The Sabbath Before Sinai

Introduction: The Necessity of Comprehensive Sabbath Study

0:07 The following message was preached Sunday, May 24, 1998, to Emanuel Reform Baptist Church of Sea-Tac, Washington. The speaker is Pastor Robert Martin. This message is the third in a series of 24 titled, The Christian Sabbath. Last Lord's Day and fulfillment of a promise made some months ago, and in response to interest expressed by a number of you, we have begun a very brief series on the subject of the Christian Sabbath.

0:42 And in this series, we are seeking to answer a very simple question, and that is, what does God require of us under the new covenant established by our Lord Jesus Christ?

0:59 In other words, is there a Christian Sabbath? Not just a Sabbath pertaining to old covenant Israel living under the Mosaic law, but is there a Christian Sabbath that we, under the new covenant, ought to observe as a matter of conscience before God?

1:21 As I have thought this week about the nature of this series and how that I am trying to approach it, I have already acknowledged to you last week that in these earlier sessions, or the early sessions of this series, that there is much by way of simple exposition. There is not going to be much by way of application, there is a sense in which I am waiting to the end to bring all the application to bear at one time, to draw threads from all that we have seen, so that we might have a comprehensive sense of what the Scripture is teaching us on this subject. But as I thought this week that perhaps some might have the attitude, well there goes Pastor Martin again, he is going to beat the thing thin,

2:06 he is going to try to unturn every rock or overturn every rock and look at every text, I want to plead my case before you for the necessity of taking what I believe or I hope will be a very comprehensive approach. And as I was reading this week, I came across a statement by the Puritan author John Owen, where Owen, in opening up a very lengthy treatise on the subject of the Sabbath, he makes the comment that he is going to cast his might into the sanctuary. A very small pittance on the subject of the Sabbath, and then proceeds to write about 300 pages on the subject. But in opening, in the introduction to that,

2:51 I want you to consider what he says by way of defense of the approach that he takes.

2:58 He says, In our determinations, that is, in the conclusions that we come to, are the consciences of the disciples of Christ greatly concerned,

3:11 which ought not by us to be causelessly burdened, nor by us to be burdened by the disciples of Christ greatly concerned, nor by us to be burdened by the disciples of Christ greatly concerned, nor yet countenanced in the neglect of any duty which God doth require.

3:23 He is saying that in the subject of the Sabbath that is before us, that it is a matter we frame the question as a question of conscience. Ought we for conscience sake be obliged to keep a day holy to the Lord? And Owen says, On the one hand, we do not want to causelessly burden men's consciences. And yet on the other hand, we do not want to, whom approve of the neglect of any duty that indeed God doth require.

3:56 He goes on to say that slight, that is, very shallow and perfunctory dispositions, that is, very shallow consideration of the material at hand. He says, This will be of little use in this matter, nor are men to think that their opinions are firm and established when they have obtained a seeming countenance unto them from two or three men. from two or three doubtful texts of Scripture. He is reflecting on the whole history of the debate over the Sabbath that men have laid hold of two or three texts and thought they have understood them fully and built the whole framework of their doctrine upon those two or three texts.

4:39 He says, We ought not to think we have arrived at the truth because we have mishandled a few passages or doubtful texts of Scripture. The principles and foundations of truth, in this matter, Owen says, lie deep and require a diligent investigation. And this is the design wherein we are now engaged.

5:04 And though it may be a bit tedious in these opening sessions, as last Lord's Day we began by examining the Sabbath at creation, today we're going to try to understand whether the Sabbath existed between creation and the giving of the fourth commandment at Sinai. And then, God willing, we'll take up the fourth commandment and open up all that the Old Covenant says on this subject, coming finally to the teaching of the Lord Jesus Christ and His apostles. And it may be that that process will be a bit tedious to some of us. But I ask that you bear it with me.

5:42 As Owen says, he says, These principles and foundations of truth lie deep and require a diligent investigation. But then he closes his introduction by, making these comments. He says, It is enough for us, if in anything, or by any means, God will use us, not as lords over the faith of men, but as helpers of their joy. And that is my only purpose in this series.

6:13 It is not to construct a doctrine and a framework which would turn me, or turn the elders, or the other leaders of this church, into lords over your consciences. We have, no desire to build a framework that would go beyond Scripture, that would hedge up every rule and make every principle clear on every particular circumstance that could come to pass. We're not going to be the Sabbath police. We don't want to be the lords of your consciences in these matters.

6:46 We simply want to be helpers of your joy. And it is my conviction that the doctrine of the Sabbath preeminently is a doctrine of joy, and not a doctrine of burden. For the Sabbath was made to be a delight. It was not designed, it was not made for man, that it would be a burden grievous to be born.

Review: The Sabbath at Creation (Mark 2 and Genesis 2)

7:13 Well, last Lord's Day, we began with the words of our Lord in Mark chapter 2. There we heard from the lips of our Lord His assessment of the very essence of what the Sabbath was. He says the Sabbath was made for man.

7:30 He tells us that the Sabbath institution was made or established. And by those words, He tells us that there was a point in history when the Sabbath did not yet exist. At some point in history, the Sabbath day not previously existing was established and came into being. And He goes on to tell us something of the purpose for which the Sabbath day was established.

