Exodus 20:8
“Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy.”
When God delivered The Israelite nation through his chosen Levite/Israelites servants Aaron and Moses from Egyptian slavery a month later of being led to Mt.Sinai, the food reserves of Israel began to run out and Israel was afraid of starving in the wilderness and began to complain to Moses and Aaron about why they led them out in the middle of nowhere to die of Starvation:
Exodus 16:1-3
“...on the fifteenth day of the second month after they had come out of Egypt. In the desert the whole community grumbled against Moses and Aaron. The Israelites said to them, ‘If only we had died by the Lord’s hand in Egypt! There we sat around pots of meat and ate all the food we wanted, but you have brought us out into this desert to starve this entire assembly to death.’ ”
In response to his people’s concern, God told them he would begin to provide their food first that very day with quail then every morning with a mysterious edible ‘crust’ that would form on the desert ground every morning called ‘manna’ that they were to go out and gather every morning:
Exodus 16:4-12
“The Lord said to Moses, ‘I have heard the grumbling of the Israelites. Tell them, ‘At twilight (late evening) you will eat meat, and in the morning you will be filled with bread. …I will rain down bread from heaven for you....The people are to go out each day and gather [it]...”
but on the morning of the sixth day of the Maana forming on the ground, God commanded them to gather twice as much on this day than the other five days:
Exodus 16:4-5
“…On the sixth day they are to…[gather]… twice as much as they gather on the other days.”
God didn’t tell Israel why he commanded them to gather twice as much today, but just that he wanted them to; So on the sixth morning of this edible crust’s formation on the ground they gathered twice as much than they usually did and the leaders of Israel reported Israel’s obedience to Moses:
Exodus 16:22
“On the sixth day, they gathered twice as much…and the leaders of the community came and reported this to Moses.”
As soon as they reported that all of Israel obeyed his orders, Moses then told them the reason why God asked Israel to do this on the sixth day of being fed Maana: because the next day was to be a special holy day of rest to God; or as God called it in the Hebrew language a sabbath (Hebrew for ‘rest/stopping’[1]) day.
Exodus 16:23
“He said to them, ‘This is what the Lord commanded: ‘Tomorrow (that would be the seventh day of being fed manna) is to be a day of…rest, a holy sabbath to the Lord.’’”
So, the reason God asked Israel to gather twice as much was because they were going to save the extra manna for the next day (or the seventh day in a row of being given Maana) would be a very special day; or a holy day of rest:
He also said cook and do what you wanted to do with the Maana today but to not throw it out like God commanded the last 5 days in a row; this night it was to be kept:
Exodus 16:23
“So bake what you want to bake and boil what you want to boil. Save whatever is left and keep it until morning.”
So when the seventh day came, Israel saw the Maana left from yesterday did not rot and get maggots in it like before:
Exodus 16:24
“So they saved it until morning, as Moses commanded, and it did not stink or get maggots in it.”
Moses then announced to Israel that the Manna was safe to eat and why it did not rot this morning: today was going to be a holy day of rest and no more manna would be on the ground so they did not work by gathering and cooking the manna:
Exodus 16:25-26
“‘Eat it today,’ Moses said, ‘because today is a sabbath to the Lord. You will not find any of it on the ground today.’”
Moses also stated to Israel that this was not going to be a one time event: from now on from this sabbath day every six days of gathering Maana on the seventh day their would be no manna on the ground because it was to be a holy sabbath day or holy day of rest so they were to prepare every sixth day by gathering extra manna and cooking it before the seventh:
Exodus 16:26
“...Six days you are to gather it, but on the seventh day, the Sabbath, there will not be any.”
Despite his direct command and also many of Israel already saved Maana from yesterday to eat, some Israelites ignored Moses and went out to find Maana anyway: but found none!
Exodus 16:27
“Nevertheless, some of the people went out on the seventh day to gather it, but they found none.”
Moses and God got angry at these disobedient Israelites dishonoring his command to rest from gathering Maana on this holy rest day:
Exodus 16:28
“Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘How long will you [all] refuse to keep my commands and my instructions?’”
So he commanded them to not only rest on this Sabbath day, but also to not leave the camp (where they are) for the whole day as a sign of acknowledging this holy sabbath:
Exodus 16:29
“... Everyone is to stay where they are on the seventh day; no one is to go out.”
So Moses (most likely) told all of Israel to not go outside their camp but to rest all day and they obeyed him:
Exodus 16:30
“So the people rested on the seventh day.”
So after this holy seventh day of God feeding them, they kept this pattern of gathering twice as much on the sixth day (from the last sabbath rest) and then resting and staying in the camp on the holy seventh day of rest.
When Israel finally got to Mt Horeb a couple of weeks later, God himself speaking to all of Israel for the first time ever, gave them ten commands to follow, which he says as the fourth commandment to always observe the Sabbath day and always rest on it to honor it as a holy day of rest forever:
Exodus 20:8-10
“Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath (or rest) to the Lord your God.”
Why this is the first official mention of the Sabbath as an official command for humans to rest on this day, God most likely reintroduced his seventh holy day of rest to his people Israel (along with the possible correct timing of a week and the seventh day rest) that seemed to have been lost to them during their slavery in Egypt.
