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Editorial

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Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park, Washington, D. C. · Jul 11, 1912

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 89, No. 28.

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Editorial

By Editor

The Sabbath and the Jewish Economy

PRIMARILY the Sabbath institution stood entirely independent of local conditions or national relationships. It was given to the whole family of man. Instituted in the days of innocency, before sin entered, it stood primarily independent of the types and ceremonies and sacrifices and offerings for sin which were instituted in consequence of man's transgression.
Objection is sometimes urged against the universality of the Sabbath institution on account of the Jewish civil requirements that prohibited the building of fires on the Sabbath, etc. This is because proper distinctions are not made between these national codes and the law of God. In the Jewish economy there was observed first the ceremonial law relating to sacrifices and offerings. This system was in operation until type met antitype at the first advent of Christ. A second code embraced the civil statutes the same as possessed by every nation. Then there was a third code recognized really as the constitutional basis of jurisprudence, compared with which the first two were but local and temporal, namely, the decalogue. This constituted the universal, perpetual, common religious law of the church of God in every age. Of the distinction between these codes, and of the preeminent position occupied by the law of the ten commandments, the following excellent comment by Wilbur F. Crafts in his book "The Sabbath for Man," pages 357-359, is to the point:—
Whatever there was about the Sabbath in the Jewish ceremonial law, such as its special sacrifices, was for the Jews only, and is not obligatory upon us, although it is recorded in the world's Bible because "profitable for instruction in righteousness." Whatever there was about the Sabbath in the Jewish civil code—such as the prohibition of fire on the Sabbath in a warm country, where a Sabbath fire would only be used for needless cooking; and the death penalty for Sabbath-breaking—is not binding upon us, but is recorded in our Bible to teach us that God would have us exceedingly careful to avoid unnecessary Sabbath work, and that he regards disobedience to his Sabbath law as a very grave offense.
But what is said of the Sabbath in the fourth commandment of the decalogue is neither a part of the Jewish ceremonial law nor of the Jewish civil law. It is a paragraph in a code of universal and perpetual obligation. It is inexcusable for any intelligent person, much more a clergyman, to declare the fourth commandment "no more binding on us than the law of circumcision." One might as well say that the law against theft is no more binding upon Americans than some outgrown by-law of the Church of England, since that church condemned theft at the period when this abolished rule was in force. When a church repeals or outgrows an ecclesiastical by-law, it does not repeal the universal code of moral law which that church holds in common with all the world. . . . By their very nature, the ten commandments are as universal and perpetual in their application as the golden rule, which Christ drew, like a precious gem, out of the same Old Testament mine, as the central truth of "the law and the prophets."
We wonder that Mr. Crafts, while recognizing the plain distinction he expresses between the law of God, with its holy character and perpetual obligation, and the Jewish codes of national existence, should fail to recognize that the principle he states forever precludes any change in the law of Jehovah. Had he done this, he would not to-day be engaged in the inconsistent, but no doubt honest advocacy of a rival institution to that of God's ordaining.
Later in the history of the Israelites God appeals to their gratitude in the obedience they should render his law from the fact that he had wrought their great deliverance from Egyptian bondage:—
"And remember that thou wast a servant in the land of Egypt, and that the Lord thy God brought thee out thence through a mighty hand and by a stretched-out arm: therefore the Lord thy God commanded thee to keep the Sabbath day." Deut. 5: 15.
It is to be regretted that a sense of gratitude for this great deliverance did not lead the Israelites to keep in mind throughout their history the Sabbath of Jehovah. Their experience was one long succession of victories and failures, of apostasies and reformations. Under Moses, Joshua, and Samuel, during the reign of some of the godly kings, the descendants of Abraham maintained their integrity and were obedient to the commandments of the Lord. God promised that if they would maintain this character, their capital city would stand forever, and they would become the praise of the whole earth.
"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; then shall there enter into the gates of this city kings and princes sitting upon the throne of David, riding in chariots and on horses, they, and their princes, the men of Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem: and this city shall remain forever. And they shall come from the cities of Judah, and from the places about Jerusalem, and from the land of Benjamin, and from the plain, and from the mountains, and from the south, bringing burnt offerings, and sacrifices, and meat-offerings, and incense, and bringing sacrifices of praise, unto the house of the Lord. But if ye will not harken unto me to hallow the Sabbath day, and not to bear a burden, even entering in at the gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath day; then will I kindle a fire in the gates thereof, and it shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem, and it shall not be quenched." Jer. 17: 24-27.
Their failure to heed this instruction resulted in the overthrow of their beautiful city, and plunged them once more into abject bondage:—
"Moreover all the chief of the priests, and the people, transgressed very much after all the abominations of the heathen; and polluted the house of the Lord which he had hallowed in Jerusalem. And the Lord God of their fathers sent to them by his messengers, rising up betimes, and sending; because he had compassion on his people, and on his dwelling-place; 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. Therefore he brought upon them the king of the Chaldees, who slew their young men with the sword in the house of their sanctuary, and had no compassion upon young man or maiden, old man, or him that stooped for age: he gave them all into his hand. And all the vessels of the house of God, great and small, and the treasures of the house of the Lord, and the treasures of the king, and of his princes; all these he brought to Babylon. And they burned the house of God, and brake down the wall of Jerusalem, and burned 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: 15-21.
Well would it have been for Israel if she had remembered the Sabbath of the Lord. Forgetting God's great memorial, the Israelites forgot its divine Author. They worshiped the creature, the hosts of heaven, the creations of their own hands, instead of the great Creator of the heavens and the earth. These things are recorded for our admonition. May we learn the lesson which Israel failed to recognize. F. M. W.