7:59 The Sabbath was made for man. That is, for the sake of man. For man's benefit. Our Lord speaking to Jewish Pharisees on this occasion, living under the Old Testament, did not say the Sabbath was made for the Jews.

8:15 He does not say the Sabbath was made for Old Covenant Israel. No, He says the Sabbath was made for man or for mankind. And He reaches for the most general, the most broad, the most universal term at His disposal to indicate for whom the Sabbath was made. For whom?

8:33 The Sabbath was made. In that passage, He does not tell us who established it. He does not tell us when the Sabbath was established. But He does tell us that the Sabbath was made for man.

8:47 But then He did not need to tell those Pharisees who and when. They knew as well as He. Their minds as well as His would have gone back to the establishment of the Sabbath at creation. And after looking at that fundamental, fundamental, basic statement, of our Lord, looking at that because it is my concern that we all begin our thinking about the Sabbath where Jesus began His thinking.

9:15 With its creation. With the event of its establishment. Having looked at that statement, then we've gone back to Genesis 2, verses 1 through 3, and in that passage, we saw God's record of the establishment of the Sabbath day. A record which showed us that it was a special day blessed and hallowed by the Lord at the very beginning of the world's existence.

9:46 Having created the heavens and the earth and all that in them is, the Lord as His last creative act created the Sabbath as an institution for man. And in opening up those verses in Genesis 2, we saw three things. We saw first that God created, created the Sabbath to be a special, holy day different from the rest. A day belonging to Him to be used in a special way.

10:16 We saw second that God created the Sabbath to be a day of sacred rest. And we saw third that the text teaches us that the Sabbath day is a blessed day. A day blessed or honored by the Lord.

The Question: Was the Sabbath Known Before Sinai?

10:35 Now having last week taken up the account of the Sabbath, the account of the establishment of the Sabbath at creation, today we're going to examine that period of time between the creation and the giving of the Ten Commandments including the Fourth Commandment concerning the Sabbath at Mount Sinai. We're going to look at that period. Next Lord's Day, God's willing, God willing, we'll come to the law of God given at Sinai. We'll come to the Fourth Commandment.

11:05 But today we're going to ask the question, is there evidence that the Sabbath was known before Sinai? Is there reasonable evidence to conclude that the Sabbath was known before Sinai, that is, before the Old Covenant was established, before the Lord engraved the Fourth Commandment on tablets of stone as part of the law of that covenant? Is there any hint, is there any indication whatsoever other than the statement in Genesis 2 that the Sabbath was an institution known to the patriarchs? Now some writers answer that question

11:50 with a decisive no. There are a number of writers, very prominent writers in the history of the church who have said there is no evidence whatsoever that the Sabbath was known before the giving of the law at Sinai. For example, Justin Martyr in his dialogue with Tripoli the Jew said, says that the patriarchs, and he makes the comment just in passing, he doesn't develop the thought whatsoever, but he says that the patriarchs, quote, though they kept no Sabbaths, were pleasing to God. And he reveals in that statement that in his judgment that there's no evidence that the patriarchs knew anything about the Sabbath

12:34 as revealed under the Mosaic law. John R. Sappy, a professor of Old Testament at Southern Baptist Seminary, at the beginning of the century or earlier in this century, writing in the International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, says, and I quote, if we cannot point to any observance of the weekly Sabbath prior to Moses, we can at least be sure that this was one of the institutions which he gave to Israel. And the assumption in that statement is that apparently in Sappy's judgment we cannot point to any observance of the weekly Sabbath prior to Moses.

13:13 G.F. Oler, in his work, Theology of the Old Testament, in like manner says, quote, the Sabbath, which many regard as instituted in paradise, that is, at creation, is according to the Pentateuch, that is, the five books of Moses, of purely Mosaic origin, that is, it originated with Moses. He goes on to say that in Genesis 2, 1 indeed, the hallowing of the seventh day, but not the promulgation among men of a command to observe it, is connected with creation.

13:50 In patriarchal times, that is, in the days of Adam, Seth, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, etc., in patriarchal times, he says, also we meet with no trace of the Sabbath. The first injunction, he says, concerning the Sabbath appears in Exodus 16. On the occasion of the gathering, the gathering of the manna, and in a form which seems to indicate that the Sabbath was not then known to the people.

14:23 It was not till they had been thus initiated in the celebration of the Sabbath by experiencing the blessing resting upon it that the special promulgation of the Sabbath command followed at Sinai. So it is a very strongly held opinion, a very common opinion amongst theological writers, that in the period in question, that period between the creation, and the giving of the law at Mount Sinai, as one writer says, we meet with no trace of the Sabbath. Very common opinion. But now my question is, do these statements reflect a proper assessment of the biblical materials?

Understanding Moses's Purpose in Genesis and Early Exodus

15:05 Is that really what we encounter when we come to that portion of the Old Testament which gives us the records about that period of time? And I don't believe that those statements are a proper assessment. It is true, of course, that not counting Genesis 2, 1 through 3, that account of what God did on the seventh day, it is true that there are at most only a couple of other texts bearing on the question of the existence of the Sabbath as an institution prior to Sinai. That's true.

15:42 We don't have twenty texts. We don't have a dozen texts. We don't have a half dozen texts. At most, we have a couple of texts that have direct bearing on the question, was the Sabbath known before Sinai?

