Fourth Commandment: The Sabbath Day
Text – Exodus 20:8–11
Hebrew:
זכור את־יום השׁבת לקדשׁו׃
שׁשׁת ימים תעבד ועשׂית כל־מלאכתך׃
ויום השׁביעי שׁבת ליהוה אלהיך לא־תעשׂה כל־מלאכה אתה ובנך־ובתך עבדך ואמתך ובהמתך וגרך אשׁר בשׁעריך׃
כי שׁשׁת־ימים עשׂה יהוה את־השׁמים ואת־הארץ את־הים ואת־כל־אשׁר־בם וינח ביום השׁביעי על־כן ברך יהוה את־יום השׁבת ויקדשׁהו׃
Literal translation:
Remember the Sabbath day, to keep
it holy.
Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath
to the LORD your God. In it you shall not do any work, you, nor your son, nor
your daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your livestock, nor the
stranger who is within your gates. For in six days the LORD made heaven and
earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day.
Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.
Literal and grammatical analysis
·
God אֶת־יוֹם הַשַּׁבָּת (Zachor et-yom
haShabbat):
"Remember the Sabbath day" – Zachor not
only means "to mentally remember," but also to preserve,
commemorate, celebrate .
– It does not refer to remembering that it exists, but to act so that it
is not forgotten .
·
לְקַדְּשׁוֹ (leqadsho):
"to sanctify it" = to separate it, to make it different. – It is a
day dedicated to the sacred , not simply free from work.
·
שֵׁשֶׁת God ... God הַשְּׁבִיעִי ... לֹא תַעֲשֶׂה כָּל־מְלָאכָה :
"Six days you shall labor... but on the seventh day... you shall do no
work" – The verb "melacha" implies productive,
laborious, creative work, not basic daily activities such
as walking or eating.
– It includes the entire family, servants, animals, and foreigners. It is a day
of equality and universal rest.
·
God שֵׁשֶׁת יָמִים עָשָׂה יְהוָה ... וַיָּנַח ... וַיְקַדְּשֵׁהוּ :
"For in six days YHVH made... and rested... and sanctified it" – The
foundation of the commandment is in creation itself .
– VaYanaj
= rested, ceased his work; not out of tiredness, but as a divine model
for the human being.
– VaYqaddeshehu
= declared it sacred, set it apart for a holy purpose.
Literal sense
This
commandment has a very clear structure:
1.
Positive command: Remember
and sanctify.
2.
Negative command: You
shall do no work.
3.
Foundation: Because God created and rested.
It
is not just a law of physical rest, but a day dedicated to
God , which proclaims:
·
That He is the sovereign Creator.
·
That his work is complete and good.
·
That human beings should imitate him in
rest, reverence and contemplation.
Spiritual and symbolic interpretation
·
Shabbat as a sign of the covenant
– Cf. Exodus 31:13,17: "It is a sign between me and you forever." –
It is a mark of identity between God and Israel. – It is a day that says: "I belong to
the God who created all things and sanctifies me.
"
·
An Anticipated Kingdom Rest
– Hebrews 4:9-11 speaks of a spiritual “rest” for God’s people. – The earthly
Shabbat is a prophetic foreshadowing of the eternal rest in
God’s Kingdom.
·
Jesus Christ and the Sabbath
– Jesus said, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath” (Mark
2:27). He did not abolish the Sabbath, but restored it to
its original purpose: a day of doing good, healing, and glorifying the
Father.
Jesus presents himself as “Lord of the Sabbath,” not to eliminate it, but to
teach it in its fullness.
易
Modern application
·
This commandment has been debated among Jews,
Christians, and Sabbath-keeping groups.
Some churches have moved it to Sunday, based on the supposed resurrection of
Jesus Christ on that day.
Others continue to keep it on the seventh day (Saturday), as it is written. The
truth is that the need for rest, sanctification, and time with God
remains.
·
True sanctification of Shabbat today involves:
– Setting aside exclusive time for God.– Resting not only physically, but
spiritually.– Remembering that we are not slaves to work or the system, but children of God,
redeemed and free.
GOING DEEPER
Many scholars of Hebrew roots and Sabbath-keeping
groups have maintained over time that the Sabbath is a sign (mark) that
identifies the faithful people, while the observance of Sunday in
place of the seventh day can be seen as a mark of the
opposing religious system, that of the “beast” described
in Revelation.
Let's
look at this step by step:
1. Shabbat is explicitly called a “sign” and “mark”
Exodus
31:13
“You
shall surely keep my Sabbaths, for it is a sign between
me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I am YHVH who
sanctifies you.”
Ezekiel
20:12
“And I gave them my Sabbaths also,
to be a sign between me and them, that they might know that I am
YHVH who sanctifies them.”
In Hebrew, the word used for “sign” is אוֹת ( ot ) , which
can also be translated as mark, distinctive, visible or identifying sign.
So,
according to the Torah, Shabbat:
·
Identify the people of God.
·
Distinguishes those who are sanctified by Him.
·
It marks an obedience not only external (not
working), but internal (understanding and accepting its purpose).
✋易
2. Hand and forehead: action and mind
Deuteronomy
6:8 (about the commandments)
“And you shall bind them as a sign upon your
hand , and they shall be as frontlets between
your eyes .”
This idea also appears in Exodus 13:9–16. It refers to
God's commandments as being:
·
Be in hand → our actions and works.
·
Being in the front → our understanding,
thinking, faith.
This
fits perfectly with :
“We bear that
mark on our hands for not working that day and on our foreheads for
understanding why we don’t work.” RC
In other words, true Shabbat observance is a
spiritual and visible mark, because it manifests itself both
in act and in intention and consciousness.
3. Mark of the Beast: A Counterfeit of God's Seal?
Revelation
13:16–17
“And he
caused all... to receive a mark on their right hand or on their foreheads , so
that no one could buy or sell except one who had the mark...”
Revelation
14:9
“If
anyone worships the beast and his image and receives his mark on his forehead
or on his hand...”
Revelation
14:12 (right after)
“Here is the patience of the
saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.”
Many
see a direct opposition here:
·
God's mark: keeping his commandments
(including Shabbat).
·
The mark of the beast:
obeying a false religious authority that changes the commandments (cf. Daniel
7:25: “he will think to change times and laws”).
The observance of Sunday instead
of the seventh day (Shabbat), imposed by human authority,
becomes a visible sign of institutionalized disobedience if it
is accepted as “the day of the Lord” without a biblical basis.
Summary of this approach, with biblical support
|
Element |
Mark of God |
Mark of the Beast |
|
Sabbath day |
Shabbat (Saturday,
seventh day) |
Sunday (first day of
the week) |
|
Hand (action) |
Do not work on
Shabbat |
Do not work on
Sundays |
|
Front (belief, mind) |
Understanding and
accepting Shabbat as a sign |
Believing that
Sunday is a sacred day |
|
Source of authority |
God's Commandment
(Exodus 20:8-11) |
Human tradition
(Daniel 7:25) |
|
Spiritual identity |
People sanctified by
God |
Apostate religious
system |
Final reflection
This interpretation is deeply consistent
with the biblical logic of the seal of God and the
conflict between obedience to the Creator and loyalty to human
systems. It's not just a question of days, but of authority,
faithfulness, and sanctification.
Anyone
who keeps the Sabbath out of conviction bears the mark of YHVH. .
Anyone who accepts a change in law without a biblical basis risks receiving
the mark of the beast.
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