The Sabbath—Its Institution

Notes

1. On the Seventh Day God Ended His Work.—The Septuagint, Syriac, and the Samaritan versions read, "On the sixth day God ended His work which He had made; and He rested on the seventh day," "and this," says Adam Clarke, "should be considered the genuine reading." God's work of creation was complete at the close of the sixth day, when He pronounced it "very good." See Ex. 20:11.

2. Mark the three distinct acts or steps by which the Creator founded the Sabbath,—His rest, blessing, and sanctification. God does not do unnecessary things. His power is manifest toward us "in all wisdom and prudence" (Eph. 1:8), and, therefore, all these three things were necessary in instituting the Sabbath. In every step is a lesson and blessing for man.

3. The day on which God rested is the seventh day of the cycle of seven days, or of the week. See Matt. 28:1. It is solely through the appointment of the Sabbath that the week has come down to us. The year is marked by the apparent revolution of the heavenly bodies. The month is marked by the revolution of the moon. The day is marked by the apparent revolution of the sun around the earth, but the week rests wholly on what seems to man's unaided understanding to be God's arbitrary appointment of the Sabbath. It therefore demands faith on the part of man to accept it, while absolute want of faith, as did infidel France, rejects it.

4. God's blessing means something. He told Abraham, "I will bless thee, . . . and thou shalt be a blessing;" and this blessing extended to all the families of the earth. Gen. 12:2, 3. So God through Isaac blessed Jacob, and even though Isaac would order otherwise, His testimony concerning that blessing was, "Yea, and he shall be blessed." God's blessing always lifts the man who is blessed above all other men of the same class. It is just so as regards days. The seventh day was exalted above the other days of the week. It was blessed that it might be a blessing.

5. "Sanctify" comes from the Hebrew word qadesh, pronounced kawdash. It means to "separate," "set apart," or "appoint." Thus we read in Joshua 20:7 that there was "appointed" (margin, "sanctified") certain cities for cities of refuge. That is, these cities were separated from the other cities of Israel, and "appointed," or "set apart," to a certain use. In 2 Kings 10:20 we read, "Jehu said, Proclaim [literally, "sanctify," margin] a solemn assembly for Baal." Joel 1:14 reads, "Sanctify ye a fast, call a solemn assembly," etc. That is, "appoint," or "set apart," a fast. See also Ex. 19:12, 23. The sanctification of the seventh day, therefore, necessarily involved the separating of that day from others, the setting of it apart for a special use, and proclaiming that it should be so observed.

6. God sanctifies, or separates, a place or thing in the fullest sense when He puts within it His own presence or Spirit. He makes men holy by His indwelling presence. 1 Cor. 6:11, 19. He made Mount Sinai holy by coming down upon it. Ex. 19:10-12. See also Josh. 5:15; Ex. 3:5, 6. So God blessed the seventh day by placing within it, in a special sense above other days, His own presence. He who has Christ within, and understands His will, will recognize Christ's presence in the Sabbath.

7. God did not bless and sanctify the particular day on which He rested. It is not the dead past which is sacred to God. It was after the Creator had rested that He placed His blessing and sanctification upon the day. He therefore blessed and sanctified the seventh day of the weekly cycle for all time to come, "because that in it He had rested."

8. God created the earth for man. He set apart the seventh day as a memorial of that work, and, as creation pertained to the earth, and the earth was created for the entire race, so the Sabbath must have been made for the entire race. It would be incongruous and illogical to consider it otherwise.