15:58 But we need to understand something about the material that we're examining. We need to understand that Moses' purpose in writing Genesis, his purpose in writing the opening 19 chapters of Exodus, his purpose was not to record a history of the Old Testament. The ordinances established at creation. That's not the purpose of these chapters.

16:26 That's not the kind of book that he's writing. In these chapters, in the chapters that comprise the book of Genesis, the first 19 chapters leading up to Sinai and the giving of the law, in those chapters, Moses does not write a history of marriage. He does not write a detailed history of the ordinance of labor. And he does not give a detailed history of the ordinance of the Sabbath.

16:51 Had it been his purpose to do so, there would have been many things included that he did not include. But these chapters don't have that purpose. They have another purpose. And to properly understand what Moses included in these chapters, we have to understand what that purpose is.

17:13 If you come to a document and believe it is something else other than the author intended it to be, you're going to be disappointed when you don't, when you don't find certain things. Well, you need to understand what the writer intended. You need to understand what his purpose was. That will guide you in evaluating what he has included.

17:35 Genesis and the first 19 chapters of Exodus, the chapters leading up to the giving of the law at Sinai, form an introduction. They are the opening chapters of the five books of Moses. And in order to interpret them properly, we must recognize that they are an introduction. They're part of that larger document written for a specific purpose, written according to a specific plan.

18:03 At the time that Moses wrote these five books, at the time he wrote the Pentateuch, consider the historical context. God had just delivered Israel from bondage in Egypt and had entered into covenant with them at Sinai. The books of Exodus through Deuteronomy, record the Israelites' deliverance from Egypt, that is, the Exodus. They record the institution of the law of Moses, which was going to regulate the life of the nation from that point forward.

18:39 And they record the wanderings of the Israelites in the wilderness. That's the material that Exodus through Deuteronomy contained. But those events, the Exodus from Egypt, the giving of the law, the wilderness wandering, none of those things, happened in a vacuum historically. The history of God's people did not begin with the Exodus from Egypt.

19:07 Their identity was not established first at Mount Sinai with the giving of the law. And Moses, therefore, by way of introducing that portion of his work, he wrote Genesis, he wrote the opening chapters of Exodus in order to recount the general history of God's people prior to Sinai. Beginning with creation, Moses traces the origin of God's people through their successive generations and that in the briefest fashion. He shows in a general way the relationship of God's people to the nations that were around them.

19:51 He recalls the history of God's prior revelations, the law given at Sinai was not the first revelation, given by God. He recalls briefly the history of those prior revelations. He recalls the previous redemptive activity of God in the history of the world. The Exodus was not the first time that God had acted redemptively.

20:15 So he recalls all of that in summary fashion. And in the process of writing this introductory history, a history which would precede the history of the nation under the Mosaic law, in the process, of writing this introductory history, Moses, under the Spirit's direction, was very selective in the things that he included. He didn't include everything that could have been written. He was selective.

20:45 There perhaps were many other things that could have been written. Facts about the lives of the patriarchs that in themselves would have been as interesting as anything that he recorded. But Moses recorded only what was necessary for the children of Israel and their descendants to know in order to appreciate the covenant relationship that Jehovah had established with them at Mount Sinai. That was the purpose of those early chapters.

21:16 He wanted them to know where they as a people had come from. He wanted them to know what God had done previously to the giving of the law. He wanted them to understand certain principles, certain general principles, so that they would be prepared to walk in confidence. Now, my point in all of this is that on the point in question that is the existence of the Sabbath institution, having recorded the establishment of the Sabbath at creation in Genesis 2, Moses was not then obliged to prove that the patriarchs kept the Sabbath

22:01 in unbroken succession from the Sabbath. From Adam to Jacob. Having recorded the creation of the Sabbath, he was not then obliged, he was not writing a history of the Sabbath. He was not obliged to prove that the Sabbath was kept in unbroken succession from Adam through Seth, through his sons, down to Noah, from Noah down to Abraham, through Isaac to Jacob and his sons and their descendants who were delivered from Egypt.

22:33 Didn't need to do that. He did not need to show that Adam and Seth and Enoch and Noah and Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, for example, he didn't need to show that they actually kept the Sabbath. In one sense, brethren, it did not matter whether they kept the Sabbath or didn't keep the Sabbath. In one sense, it mattered not at all.

22:57 Because at Sinai, God did not rest the fourth commandment on what the patriarchs did He rested it on what He Himself had done at the creation.

23:12 Jehovah had established the Sabbath at creation. And that fact, not the example of the patriarchs, was the basis on which He rested Israel's obligation to keep the fourth commandment and we'll see that next Lord's Day when we come to Exodus 20 and to the giving of the fourth commandment. There's not a word in the fourth commandment and how it is, not a word about the example of the patriarchs. There's a sense in which it was irrelevant.

23:43 The only relevant feature was the fact that God Himself had established the Sabbath after His own example of behavior.

The Danger of Arguments from Silence

23:56 Now, before coming to examine the two texts that appear to demonstrate knowledge of the Sabbath prior to Sinai, I want you to understand something. Please note that even if Moses made no mention of the Sabbath, prior to Sinai, and I'm not conceding that for a moment, but even if that were true, even if, as Sampy says, we can't point to any observance of the weekly Sabbath prior to Moses, even if that statement is accurate, at best, there is an argument based on the absence of data. And that is an argument from Silas.

