Shabbat/Sabbath - Traditional Hebraic Perspective
The institution of Shabbat is indeed one of the greatest gifts that The LORD has bestowed upon humankind. In fact this gift is so important that The LORD commanded its observance among the great Ten Commandments (Aseret Hadiberot) written on stone by his own finger!
Following are some critical passages from Holy Scriptures pertaining to Shabbat:
Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shall thou labor, and do all thy work; but the seventh day is a Sabbath unto the LORD thy G_D, in it thou shall not do any manner of work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, nor thy man-servant, nor thy maid-servant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates; for in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested on the seventh day; wherefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it. (Exodus 20:7-10)
And Moses assembled all the congregation of the children of Israel, and said unto them: 'These are the words which the LORD hath commanded, that ye should do them. Six days shall work be done, but on the seventh day there shall be to you a yom kadosh (holy day), a Sabbath of solemn rest to the LORD; whosoever does any work therein shall be put to death. … (Exodus 35:1-3)
And the LORD spoke unto Moses, saying: Speak thou also unto the children of Israel, saying: Verily ye shall keep my Sabbaths, for it is a sign between me and you throughout your generations, that ye may know that I am the LORD who sanctifies you. Ye shall keep the Sabbath therefore, for it is holy unto you; every one that profanes it shall surely be put to death; for whosoever does any work therein, that soul shall be cut off from among his people. … Wherefore the children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, to observe the Sabbath throughout their generations, for a perpetual covenant. It is a sign between me and the children of Israel for ever (Exodus 31: 12-17)
Observe the Sabbath day, to keep it holy, as the LORD thy G_D commanded thee. … And thou shall remember that thou were a servant in the land of Egypt, and the LORD thy G_D brought thee out thence by a mighty hand and by an outstretched arm; therefore the LORD thy G_D commanded thee to keep the Sabbath day. (Deuteronomy 5:11-14)
Ye shall keep my Sabbaths, and reverence my sanctuary (Leviticus: 19:30)
And thou shall take fine flour, and bake twelve cakes thereof: two tenth parts of an ephah shall be in one cake. And thou shall set them in two rows, six in a row, upon the pure table before the LORD. And thou shall put pure frankincense with each row that it may be to the bread for a memorial-part, even an offering made by fire unto the LORD. Every Sabbath day he shall set it in order before the LORD continually; it is from the children of Israel, an everlasting covenant. (Leviticus: 24:5-8)
And on the Sabbath day two he-lambs of the first year without blemish, and two tenth parts of an ephah of fine flour for a meal-offering, mingled with oil, and the drink-offering thereof. This is the burnt-offering of every Sabbath, beside the continual burnt-offering, and the drink-offering thereof. (Leviticus: 28:9-10)
And the LORD spoke unto Moses in mount Sinai, saying: Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them: When ye come into the land which I give you, then shall the land keep a Sabbath unto the LORD. Six years thou shall sow thy field, and six years thou shall prune thy vineyard, and gather in the produce thereof. But in the seventh year shall be a Sabbath of solemn rest for the land, a Sabbath unto the LORD; thou shall neither sow thy field, nor prune thy vineyard. That which grows of itself of thy harvest thou shall not reap and the grapes of thy undressed vine thou shall not gather; it shall be a year of solemn rest for the land. And the Sabbath-produce of the land shall be for food for you: for thee, and for thy servant and for thy maid, and for thy hired servant and for the settler by thy side that sojourn with thee; and for thy cattle, and for the beasts that are in thy land, shall all the increase thereof be for food. …
And thou shall number seven Sabbaths of years unto thee, seven times seven years; and there shall be unto thee the days of seven Sabbaths of years, even forty and nine years. Then shall thou make proclamation with the blast of the horn on the tenth day of the seventh month; in the day of atonement shall ye make proclamation with the horn throughout all your land. And ye shall hallow the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout the land unto all the inhabitants thereof; it shall be a jubilee unto you; (Leviticus: 25:1-10)
