Keep the sabbath day to sanctify it, as the LORD thy God hath commanded thee.
To keep the Sabbath day holy means to set apart the seventh day as God's sanctified rest, working six days and ceasing from all work on the seventh with the whole household and community, including children, servants, animals and strangers, and not substituting Sunday or any other chosen day. It was spoken by God face to face out of fire at Horeb and rehearsed by Moses to the living generation of Israel by the Jordan, including those born in the wilderness, so they would hear, learn, keep and do it as the condition of life in the promised land. The command is grounded in remembering bondage in Egypt and deliverance by God's mighty hand to serve Him freely in worship and obedience. Faithfully kept it continually reminds of accountability to God as Creator and Redeemer, stands as the sign that He sanctifies His people, and shuts out idolatry, while setting it aside leads to forgetting the Creator and worshiping other gods. Its observance is the test of loyalty to the fourth commandment, so breaking it is sin bringing curse and loss of blessing, yielding to it entails keeping the rest of the commandments, and restoring the breach means upholding the seventh day God blessed rather than treating the first day as sacred.
Context and Meaning
The command is part of the covenant made in Horeb with Israel alive at that time, spoken face to face out of the fire in the mount and rehearsed by Moses to all Israel by the Jordan in solemn assembly to be heard, learned, kept and done. Moses repeated the Ten Commandments before his death and before Israel entered the promised land so that the new generation would understand the need to obey. This included those born in the wilderness who did not remember the giving of the law, for few present were old enough to have comprehended the solemnity at Sinai. God therefore directed Moses to rehearse the deliverance from Egypt and the wilderness journeyings and to recapitulate the law, presenting its claims anew and enjoining obedience as the condition of prosperity in Canaan.
The verse belongs to what was required of the ancient people in Deuteronomy 4-8 that they might be a holy people to Himself. It is included among the definite requirements repeated in Deuteronomy 5:6-21 as part of the Ten Commandments given at Sinai through Moses after the coming out of Egypt to be preserved. It stands among the first four commandments defining duty to God. To keep the Sabbath day to sanctify it means to set it apart as holy as the Lord God commanded. The Sabbath is the seventh day, the Lord's Sabbath and God's sanctified day, not Sunday or any day chosen from a cycle of seven. It was set apart after God made the world in six literal twenty-four-hour days and rested on the seventh.
Six days are allowed for labor and all work, and the seventh day requires rest from work. That rest is for the person addressed and the whole household and community: son, daughter, manservant, maidservant, ox, ass, cattle and other working animals, and the stranger within the gates. Manservant and maidservant are to rest equally. The command is grounded in remembering slavery in Egypt and deliverance by a mighty hand and stretched-out arm, for which God commanded Sabbath keeping. Israel was delivered from bondage to serve God freely, honor His Sabbath and obey His law as part of the freedom and worship given after being brought out.
Teaching and Obedience
Faithful observance of the command to keep the Sabbath day to sanctify it continually keeps before the mind accountability to God as both Creator and Redeemer. Its observance serves as a memorial of Him as Creator and the only true and living God to be worshiped. Kept in the proper spirit the Sabbath shuts out idolatry. Setting aside the claims of this precept of the Decalogue as no longer binding leads to forgetting the Creator and worshiping other gods.
The Sabbath is a sign between God and His people that He sanctifies them, and hallowing it shows that they know He is the Lord their God. Its observance is the sign of obedience to the fourth commandment and of His power to sanctify His people. It stands as a perpetual covenant grounded in His creation of heaven and earth in six days and rest on the seventh. Sabbath observance is the test of loyalty to God and obedience to the fourth commandment. People must keep the day God sanctified rather than a day He did not set apart, for the Sabbath is God's sanctified day, not Sunday.
Substituting Sunday for the Sabbath does not fulfill the command, which Christ explained on its original basis. Breaking any of these commandments is sin, just as violating the laws governing the body is sin. Transgression brings a curse and its consequences. Refusing to obey shows disobedience to God and lack of reverence, and those who disobey cannot expect God to cooperate with them and bless them.
Sanctification of mind, soul, and body and perfect obedience to God's will are required, with no excuse accepted for disobeying His commandments. Yielding the will to God in keeping the Sabbath entails keeping the rest of His commandments. Keeping the Sabbath is part of the Christian experience needed to perfect character, and yielding the will to God in this matter makes efforts to save the whole person more effective. The Lord's commandments are to be obeyed in full and according to His directions, and the special lesson of the chapter is to do what the Lord commands.
They are to be kept and taught without adding to or taking from them, as definite requirements repeated in Deuteronomy 5:6-21. Walking in His ways and living as His holy people set apart for Him are linked with His covenant mercy and blessing. Its instruction remains to be studied and put into practice in principle, as in 1901, among the requirements Moses repeated to Israel as a way to honor Him. Deuteronomy 4-8, which sets forth what God required that they might be a holy people to Himself, is to be studied now with profit because the world is nearing God's great final review when all must stand before the Judge of all the earth to answer for their deeds, in the present time of investigation when every character will have been investigated and every case decided for eternity.
God's written commands will be brought forward in judgment, and those who neglect Scripture and observe an unblessed day will not be excused by ignorance. Neglect of the seventh-day Sabbath is the breach to be repaired. Restoring the Sabbath means upholding the seventh day God blessed and set apart rather than treating the first day as sacred, as part of restoring the foundations of earlier generations.