24:40 Euler says in patriarchal times we meet with no trace of the Sabbath. If that were true, even if that were true, even if it were true, it would require us to argue from the silence of the text in a setting where Sabbath observance is not the main concern of the historian or even a main theme in the narrative.

25:03 Even if it's true that there's no mention, it requires us to argue from the silence of the text. But please be very careful. Arguments from silence ought always to be suspect. The dictates, it is always risky to say anything from nothing generally holds true for a reason.

25:28 It is always risky to say anything from nothing.

25:34 That generally holds true for a reason.

25:38 I would like to read to you just a paragraph or two from the classic work by Daniel Wilson on the Lord's Day as he's treating of this very issue. Speaking of the argument from silence that is often brought to bear on this material. And he's, making the assumption just for the sake of argument assuming that Moses was completely silent on the subject of the Sabbath after Genesis 2 until we come to Exodus 20.

26:06 He says, would, on that assumption, would the loss of the original law of the Sabbath for 2,500 years amidst the corruption of mankind after the fall prove that no such law had been enacted at creation? Let's assume that the law was completely, completely, completely, completely lost to the knowledge of man for the 2,500 years from creation to Sinai. Let's assume that for the sake of argument. Does that mean, does that prove that no such law had ever been enacted at creation?

26:41 The original law of marriage was lost during a much longer period. That is, there's that whole period of the Old Testament beginning with the patriarchs right up to the time of our Lord where polygamy was regarded as a matter of fact. It was a matter of indifference. He says, would the original law of marriage lost during a much longer period?

27:04 But was it the less reasserted by our Savior as the primary and abiding appointment of the Almighty? Jesus comes in the first century of our era and says, but it was not so from the beginning.

27:20 The fact that generation after generation after generation had misconstrued and had forgotten the original institution of marriage did not work. That does not mean that God had not established marriage as he had there in Genesis chapter 2.

27:35 But we admit not, Wilson says, that the observation of the Sabbath was completely forgotten during this period. The objection can at most only rest on the silence of Scripture. Now to argue from that silence after an expressed institution that is after Genesis 2 is most unfair and most injurious to the interest of Revelation. An objection derived from things not being expressly mentioned so often as we might be pleased to expect is completely inconclusive.

28:10 No mention is made of sacrifices from the time of Abel until the flood, a period of 1,500 years, nor from the arrival of Jacob at Beersheba until the deliverance from Egypt, a space of two or three hundred more years. But does that prove that sacrifices were not offered? We read nothing about circumcision in the Bible from the death of Moses until the days of Jeremiah, an interval of eight centuries. But does anyone imagine that circumcision was not performed?

28:44 No mention of the Sabbath occurs in the histories of the books of Joshua, Ruth, 1 and 2 Samuel, and 1 Kings, which are so much more detailed that is their fuller histories than that given in Genesis. And yet this was during the Mosaic Law when the institution of the Sabbath was confessedly in its fullest vigor. The ordinance of the red heifer is never once noticed from the period of the giving of the law of the Pentateuch until the close of the Old Testament. Not a mention of the sacrifice of the red heifer.

29:18 But the apostle refers to it, argues from it in the New Testament as a rite that was well known and in constant use. Even in the book of Psalms and in the prophets, the Sabbath is seldom expressly mentioned except when the neglect of it provoked the indignation of the Almighty. So little force is there in the objection, even allowing all that it demands. It is not for us to prescribe to the Almighty how often or under what circumstances any of His commands should be repeated.

29:56 It is enough for us to know with regard to the Sabbath that it was instituted in the most solemn manner.

30:04 In a sense, he says, it doesn't matter whether there's any mention from creation to Sinai of the Sabbath. There are a host of other things that could be described in the same manner. And then A.W. Pink

30:17 in a little pamphlet entitled The Christian Sabbath makes these observations.

30:23 He says, No less than 2,500 years of human history are covered by the first 68 chapters of the Bible. Thus it is evident at once that the Holy Spirit has seen fit to give us little more than a fragmentary account of what transpired during the infancy of our race.

30:45 Therefore, we must not expect to find here anything more than a few references to the Sabbath, and these are the briefest nature. And the same will apply to almost any other theme that is found in these texts. If we can find ourselves to the first 68 chapters of the Bible and took up the study of the person of the Holy Spirit, the life possessed by believers on whom we are, and the life possessed of what lies beyond death, the subject of prayer, angels, temperance, or any other moral virtue, while we should find something said about each of these subjects, we should not find very much, in fact, little more than hints and occasional notices.

31:28 So it is in connection with the Sabbath. There are unmistakable references to the Sabbath, but they are few in number and incidental in character. So as we come to these chapters, brethren, let's have in mind what kind of material we're dealing with. This is not, was never intended to be, these opening chapters of Exodus, the entirety of the book of Genesis, was never intended to be a history of the Sabbath and of its observance.

Evidence 1: Cain and Abel's Offerings (Genesis 4:3)

32:00 It is but a minor theme in the midst of a larger document which has another purpose altogether. But now that being said, Moses is not completely silent on the question of whether the Sabbath was known prior to Sinai. There are two texts which I believe give us an indication that the Sabbath was known. Now I ask that you turn to the first one, Genesis chapter 4.

