Work and the Sabbath

Work and the Sabbath.

“Then God looked over all He had made, and He saw that it was very good! And evening passed and morning came, marking the sixth day. So the creation of the heavens and the earth and everything in them was completed. On the seventh day God had finished His work of creation so He stopped working. God rested on the seventh day from all His work. And God blessed the seventh day and declared it holy, because it was the day when He rested from all His work on creation.” (Genesis 1:31-2:3).

Sabbath literally means “stop” or “cease.” The original Hebrew word is shabbath or shavat, and has been taken to mean ”he rested” down through the centuries. There are many reasons the sabbath has remained the signature day in Judaism for so long. Sabbath day is the heartbeat of the Jewish week. Back in the day of Moses and the Law, profaning the Sabbath day resulted in the death penalty (Ex. 31:14, 35:2). That’s as serious as it gets. Keeping the Sabbath day each week is commanded by the Lord, so observing it is a matter of obedience. But of course, God has His reasons for highlighting its importance. For one thing, by working during the week we are participating in God’s sustaining of the earth. And so observing the Sabbath is actually God’s way of asking us to participate in His rest.  Observing the Sabbath affirms God as Creator and Sustainer; it is a reflection of our obedience to the Covenant; it is an opportunity for us to prove our trust in Him, our dependence upon God to do the heavy work; it established the seven-day week, the rhythm of daily and weekly life as established at creation; it reminds Judeo-Christians of God’s compassionate deliverance from slavery in Egypt, where there was no day of rest (Deut.5:12-15); it is a sign of holiness that unites all believers, and a religious distinctive that is not shared by nonbelievers; it is a shared experience of the Chosen People around the world and through time; it is the Great Equalizer, and makes it possible for believers to unite in spirit regardless of status, location, or socioeconomic level.

“Remember to observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. You have six days each week for your ordinary work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath day of rest dedicated to Lord Yahweh your God. On the seventh day, God rested, and that is why the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and set it apart as holy.” (Exodus 20:8-11).

Sabbath Rest – (We Set Our Work Aside) Netherlands – YouTube

Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel composed one of the classic books on the Sabbath, entitled simply, The Sabbath. The only way to do the book justice is to quote from it, not merely refer to it. He is a giant among Jewish thinkers, a rabbi embraced by many a Christian. Here are a few of his thoughts regarding Sabbath day:

1. The Sabbath day was the first holy object in the history of the world;
2. The meaning of the Sabbath is to celebrate time;
3. The weekdays are for the sake of the Sabbath;
4. The Sabbath is a palace in time which we build;
5. The Sabbath is eternity in disguise, a day the likeness of God can be found;
6. The Sabbath is a window in eternity that opens into time;
7. The Sabbath glides into our thoughts with a healing sympathy after the strange, frightful powers of time over us during the week;
8. The Sabbath is not a date, but an atmosphere, a state of mind, an awareness of our being within the Sabbath rather than of the Sabbath being within us.
9. The Sabbath is no time for any activity that might dampen the spirit of joy. It is a sin to be sad on the Sabbath day;
10. The Sabbath is like a bride, and we celebrate it like a wedding;
11. The Sabbath is when all that is divine in the world is brought into union with God.
12. The Sabbath possesses a holiness like that of the world to come, an opportunity to raise the good to the level of the holy;
13. Judaism tries to foster the vision of life as a pilgrimage to the Seventh day;
14. Time is God’s gift to the world of space;
15. Creation is the language of God, and time is His song;
16. This is the task of mankind: to conquer space and to sanctify time.

The Sabbath In Gospel Song – YouTube

Working in the Sabbath Mood:

“Whatever is foreseen in joy

Must be lived out from day to day.

Vision held open in the dark

By our ten thousand days of work.

Harvest will fill the barn; for that

The hand must ache, the face must sweat.

And yet no leaf or grain is filled

By work of ours; the field is tilled

And left to grace. That we may reap,

Great work is done while we’re asleep.

When we work well, a Sabbath mood

Rests on our day, and finds it good.”

