Sabbath-Breaking and Israel's Captivity
By William Covert
The Chosen People Were Asked to Be the Light of the World — Their Failure and Overthrow — The Cause of Their Downfall
GOD separated Israel from other people because all other families of the earth had adopted some form of idolatry, and Heaven wanted a better state of conduct maintained among men. So after they were brought out of Egypt, He said: "I bare you on eagles' wings, and brought you unto Myself. Now therefore, if ye will obey My voice indeed, and keep My covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto Me above all people: for all the earth is Mine: and ye shall be unto Me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation." Ex. 19:4-6. In making this proposition, God was not expressing an arbitrary desire to favor one people more than another, but was trying to develop a people in righteousness, that through them He might bring all the earth into allegiance to Himself. DESIGNED FOR MODELS OF OBEDIENCE
In that land of promise they were to be a model of obedience, that other people might learn how to obey God. He had but one plan and one way of obedience for all the world, and He wanted all to adopt that plan. At a later time, Peter stated this truth when he said, "Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons: but in every nation he that feareth Him, and worketh righteousness, is accepted with Him." Acts 10:34, 35. In delivering Israel from Egyptian bondage, God was giving them a chance to develop in wisdom and righteousness, so they could become missionaries to help other people out of the darkness of heathenism into the way of eternal life. They were to be placed in the land that had been promised to their fathers, and the law that God proclaimed for them upon Mount Sinai was committed to them in trust for all the world. The covenant made with Abraham contained terms of blessing for all the families of the earth. See Gen. 12:2, 3; 22:18; 26:4, 5. OPPRESSED BY THEIR CAPTORS
The Egyptians were cruel, not only as taskmasters and slave-drivers, but they also interfered with Israel in matters of religion, so that Egyptian idolatry was encouraged and the worship of God was restrained. But Israel having been delivered from all oppression, they were to obey God. In their own land, what history did they make? Let us see the record: "And when Joshua had let the people go, the children of Israel went every man unto his inheritance to possess the land. And the people served the Lord all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders that outlived Joshua, who had seen all the great works of the Lord, that He did for Israel." Judges 2:6, 7. Joshua died at the age of one hundred and ten years. When his faithful contemporaries had passed away, and a new generation occupied the places where Israel saw their early victories, the history which this new generation made in matters of religion was to quite an extent a relation of apostasies and defeat. Indeed, the generation that bore arms with Joshua lacked the courage necessary to vanquish fully the heathen foe, consisting of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, and pagan affinities. Therefore, the chronicle says, "The children of Israel dwelt among the Canaanites, Hittites, and Amorites, and Perizzites, and Hivites, and Jebusites: and they took their daughters to be their wives, and gave their daughters to their sons, and served their gods." Judges 3:5, 6. The association of the Hebrew young people with the young among the pagans who were left to inhabit the land soon wrought a sad change in the religious affairs of the nation. The intermingling of these classes early led to intermarriages, and the blending of family ties hastily produced an amalgamated religion. And when the religion was amalgamated, it was no longer the pure truth that God had given to His people. The Sabbath was designed to serve as a barrier against all forms of idolatry; and if all had constantly remembered it as they were commanded, none would have gone away from God to worship with the pagans. The Lord, when speaking to Israel about their reverses in matters of righteousness after they went into the promised land, said: "When I had brought them into the land, for the which I lifted up Mine hand to give it to them, then they saw every high hill, and all the thick trees, and they offered there their sacrifices, and there they presented the provocation of their offering: there also they made their sweet savor, and poured out there their drink-offerings." Eze. 20:28. THE SABBATH A SIGN OF LOYALTY
