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NASB | Exodus 20:8 ¶ "Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | Exodus 20:8 ¶ "Remember the Sabbath (seventh) day to keep it holy (set apart, dedicated to God). |
Subject: Sunday Sabbath or not? |
Bible Note: Here is an excerpt that may be helpful, and you are right Sabbath means rest but was translated a few times in the KJV as celebrate as in keep or observe. Not more common meaning to celebrate like in party. Please pay particular attention to fourth of what the article terms motive or reason for observing the Sabbath. It may give a clear insight to Jesus' fulfillment of the Sabbath. More important than the origin of the Sabbath is what we may call Sabbath theology. What is its religious significance and for what reason(s) was its observance invoked? Something of the importance of this institution can be gauged by observing that of the ten commandments the fourth commandment is treated more extensively than any of the others. Perhaps the best procedure will be to observe the motives for observance attached to the Sabbath, a command which may be stated positively: "Six days you shall work but on the seventh you shall rest" (Exodus 23:12; Exodus 31:15), or negatively: "You shall not work on the Sabbath" (Exodus 20:10). In the first place Exodus 20:8ff. connects observance of the Sabbath with the fact that God himself rested on the seventh day after six days of work (Genesis 2:2-3). Everything God made, as recorded in Genesis, he called good. Only the Sabbath, however, he sanctified, indicating perhaps that the climax of creation was not the creation of man, as is often stated, but the day of rest, the seventh day. The Sabbath is thus an invitation to rejoice in God's creation, and recognize God's sovereignty over our time. Secondly, we observe in Deut. 5:15 that a different reason is given for observing the Sabbath. "You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and Yahweh your God brought you out with a mighty hand ... ; therefore, Yahweh your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day." Exodus then connects the Sabbath with creation described in Genesis and Deuteronomy connects the Sabbath with deliverance from Egypt described in Exodus. Thus every Sabbath, Israel is to remember that God is an emancipator, a liberator. The early Christians were on target, it seems, when they connected the day of rest with the remembrance of Christ's resurrection. He is the one who gives freedom. Actually there is no real conflict between Deuteronomy and Exodus at this point. Whereas Deuteronomy has in view the people of the Covenant, the Exodus verses place the emphasis on the God of the covenant (AI, p. 481). Thirdly, the Sabbath is a social or humanitarian ordinance which affords dependent laborers a day of rest: Exodus 20:10; Deut. 5:14-15 and Exodus 23:12, "That your ox and your ass may have rest, and the son of your bondmaid, and the alien may be refreshed." Here then this commandment takes a step in the direction of making all men equal before God. As the Sabbath recalls the liberation from Egypt so it in turn must become an agent of freedom by setting the dependents in society free (see Andreasen, in bibliography). Is it possible to connect this with the fact that in 1 Cor. 16:2 it is recorded that on the first day of the week there is a collection of money for the poor in Jerusalem? Fourthly, the Sabbath is a sign of the covenant and in this way the Sabbath reaches into the future. The Sabbath now joins the signs of the rainbow and circumcision. The pertinent texts are Exodus 31:13, 17 and Ezekiel 20:12, 20. This accounts for the reason that the penalty for profaning the Sabbath is death (Exodus 31:14; Numbers 15:32-36; Jeremiah 17:19-27). As long as Israel observes the Sabbath she affirms her loyalty to Yahweh and guarantees his saving presence. For the Christian believer these promises are fulfilled in a person, Christ. Through him we enter into God's own rest (Hebrews 4:1-11). shabbaton. Sabbath observance. In addition to designating the Sabbath (Exodus 16:23), this word may apply to the day of atonement (Leviticus 16:31; Leviticus 23:32); the feast of trumpets (Leviticus 23:24); and the first and eighth days of tabernacles (Leviticus 23:39). The ending on is characteristic of abstract nouns in Hebrew such as zikkdaron "remembrance." Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament. |