32:31 Genesis chapter 4, and I'll read the first five verses.

32:41 Speaking of Adam, the scripture says, And the man knew Eve his wife, and she conceived, and there came, and said, I have gotten the man with the help of the Lord. And again she bare his brother Abel, and Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground.

33:01 And in process of time it came to pass that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the Lord.

33:11 And Abel he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof. And the Lord had respect unto Abel and to his offering, but unto Cain, and his offering he had not respect. And Cain was very angry, and his countenance fell.

33:33 Now I want you to focus on verse 3.

33:37 In verse 3 we read, And in process of time it came to pass that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering to the Lord. Then we read further that on the same occasion that Abel also brought an offering. I want you to note the words, and they will vary somewhat depending upon the English translation that you're using. If you're using the King James or the Old American Standard, it will say in process of time.

34:05 If you have the New King James, it will have in the process of time. The New American Standard and the NIV read in the course of time. But all of these English expressions are efforts to translate a Hebrew expression that literally means at the end of days. Some of you I know know just a bit of Hebrew, the word Yom.

34:32 Yom Kippur, the day of atonement. Well the verb or the word Yom here appears. In its plural, Yomim. And the phrase is Miketz Yomim, at the end of the days.

34:48 Now this expression, at the end of the days, is found only here in the writings of Moses. So Moses has to interpret it for us. In terms of the context, in terms of the way that he uses the term in the larger context. And because this term is seemingly indefinite, at the end of the days, it has been variously understood.

35:14 Some writers see in it a reference to the end of a year or to a time of harvest so that they interpret, they understand Moses to be saying at the end of the year or at the time of harvest or at the end of the growing season. whatever that Cain and Abel brought of the fruits of their labors and offering to the Lord. But I do not believe that these suggestions do justice to the term to Moses' use of the day, of the term day, especially as we see it in the opening chapters of Genesis. We have to ask, how does Moses use this word?

35:55 And so far in the book of Genesis, Moses has primarily used the word Yom or day to refer to the days of the creation week. And just as an example, if you'll look at Genesis 2 and verse 2, on the seventh day, the seventh Yom, God finished His work which He had made and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had made. God blessed the seventh day. 24-hour day, what we recognize by the term day.

36:27 Not week, not month, not year, not season, day. And as you look, look through the opening chapters of Genesis, this is the predominant way that Moses uses that term day. Now in verse 14 of chapter 1, we find another use of the term. And I want you to look at that with me.

36:47 Again, don't grow weary of examining in detail the Scriptures. Because before we're done with this series, we're going to build upon it a superstructure of application that's going to have to do with our consciences before God. If our consciences are going to go in the right direction, we need to know that we're going to go in the right direction. We need to know that we're going to go in the right direction.

37:04 We need to know that we're going to go in the right direction. We need to know that we're going to go in the right direction. We need to make sure we have seen it from the Scriptures ourselves. But look at chapter 1, verse 14.

37:11 Here's another use of the term day. And God said, let there be light in the firmament of heaven to divide the day from the night. And there, the term refers to daylight from that portion of the 24-hour day that we call night. But now notice, and let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and for years.

37:37 Here we encounter a statement in which Moses distinguishes ordinary days from seasons and years.

37:48 And what this shows is that Moses also had these terms at his disposal if he had meant to express the ideas that he represented. Had he meant to say at the end of the year he had a word that he could have used. He'd already used it. In chapter 1.

38:08 If he meant at the end of the season, he's already used that word. It's not as though he doesn't have a word to use and he has to reach for the word day somehow to express the idea of season. No. He had other terms clearly ready, available.

38:23 He's just used them. But now later, if you'll look at chapter 8, verse 22, we find another term that is suggested. Chapter 8, verse 22. While the earth remains, Moses said, Seed time and harvest or harvest time and cold and heat and summer and winter and day and night shall not cease.

38:50 There harvest time is a different concept than day. Seed time and harvest time is a different concept than day and night. But my point is if he meant to say at the end of the harvest or at the end of the harvest time he had a word that he could have used.

39:08 But he doesn't use it. He says at the end of the days. Plural. Not at the end of the day.

39:16 This was not something that happened every day. But apparently it wasn't something that happened once a year. It was not at the end of the year. He could have said that.

39:25 He didn't. It was not at the end of the season. It was not at the end of the harvest time. Those terms were available.

39:33 No, he says at the end of the days. Plural.

39:38 And I believe that it is much more in line with his uses to think that what he means by this is at the end of the only cycle of time other than the day that has been linked to the worship of God. And that is the week. The only other cycle of time is the week. That's the only other place that the term day is used to refer to a cycle of time.

40:05 What he is speaking, I believe, is at the end of the week. That is on the seventh day of the week or on the Sabbath day. And I believe a Hebrew reading this passage, that would be his deduction coming to a passage like this in the context in which we find it. It is possible, if not in context probable, therefore, that Moses meant his readers to understand these words as pointing to a Sabbath day to an appointed day of rest and worship at the end of six days of labor.

