Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Exodus 20:11

For [in] six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them [is], and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.

11. Why the sabbath is to be observed. The reason is based upon Gen 2:3, cf. Exo 31:17 b (both P). The motive may have operated with the writer of the comment; but it cannot state the real reason for the observance of the sabbath. ‘P’s story of the Creation, with the six days followed by the sacred seventh, is not the cause of the Sabbath, but the result of the fact that the week ending with the Sabbath was an existing institution. P adjusts the work of creation to it’ (McNeile). Cf. the present writer’s Genesis, p. 35. On the different motive assigned for the observance in Deu 5:15, see p. 192.

rested ] This is the word na, meaning relaxation, referred to on v. 8: cf. Exo 23:12 b, Deu 5:14 b; and for the thought Exo 31:17 b (‘desisted, and was refreshed ’). (In Gen 2:2-3 the word used is ‘desisted.’)

blessed hallowed ] i.e. made it a day which would bring a blessing on those who observed it, and made it sacred to Himself.

It is impossible to consider here with any fulness the history and significance of the sabbath; and for a more detailed discussion the writer must refer to his art. Sabbath in DB. iv. It is not impossible that ultimately the institution was of Babylonian origin: in Babylonian there occurs (though rarely) the word shabattum, meaning day for propitiating a deity’s anger 1 [178] , and in Babylonia also, especially in the earlier periods of the history, every seventh day of the month was marked by abstention from secular business 2 [179] : but even if that was the case (for connecting links are still wanting), it is certain that when adopted by the Hebrews, a new character was impressed upon it by the higher and purer religion of Israel. In the earliest legislation of the Hebrews, the sabbath appears as a day of cessation from (in particular) field-work, designed with a humanitarian end (Exo 23:12 E; Exo 34:21 J), and, to judge from the context, possessing already a religious character: in the Decalogue, in what is probably (see above) the oldest part of the Commandment, it is to be kept ‘holy’ by the Israelite: in the early historical books, it is associated with the ‘new moon,’ in a manner which implies that both were occasions of intermission from labour and trade (Amo 8:5), and holidays (2Ki 4:22-23); Hosea (Exo 2:11), and Isaiah (Exo 1:13), both allude to it as a day of religious observance. In later times, both the religious observances and also the abstention from labour were increasingly emphasized. In H and Ezek. (see on Eze 31:13) the observance of the sabbath is repeatedly insisted on: cf. a little later Isa 56:2; Isa 56:4; Isa 56:6; Isa 58:13 f., and (in the ideal future) Isa 66:23. Ezekiel, also, in his ideal legislation for the future (chs. 40 48), gives directions, based, presumably, upon already existing usage, respecting the sacrifices to be offered every sabbath by the ‘prince’ on behalf o the nation in the restored temple (Eze 45:17, Eze 46:4 f.). In the legislation of P, the regulations respecting the sabbath become both more numerous and more strict: its institution is thrown back to the end of the week of Creation (Gen 2:2-3, Exo 31:17); it is to be observed (Lev 23:3) by a ‘holy convocation,’ or religious gathering; additional sacrifice (viz. double those offered on ordinary days) are prescribed for it (Num 28:8 f.); and death is the penalty imposed (Exo 31:15), and exacted (Num 15:32-36), for its non-observance, Thus in the priestly law, the original character and objects of the sabbath have receded into the background, and it has become more distinctly a purely ceremonial observance: Christ, in opposition to later Rabbinical exaggerations and refinements, brought men back to the great truth that ‘the sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath’; and, transformed into the Christian Sunday, it has become in Christian countries a wonderful means both of securing rest from bodily toil, and of maintaining the life of a pure and spiritual religion.

[178] See DB. iv. 319 a , adding the instance, discussed by Zimmern, ZDMG. 1904, p. 199 ff., in which shabattum is applied to the 15th day of the month, i.e. (see p. 201) to the day of the full moon.

[179] See DB. ibid., or the writer’s Genesis, p. 34. and esp. Johns, Expos. Times, Sept. 1906, p. 567 (with detailed statistics); and comp. McNeile, p. 122 f.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

In six days, and neither in more nor less time, as he could have done.

Rested, i.e. ceased from his creating works; otherwise he worketh still (Joh 5:17) by his providence and grace; and neither is idle nor weary, Isa 40:28; but this rest is ascribed to him for our admonition and imitation.

The Lord blessed the sabbath day, i.e. made it a day of blessing; as well of receiving blessings and praises from men, as of conferring his blessings and favours upon those that religiously observe it. The day is said to be blessed when men are blessed by it, and in it, by a common metonymy, as a mans field, Gen 27:27, and basket and store, Deu 28:5, and the work of his hands, Job 1:10, are said to be blessed when a man is blessed in them. It is remarkable, the blessing and sanctification are not appropriated to the seventh day, but to the sabbath day, whether it should be the seventh day, as to the Jews it then was, or the first day, as to us Christians now it is, which change seems hereby to be insinuated.

