Thoughts suggested by the consideration of Ex. xvi, 5, and bearing upon the position of the Church as restorer of paths to dwell in.
"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." How should the Israelites know what day was the sixth day, if they were not accustomed to reckon time by weeks? Was not that the name of the day; and designated its numerical position in a week, and not a month or a year. And from what circumstance or custom did it apply to a particular day? Can we find anything in nature that marks a division of time into weeks? Anything that points to such an arrangement? I know of nothing. The division of time into months might be suggested by the phases of the moon. The division of time into years by the returning seasons. But in vain do we look to the material world for something to which we can refer the origin of the custom of reckoning time by weeks.
To what, then, shall we trace it? Or, from what did it derive its origin? Shall we say that it was a mere matter of chance that a week consisted of seven, and that there was nothing to mark even that division? Are we not driven by necessity to the example of God in the work of creation, and to the order established by himself there, for a solution of the difficulty. How does that agree with the words of our text? And what light does it throw upon what was meant by the sixth day? As there was a sixth day, there must of necessity have been a first, second, third, fourth and fifth, preceding it. And how many were there to follow it, to make the order complete? It appears that on that day, the sixth, the people were to gather twice as much bread as they were to gather other days, plainly indicating that one day completed the order, and that that was a day of rest.
For further evidence on the same point, see verse 26. "Six days shall ye gather it, but on the seventh day, which is the Sabbath, in it there shall be none." Now let us compare the order here brought to view, with the order established at creation, recollecting that the works were finished from the foundation of the world. In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. And said, let there be light, and there was light. And divided the light from the darkness. And God called the light day, and the darkness night. And the evening and the morning were the first day. Then continuing his work another day, he says, and the evening and the morning were the second day. And of the next he says, recording his work, it was the third day. Of the next the same, calling it the fourth day. The next, the fifth day.—And the next, he finished his work, and it was the sixth day. And God saw that it was very good.—And God rested from all the work that he had made, on the seventh day, and God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it; because that in it he had rested.—How clearly this example and arrangement of God, explains the meaning of the text, and shows that in requiring the Israelites to gather twice as much bread on the sixth day as they gathered on the other days, was to enable them to observe that order which he had himself instituted, or in the words of verse 4, to prove them, and see whether they would walk in his law or no.
What is a law? It is a rule dependent on a cause. For instance, we throw a stone into the air, we find it falls to the ground. God has given to matter the power of attraction, which is the cause of the stone's falling. The law or rule of attraction is the name of the effect of the attraction. The arrangement of time into weeks was by God given, six days for labor, and blessing and sanctifying (or setting apart) one for rest. Here, then, is the cause out of which grows the obligation, rule, or law, of the Sabbath. Now take away the written law, which is the knowledge of the sin of trespassing an established order, and we see that the obligation still remains, for the reason that the cause is still untouched; the works being finished from the foundation of the world.
The giving of the manne being the special act of God, it must be in keeping with his own order, to make him consistent with himself; and we find that it is so. Hear him. "Six days shall ye gather it; [the food I give you,] but the seventh day which is the Sabbath, in it there shall be none." Will any one doubt that it was the same God who gave them the manne, that made the world? The harmony is too complete to admit of it. But, says the objector, could not God have instituted the order of weeks after the Israelites came out of Egypt, and they therefore would know what was meant by the sixth day? He could. But what knowledge of the fact that he did so, has he given us? There is none. Then it is merely inference. And if there is no ground from which to infer such instruction, and there is the strongest ground to believe that the custom was coeval with creation itself, and that from positive testimony, the objection must yield to the obvious truth.
We will first consider chapter xii, 2. "This month shall be unto you the beginning of months, it shall be the first month of the year to you." What do we learn from this? Answer: That God being their Sovereign Ruler, did institute the reckoning of the months and years from such a date as would glorify himself and commemorate his acts of goodness to them. Now would the change of the time for the commencement of the year or month affect their organization? Not at all. They would still depend upon the returning seasons, and the phases of the moon, for their existence, and be the exponents of their times.—Would such have been the cause with the weekly division of time? [To be continued.]