Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Exodus 35:3
Ye shall kindle no fire throughout your habitations upon the sabbath day.
3. An addition to the law of Exo 31:12-17. The explicit prohibition is not found elsewhere in the OT.; but it is implied in Exo 16:23.
in all your habitations ] see on Exo 12:20.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
This prohibition is here first distinctly expressed, but it is implied Exo 16:23.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Exo 35:3
Ye shall kindle no fire.
The unkindled fire
In the old time it was a law that each night, at a prescribed hour, a bell should be rung, on hearing which the people were to put out their fires. This a law not about putting fires out each day, but against lighting a fire on one particular day. Why this law?
I. To show that on the Sabbath, especially, men should attend to the interests of the soul rather than to the comports of the body.
II. To remove frivolous excuses for non-attendance on religious worship.
III. To guard the time of females or servants from unrighteous invasion; and teach men that women had religious rights and duties equally with themselves.
IV. To inculcate in all the duty of self-sacrifice in matters relating to the soul and God. (Biblical Museum.)
The rest of plants
All creation seems to possess the instinct of rest. We well know how eagerly the human heart sighs for rest. But it is not so well known that even plants sleep. Their strange sleep, says Figuier, vaguely recalls to us the sleep of animals. In its sleep the leaf seems by its disposition to approach the age of infancy. It folds itself up, nearly as it lay folded in the bud before it opened, when it slept the lethargic sleep of winter, sheltered under the robust and hardy scales, or shut up in its warm down. We may say that the plant seeks every night to resume the position which it occupied in its early days, just as the animal rolls itself up, lying as if it lay in its mothers bosom. All the world seems to express the sentiment contained in the words uttered by one of old, who desired the wings of a dove in order to seek and obtain rest. (Scientific Illustrations.)
Sabbath breaking condemned
Dr. Beecher was seen one Monday morning leaving his house with a basket in his hand which he was carrying to the fish-market, and in which he intended to carry home a fish for the family table. Unknown to him, a young man of undecided religious principles was following and watching him. The minister soon came to the fish-market. Here Dr. Beecher picked up a fine-looking fish, and asked the fisherman if it was fresh and sweet. Certainly, replied the man, for I caught it myself yesterday, which was the Sabbath. Dr. Beecher at once dropped the fish, saying, Then I dont want it, and went on without another word. We are not informed whether the preacher obtained his fish, but when the young man who was following him that morning related his experience some time afterwards on his admission to the Christian Church, he stated that Dr. Beechers consistency evinced in the fish-market had been the turning-point in his career. It convinced him of the power of religion in life, had induced him to attend the ministry of the man who had won his respect, and he was converted.
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 3. Ye shall kindle no fire] The Jews understand this precept as forbidding the kindling of fire only for the purpose of doing work or dressing victuals; but to give them light and heat, they judge it lawful to light a fire on the Sabbath day, though themselves rarely kindle it – they get Christians to do this work for them.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
This command seems to be only temporary and extraordinary during the present season and condition, and not extending to succeeding generations. For,
1. There are instances of temporary precepts both in the Old and New Testament, which yet are not in their places said to be so. Such were some of the precepts concerning the passover, Exo 12:11, as is confessed. And such was that law of abstaining from things strangled, and blood, Ac 15.
2. This precept is nakedly proposed, and not called a perpetual statute, nor enjoined to be observed in their generations, as other precepts are, to whom those, or some like clauses, are frequently added.
3. The sabbath is rather a feast day than a fast day. And the Jews did make feasts, and invited guests upon the sabbath day, which could not probably be without kindling a fire. And, which is more considerable, Christ himself, who fulfilled all righteousness, and therefore would not have joined in the violation of the sabbath, went to one of those feasts, Lu 14. And the Corinthians, as they received the Lords supper upon that day, which none question, so they had their feasts, as is confessed and apparent from 1Co 11:21,22, &c.
4. The kindling of a fire was no greater hinderance to the religious observation of the sabbath, than other things which were allowed upon that day, such as the washing and dressing of themselves, eating and drinking, &c.
