Exodus 20:8–11

“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.”

Moses has been super busy since the moment God called him. The scrolls of the Torah are far from done. At this time, the details of creation are just an oral tradition.

So, when Moses announces this commandment, for some folks it’s the first time they’ve have heard of God creating the universe in six days and resting on the seventh. They’ve had a Sabbath from collecting manna every week, but may not know why. Even if they’ve heard the backstory, it may not be clear.

Now God explains it. The Sabbath is part of the structure of everything; it’s the link between how the universe was created and how we are to live. This goes way deeper than most Christians realize.

The Genesis report of creation is written in a poetic form called a chiasm. A chiasm is a symmetric structure that points to what’s important. The chiastic structure in Genesis 1 points to Sabbath.

These commandments are being delivered to a people who had just been freed from unrelenting slavery. One of the key lessons they need to learn is how to rest. Here’s Marty Solomon’s explanation.

https://www.bemadiscipleship.com/1

Sabbath is much, much more than just a day to lounge around.

From a secular point of view, this makes no sense. Secularists like weekends too much to complain, but they don’t buy the whole system. To them, weekends have no meaning.

This mentality infects Christianity in America. Many of us go to church on Sunday but don’t make the whole day special. That’s a bigger mistake than we realize.

God commands that the Sabbath be honored. It’s so important to Him that this commandment precedes all but the foundational ones. It is not to be trifled with.

Christians who go to church and then hit the stores and start projects are missing the point. Sabbath is much more than just a day off. It’s a holy day. Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.

This is worth praying and meditating on. Everyone should keep the Sabbath holy in accordance with a plan that they have carefully thought through.

Too many Christians, especially in America, fail to recognize the seriousness of this commandment.

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These weekday DEEPs are written by Mike Slay. Saturdays' by Matt Richardson. Subscribe here: https://www.ailbe.org/resources/community

The weekly study guides, which include questions for discussion or meditation, are here: https://www.ailbe.org/resources/itemlist/category/91-deep-studies

Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.