The keeping of the Sabbath was to be a sign to that people, constantly pointing them to the Creator of all things, and the Upholder of all things. And as long as they kept it, their obedience was to serve as an eloquent appeal to the nations, inviting them to do likewise. Moses faithfully set before Israel what their deliverance meant, both to them and to the nations who were to be helped by the lesson and by their example, if they should prove to be obedient. He said: "Behold, I have taught you statutes and judgments, even as the Lord my God commanded me, that ye should do so in the land whither ye go to possess it. Keep therefore and do them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the nations,600which shall hear all these statutes, and say, Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people. For what nation is there so great, who hath God so nigh unto them, as the Lord our God is in all things that we call upon Him for? And what nation is there so great, that hath statutes and judgments so righteous as all this law, which I set before you this day?" Deut. 4: 5-8. Moses referred especially, in this rehearsal, to the proclamation of the Ten Commandments from Sinai. His citation in verses 10-13 specifically mentions the Ten Commandments, which God wrote upon two tables of stone; and he placed special emphasis upon this document, which if observed would make them a noted and wise people, superior to all others upon the earth. "Out of heaven He made thee to hear His voice, that He might instruct thee: and upon earth He showed thee His great fire; and thou heardest His words out of the midst of the fire. And because He loved thy fathers, therefore He chose their seed after them, and brought thee out in His sight with His mighty power out of Egypt; to drive out nations from before thee greater and mightier than thou art, to bring thee in, to give thee their land for an inheritance, as it is this day. I know therefore this day, and consider it in thine heart, that the Lord He is God in heaven above, and upon the earth beneath: there is none else. Thou shalt keep therefore His statutes, and His commandments, which I command thee this day, that it may go well with thee, and with thy children after thee, and that thou mayest prolong thy days upon the earth, which the Lord thy God giveth thee, forever." Deut. 4: 36-40. It is plain to see that Israel would never be driven from the land where they had been placed as long as they were obedient to the commandments of God. Now, while the conditions stated in the foregoing scriptures applied to all the Ten Commandments alike, obedience to the Sabbath commandment was at a later time set forth as a special test of loyalty, and their dwelling in the land was made to depend upon it. The following message was sent to Israel through the prophet Jeremiah: "Go and stand in the gate of the children of the people, whereby the kings of Judah come in, and by the which they go out, and in all the gates of Jerusalem; and say unto them, Hear ye the word of the Lord, ye kings of Judah, and all Judah, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, that enter in by these gates: thus saith the Lord; Take heed to yourselves, and bear no burden on the Sabbath day, nor bring it in by the gates of Jerusalem; neither carry forth a burden out of your houses on the Sabbath day, neither do ye any work, but hallow ye the Sabbath day, as I commanded your fathers. . . . And it shall come to pass, if ye diligently harken unto Me, saith the Lord, to bring in no burden through the gates of this city on the Sabbath day, but hallow the Sabbath day, to do no work therein; . . . this city shall remain forever." Jer. 17: 19-25. But verse twenty-three says, "They obeyed not, neither inclined their ear, but made their neck stiff, that they might not hear, nor receive instruction." There is a long and sad history of apostasies and of adversities connected with the downfall of this people. Captivity by Babylon came as a punishment for their transgression. Yet the Lord through His messengers labored most earnestly for them before the crises came. "But they mocked the messengers of God, and despised His words, and misused His prophets, until the wrath of the Lord arose against His people, till there was no remedy." Then came the Chaldees upon them. "And they burnt the house of God, and brake down the wall of Jerusalem, and burnt all the palaces thereof with fire, and destroyed all the goodly vessels thereof. And them that had escaped from the sword carried he away to Babylon; where they were servants to him and his sons until the reign of the kingdom of Persia: to fulfil the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed her Sabbaths: for as long as she lay desolate she kept Sabbath, to fulfil threescore and ten years." 2 Chron. 36: 16-21. God, who had made the world, requested His people to keep the Sabbath in memory of His creative works. When they utterly refused to keep the Sabbath and rest from their works on the Sabbath day, the Lord allowed them to be removed from the land; and when they were removed, the land rested from their tillage on the Sabbath day. The time is coming, on account of man's wickedness, when the earth will rest from its tillage for a period of a thousand years. Then the sinners will be destroyed out of it; and after that period of rest, there will be no more Sabbath-breaking.