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The verb first occurs in Gen. 2:2-3: “And on the seventh day God ended his work
which he had made; and he
on the seventh day from all his work which he had
made. And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had
from all his work which God created and made.”
The basic and most frequent meaning of
is shown in Gen. 8:22: “While the
earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and
day and night shall not cease.” This promise became a prophetic sign of God’s
faithfulness: “If those ordinances depart from before me, saith the Lord, then the seed of
Israel also shall cease from being a nation before me for ever” (Jer. 31:36).
We find a variety of senses: “… Even the first day ye shall
$
(
leaven out of
your houses …” (Exod. 12:15). “Neither shalt thou suffer the salt of the covenant of thy
God to
from thy meat offering” (Lev. 2:13
NASB
,
KJV
,
NIV
, “do not leave
out”). Josiah “put down the idolatrous priests …” (2 Kings 23:5). “I will also eliminate
harmful beasts from the land” (Lev. 26:6
NASB
,
KJV
, “rid”;
RSV
,
NIV
, “remove”).
B. Noun.
(
"
, 7676), “the sabbath.” The verb sabat is the root of
&
“Six
days you are to do your work, but on the seventh day you shall cease from labor …”
(Exod. 23:12,
NASB
,
KJV
, “rest”). In Exod. 31:15, the seventh day is called the “sabbath
rest” (
NASB
, “a sabbath of complete rest”).
A man’s “rest” was to include his animals and servants (Exod. 23:12): even “in earing
time and in harvest thou shalt rest” (Exod. 34:21). “It is a sign between me and the
children of Israel for ever: for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the
seventh day he rested, and was refreshed” (Exod. 31:17).
“… Then shall the land keep a sabbath unto the Lord” (Lev. 25:2). Six years’ crops
will be sown and harvested, but the seventh year “shall be a sabbath of rest unto the land,
a sabbath for the Lord …” (Lev. 25:4). The feast of trumpets, the Day of Atonement, and
the first and eighth days of the Feast of Tabernacles are also called “a sabbath
observance” or “a sabbath of complete rest” (Lev. 23:24, 32, 39).
The “sabbath” was a “day of worship” (Lev. 23:3) as well as a “day of rest and
refreshment” for man (Exod. 23:12). God “rested and was refreshed” (Exod. 31:17). The
“sabbath” was the covenant sign of God’s lordship over the creation. By observing the
“sabbath,” Israel confessed that they were God’s redeemed people, subject to His
lordship to obey the whole of His law. They were His stewards to show mercy with
kindness and liberality to all (Exod. 23:12; Lev. 25).
By “resting,” man witnessed his trust in God to give fruit to his labor; he entered into
God’s “rest.” Thus “rest” and the “sabbath” were eschatological in perspective, looking
to the accomplishment of God’s ultimate purpose through the redemption of His people,
to whom the “sabbath” was a covenant sign. The prophets rebuked Israel for their neglect
of the sabbath (Isa. 1:13; Jer. 17:21-27; Ezek. 20:12-24; Amos 8:5). They also
proclaimed “sabbath” observance as a blessing in the messianic age and a sign of its
fullness (Isa. 56:2-4; 58:13; 66:23; Ezek. 44:24; 45:17; 46:1, 3-4, 12). The length of the
Babylonian Captivity was determined by the extent of Israel’s abuse of the sabbatical
year (2 Chron. 36:21; cf. Lev. 26:34- 35).
CHARIOTRY