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Exodus 20:8–11
“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy” (v. 8).
As we continue our study of the Ten Commandments, let us note that these laws address the most fundamental aspects of human life. For instance, the fifth and seventh commandments provide essential guidance for family life by preserving marriage and parental authority (Ex. 20:12, 14). The eighth commandment, by outlawing theft, provides a key regulation of the economic sphere of our existence (Ex. 20:15). The first, second, and third commandments all have import for religious life (Ex. 20:3–7). In the ninth commandment, we find essential guidance for maintaining all relationships by promoting truth, and the tenth commandment calls us to keep our thoughts and desires under control when it prohibits covetousness (Ex. 20:16–17). The sixth commandment helps keep life itself going by establishing structures for protecting innocent lives from harm (Ex. 20:13). Today’s passage shows us that even time itself is a concern of God’s law.
We are talking, of course, about the fourth commandment, which we find in Exodus 20:8–11. God, in these verses, commands His people to remember the Sabbath and to hallow it by refraining from ordinary labor on the seventh and final day of the week. The reason for this is highlighted in verse 11, which points to our keeping the Sabbath as part of our imitation of God. Just as the Lord, in His work of creation, labored for six days and rested on one, we are to do the same (see Gen. 1:1–2:3). Thus, as one commentator has noted, we are directed to pattern our time after God’s model. In so doing, we are implicitly directed to orient all that we do according to our Creator’s own rhythms and to set apart a portion of our time—one day in seven—for a special remembrance of the Lord and for particular devotion to Him. Worship on the Sabbath, then, is part of the fourth commandment, as also indicated in the close association with the Sabbath and the corporate praise of God’s people that we see in texts such as Leviticus 23.
In Exodus 20:8–11, the Sabbath is closely associated with divine rest, and thus our need to rest on the Sabbath is emphasized. When the Lord repeats the commandment in Deuteronomy 5:12–15, He refers to rest as well as His rescue of Israel from slavery in Egypt. This connects the Sabbath with redemption. It is no wonder, then, that with the coming of the new covenant, believers began celebrating the Sabbath on the first day of the week instead of the seventh day, for Christ rose from the dead on the first day of the week for our justification and thus our salvation (Matt. 28:1–10; Rom. 4:25).
Coram Deo Living before the face of God
Christians disagree on the exact way that we are to observe the Sabbath, better known under the new covenant as the Lord’s Day. Yet there is general agreement among believers from most theological traditions that we are to set apart Sunday as the day of corporate worship. Without regular attendance at Sunday worship, we will be ill-equipped to serve God the rest of the week.
For Further Study
- Isaiah 56:1–2
- Ezekiel 20:19–20
- Acts 20:7
- Hebrews 10