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Pacific Press Publishing Company · Mountain View, California · May 10, 1905

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 31, No. 19.

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Question Corner

By Editor

FROM time to time under this head, we will answer pertinent questions, the answers to which we believe will be generally helpful to our readers. Some questions we can not answer here. They are of special interest only to the person who asks them. We will not answer what seem to be mere quibbles or cavils. We do not propose, for instance, to explain, more than once a year, where Cain got his wife. In all cases we must have the name of the questioner. We may wish to write them. To the questioner we sign only the initials, or another term, if preferred by the questioner. But we have neither time nor space to bother with unsigned letters or questions. One more thought: “Foolish and unlearned questions avoid.”
If the prohibition to build fires on Sabbath in Ex. 35:2, 3 is a civil or ceremonial regulation for the Jews while in Palestine only, why may not the prohibition in Ex. 34:21 also be limited to them? Also Lev. 23:32 and perhaps Lev. 11:7, 8?
The command concerning the Sabbath, and a local law respecting it, are two things of an entirely different character. The Sabbath law originated in Eden, before man sinned. Gen. 2:2, 3. The Sabbath was therefore made for man, for the race. Mark 2:27. To show its eternal, enduring nature it is placed in the very heart of the Decalogue, bulwarked before and behind by nine other moral precepts concerning which there is no question, in order that man might know that there should be no question over the fourth commandment. Of that law it is easier for heaven and earth to pass than one tittle to fail. This is shown in an abundance of scriptures. Ex. 35:2, 3 was in its nature a local regulation referring to the wilderness period. The climate demanded no fire. The manna was prepared the day before the Sabbath. To build a fire was a direct and daring act of presumption against God. See Num. 15:30-36.
Lev. 23:32 specially applies to the day of atonement, a typical feast pertaining to the Levitical age, but it also states a general law as regards the beginning and ending of all days. This also is shown in many scriptures. The day began and ended at the setting of the sun.
The law of unclean animals is not binding, but the great facts on which it is based should guide the well-instructed Christian. It was no arbitrary law which divided between beasts regardless of their nature. In the very nature of things the swine is unclean, and God told His people so. This distinction existed before the Flood. Knowing this, how should the Christian apply 1 Cor. 10:31?