Exodus 23:10 – 12 “For six years you are to sow your land and gather its produce, but in the seventh year you must let it rest and lie fallow, so that the poor among your people may eat from the field and the wild animals may consume what they leave. Do the same with your vineyard and olive grove. For six days you are to do your work, but on the seventh day you must cease, so that your ox and your donkey may rest and the son of your maidservant may be refreshed, as well as the foreign resident.”
Throughout the Jewish Torah, the first five books of the Christian Bible, God repeats the lessons He wants His people to learn. And one of the fundamental laws God is instituting is the law of the Sabbath rest. In the Ten Commandments, the Israelites have already been ordered to “remember the Sabbath Day, to keep it holy.” Throughout the history of Israel, God repeatedly reminds His people to keep the Sabbath or face His wrath. Why is God so insistent? What is God up to with these commandments?
Here the Sabbath concept is not only repeated but also extended, upgrading it enormously. And there is another principle at work here: consideration for the poor. Land owners would naturally want to gain as much profit from their fields, their groves, and their vineyards as possible. Now God is testing His people. Will the Israelites trust God enough that they will allow their land to rest for an entire year, allowing the poor and the wild animals to roam at will, gathering whatever they can find. God is making no promises about blessing people abundantly in the previous 6 years; people will have to trust God to provide for them.
The term “the son of your maidservant” is translated as “your bondman” or as “your slave” in other translations. Prager points out that there are two different words used here for “rest.” “The term used for the animals is the normal world for “rest.” But the word used for human beings (“your bondman and the stranger”) ceasing from work can be rendered as “en-souled.” It is enough for animals to rest their bodies on Shabbat, but not enough for people. The Fourth Commandment is to make Shabbat holy, not just to rest.” This commandment covers everybody in the household, including any guests or any foreigners who might be working for the family.
In some respects, this injunction is a dual one. Until this point, God’s instructions have been mostly ethical; however, the commandment regarding Sabbath rest is both an ethical command as well as a command regulating ritual laws that are to follow.
APPLICATION: The recent COVID pandemic has pointed out the bad effects of continual stress. While being forced to shelter in place might seem to be a kind of enforced Sabbath rest, in fact, many people have found themselves working more due to Zoom meetings and other forms of electronic media. Now that travel restrictions are easing a little, many people are trying to take deferred vacations to catch up on the rest they have missed.
God has created the human body to require regular periods of rest. No matter where you are in the world, there is a change of seasons. In the tropics, seasons may only cycle between rainy season and dry season; in more temperate climates, there are four distinct seasons. In any case, there are seasons of rest alternating with seasons of growth. Our bodies need sabbaths, and if we refuse to rest regularly, our bodies may enforce rest by falling sick.
Are you driving yourself too much? How can you observe Sabbaths in your life? Ask God to show you how you can be quiet and meet with Him.
PRAYER: Father God, we know we need Sabbaths, but how to observe them is a problem. Help us to rest as you have ordered us and help us to worship you. Thank you for loving us and wanting to meet with us regularly. In the matchless Name of King Jesus. Amen.
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