But if ye will not hearken unto me, and will not do all these commandments; and if ye shall reject my statutes, and if your soul abhor mine ordinances, so that ye will not do all my commandments, but break my covenant; I also will do this unto you: I will appoint terror over you, even consumption and fever, that shall make the eyes to fail, and the soul to languish; and ye shall sow your seed in vain, for your enemies shall eat it. And I will set my face against you and ye shall be smitten before your enemies; they that hate you shall rule over you; and ye shall flee when none pursues you. …
And if ye will not yet for these things hearken unto me, then I will chastise you seven times more for your sins. And I will break the pride of your power; and I will make your heaven as iron, and your earth as brass. And your strength shall be spent in vain; for your land shall not yield her produce, neither shall the trees of the land yield their fruit. And if ye walk contrary unto me, and will not hearken unto me; I will bring seven times more plagues upon you according to your sins. … And I will send the beast of the field among you, which shall rob you of your children, and destroy your cattle, and make you few in number; and your ways shall become desolate. …
And if in spite of these things ye will not be corrected unto me, but will walk contrary unto me; then will I also walk contrary unto you; and I will smite you, even I, seven times for your sins. And I will bring a sword upon you, that shall execute the vengeance of the covenant; …
And if ye will not for all this hearken unto me, but walk contrary unto me; then I will walk contrary unto you in fury; and I also will chastise you seven times for your sins. And ye shall eat the flesh of your sons, and the flesh of your daughters shall ye eat. And I will destroy your high places, and cut down your sun-pillars, and cast your carcasses upon the carcasses of your idols; and my soul shall abhor you. And I will make your cities a waste, and will bring your sanctuaries unto desolation, and I will not smell the savor of your sweet odors. And I will bring the land into desolation; and your enemies that dwell therein shall be astonished at it. And you will I scatter among the nations, and I will draw out the sword after you; and your land shall be desolation and your cities shall be a waste. Then shall the land be paid her Sabbaths, as long as it lies desolate, and ye are in your enemies' land; even then shall the land rest, and repay her Sabbaths. As long as it lies desolate it shall have rest; even the rest which it had not in your Sabbaths, when ye dwelt upon it. And as for them that are left of you, I will send a faintness into their heart in the lands of their enemies; and the sound of a driven leaf shall chase them; and they shall flee, as one flees from the sword; and they shall fall when none pursues. And they shall stumble one upon another, as it were before the sword, when none pursues; and ye shall have no power to stand before your enemies. And ye shall perish among the nations, and the land of your enemies shall eat you up. And they that are left of you shall pine away in their iniquity in your enemies' lands; and also in the iniquities of their fathers shall they pine away with them. And they shall confess their iniquity, and the iniquity of their fathers, in their treachery which they committed against me, and also that they have walked contrary unto me. I also will walk contrary unto them, and bring them into the land of their enemies; …
If then perchance their uncircumcised heart be humbled, and they then be paid the punishment of their iniquity; then will I remember my covenant with Jacob, and also my covenant with Isaac, and also my covenant with Abraham will I remember; and I will remember the land. For the land shall lie forsaken without them, and shall be paid her Sabbaths, while she lies desolate without them; and they shall be paid the punishment of their iniquity; because, even because they rejected mine ordinances, and their soul abhorred my statutes.
And yet for all that, when they are in the land of their enemies, I will not reject them, neither will I abhor them, to destroy them utterly, and to break my covenant with them; for I am the LORD their G_D. But I will for their sakes remember the covenant of their ancestors, whom I brought forth out of the land of Egypt in the sight of the nations, that I might be their G_D: I am the LORD. (Leviticus: 26:14-45)
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As was declared in the brief introduction herein … all “things” of The LORD are uniquely and perfectly integrated … The Creation; The Torah; The Sacrificial System; The Priesthood; The Mishkan (The LORD’s Dwelling Place); The Kingdom; Human History; and of course The Mo’adim. Hopefully in reviewing and pondering just these selected Scripture passages associated with the Sacred Shabbat, the reader can garner some appreciation regarding the integrated nature of the “things of The LORD” since Shabbat seems to “touch” or connect with so many different things. Clearly Shabbat cannot be summarized to merely be the “day we gather”!
