Objection 22: The Sabbath is Jewish. It was given only to the Jews and was part of the old covenant that was made only with the Jews. Further, Deuteronomy 5:15 states explicitly that God commanded the Jews to keep the Sabbath as a memorial of their deliverance from Egypt. Therefore it has no meaning for us who are Gentile Christians.
This reasoning goes over much the same ground covered by the claim that the law given at Sinai was intended only for the Jews. See, objection 4, where we discuss that the whole Bible was written by Jews, much of it directly addressed to Jews, that both old and new covenants were made with the “house of Israel,” and that Christ Himself declared that “salvation is of the Jews.”
Yet all Protestantism turns to the Bible, both the Old and the New Testament, for spiritual guidance. We all claim a right to the new covenant relationship, and we all preach that the salvation which Christ said is of the Jews is for every man in every land.
The Westminster Confession, which is the clearest expression of the Protestant view on the sacredness of a weekly rest day, declares that the Sabbath “from the beginning of the world till the resurrection of Christ, was the last day of the week.” That is a period of at least four thousand years. Yet for the first half of this long period there were no Jews.
Did the seventh day of the week suddenly acquire a different character and quality at Sinai as God was leading His chosen people from Egypt to the Promised Land? Someone may venture to say yes, and to support his answer by reference to those Old Testament declarations that the Sabbath was a distinguishing mark and a sign between God and the children of Israel.
But if this answer proves anything, it proves too much, for the very same Old Testament records which thus describe the Sabbath reveal to us also that God describes Himself as being in a very peculiar and distinctive way the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Why should not the Lord enjoin the Sabbath of the Lord upon these faithful followers of God?
The reason that the observance was confined to the Jews in the last part of that long period before Christ was that no other people on the face of the earth were true followers of God. They were pagans and heathen. Of course the Sabbath was closely associated with the Jews during the time of their national history; and as we have noted, so was everything else that God revealed regarding his will, including all the prophets of God and all the writings that make up the Holy Bible.
“But,” someone may reply, “The Bible does not say anywhere that the Savior and salvation were to be confined to the Jews.” This is true, but neither was the Sabbath to be confined to the Jews. To the contrary, we have very specific declarations of Scripture to show that the Sabbath was intended of God to have a worldwide application. Let us enumerate a few of these:
1. The Sabbath commandment itself specifically declares that not only were the Jews to rest but also the stranger that was within their gates. (Ex. 20:10) The strangers were those not of the family of Israel; they might belong to any other race or people or nation.
2. Christ declared that the Sabbath was made for man. Mark 2:27. He did not say “for the Jews,” but for man, and there is no justification for confining the meaning to less than all of mankind. If we thus confine the word, we will soon come into great difficulty. For example, we read that Christ is “the true light, which lights every man that comes into the world.” John 1:9. Did Christ bring light only to such men as are Jews? Furthermore, the Sabbath was given so that men might have the blessing of rest and the worship of their Creator. Why should God desire that only a small fraction of His created beings—for the Jews have ever been but a very small part of the world's population—should partake of the happiness of rest and worship?
3. How could the Sabbath have been given only to the Jews, when it was made at creation, which was long before the days of Abraham, father of the Jewish race? (Gen. 2:2-3).
4. The prophet Isaiah, speaking of the closing days of earth's history, when God's “salvation is near to come” (Isa. 56:1-2) talks of the blessing that will come upon “the sons of the foreigner” that is, the gentile, who “keeps the Sabbath.” (Isa. 56:6-8)
5. Finally, in the new earth, where there will be people of every race and nation, the Sabbath will be kept. (Isa. 66:22-23)
Now what of Deuteronomy 5:15, which is said to prove that the Sabbath was given only to the Jews? The text reads as follows:
Remember that thou was a servant in the land of Egypt, and that the Lord thy God brought thee out thence through a mighty hand and by a stretched-out arm: therefore the Lord thy God commanded thee to keep the Sabbath day.
Note that “deuteronomy” means “second law,” or the second recitation of the laws. Deuteronomy is a reminder, with appropriate comments, of the great event that had taken place at Mt. Sinai forty years before, when God spoke the Ten Commandments. That Moses was not attempting to repeat verbatim the commandments is shown by verse 12, where he says “Keep the Sabbath day to sanctify it, as the Lord thy God hath commanded thee.” As the Lord thy God commanded you at Sinai, that is, both orally and by His writing on the tables of stone.