In fact, while speaking about always keeping the Sabbath day in the third command to Israel, God confirmed this ‘new’ Sabbath day was not only to be kept forever by all Israelites from now on, but was also directly connected to the original holy seventh day of rest that he personally blessed when he himself rested from six days of creating:
Exodus 20:8-11
“Remember the Sabbath day…For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day (originally the seventh day or rest) and made it holy.”
So this new Sabbath day (or in Hebrew ‘rest day’) was the really the seventh day of rest blessed by God:
He was showing them how to rest from their work on the 7th day in the future by how to collect the manna now in God’s time frame.
This Would be a permanent way of life for Israel forever; even long after Moses had died and long after they had settled in the promised land of Canaan, they were to still rest on the seventh day of the week before the week “reset”.
So, this holy Seventh day of rest became known from now on as the Sabbath.
God also emphasized this was to be a day of no work done by anyone: he made this clear by defining how no one in Israel (not even non-Israelite foreigners or even the domesticated animals in Israel could do any work):
Exodus 20:10
“...On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns.”
He wanted this holy Sabbath to be observed as a weekly holy day by Israelites forever
Leviticus 23:3
“...the seventh day is a day of sabbath rest, a day of sacred assembly.”
Resting on the sabbath was so important God even made the day the 6th day that came before it the preparation day for the next 7th day of rest as he had taught Israel in his example for gathering his manna.
But if anyone disobeyed his orders and dishonored the holy Sabbath by not resting but continued on doing their work like usual, God ordered they had to be killed for desecrating this holy day!
Exodus 31:12-17
“Anyone who desecrates it is to be put to death; those who do any work on that day must be cut off from their people. For six days work is to be done, but the seventh day is a day of sabbath rest, holy to the Lord. Whoever does any work on the Sabbath day is to be put to death.”
It’s very important to note God did not order anyone to die for not acknowledge and observing any other holy day commanded by him (even the first holy day he commanded Israel: even before leaving Egypt: The Passover/The feast of unleavened bread), except the holy Sabbath! That shows honoring the holy Sabbath was very serious to God and a top priority above all other holy days he commanded! The Sabbath is the only Holy Day of God for which the mandatory penalty for non-observance is the death penalty!
After God commanded the ten commandments to Israel, God kept reminding Israel often to keep his Sabbath seventh day a holy day of rest:
Exodus 31:12-13
“Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘Say to the Israelites, ‘You must observe my Sabbaths.''"
Exodus 31:14-16
“Observe the Sabbath, because it is holy to you…For six days work is to be done, but the seventh day is a day of sabbath rest, holy to the Lord…The Israelites are to observe the Sabbath,…”
Exodus 35:1-2
“Moses assembled the whole Israelite community and said to them, ‘These are the things the Lord has commanded you to do: For six days, work is to be done, but the seventh day shall be your holy day, a day of sabbath rest to the Lord.’”
Leviticus 23:3
“‘There are six days when you may work, but the seventh day is a day of sabbath rest…You are not to do any work; wherever you live, it is a sabbath to the Lord.”
Sadly one person in their camp began to ignore the command to not work on the sabbath and broke it/desecrated it by going outside the camp to collect wood (which is working):
when he was eventually spotted working and being outside the camp (both things God commanded him not to do) the people who caught him brought him and reported him to Israel and to Moses and Aaron and in return Moses and Aaron put him into custody until God told them what to do with the disobedient man:
Numbers 15:32-34
“...a man was found gathering wood on the Sabbath day. Those who found him gathering wood brought him to Moses and Aaron and the whole assembly, and they kept him in custody, because it was not clear what should be done to him.”
God eventually responded to Moses’s question and told him the man who desecrated his sabbath had to be killed by stoning outside the camp by all of Israel for breaking his holy sabbath for going outside camp to collect wood:
Numbers 15:35
“Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘The man must die. The whole assembly must stone him outside the camp.’”
So Moses told all of Israel to get rocks/stones and go outside the camp to stone the sabbath breaker, so they took him outside the camp and gathered around and threw stones/rocks at him until he died:
Numbers 15:36
“So the assembly took him outside the camp and stoned him to death, as the Lord commanded Moses.”
this served as an example to all of Israel what would happen if they broke his holy Sabbath, so they obeyed the command to rest on the sabbath.
Before dying, Moses reminded Israel for the final time to rest on the Sabbath and keep it holy:
Deuteronomy 5:12-14
“Observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy, as the Lord your God has commanded you. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God.”
He reminded Israel since God saved them from Genocidal slavery to The Egyptians that he owned them and deserved their complete obedience to honor his sabbath.
Deuteronomy 5:15
“Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and that the Lord your God brought you out of there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore the Lord your God has commanded you to observe the Sabbath day.”
Moses also reminded Israel for a final time later about no one in Israel was to work on the sabbath so all could rest on this holy day and enjoy the holy rest day:
Deuteronomy 5:14
“On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your ox, your donkey or any of your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns, so that your male and female servants may rest, as you do.”
Source:
[1] Strong’s Hebrew #7676--”שַׁבָּת” (shab-bawth')--sabbath by Biblehub
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