Most assuredly, as can be seen within Scripture, there are numerous perspectives in how the Shabbat needs to be viewed and there are key relationships that need to be explored and developed so that we can ascertain the broad picture that Shabbat portrays. If we extract just the key elements from the related Shabbat Scripture passages we should be able to readily see the following traditional Hebraic perspectives:
Shabbat is a “zikaron l'ma-asay v'raysheet” or a “remembrance of the act of creation”. On this Yom Kadosh (Holy Day) believers pay homage through worship, prayer, study as well as familial and communal celebration because it is right to give The LORD thanks and praise for creation. On Shabbat, his children, the Israelites, have a weekly appointment with ABBA (Father), the creator of HaShomayim ve’ HaAretz (Heaven and Earth).
Shabbat is a “zaykher litziat mitzrayim” or a “remembrance of the Hebrew exodus from Mitzrayim (Egypt)”. The LORD, through the Shabbat, pronounced liberty for the Hebrew people while ending their steadfast bondage to Egypt. It must be understood that only free people, not slaves, would have the luxury of resting on any given day. As such the day of rest not only signifies that the Hebrew people were free but also stands as a testimony forever that freedom came through the saving grace of The LORD. The Hebrew people did not earn their freedom; it was given to them freely out of love and mercy by The LORD.
Shabbat is an “ote hee l’olam” (everlasting sign) between The LORD and the children of Israel … a sign of the Everlasting Covenant, marked by blood, wherein G_D forged a nation from the children of Jacob … a peculiar people … a people set apart unto him for the specific purposes of ministering to him and leading the wayward nations of the Earth back to him. In this respect the Shabbat embodies the very special covenantal relationship between The LORD and the apple of his eye … Israel!
Beyond these three core concepts we should also see where:
Shabbat serves as a permanent memorial to the gift of the promised-land … Israel’s inheritance … and is therefore integral to the Everlasting Covenant;
Shabbat serves as a perpetual testimony to The LORD’s continual sustenance of Israel … week over week … month over month … year over year … generation over generation;
Shabbat is memorialized forever within the auspices of the Sacrificial System and the Mishkan;
Shabbat serves a critical function with respects to the “sanctification-separation-holiness” (kadosh) of Israel … Shabbat is a corner stone within the Torah;
Shabbat serves as a definitive demarcation line between the children of Israel and those that do not belong to the Kingdom … Shabbat then serves as a judgment!
And frankly speaking we could continue on … seemingly in perpetuity regarding all the things that Shabbat reveals! But let us for the time being consider the previous declarations regarding Shabbat to be sufficient for purposes of understanding the basics of The LORD’s Holy Shabbat.
So … we have just in very simple terms described the most basic Hebraic perspectives when it comes to Shabbat. No hard thinking, no confusing theology, plain and simple language … The G_D of all creation - the G_D of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob -The G_D of Israel has required the observance of Shabbat and with little effort we should see how Shabbat is an everlasting memorial to:
Creation;
Redemption;
The Eternal Covenant and promises made to Israel
Holiness (Torah, Sacrificial System, Mishkan)
Clearly the vastness and significance of Shabbat cannot be understated when viewed in a traditional Hebraic perspective. So most assuredly there can be no doubt as to why Shabbat is so very special … even more so when we consider the fact that it is The LORD who is doing all the lifting … choosing, creating, redeeming, promising, enabling, blessing, rebuking … everything! Shabbat undoubtedly stands as an eternal testament to the G_D of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
In viewing Shabbat we should see the permanent memorial of how The LORD blesses Israel! Please let this fundamental and traditional Hebraic view of Shabbat sink in for a moment and let us ask ourselves if this perspective alone is compelling enough to honor and observe Shabbat? Hmmm!
Most assuredly the non-Jewish reader should gain a heightened awareness and respect for Shabbat. Most assuredly the non-Jewish reader should gain a better understanding as to the importance of Shabbat to the Jewish people. Hopefully, with just what we’ve seen thus far, some badly needed focus and prominence to the 7th Day has been revealed!
Thus far we have taken a cursory view of Shabbat in a traditional Hebraic perspective. Now let us take a look at Shabbat in a Messianic Hebraic perspective … a perspective that is Yeshua HaMashiach (The Anointed One … the Christ) focused.
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