To keep the Sabbath day holy means to set apart the seventh day as God's sanctified rest, working six days and ceasing from all work on the seventh with the whole household and community, including children, servants, animals and strangers, and not substituting Sunday or any other chosen day.
It was spoken by God face to face out of fire at Horeb and rehearsed by Moses to the living generation of Israel by the Jordan, including those born in the wilderness, so they would hear, learn, keep and do it as the condition of life in the promised land.
The command is grounded in remembering bondage in Egypt and deliverance by God's mighty hand to serve Him freely in worship and obedience.
Faithfully kept it continually reminds of accountability to God as Creator and Redeemer, stands as the sign that He sanctifies His people, and shuts out idolatry, while setting it aside leads to forgetting the Creator and worshiping other gods.
Its observance is the test of loyalty to the fourth commandment, so breaking it is sin bringing curse and loss of blessing, yielding to it entails keeping the rest of the commandments, and restoring the breach means upholding the seventh day God blessed rather than treating the first day as sacred.
Context and Meaning
The command is part of the covenant made in Horeb with Israel alive at that time, spoken face to face out of the fire in the mount and rehearsed by Moses to all Israel by the Jordan in solemn assembly to be heard, learned, kept and done. Moses repeated the Ten Commandments before his death and before Israel entered the promised land so that the new generation would understand the need to obey. This included those born in the wilderness who did not remember the giving of the law, for few present were old enough to have comprehended the solemnity at Sinai. God therefore directed Moses to rehearse the deliverance from Egypt and the wilderness journeyings and to recapitulate the law, presenting its claims anew and enjoining obedience as the condition of prosperity in Canaan.
The verse belongs to what was required of the ancient people in Deuteronomy 4-8 that they might be a holy people to Himself. It is included among the definite requirements repeated in Deuteronomy 5:6-21 as part of the Ten Commandments given at Sinai through Moses after the coming out of Egypt to be preserved. It stands among the first four commandments defining duty to God. To keep the Sabbath day to sanctify it means to set it apart as holy as the Lord God commanded. The Sabbath is the seventh day, the Lord's Sabbath and God's sanctified day, not Sunday or any day chosen from a cycle of seven. It was set apart after God made the world in six literal twenty-four-hour days and rested on the seventh.
Six days are allowed for labor and all work, and the seventh day requires rest from work. That rest is for the person addressed and the whole household and community: son, daughter, manservant, maidservant, ox, ass, cattle and other working animals, and the stranger within the gates. Manservant and maidservant are to rest equally. The command is grounded in remembering slavery in Egypt and deliverance by a mighty hand and stretched-out arm, for which God commanded Sabbath keeping. Israel was delivered from bondage to serve God freely, honor His Sabbath and obey His law as part of the freedom and worship given after being brought out.
Teaching and Obedience
Faithful observance of the command to keep the Sabbath day to sanctify it continually keeps before the mind accountability to God as both Creator and Redeemer. Its observance serves as a memorial of Him as Creator and the only true and living God to be worshiped. Kept in the proper spirit the Sabbath shuts out idolatry. Setting aside the claims of this precept of the Decalogue as no longer binding leads to forgetting the Creator and worshiping other gods.
The Sabbath is a sign between God and His people that He sanctifies them, and hallowing it shows that they know He is the Lord their God. Its observance is the sign of obedience to the fourth commandment and of His power to sanctify His people. It stands as a perpetual covenant grounded in His creation of heaven and earth in six days and rest on the seventh. Sabbath observance is the test of loyalty to God and obedience to the fourth commandment. People must keep the day God sanctified rather than a day He did not set apart, for the Sabbath is God's sanctified day, not Sunday.
Substituting Sunday for the Sabbath does not fulfill the command, which Christ explained on its original basis. Breaking any of these commandments is sin, just as violating the laws governing the body is sin. Transgression brings a curse and its consequences. Refusing to obey shows disobedience to God and lack of reverence, and those who disobey cannot expect God to cooperate with them and bless them.
Sanctification of mind, soul, and body and perfect obedience to God's will are required, with no excuse accepted for disobeying His commandments. Yielding the will to God in keeping the Sabbath entails keeping the rest of His commandments. Keeping the Sabbath is part of the Christian experience needed to perfect character, and yielding the will to God in this matter makes efforts to save the whole person more effective. The Lord's commandments are to be obeyed in full and according to His directions, and the special lesson of the chapter is to do what the Lord commands.
They are to be kept and taught without adding to or taking from them, as definite requirements repeated in Deuteronomy 5:6-21. Walking in His ways and living as His holy people set apart for Him are linked with His covenant mercy and blessing. Its instruction remains to be studied and put into practice in principle, as in 1901, among the requirements Moses repeated to Israel as a way to honor Him. Deuteronomy 4-8, which sets forth what God required that they might be a holy people to Himself, is to be studied now with profit because the world is nearing God's great final review when all must stand before the Judge of all the earth to answer for their deeds, in the present time of investigation when every character will have been investigated and every case decided for eternity.
God's written commands will be brought forward in judgment, and those who neglect Scripture and observe an unblessed day will not be excused by ignorance. Neglect of the seventh-day Sabbath is the breach to be repaired. Restoring the Sabbath means upholding the seventh day God blessed and set apart rather than treating the first day as sacred, as part of restoring the foundations of earlier generations.