THE CYCLE OF THE SABBATH.
By George A. Snyder
THE weekly cycle with Sabbath rest is coexistent with the human race. The Sabbath was ordained at the close of the first week of time as a memorial of creation, and was so observed, as a few texts of scripture will show. In Gen. 4:3, 4 we read that Cain and Abel brought their offerings to the Lord "at the end of days." See margin. From Gen. 8:8-12 we learn that Noah, even during the flood, observed the weekly cycle, by sending forth the dove at the close of two consecutive periods of seven days. We read of Abraham, in Gen. 26:5, that he kept the commandments and statutes of the Lord. Thus we see clearly that the Lord had statutes and laws which were obeyed in those days; and we may reasonably conclude that the observance of the Sabbath was a prominent feature of patriarchal worship. The record gives more definite historical data for Sabbath observance than it does for the observance of some of the other Ten Commandments during the patriarchal age. Sabbath observance is spoken of in connection with the giving of the manna, not as something new, but rather as something which had been neglected during the long period of servitude in Egypt. See Ex. 16:26-28. The manna began to fall about a month prior to the speaking of the law on Sinai, and continued right along for nearly forty years, bringing its lesson of Sabbath observance before the people each week. By the weekly celebration of the Sabbath as a memorial of creation, their minds were drawn away from the idolatrous sun-worship of Egypt, and centered upon the One who created the sun. The subsequent history of Israel shows that when they forgot the Sabbath, they invariably lapsed into Egyptian sun-worship. When the Lord spoke the Sabbath commandment on Sinai, He gave the reason for its observance: "The seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God; in it thou shalt not do any work; . . . for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day." Ex. 20:10, 11. In giving this reason, the Lord spanned not only the time from creation to the speaking of the law on Sinai, but all future time as well. At whatever point of time it can be truly said that the Lord created all things in six days and rested the seventh, there the reason for Sabbath observance exists. That reason has existed ever since creation, and will never cease to exist. It is evident, then, that the Sabbath must always have been observed, and must always be observed by all who remember the reason. But even though people should forget the reason, it would still exist, and they would be inexcusable. It is claimed by some that the Lord did not create the earth in six literal days, but in six long, indefinite periods of time, and then rested in the seventh period. But notice: when God commanded man to work six days, and rest the seventh in memory of creation, He made no distinction between the kind of days in which He worked and rested at creation, and the kind in which man is to work and rest in memory of that event. See Ex. 20:8-11. This agrees with true science, which has demonstrated that the length of the day is governed by the revolution of the earth on its axis. Before any one can ever make it appear that the days of creation were millions of times longer than our days, he must first prove that the earth then revolved millions of times slower than it does now. Some reason that if we observe one seventh of our time, according to our convenience, we are obeying the intent of the fourth commandment. God showed clearly that such is not the case, in the miracle of giving of manna. The Sabbath was there indelibly marked as the definite seventh day of the week on which no manna fell; and the fact was further emphasized by the falling of a double portion on the sixth day of the week. Thus miraculously and repeatedly did the Lord demonstrate the definiteness of the Sabbath to ancient Israel. And the apostle tells us that "all these things happened unto them for ensamples; and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come." Compare Ex. 16; 1 Cor. 10:11. It is further declared to be impossible to keep a definite seventh day at different places on the earth at the same time, on account of variations of time. We need never have any trouble over that, because we can never be in more than one place at the same time. Wherever we are, we can always tell when the seventh day, or any other day, begins and ends. In traveling around the earth, we gain or lose a day in going east or west, as the case may be, and would be just that much ahead of, or behind the Lord's time, if we did not drop or add a day in our reckoning. The very fact that men find it necessary thus to drop or add a day in order to keep in harmony with God, is the strongest kind of proof of the definiteness of His method of measuring time. If any first-day observer thinks that God's days are not definite days, let him go around the earth just once, and lose a day without adding one to make up for the loss. He will find himself keeping the seventh-day Sabbath until he goes on around once more, and drops back to Friday; and so on indefinitely, until he learns that God's ways are definite. GEO. A. SNYDER.