THE LAW AND THE SABBATH BEFORE THE EXODE.
By C. P. Bollman
It has been clearly shown in former articles upon this subject, that the Sabbath was set apart in the Garden of Eden as a memorial of God's rest, and as a day of rest for man, i. e., for the race (Mark 2:27); and that it was known to all the nations of antiquity. This we know because the fact is inscribed in the languages of all those nations. (For full information upon this subject the reader is referred to "The Chart of the Week," Rev. W. M. Jones, 56 Mildmay Park, London, N., price 75 cents.) We have seen also from the "Britannica" that even the ancient Babylonians called the seventh day the sulum or rest; and according to Geikie, the Sabbath was one of the few truths known to the Chaldeans in the time of Abraham. And now it will appear from the Scriptures themselves that even though the children of Israel had for four hundred years sojourned among a most idolatrous and wicked people, the Sabbath of the fourth commandment was by no means new to them; but that they would, at the instance of Moses and Aaron, have kept it in Egypt if the Egyptians had permitted them to do so; and that they did keep it in the wilderness thirty days before the giving of the law at Sinai. From a simple reading of the fifth chapter of Exodus we learn that, in obedience to the word of God, Moses and Aaron went and told "Pharaoh, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, Let my people go, that they may hold a feast unto me in the wilderness. And Pharaoh said, Who is the Lord, that I should obey his voice to let Israel go? I know not the Lord, neither will I let Israel go." But Moses and Aaron urged the matter, refusing to take no for an answer, and finally "the king of Egypt said unto them, Wherefore do ye, Moses and Aaron, let [hinder, see Webster] the people from their works? get you unto your burdens. And Pharaoh said, Behold, the people of the land now are many, and ye make them rest from their burdens." The following comment upon this text, published some three years since in an Eastern paper, is to the point:— "The word here translated 'rest' is in Hebrew shabath, and in every other place where the word is translated rest, it is in connection with the rest of the seventh-day Sabbath, except in Lev. 26:34, 35, where it refers to the land resting while it should be desolate. But when we turn to 2 Chron. 36:21, to the fulfillment of the words in Leviticus, there we have the word translated plainly, 'As long as she lay desolate, she kept sabbath.'" The following complete list of the texts in which the word shabath is translated "rest" or "rested," is also given:— "Gen. 2:2, 'And he rested on the seventh day;' Gen. 2:3, 'Because that in it he had rested;' Ex. 5:5, 'Ye make them rest from their burdens;' Ex. 16:30, 'So the people rested on the seventh day;' Ex. 23:12, 'On the seventh day thou shalt rest;' Ex. 31:17, 'The seventh day he rested;' Ex. 34:21, 'On the seventh day thou shalt rest;' Ex. 34:21, 'In caring time and in harvest thou shalt rest;' Lev. 26:34, 'Then shall the land rest and enjoy her sabbaths;' Lev. 26:35, 'It shall rest because it did not rest.'" The same writer continues: 'As before stated, in 2 Chron. 36:21 the same word is translated plainly, 'sabbath,' in fulfillment of Lev. 26:34, 35, 'As long as she lay desolate, she kept sabbath.' So, therefore, with the exception in Leviticus, in every place in the Bible where the word is translated 'rest,' it refers to the rest of the seventh day, the Sabbath of the Lord, unless we make a further exception of these words of Pharaoh in Ex. 5:5.357But why should this be made an exception when there is nothing in the text nor context which demands it as an exception? and when besides we have all these instances of the use of the word to justify the use of it in that same sense in this place? "Further: the context appears to justify this meaning; for Pharaoh said also (Ex. 5: 8), 'For they be idle.' Now what good reason could he have for saying they were idle, unless it be in view of what he had said to Moses and Aaron that they made them rest, and in view of that rest being the Sabbath in which they should 'not do any work.' Consequently, there was a conflict of authority. Moses and Aaron came to the people with the authority of God, teaching the people to rest. Pharaoh refused to recognize the authority, and made their burdens heavier and their tasks harder, and would not let them serve God. Then (Ex. 8: 1) 'the Lord spake unto Moses, Go unto Pharaoh, and say unto him, Thus saith the Lord, Let my people go, that they may serve me.' And this is further confirmed by the fact that the very first service that the Lord demanded of them, after Pharaoh had finally let them go, was to keep the Sabbath—to rest on the seventh day." The closing words of the last paragraph bring us at once to the proposition that the Sabbath was observed in the wilderness thirty days before the giving of the law at Mount Sinai. Turning to Ex. 16 we find that "the children of Israel came unto the wilderness of Sin, on the fifteenth day of the second month after their departing out of the land of Egypt." Verse 1. And in Ex. 19: 1 we read: "In the third month, when the children of Israel were gone forth out of the land of Egypt, the same day came they into the wilderness of Sinai." "The same day;" that is, upon the same day of the month in which they left Egypt, which was the fifteenth; for the Passover was killed upon the fourteenth day of the first month, and they left the next day. It was, therefore, sixty days from the time the children of Israel left Egypt till they came to the mount, which was three days before the giving of the law. Returning again to Ex. 16, and recalling the fact that the children of Israel came into the wilderness of Sin only thirty days after they left Egypt, we find that there they murmured because they had no bread. "Then said the Lord unto Moses, Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you; and the people shall go out and gather a certain rate every day, that I may prove them, whether they will walk in my law, or no." Verse 4. Just how they were to be proved appears from verse 5: "And it shall come to pass, that on the sixth day they shall prepare that which they bring in; and it shall be twice as much as they gather daily." The conditions in Egypt were such that they could not keep the Sabbath; or at least they could not without subjecting themselves to sore punishment for disobedience to their taskmasters. But now all this was changed, and they were not only free to keep the Sabbath, but the Lord proposed to provide them with food so that they could have no possible excuse for not keeping it; and in this way he would prove whether they really desired to keep it or not. It does not appear from the record that the people were informed that they were not to gather manna on the Sabbath just the same as on other days. And not only so, but we must conclude that while the Lord told Moses what his purpose was, he purposely kept it from the people in order that they might show just what was in their hearts. And so we read (verse 22): "And it came to pass, that on the sixth day they gathered twice as much bread, two omers for one man; and all the rulers of the congregation came and told Moses." It appears from this verse that the elders felt somewhat uncertain about the propriety of gathering a double quantity and attempting to keep it over the Sabbath, and yet they knew that the next day was the Sabbath, and that the people could not observe it properly unless the manna would keep over; and so in their perplexity they came and told Moses. "And he said unto them, This is that which the Lord hath said, 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." From verses 24–26 we learn that the manna gathered on the sixth day did keep over till the next day; and that Moses then explained to the people what God had before told him. We read: "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." But notwithstanding this, "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?" Verses 27, 28. "How long refuse ye," etc., implies that they had before knowingly neglected this duty; they had, no doubt, excused themselves on the ground that they could not keep the Sabbath in Egypt, but their disobedience in the wilderness after the manna was given, showed that they did not really desire to honor God by keeping holy the memorial of his creative work. And in this they were not unlike many in our own day, who are willing to adopt almost any sort of a subterfuge if it only promises to free them from the feeling of obligation to keep the Sabbath of the Lord in obedience to his law.