THE KING'S COMMAND

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Mar 11, 1903

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 29, No. 10.

THE KING'S COMMAND.

How much would be saved, if people would but follow the King's command. This thought comes to us as we read an article on “The Sabbath,” in a magazine called the “King's Command,” sent us by a friend. The editor starts in “to tell how we get the Sabbath.” But where does he go? Naturally it would be to the law of the King who gave the Sabbath; but not so. He never even refers to it; it would teach too much. He has heard from Mr. Gamble, or some of his prototypes, that somehow the week, during the Levitical dispensation, was a movable one, always beginning on the first day of the month Abib, and he quotes Ex. 12: 2 to prove this. But while that text does assert that the month and year begin then, it says absolutely nothing concerning the week. Hence all this is man's assertion, not the King's command. The great days of the Passover feast, or any other feast, had nothing whatever to do with the fixing or changing of the Sabbath of the Lord, the weekly Sabbath.

Again, this editor quotes Ex. 12: 40, 41 as proof that the children of Israel were in Egypt 430 years, when this time includes the sojourn of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the land of Canaan. The Samaritan and Septuagint versions make this clear, and agree with Gal. 3: 17. The moon did have to do with the regulating of the Passover, but absolutely nothing to do with the matter of the week.

Once again: No Christian Sabbath-keeper observes Saturday in any way. The Sabbath is not identical in time with the old Roman Saturday. The latter begins and ends at midnight. The Sabbath begins and ends at sunset. This is sufficient notice. The King's command concerning the Sabbath is as follows in Young's translation:—

Remember the Sabbath-day to sanctify it; six days thou dost labor and hast done all thy work, and the seventh day is the Sabbath to Jehovah thy God; thou dost not do any work, thou, and thy son, and thy daughter, thy manservant, and thy handmaid, and thy cattle, and thy sojourner who is within thy gates,—for six days hath Jehovah made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested in the seventh day; therefore hath Jehovah blessed the Sabbath day, and doth sanctify it. Ex. 20: 8-11.

This is the day kept by the good of all Biblical ages, patriarch, priest, prophet, apostle, and our Lord Jesus Christ. Who wants a better law? Who desires better company? Why not follow the King's command?