Hallowed it, i.e. separated it from the rest of the days, and from all common employments, and consecrated it to his own holy service, and mans holy use.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea,

and all that in them is, c] And of which six days, and of the several things made in each of them, see the notes on the first chapter of Genesis:

and resteth the seventh day: which does not suppose labour, attended with weariness and fatigue for the Creator of the ends of the earth fainteth not, neither is weary, Isa 40:28 nor ease and refreshment from it, but only a cessation from the works of creation, they being finished and completed, though not from the works of Providence, in which he is continually concerned: now this circumstance, before recorded in the history of the creation, is wisely improved to engage an attention to this command, and to the observation of it; there being an analogy between the one and the other, that as God worked six days, and, having done his work completely, ceased from it and rested, so it was fit and proper, that as the Israelites had six days allowed them to labour in, and do all their work, they should rest on the seventh, they and all that belonged to them, or had any connection with them:

wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath, and hallowed it: he separated it from all other days of the week, and set it apart for holy use and service, by obliging his people to cease from all work on it, and to give up themselves to the exercises of religion, as hearing, reading the word, prayer, praise, c. and he blessed it with his presence, and with the communications of his grace, as he still continues to do, whatsoever day his people make use of for his worship and service. The note of Jarchi is,

“he blessed it with manna, by giving double bread on the sixth, and sanctified it by manna, that it might not descend on it”

so that there was a provision made for it, which was blessing it; and it was distinguished from all other days, no manna falling on it, which was the sanctification of it; and all showed it to be a day the Lord had a particular regard to, and that it was to be a day of rest, and exemption from labour.

(This verse shows that the days in the first chapter of Genesis were real twenty four hour days. For you compare like things to like. Just as God worked six days and rested on the seventh, so the Israelites were to do also. The comparison would make no sense if the days were “seven ages” or were “seven ages” that overlapped each other (Day Age Theory) or if there was a huge gap between the days (Gap Theory). These are modern compromises to accomodate the alleged geological ages with the Biblical account of creation.

Further this verse allows one to determine the age of the universe. Using the biblical geneologies Bishop Ussher determined the date of creation to be 4004 B.C. Although this may be off by one or two percent, it is a very accurate estimate based on biblical revelation not man’s speculation. Editor.)

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

11. For in six days the Lord made. From this passage it may be probably conjectured that the hallowing of the Sabbath was prior to the Law; and undoubtedly what Moses has before narrated, that they were forbidden to gather the manna on the seventh day, seems to have had its origin from a well-known and received custom; whilst it is not credible that the Observance of the Sabbath was omitted, when God revealed the rite of sacrifice to the holy (Fathers. (334)) But what in the depravity of human nature was altogether extinct among heathen nations, and almost obsolete with the race of Abraham, God renewed in His Law: that the Sabbath should be honored by holy and inviolable observance; and this the impure dogs (335) accounted to be amongst the disgraces of the Jewish nation.

(334) Added from Fr.

(335) “ Les payens, comme chiens mastins;” the heathen, like dogs. — Fr.

Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary

(11) For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth.Comp. Gen. 2:2-3, and Exo. 31:17. It is not improbable that the work of creation was made to occupy six days because one day in seven is the appropriate proportion of rest to labour for such a being as man. God might have created all things on one day had He so pleased; but, having the institution of the Sabbath in view, He prefigured it by spreading His work over six days, and then resting on the seventh. His law of the Sabbath established a conformity between the method of His own working and that of His reasonable creatures, and taught men to look on work, not as an aimless, indefinite, incessant, weary round, but as leading on to an end, a rest, a fruition, a time for looking back, and seeing the result and rejoicing in it. Each Sabbath is such a time, and is a type and foretaste of that eternal sabbatising in another world which remaineth for the people of God (Heb. 4:9). The secondary object of the institution of the Sabbath, assigned in Deu. 5:15, is in no way incompatible with this primary one. The thought of Gods works in creation might well be associated in the mind of an. Israelite with the thought of His wondrous works in Egypt, and the recollection of the blessed peace and rest in which creation resulted, with the memory of the glad time of repose and refreshment which supervened upon the weary task work of the Egyptian bondage.