40:39 Everything in our text implies that these sacrifices took place on a recognized day of worship. Cain and Abel do not just coincidentally appear before God on the same day, each bearing a sacrifice comprised of materials taken from the labors of their hands. It's not just a coincidence that they both show up with a sacrifice at the same time. Some divine revelation concerning sacrifices evidently has been given, though not recorded.

41:15 Otherwise, Cain and Abel would have had no reason to believe that. They would have believed that their action was acceptable before God. And apparently, revelation was also given concerning the time when such sacrifices were to be offered. I don't believe, given what we have in the text, it's a stretch to presume that the sacrifices were offered on a Sabbath day, especially considering this was the only sacred day as yet mentioned in the Scriptures.

41:46 There's yet no mention of annual feasts. You don't get that until we come to Sinai. There's nothing in the whole history of the world to prepare for the concept of sacred feasts in terms of an annual cycle. The harvest feasts of Israel have not yet been introduced.

42:03 But we have had the sacred day of rest every seven days as part of the cycle called a week.

42:13 Moses' expression at the end of days, I believe, logically points to that conclusion that when Cain and Abel brought their sacrifice, they brought it. At the end of the week, at the end of the days of labor, on the seventh day, on the day of sacred, solemn, blessed rest that God had established at creation.

42:37 Now before leaving this text, note that if this incident took place on a Sabbath day, then we have just at least a hint of what will become clearer in later texts. As we go along, we're going to begin to see things about the day. Things that ultimately we're going to try to sum up in terms of answering the question how ought we to observe the Sabbath day. But here we see at least a hint of what will become much clearer in later texts.

43:09 Which is that one of the activities for which the day may and ought to be used is the worship of God in ways which may not be characteristic of the other six days of the week.

43:26 Cain and Abel did not bring these sacrifices. Every day. This is a special occasion.

43:35 And if indeed this is the Sabbath day, then what it shows us that this day is a day on which that activity is legitimate. And in general, though Cain's offering was not accepted, it was not because it was the wrong kind of offering on the wrong day. It had to do with Cain's heart. But at least we see this much.

43:56 That on the Sabbath day, we are to engage in the worship of God in ways that perhaps are not characteristic of the other six days of the week. Alright? Are you with me so far? Genesis chapter 4 at the end of the days.

Evidence 2: The Manna and God's Rebuke (Exodus 16)

44:14 But now a second text bearing on our question is found in Exodus chapter 16.

44:21 Exodus chapter 16.

44:27 I'll begin reading in verse 4. Read through verse 30.

44:44 Then said the Lord to Moses, Behold, I will reign bread from heaven for you, and the people shall go out and gather a day's portion every day, that I may prove them whether they will walk in my law or not. And it shall come to pass on the sixth day that they shall prepare that which they bring in, and it shall be twice as much as they gather daily. And Moses and Aaron said to all the children of Israel, At evening, then you shall know that the Lord has brought you out from the land of Egypt, and in the morning then you shall see the glory of the Lord,

45:28 for that He hears your murmurings against the Lord, and what are we that you murmur against us? And Moses said, This shall be when the Lord shall give you in the evening flesh to eat, and in the morning bread to the full, for that the Lord hears your murmurings which you murmur against Him, and what are we? Your murmurings are not against us, but against the Lord. And Moses said to Aaron, Say to all the congregation of the children of Israel, Come near before the Lord, for He has heard your murmurings.

46:04 And it came to pass, as Aaron spoke to the whole congregation of the children of Israel, that they looked toward the wilderness, and behold, the glory of the Lord appeared in the cloud. And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, I have heard the murmurings of the children of Israel. Speak to them, saying, At evening you shall eat flesh, and in the morning you shall be filled with bread, and you shall know that I am the Lord your God. And it came to pass at evening that the quails came up and covered the camp.

46:33 And in the morning it round about the camp. And when the dew that lay was gone up, behold, upon the face of the wilderness a small round thing, small as the hoarfrost on the ground. And when the children of Israel saw it, they said to one another, literally, Manah. What is it?

46:56 That's where manna gets its name. They named it manna because they didn't know what it was. And Moses said to them, It is the bread which the Lord has given you to eat. This is the thing which the Lord has commanded.

47:09 Gather of it every man according to his eating, and omer a head according to the number of your persons shall you take it every man for them that are in his tent. And the children of Israel did so, and gathered some more and some less. And when they measured it with an omer, he that gathered much had nothing over, he that gathered little had no lack. They gathered every man according to his eating.

47:33 And Moses said to them, Let no man leave of it till the morning. Notwithstanding, they hearkened not to Moses, but some of them left of it until the morning, and it bred worms and became foul, and Moses was angry with them. And they gathered it morning by morning, every man according to his eating, and when the sun waxed hot, it melted. And it came to pass that on the sixth day they gathered twice as much bread, two omers for each one, and all the rulers of the congregation came and told Moses.

48:05 And he said to them, This is that which the Lord has spoken. Tomorrow, now that's the seventh day, tomorrow is a solemn rest, a holy Sabbath unto the Lord. Bake that which you will bake, and boil that which you will boil. All that remains over lay up for you to be kept until the morning.

48:29 And they laughed, laid it up till the morning as Moses bid them, and it did not become foul, neither was there any worm therein. And Moses said, Eat that today, for today is a Sabbath unto the Lord. Today you shall not find it in the field. Six days you shall gather it, but on the seventh day is Sabbath, or the Sabbath.