(a poem by Wendell Berry, Sabbaths)

“Thus the heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array. By the 7th day God had finished the work He had been doing. So on the 7th day He rested from all His work. And God blessed the 7th day and made it holy (set apart from the other days, sacred), because on it He rested from all the work of creating that He had done.” (Genesis 2:1-3).

Random Thoughts on Work and the Sabbath:

(1.) The ancient rabbis believed that there was indeed an act of creation on the 7th day, that the universe was not complete after God’s work. On the 7th day, God completed the universe by creating rest, sanctifying that day as holy and set apart unto the Lord. The world was created in 6 days, say rabbinic sources, but its survival depends upon the holiness of the 7th day.

(2.) “God created the 7th day, not because He was tired, but because He was satisfied. He knew that creation was very good, complete, so He rested with satisfaction.” (Howard and Rosenthal).

(3.) Refer to the passages outlining the Ten Commandments in Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5. Especially note that we are to “remember” (Ex. 20:8), “keep” (Lev. 19:3), “observe” (Deut. 5:12), and “sanctify” (Jer. 17:22) the Sabbath. The Sabbath (Hebrew word, Shabbat) is sacred time and to be kept set apart from all the other days of the week.

(4.) Regarding the Sabbath commandment in Deut. 5:12… “The reason given here for Sabbath keeping differs from that in Exodus. In Exodus we’re told to keep the Sabbath because God kept it. Since He rested on the seventh day, we should also rest on that day, getting back in step with the creation rhythms of work and rest. In Deuteronomy, however, we’re told that keeping Sabbath is a matter of simple justice: it prevents the stronger from exploiting the weaker, whether parents over children or employers over employees. Each of us is given a day to recover the simple dignity of being ourselves in the community without regard to function or status. Even animals are included. Community cannot flourish without Sabbath. The moment we begin to see others in terms of what they can do rather than who they are, we desecrate humanity and demean community.” (Eugene Peterson).

(5.) “A thought has blown the market place away. There is a song in the wind and joy in the trees. The Sabbath arrives in the world, scattering a song in the silence of the night: Eternity utters a day.” (A. J. Heschel, The Sabbath – all other references to Rabbi Heschel is from this amazing book).

(6.) “Six days a week we live under the tyranny of things of space. On the Sabbath we try to become attuned to holiness in time. It is a day on which we are called upon to share in what is eternal in time, to turn from the result of creation to the mystery of creation, from the world of creation to the creation of the world. The Sabbath is the most precious gift mankind has received from the treasure house of God.” (A. J. Heschel).

(7.) Excerpts from Psalm 92. Ancient Jewish tradition declares that Adam composed this psalm on the first Sabbath after creation. And so Psalm 92 was sung as part of the Temple worship liturgy every Sabbath day. It has been included in Sabbath liturgy in Judaism ever since… “A psalm. A Song for the Sabbath day. It is good to give thanks to the Lord, and to sing Your name, O Most High, to proclaim Your mercy in the morning and Your faithfulness in the night. For You made me rejoice, O Lord, through Your work; of the work of Your hands I sing with gladness. How magnificent are Your works, O Lord! Your thoughts are exceedingly deep. You are on high forever, O Lord!” 

Psalm 92 (LIVE Hebrew Worship) – Shilo Ben Hod

(8.) The eternal aspect of Sabbath has been described by many authors in various ways: A taste of the world to come; a window to eternity; a rehearsal for the end of time; possessing a holiness like that in the world to come; Sabbath and eternity are of the same essence; to observe Sabbath is to celebrate the coronation of a day in the spiritual wonderland of time; a picture of eternity; a taste of heaven on earth.

(9.) “All our life should be a pilgrimage to the 7th Day. The thoughts and appreciation of what this day may bring to us should be ever present in our minds. Our lives are a Sabbath day’s walk. The Sabbath is the Day of days. The Sabbath is not for the sake of the weekdays; the weekdays are for the sake of the Sabbath. Sabbath is last in creation and first in intention. What we are depends on what the Sabbath is to us.” (A. J. Heschel).

(10.) “Sabbath creates a space within our lives to be truly free… from restlessness, from burnout, from the pressures of work and bosses; freedom from production, from consumer society, from constant availability. Sabbath is a time dedicated to, not what is urgent, but what is important.” (Jonathon Sacks).

