudenthol.” It is very probable that the Jews know whether the Sabbath was given them for the purpose of commemorating their deliverance from Egyptian bondage or as a memorial of creation. Let Us Illustrate the Point
Moses could consistently appeal to that people who had been delivered from Egypt, to remember God’s marvelous workings in their behalf by keeping the Sabbath which He had given as a memorial of creation, without lessening in their minds His great reason for giving the Sabbath institution. That secondary reason would appeal to only a limited number of people, and for a limited reason, compared with God’s great moral reason for giving the Sabbath to man. It would be like a father saying to his son, “I want you to be a good boy, Johnnie, because I gave you a pony.” No one would think that the father meant to convey the impression that the fact of his having given his son a pony which the son delighted to ride and drive, was the fundamental reason for appealing to him to lead a life of loyalty to God. Egyptian Appeal Applied to Righteousness in General
So in the case of Israel, Moses made an appeal to them to observe the Sabbath because they had been delivered from Egypt. He cited the same deliverance as a reason why they should do righteousness and be a holy people. There was some reason for this appeal, in the fact that they had been reduced to slavery in Egypt, and under the taskmaster’s lash they had been deprived of the privilege of serving God and keeping His Sabbath. Hence when Moses was sent of God to deliver them, he was sent with this message to Pharaoh: “Let My people go, that they may serve Me.” “And He brought forth His people with joy, and His chosen with gladness: and gave them the lands of the heathen: and they inherited the labor of the people; that they might observe His statutes, and keep His laws. Praise ye the Lord.” Ps. 105:43-45. In the light of this fact, every consistent Bible student can see the reasonableness of Moses’ appeal to that people, and that he at the same time recognized the fundamental reason for living righteous lives and keeping the Sabbath to be as God declared in giving the law. Why Not More Frequently Mentioned?
The question has been raised, “If the law existed from the creation to the Exodus, why is the Sabbath not more frequently mentioned in the book of Genesis?” It should be remembered that the book of Genesis is not a book of the law, but an inspired history of creation, and written more than two thousand years afterward. We have seen in an article last week, that the law was given and sin was imputed during that time. The Sabbath, requiring the observance of the seventh day of the week, was instituted and appointed for man. A history covering so long a period, and dealing with the marvelous work of creation, the Flood, the Tower of Babel, the destruction of the cities of the plain, the fall of man, and the introduction of the plan of redemption, besides many other important events, condensed into little more than fifty pages, must necessarily be very brief upon each point. We should also remember that the same writer is the author of the first five books of the Bible. In the book of Exodus, he takes up the narrative given in Genesis, and carries it on in the history of a people who are alive at the time. In that book, as we saw last week, there is abundance of evidence that the law of God was in existence, and its observance required, before it was proclaimed from Sinai. The fact that the Lord destroyed the world with a flood because of its wickedness, and saved Noah, “a preacher of righteousness,” as recorded in Gen. 6:1-22; 7:1; 2 Peter 2:5, 6, is sufficient evidence that all the law of God was known and its observance required during the time covered by the book of Genesis. Noah could not preach righteousness without preaching all the commands of God. “My tongue shall speak of Thy word: for all Thy commandments are righteousness.” Ps. 119:172. The observance of the seventh day as the Sabbath is required by the fourth precept of that law. Clearly, therefore, from creation to Sinai the Sabbath was observed by man, for whom it was made. The Bible Student, a quarterly published by the Christian publishing company, St. Louis, Missouri, in the issue for the third quarter of 1907, says: “Giving of the law. The law was given amid scenes the grandest ever witnessed upon earth. The tents of Israel were spread in the valley at the foot of the mountain, extending as far as the eye could reach. The people, with garments washed clean, and themselves sanctified, looked on in awful expectation. The presence of the Lord was visible on the top of Sinai, lighting up with glory, and causing it to tremble and shake under His footsteps, while Moses, the mediator, stood, as it were, on the summit, face to face with God Himself. “The name. The law is often called the Decalogue. This201name is from two Greek words, one signifying ten, and the other word, and was given because the law contains ten distinct commandments. “The divisions. The law is divided into two tables; the first embracing the first four, and the second the last six, of the precepts. The first table contains, in a general way, the duties we owe to God; the second table, those that we owe to our fellow men. This division is warranted by the words of Jesus in Matt. 22:37-40, where He divides the law into ‘two great commandments.’” “‘God spake all these words.’ It is manifest that the speech was His own, not merely as to the words spoken, but as to the articulate sounds actually perceived by the ear.” “‘The Lord thy God.’ The possessive word ‘thy’ points to the covenant between God and His people. When taken in the full depth of its meaning, it involves that God has chosen them to be His people. He is the Redeemer. He has brought His people out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. This, in the manner of Scripture and of providence, is the earnest and guarantee of their deliverance from all other and greater kinds of bondage.” It Was a Special Occasion
“‘Which have brought thee out.’ Why, on this occasion, was not the Lord rather proclaimed as the ‘Creator of heaven and earth’? The true answer evidently is that the Ten Commandments were at this time addressed by Jehovah not merely to human creatures, but to the people whom He had redeemed, to those who had been in bondage, but were now free men. Ex. 6:6, 7; 18:9.” “‘Thou shalt have.’ It is to be remarked, both here and elsewhere throughout the Decalogue, that the address is made in the singular and not in the plural number. The design of this is undoubtedly to render the language in the highest degree emphatic. Every individual to whom this law comes is to consider himself as being as directly and personally addressed as though it had been spoken to him alone.” “‘The law divine.’ A converted infidel exclaimed, on reading Exodus 20: Where did Moses get this law? The Egyptian and adjacent nations were idolaters. So were the Greeks and Romans. The wisest Greeks and the best Romans never gave a code of morals like this. Where did Moses get this law, which surpasses the wisdom and philosophy of the most enlightened age? He lived at a period comparatively barbarous; yet he has given a law in which the learning and sagacity of all subsequent times can detect no flaw. Where did he get it? He could not have soared up to it. It must have soared down to him. It must be from God.” “‘Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy,’ presupposes an acquaintance with the Sabbath, as the expression ‘remember’ is sufficient to show.” “‘Six days shalt thou labor.’ This commandment not only permits labor during the six days, but enjoins it. Idleness is forbidden.” “‘The seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord’—the day the Lord rested and made His Sabbath, and the day that the Lord claimed of the Jewish nation as the day when they should rest and hallow His name.” “‘For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, . . . and rested the seventh day.’ This verse explains why the day is the Lord’s Sabbath, and why He insisted on the observance of the day.” The Law Previous to Sinai
The following scriptures present instances in which, it will be seen, each of the ten words of the Decalogue was violated before God’s voice was heard from the mountain of Sinai. “For until the law sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed when there is no law.” First commandment, Joshua 24:14. Second commandment, Gen. 35:2, 4. Third commandment, Lev. 18:3, 21, 27. Fourth commandment, Ex. 16:27-29. Fifth commandment, Gen. 9:20-27. Sixth commandment, Gen. 4:8-15. Seventh commandment, Gen. 20:2-9; 39:7-9. Eighth commandment, Gen. 44:8. Ninth commandment, Gen. 20:2-12. Tenth commandment, Gen. 3:1-6. Since the ten precepts of the law were known before it was proclaimed from the mount, the question may arise, Why, then, was it spoken at Sinai? An answer to this is given: “Moreover the law entered, that the offense [sin] might abound;” or, “that sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful.” Rom. 5:20; 7:13. Grounded in the Very Nature of Man
The following quotations are from the Christian publishing company’s Home Department Quarterly for the third quarter of 1907: “‘And God spake all these words.’ These laws are grounded on the very nature of man as a moral being, having essential relations to God on the one hand, and to his fellow man on the other.” “‘I am Jehovah thy God, who brought thee out of the land of Egypt.’ In this preface to the Ten Commandments, He asserts His right to give them laws, not only in general, as He is Lord of all, but by a peculiar title He had to their obedience; whom He had taken to Himself, after a special manner, to be His people, by bringing them out of the land of Egypt, and the servitude under which they groaned there. This was a benefit fresh in their minds, and most apt to affect their hearts.” “‘Remember the Sabbath day.’ This presupposes an acquaintance with the Sabbath.” This is the universal testimony of both history and the Scriptures. The fourth command of the Decalogue is God’s answer as to when and for what reason the Sabbath was instituted.