This recital of the commandments in Deuteronomy cannot be taken as a substitute for the form found in Exodus 20. In Exodus we find the record of the commands as God spoke them, to which Moses specifically referred Israel when he urged them, “Keep the Sabbath day to sanctify it, as the Lord thy God bath commanded thee.” Whatever reasons or appeals are presented by Moses must be considered as additional to, and not as a substitute for, the reasons given by God when He originally spoke the commandments.
God declared that the seventh day is the Sabbath on which all should rest, because “in six days the Lord made heaven and earth,... and rested the seventh day. Wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it.” Ex. 20:11.
Let us look again at the context of Deuteronomy 5. Moses proceeds with his paraphrase of the Sabbath command, and closes the fourteenth verse—which describes how servants as well as masters were to rest—by adding: “That thy manservant and thy maidservant may rest as well as thou.” Then follows immediately verse 15, which reminds the Israelites of how they were servants in Egypt:
“. . . nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your ox, nor your donkey, nor any of your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates, that your male servant and your female servant may rest as well as you. And remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt . . .”
The natural way to read the passage is not that Moses was telling the Jews to keep the Sabbath only because they had been servants in Egypt, but that Moses foresaw that, in more prosperous future times, the Jews would be tempted to make their own servants work on the Sabbath, and he wanted to add a pointed rationale as to why they should not do that: “Don’t make your slaves work on Sabbath; remember that you were slaves in Egypt and God delivered you from bondage.”
This is the natural interpretation of the passage. It becomes the inevitable interpretation when certain parallel passages are quoted. A little further on Moses gives instruction as to the treatment of a servant, and how, after he had served six years, he should be released in the seventh and sent away with liberal provisions from the flocks and herds of the master. (Deut. 15:12-14) “And,” added Moses, “thou shall remember that thou was a bondman in the land of Egypt, and the Lord thy God redeemed thee: therefore I command thee this thing to day.” Deut. 15:15.
Shall we conclude that liberality toward servants is a command originating at the Exodus; hence, it applies only to the Jews, and all others may deal harshly with their servants without incurring God's displeasure? The Scriptures, with one voice, obliterate any such notion. (Col. 4:1; James 5:1-6; Deut. 24:14-15; Lev. 19:13; Jer. 22:13; Mal. 3:5; Eph. 6:5-9; Col. 3:22-25) Yes, as people freed from bondage, the Jews had an extra reason to be kind to their own servants, but the underlying obligation is universal.
Again, let us read a more detailed command:
“You shall do no injustice in judgment, in measurement of length, weight, or volume. You shall have honest scales, honest weights, an honest ephah, and an honest hin: I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt. I am the Lord your God, which brought you out of the land of Egypt. Therefore shall you observe all my statutes, and all my judgments, and do them: I am the Lord." Lev. 19:35-37.
Shall we take this verse and argue that the command to deal justly in the various affairs of life originated with the Exodus, that previous to that a man might defraud his neighbor with impunity, and that only Jews are required by God to refrain from shortchanging anyone?
Or take this further statement: "I am the Lord that brings you up out of the land of Egypt, to be your God: you shall therefore be holy, for I am holy." Lev. 11:45. Are we to conclude that the command to be holy is only for the Jews who were freed from bondage? We believe that even the most vigorous opponent of the Sabbath would hesitate to endorse such an idea. But if both holiness and Sabbath keeping are enjoined upon the Jews in part because they were delivered from bondage in Egypt, and we agree that holiness remains the Lord’s command, we surely cannot use Egypt as an excuse for violating the Sabbath.
In the light of these passages, and others that might be given, how evident it is that the fact of their Egyptian bondage, when they were treated unkindly and unjustly, was cited by Moses simply as an added reason why they, now that the Lord had graciously delivered them from such conditions, should deal justly and lovingly with others, especially including their own servants. The law of just dealings with others, especially with those of vulnerable status, has been binding on men from the beginning of the world. But it took on added force and obligation when applied to those who had been so lately compelled to work as slaves in Egypt.
Instead of weakening the Sabbath command, Deuteronomy 5:15 simply serves to show how exceedingly broad and important is the command, and how God intended the Sabbath to prove a source of refreshment and blessing even to servants.