The Sabbath Through the Ages
By Charles L. Taylor
III. The Sabbath at the Exodus
The days of the patriarchs were ended. The “four hundred years” of affliction measured off to Abraham’s seed (Gen. 15: 13) were fast drawing to a close, and the hour was about to strike when Jehovah would fulfil His promise to Abraham’s children, and bring them “forth out of Egypt, from the midst of the furnace of iron,” by a mighty hand to “separate them from among all the people of the earth, to be His inheritance.” 1 Kings 8: 51, 53. The great purpose of God in choosing Israel for His inheritance, in delivering them from Egypt, and in separating them from all the nations of earth, was that He might make them the depositaries of His truth, and through them give His truth to the world. By faith they were to be experimentally acquainted with Him, and in their loyalty to His law in general and to the Sabbath in particular be a converting power to all mankind. Deut. 4: 5, 6; Exodus 16. This being true, it was very natural, indeed, that the Sabbath became the first and greatest issue in the deliverance from Egypt. Let us briefly note the history. Unto Moses, the shepherd of Midian, who was feeding his flocks at the base of Horeb, there came the message from out the burning bush: “I have surely seen the affliction of My people which are in Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters; for I know their sorrows; and I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land unto a good land and a large, unto a land flowing with milk and honey. . . . Come now therefore, and I will send thee unto Pharaoh, that thou mayest bring forth My people the children of Israel out of Egypt.” Ex. 3: 7, 8-10. The Name and the Memorial
In answer to Moses’ inquiry what his message to Israel should be, Jehovah said, “Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you. And God said moreover unto Moses, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, The Lord God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath sent me unto you: this is My name forever, and this is My memorial unto all generations.” Ex. 3: 14, 15. Two great truths were to be exalted before the people in bondage,—God’s “name” and God’s “memorial.” That wonderful name—I AM—revealed Him to His people as the self-existent God, the Omnipotent, the Creator, the One able to deliver; and that equally wonderful “memorial”—the Sabbath—brought into the minds and hearts of His children, would forever keep them in experimental touch with Himself, and thus preserve them from apostasy. Moses and Aaron began their work. They “gathered together all the elders of the children of Israel; and Aaron spoke all the words which the Lord had spoken unto Moses, and did the signs in the sight of the people. And the people believed, and . . . bowed their heads and worshiped.” Ex. 4: 29-31. The first step—the preaching of God’s message to Israel—was now taken; the next brought them to the king. They appeared before Pharaoh and made known their mission. Tidings, however, had already come to the court, for the simple reason that Israel had already begun to act out their faith in the message they had received. They had begun the observance of the rest day. So the king, in his wrath, said unto Moses and Aaron, “Wherefore do ye, Moses and Aaron, let [that is, absolve or release] the people from their works? . . . Behold, . . . ye make them rest [literally, to keep Sabbath] from their burdens.” Ex. 5: 4, 5. The great focus-point of Moses’ appeal, in preparing the people to leave Egypt, was God’s truth of the Sabbath, and to that truth they responded. It was a truth then, even as now, that struck at the very heart of Egyptian religion and the causes of Israel’s bondage. And it was for that very reason that Pharaoh so quickly accepted the challenge and set himself in opposition to the God of the Hebrews. The Vileness of Sun-Worship
Sun-worship, with all its accompanying bigotry, superstition, and licentious rites, was the religion of Pharaoh and his people. Under the names of Ra, Osiris, Horus, Harmachis, Aten, and several others, the sun commanded the entire life of its votaries. But, strictly speaking, what was sun-worship? What was the real principle lying back of its multitudinous forms? Speaking of this matter, one noted writer says: “In none of these [pagan] forms however, not even in the naked shining sun, was it the literal object that was worshiped, but certain functions or powers of which these were but the representations. It was observed that the sun in cooperation with the earth and the atmosphere that gave rain, caused all manner of verdure to spring forth and bear its proper fruit. It was held, therefore, that THE SUN WAS THE SUPREME FORMATIVE POWER, THE MIGHTY AUTHOR OF FRUITFULNESS, and that its greatest and most glorious powers were displayed in reproduction. Sun-worship was therefore nothing more nor less than the worship of the principle of reproduction in man and nature.”—“Empires of the Bible,” chap. 5, par. 10.
Surely no one will have difficulty in seeing that such a system of worship entirely supplanted the truth of God. In whole and in part it stood in direct antithesis to God as the creator and upholder of all things, and by the wild orgies of the day specially devoted to the sun—the first day of the week, the Sun-day—it set aside the Sabbath, which pointed out and kept in remembrance the power of Jehovah in creation. God therefore taught His people “to shun as the terrible plague that it was, every suggestion of the evil influence of the worship of the sun.” Than sun-worship, nothing was more abominable in the sight of Heaven. See Eze. 8: 5-16; Leviticus 18. No wonder, truly, that God commanded Pharaoh not once, nor twice, but seven times, “Let My people go, that they may serve Me.” Under the law and the lash of a sun-worshiping tyrant, they simply could not obey God. Especially were they prevented from observing the day of His rest, the Sabbath. It was necessary therefore that, at the beginning of deliverance, the Sabbath truth be given this special emphasis. The great fact is, God brought His people from that land of darkness and degradation for the one special purpose that His Sabbath memorial might not be obliterated, but once more be exalted before the whole world. Dear reader, the Sabbath of the Exodus and the reasons for its being uplifted still remain. In this time, when Jehovah is setting His hand “the second time to recover the remnant of His people . . . there shall be an highway . . . like as it was to Israel that He came up out of the land of Egypt.” Isa. 11: 11, 16. God, the Creator, is still showing Himself as the great I AM, and through His servants He calls upon Israel to honor His “memorial.” Do we hear His message with believing, obedient hearts? “To-day if ye will hear His voice, harden not your heart.”