48:53 In it there shall be none. And it came to pass on the seventh day that there went out some of the people to gather, and they found none. And the Lord said to Moses, How long do you refuse to keep my commandments and my laws? See, for that the Lord has given you the Sabbath, therefore he gives you on the sixth day the bread of two days.

49:18 Abide every man in his tent, let no man go out of his place on the seventh day, so the people rested on the seventh day.

49:29 Now on the occasion recorded in Exodus 16, Israel has not yet reached Sinai.

49:39 They have not yet received the Ten Commandments. They have not yet been given to the nation engraved on tablets of stone. And yet Moses mentions the Sabbath as an already existing institution. We've not yet come to Sinai.

50:00 Moses has not yet descended from the mountain carrying the tablets of stone, carrying the tablets of stone, carrying the tablets of stone, with the fourth commandment engraved upon it by the finger of God. And yet here he mentions the Sabbath as an institution already existing.

50:17 Ulmer argued that on this occasion the form in which Moses introduces the Sabbath, and here I quote, seems to indicate that the Sabbath was not then known to the people.

50:28 I can't imagine he's reading the same passage. It seems to me that can hardly be the case. And I want you to focus your attention on verse 28. I'm not going to try to open up all the language that's used here.

50:40 But when the Lord complains about those gathering manna on the seventh day, He uses words implying that this incident is indicative of a long-standing pattern of violating His commands in such matters.

51:01 How long, He says, do you refuse to keep My commands and My laws?

51:08 If, as Ulmer suggests, the Sabbath day had just then been instituted, just that week been instituted, if this is the first Sabbath day in history,

51:23 then we would not expect these words, but different words. Perhaps we would expect to read why do you refuse to keep My commandments and My law? But the expression, how long? How long refuse you to keep My commandments and that law?

51:42 Well, that expression, seems out of place if this is the first Sabbath in history.

51:49 Is how long do you refuse, is that the language of rebuke for first time transgression?

51:59 If you commanded your child as the first time in his or her life, from this point onward, you are to observe one hour in the morning on Saturday as a time of reading the Scriptures. You institute, never before in the life of your child has that been your command to them. You've never required it of them before. You've never mentioned it before.

52:26 And yet you say this Saturday from 8 a.m. to 9 a.m.

52:30 you will read the Scriptures. And you go in, you find little Johnny, you find little Susie playing Nintendo from 8 to 9.

52:38 Is your response going to be, how long will you refuse to keep My commandment? Well, that language is wholly inappropriate. You might say, why do you refuse to keep My commandment? That's appropriate for a first time transgression, but the implication how long implies that it's been a long time.

52:57 That it's a pattern of behavior over a long period of time.

53:03 Jacobus rightly argues that the Lord's choice of words implies that they had been guilty of this inattention of the Sabbath before this time. Not just on this Sabbath, but for many Sabbaths. And he says it justifies the supposition that in their Egyptian bondage, they had been prone to neglect the day.

53:26 And certainly, knowing that Israel had been guilty in their bondage, guilty of idolatry during much of their sojourn in Egypt, virtually forgetting Jehovah altogether so that when Moses goes down to them, they hardly know that Jehovah exists. Certainly in that time, it is no mystery that they had abandoned the sacred day of rest as well. How long do you refuse to keep? My commandments.

53:54 That's not the language of first-time transgression. That is language rebuking a pattern.

Lessons from Exodus 16 on the Nature of the Sabbath

54:02 Well, again, before passing on, as we will next Lord's Day to the fourth commandment, let's observe what we can from this text about the nature of the Sabbath day and the manner in which it is to be used. It seems to me, at least it satisfies my judgment, that the Sabbath is not introduced here as something absolutely new.

54:23 Doubtless, Israel, for perhaps a couple of generations, had neglected the Sabbath, but the concept was not totally new to them. But now, as Moses speaks to them of what is appropriate, how they are to behave themselves on that Sabbath day while God is raining the manna down, or in that week when God is giving them manna, what can we learn from what he says about the Sabbath? What can we learn about the nature of the day and the manner in which it is to be used? Well, first, we once again observe that the Lord speaks of the day, as a special day given to man.

55:03 Look again at chapter 16 and verse 29.

55:08 See, for that the Lord has given you the Sabbath,

55:13 therefore he gives you on the sixth day the bread of two days. See, he says, behold, the Lord has given you the Sabbath, therefore, for this reason, he gives you on the sixth day the bread of two days. Note that the Lord here speaks of the Sabbath and of the manna as special gifts given by him. See, he says, the Lord has given you the Sabbath, therefore he gives you on the sixth day the bread of two days.

55:49 Both the Sabbath and the manna were gifts from God. He was the source of them. He was the origin of them.

56:00 And by implication, the Israelites were to view both of them, both the Sabbath day and the manna, as blessings from God suited to their need. There they are in the wilderness. They don't have enough to eat. God gives them manna.

56:15 That suits their needs. That's an expression of mercy to them in their need. In a like way, that's what the Sabbath is. It is a blessed day given of the Lord to man to suit our need in this world.

