Sabbath rest I (Exod 20:8-11)

Symbolic actions can be hugely significant. They can transform our attitudes, as in the case of my friend who had a difficult relationship with her mother. She wrote her a letter and put into it all her anger and frustration. She would never give those written words to her, but as she tore it up and let the pieces float down the river, she found release from past hurt. Some actions can also be constant reminders of truths we know. For instance, for years as a young Christian I wore a necklace with an inexpensive little white stone that reminded me of how God called me by name and knew me intimately like no one else (Rev 2:17). Or to use another example, in my family we had a special wave when saying goodnight, derived from an old joke that never failed to amuse us. Every time we waved, we recalled shared laughter and happy times. For Israel, practising rest on the Sabbath was a symbolic reminder of sharing God’s rest after creation.

While there is no precedent in the ancient Near East for such a rest day in a weekly rhythm, gods were thought to rest after they created order out of chaos, often as a result of conflict and fighting with each other. Divine rest did not mean idleness; rather it involved the maintenance and overseeing of order. Such rest was also facilitated by the fact that humans were created to take over hard labour from the gods.[1]

Israel operated in the cultural world of the region and shared some of its perceptions but with significant differences. Genesis 1-2 makes it clear that God, too, rested after creating an ordered universe. However, He did so by the power of His word without conflict (there are no other gods involved and no one resists His will). Significantly, humans were not created for toil, but for royal duties to reign as representatives of God (being His image) over creation (Gen 1:27-28). In other words, they shared the maintenance of divine order that God had created. Neither did they provide for God’s needs but were themselves provided for by Him (Gen 1:29). While Genesis is not explicit that humanity also shared God’s rest before the Fall, it is implied. Expelled from Eden, life would become toil and pain (Gen 3:16-19) and later Noah’s name (‘rest’) expressed the hope of humankind to find release from hard labour (Gen 5:29).

Israel now has the opportunity to experience God’s rest. They have been saved from oppressive and hard labour to serve God instead. Once they settle in the land, they will have rest from their enemies (Josh 21:43-44); the idea of rest after conflict re-emerges here. Rest will not mean inactivity but an upholding of God’s order through living lives that reflect His principles. In this way the land of Israel can become a new Eden, once lost and now found again. This is what the weekly Sabbath points to: a time set aside (i.e. holy) when work signalling toil can stop. It is a practice that all participate in (Gen 20:10), irrespective of gender (male-female), social standing (slaves too) or citizenship (‘sojourners’, i.e. resident non-Israelites included). Even animals are given rest as if to say that creation itself can cease toiling. While the Sabbath command focuses on creation as motivation, its repetition in Deuteronomy emphasises redemption from slavery (Deut 5:15) and we can see how deeply connected the two are.

Once again, we see reflected in all this God’s amazing generosity. Some people in authority have a knack of passing unpleasant tasks onto their subordinates, but our God is not like that. He does not offload toil onto us, like the pagan gods, but shares with us the benefits of the world He created. The rest He calls us into is not idleness, but it is activity that is meant to spark delight and joy. Neither does God leave us in that state of toil once sin enters the world but works toward our renewal in the redemption He brings.  

For anyone who missed it, I have also reflected earlier on the manna and the Sabbath in this post.

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[1] This summary of ancient Near Eastern understandings is derived from John H. Walton, Ancient Near Eastern Thought and the Old Testament (Nottingham: Apollos, 2007), 157-58.

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