(11.) “Sabbath implies that time has an ethical dimension. We rest in order to honor God and His creation, which suggests that not to rest dishonors both. So must we say that the speeding up of everything is not only psychologically harmful but also morally wrong?” (Judith Shulevitz).

(12.) “The Sabbath is spirit in the form of time. There are few ideas in the world of thought which contains so much spiritual power as the idea of the Sabbath. The Sabbath is holy by the grace of God. The Sabbath is a palace in time with a kingdom for all. Sabbath is the true happiness of the universe.”  (A. J. Heschel).

(13.) “Sabbath is the day on which we learn the art of surpassing civilization. How proud we often are of the multitudes of instruments we have succeeded in inventing, of the abundance of commodities we have been able to produce. Yet our victories have come to resemble defeats. In spite of our triumphs, we have fallen victims to the works of our hands. It is as if the forces we had conquered have conquered us.” (A. J. Heschel).

(14.) “The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath.” (Jesus, Mark 2:27).  In other words, the Sabbath was made for the sake of the people, and not people for the sake of Sabbath. The Sabbath was made to serve us, we weren’t made to serve the Sabbath. The Sabbath was made to meet the needs of people, and not people to meet the requirements of the Sabbath. An old rabbinic saying is, “Shabbat is committed into your hands, not you into its hands.”

(15.) “As an observant Jew, Jesus loved the Sabbath. Nowhere did He teach that Sabbath was to be broken. He encouraged the people to have biblical balance, to bypass only those rules that were the traditions of the religious folk and not of God. Jesus affirmed the keeping of the Sabbath. He desired that His people get past the traditions that had obscured the true meaning of Sabbath. Jesus wanted them to experience the blessing of rest, the remembrance of the Creation, the reflection of the covenant God had made with Israel, and the realization that Sabbath was a picture of eternity. The Sabbath is the queen of all the holy days.” (David Stern).

(16.) Jesus Christ is the Lord of the Sabbath (Mark 2:27). He co-created the 7th Day rest. He was not afraid to be picky when it came to many of the pointless sabbath rules that were in place during His time. He loved doing works of mercy on the Sabbath, especially in His healings. As the Lord of the sabbath, we find our Sabbath rest in Him. He invites all of us to find our rest in Himself. “Come to me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” (Matt. 11:28-29).

Why keep the Sabbath and celebrate it now, when we know that Jesus is our rest?

• Because it is healthy in every way to establish a day each week in which there is no “business as usual;”
• Because a Sabbath rest now prepares us for the eternal Sabbath rest later;
• Because the ceremony celebrates God the Creator and delights in His Creation;
• Because the ceremony reminds us of God’s love for us as His creatures;
• Because one day a week it is good to be reminded that we are not slaves to Pharaoh and servants to our work;
• Because God commanded it often in Scripture, and it’s a matter of obedience;
• Because the sabbath idea needs to be a central part of every individual’s and family’s lifestyle;
• Because once a week we can stop everything and be reminded of our rest in Christ and our destiny in heaven;
• Because it helps establish a pattern in our spirit of the rhythm of creation… work and rest;
• Because it weaves peace and tranquility into the other days of the week, days in which we can work “in a Sabbath mood.”
• Because to celebrate biblical truth at home in an experiential way will go far in Christian discipleship of the children.
• Because, and this is significant, God told Isaiah (58:13-14) that if believers find their delight in the Sabbath, then most likely they will then find delight in the Lord Himself. Then the contrary must be true… if they don’t delight in the Sabbath, then they will have a difficult time delighting in the Lord. As if to confirm this passage, Bible historians have stated that whenever the Sabbath was ignored or profaned in Israel, there soon followed spiritual decline and a withdrawal of God’s blessing.

With all apologies to the rabbis where I first heard this, to paraphrase an old rabbinic saying… “More than the Christians keep the Sabbath, the Sabbath has kept the Christians.”

a Jewish prayer with oldest biblical wind instrument, shofar – Yamma Ensemble ממקומך קרליבך