56:31 And extending this thought to our Sabbath day, it is still a gift from God given to us by the Lord. It is still a gift from God given to us by the Lord. It is still a gift from God given to us by the Lord. It is still a gift from God given to man given to bless us in a way suited to our need.

56:42 Well, more of that principle as we begin to go through. We saw that in Genesis 2. It is a blessed day given to man. The Sabbath was made for man.

56:52 There's that principle again.

56:55 Alright, second by way of observation, what do we learn from this text? We obviously see from this text that the Sabbath is not a day for carrying on the ordinary work permitted in the other Sabbath. It is a day for carrying on the ordinary work. It is a day for carrying on the ordinary work.

57:10 And the Lord underscored this. He emphasized it by giving the double portion on the sixth day and by forbidding them to go out of their tents to go searching for manna on the Sabbath.

57:23 The Sabbath, the day of rest, was to be a day of rest from their ordinary labors. Six other days they were to go forth looking for the bread of God that He had given.

57:36 Give us, Lord, our daily bread. And He did. And they went forth to gather it. They were active.

57:44 They labored to gather their daily bread. But not on the seventh day. God said, no. Don't go forth to gather your daily bread.

57:58 And then third, we see that the Sabbath day was hallowed for religious use.

58:03 The day, we are told in verse 23, was a holy, that is, a sanctified day unto the Lord.

58:16 It is a holy, Sabbath, unto the Lord. A day hallowed for religious use. And what this language implies is that the day, the Sabbath day being separated from ordinary use, was set apart as belonging to the Lord.

58:36 It is a holy Sabbath unto the Lord. It's His day. It's not your day. You don't do your will on that day.

58:46 You do what God tells you to do. And God has told you, don't go out of your tent. Don't go out and gather manna.

58:53 It's His day. It's a day to be hallowed unto the Lord. And that language, unto the Lord, means for a religious use.

59:04 But now, fourth and finally, we also learn that the sixth day was to be used in part, not the seventh day. Now listen. Listen very carefully. The sixth day, the seventh day is the Sabbath.

59:18 But we learn that the sixth day was to be used in part to make provision for the seventh day.

59:28 It was to be used in part, the sixth day, to make preparation for the Sabbath day so that no unnecessary labor was to be engaged in even in the preparation of the manna that had been given for the Sabbath day.

59:43 Did you pick that up as we were reading through?

59:47 If you'll look at chapter 16 and verse 5, the original instructions that the Lord gave to Moses. It shall come to pass on the sixth day, that is, not the Sabbath, but the day before, that they shall prepare that which they bring in, and it shall be twice as much as they gather daily.

60:08 They were not just to prepare, they were to gather a double portion, but they were not just to prepare, they were not just to boil or to bake, just that portion to be eaten on the sixth day. They were to boil and bake that portion to be eaten on the seventh day as well.

60:26 Having gathered the double portion, they were to prepare all that was brought in, not just that eaten on the sixth, but that which was to be eaten on the Sabbath. And that principle, the principle still abiding from this and other texts that we will yet see, is that no work ought to be done on the Sabbath which can be reasonably be done on the day before.

60:50 And brethren, this is going to have, if we follow this principle to its logical conclusion,

60:57 it's going to have an impact on your expectations of your wife for the weekend.

61:07 It's going to have an impact on your expectations of whoever cooks food in your house. If you're the cook, fine, brother. But if it's your wife, it's going to have implications for her as well. In order for her to have a Sabbath,

61:26 it's going to be necessary as much as is possible to limit the amount of work she has to do on the Lord's Day. And ordinarily, what that's going to mean, and there will be more suggestions on further down the line, it's going to mean a different cooking schedule, maybe even a different menu in order to free your wife to have the day unto the Lord.

Conclusion: The Fourth Commandment and Future Study

61:54 Now, I want you to turn as we close to Exodus chapter 20.

62:03 I simply want to read the record of the fourth commandment and ask that in the intervening week you prayerfully consider is there really anything new that we've not already seen in the fourth commandment?

62:26 Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.

62:31 Six days shall you labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath unto the Lord your God.

62:42 In it you shall not do any work, you, nor your son, nor your daughter, your manservant, nor your maidservant, nor your cattle, nor the stranger that is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea and all that in them is, and rested the sea, the Sabbath day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it. I want you to consider this week.

63:15 Is there anything new that we've not already seen?

63:22 Or is the only thing new is that these words are engraved on tablets of stone?

63:31 Beginning next Lord's Day, we're going to examine the Sabbath under the Mosaic law. We'll look at this text and then begin to move our way out through the rest of the week. We'll look at this text of the Pentateuch into the Psalms, into the Prophets, gleaning from those passages that have direct bearing on our subject. What was the Sabbath like?

63:52 What was required under the Old Covenant?

63:57 Well, let us pray.

64:01 Our Father, as we draw near again this day, we ask for Your blessing upon our study. We pray, Father, that You would help us, that our thinking would be clear. We ask, Lord, that You would help us that we might lay a good foundation for our study. That we might draw proper conclusions.

64:18 We pray, Lord, that You would look with mercy upon us. That we might learn how we are to walk before You under that covenant which has been established by Your beloved Son. Lord, help us, we pray, to keep the day as a blessed, hallowed, sacred day unto You according to Your ordinance. For it is in Jesus' name we pray.

64:40 Amen.