5. This prohibition doth not seem to concern the dressing of meat, as many understand it, by comparing this with Exo 16:23, (which place I humbly conceive is misunderstood, as I have there intimated, for that was lawful to be done upon, their most solemn days, Exo 12:16) but the service of the tabernacle, which is the subject of this chapter, and the occasion of these words; and the sense seems to be this, You shall kindle no fire for any handiwork throughout your habitation, no, not for the service of this tabernacle, for the heating of any tools, or the melting of any metals, or other things belonging to it, which being to be made for Gods service, and deserving and requiring all expedition, they might probably conceive that such work might be done upon that day. And here also, as oft elsewhere, under one kind, all the rest are comprehended and forbidden.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
Ye shall kindle no fire throughout your habitations upon the sabbath day. This law seems to be a temporary one, and not to be continued, nor is it said to be throughout their generations as elsewhere, where the law of the sabbath is given or repeated; it is to be restrained to the building of the tabernacle, and while that was about, to which it is prefaced; and it is designed to prevent all public or private working on the sabbath day, in anything belonging to that; having no fire to heat their tools or melt their metal, or do any thing for which that was necessary; for it can hardly be thought that this is to be taken in the strictest sense, as an entire prohibition of kindling a fire and the use of it on that day, which is so absolutely useful, and needful in various cases, and where acts of mercy and necessity require it; as in cold seasons of the year, for the warming and comforting of persons who otherwise would be unfit for religious exercises, and on the account of infants and aged persons, who could not subsist without it; and in cases of sickness, and various disorders which necessarily require it; and even for the preparation of food, which must be had on that day as on others, the sabbath being not a fast, but rather a festival, as it is with the Jews; and yet this law is interpreted by them in the most rigorous sense: they put kindling a fire among the principal works forbidden on that day x, and that not only to bake bread and boil flesh, as Aben Ezra interprets it here, but to warm themselves with; nay, they think it unlawful to touch an hearth, or a coal of fire, or a firebrand, or anything that may give them any warmth in a cold season; and if, for the sake of infants or aged persons, there is need of a fire or heating a stove, they hire a Christian to do it, or so prepare and order matters the day before that it kindle of itself y; and so Leo Modena z says,
“they do not meddle with any fire, nor touch any wood that is on fire, nor kindle any, nor put it out; nor do they so much as light a candle on the sabbath day: and if the place be cold where they dwell, except they have any stoves, or hot houses, or else have some one that is no Jew to kindle a fire for them; or had so ordered the matter before hand that the fire should kindle of itself at such a time; they must even be content to sit in the cold all that day:”
but here they nicely distinguish and observe, that it is said,
throughout your habitations; their private dwellings, but not the habitation of the Lord, or the house of the sanctuary; and on this score they allow of kindling a fire in Beth Moked a, an apartment in the temple, where a fire was constantly kept for the priests that kept watch to warm themselves at.
x Misn. Sabbat, c. 7. sect. 2. y Buxtorf. Synagog. Jud. c. 16. p. 361. z History of the Rites, &c. of the Jews, par. 3. c. 1. sect. 3. a T. Bab. Sabbat, fol. 20. 1.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
3. Kindle no fire This prohibition is implied in Exo 16:23, but is here first formally enunciated . The offence recorded in Num 15:32-36, looked toward the violation of this commandment.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Exo 35:3. Ye shall kindle no fire throughout your habitations This seems only to be a specification of the general prohibition, Thou shalt do no manner of work: importing, that all menial offices should cease on the sabbath; that the servants, as well as others, might enjoy the blessings of religious rest.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Exo 35:3 Ye shall kindle no fire throughout your habitations upon the sabbath day.
Ver. 3. Ye shall kindle no fire, ] sc., For the furtherance of the work of the tabernacle: or, at least, that is not of absolute necessity. It might also signify that in the kingdom of heaven we shall be set free from all the fire and scorching heat of affliction.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Exo 12:16, Exo 16:23, Num 15:32-36, Isa 58:13
Reciprocal: Gen 2:3 – blessed Exo 16:5 – prepare Exo 31:14 – doeth Lev 23:3 – General Deu 5:13 – General Mar 2:24 – that Luk 23:56 – rested
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Exo 35:3. Ye shall kindle no fire For any servile work; throughout your habitations No, not for the service of the tabernacle, as for the heating of tools, or the melting of metals, or other things belonging to it; which being made for Gods service, and deserving and requiring all expedition, they might probably conceive that such work might be done upon that day. And here also, as often elsewhere, under one kind of work, lighting a fire, every other kind is comprehended and forbidden. It is justly observed by Mr. Scott here, If the kindling of fires in general on the sabbath days be here understood to be prohibited, it must either be viewed as a mere temporary institution, to continue only during the time when the people were miraculously provided for in the wilderness; or that some exceptions were allowed in favour of the sick, infirm, and children, who must suffer extremely, at some seasons, even in warm climates, for want of fire; or that a fire which was burning might be kept up, though a fresh one might not be kindled. It is remarkable that the subsequent parts of Scripture give no light on this subject, further than that, among the various instances recorded of the Israelites being reproved, and individuals punished, for neglecting to sanctify the sabbath, this is not once mentioned. The modern Jews understand the prohibition literally, yet they use fires in various ways on the sabbath, but employ other persons to kindle them, or to keep them up.