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

11. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth Here is a direct reference to what is recorded in Gen 1:1 to Gen 2:3, where see notes, and also pages 63 and 64 of the Introduction . Those writers who maintain that the Sabbath was a purely Mosaic institution find no little embarrassment in explaining away the obvious import of this verse . Both here and in Gen 2:1-3, God’s rest at the close of the creative week is made a reason for the sanctifying of the seventh day . Other reasons are also given, as in Deu 5:15, where the deliverance from Egyptian bondage is mentioned as an additional ground for its observance. That a seventh-day rest is necessary to the highest good of man may be argued from the following considerations: (1.) From this explicit commandment of the decalogue. Its position among other moral laws of universal obligation shows that it is something more than a mere temporary Mosaic institution. (2.) The typical example of God’s resting from his work, here given as a reason for this law, implies that the seventh-day rest is an ordinance old as the creation of man. (3.) This is confirmed by traces of it in the weekly divisions of time among several ancient nations, (see on Exo 16:23,) and especially among the ancient Babylonians and Assyrians, who had their “day of rest for the heart . ” (4 . ) Because of its association with Israel’s deliverance from Egyptian bondage, (Deu 5:15,) and the severity with which its violation was punished . Num 15:35; 2Ch 36:21. (5 . ) Christ’s words in Mar 2:27, confirm all the above, and show it to be a law of the highest good for man, grounded in the needs of his physical and moral nature . (6 . ) The remarkable fact has been often proven and illustrated by fair trial, that both man and beast will do more and better work by observing one rest day in seven than by continuous labour in violation of the sabbath law . (7 . ) The sabbath rest, properly utilized, is admirably adapted to promote the culture of all that is highest and best in the spiritual nature of man .

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Exo 20:11. And hallowed it Sanctified it. See Gen 2:3.

REFLECTIONS.Never before, nor since, was such an auditory, or such a speaker. God himself appears from heaven to promulge that sacred law which once was written on the heart, but by sin was defaced and obliterated. Observe,

1st. The preface. He is the Lord, who has a right to demand the obedience he enjoins; and their God, in a covenant of peculiar favour, who would never be wanting in any instance of regard which almighty power, joined with boundless love, could shew. He had manifested himself to them already in their deliverance from Egypt, and this is the earnest of what he further could and would do for them. Note; That dear Redeemer, who has delivered us from bondage worse than Egyptian, may justly claim our bounden duty and service in return.

2nd. The moral law. It opens with the duty we owe to God our Creator; enjoins his worship, service, and obedience.
1. God must alone be the object of our worship; no other may be joined with him: for there is no other God besides him, and on him must be placed our supreme confidence, fear, and love. To set them on any creature or thing in preference to him is immediately to become idolaters. How few, then, are worshippers of the true God, when pleasure, gain, honour, and the whole train of worldly gratifications, afford so many gods to the idol-heart of fallen man!
2. God must be worshipped, not under any representation, but as a spirit, in spirit and in truth. No image must be made of him: we are not, even in our minds, to liken him to any object which is seen; and he is to be served with the internal affections of the soul, and with the outward service of prayer and praise. He threatens as a jealous God to visit offenders. They who neglect his worship, or walk contrary to his command herein, shall be treated as haters of him; and children’s children shall suffer for it, who, taught by their fathers’ example, shall share in their visitations: while they who serve him in his prescribed way shall find his mercy, and entail their blessing on generations yet to come. Note; (1.) The idolatry of the Romish church in such gross violations of this commandment, which they artfully would conceal from the people, by omitting the second commandment in their catechisms, and joining the reasons against idolatry here given to the first. (2.) The necessity of the conscientious and constant worship of God, without which we never can be enabled to love him and keep his commandments.

3. God’s name must not be taken in vain, by hypocritical prayers which never come from the heart, nor by vows of fidelity to him which we are negligent to keep; by any rash or false swearing, or by light and irreverent use of his holy Name in our ordinary conversation: and however little attended to this commandment may be, the same sanction guards it as ever. God will not hold the transgressor guiltless, and it is a fearful thing to meet him in wrath.
4. The sabbath-day must be kept holy. Nothing should break in to disturb the sacred rest; all worldly business must be laid aside, and the whole employed in the more immediate service of God. And not only ourselves, but all under our roof must cease from labour, and join with us in the celebration of the holy day. Note; Nothing will conduce more, as a means of our preparation for the eternal rest which remains for the people of God, than a serious and constant observance of the seventh day.

Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke

Exo 20:11 For [in] six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them [is], and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.

Ver. 11. For in six days. ] God took six days to make the world in, to the end that we might be in a muse when we think of it; and think on his works in that order that he made them.

And rested the seventh day. ] Not as tired out – for he made all without either tool or toil; his Fiat only did the deed – but to give us example, as Joh 13:15 .

Wherefore the Lord blessed, &c. ] How God esteemeth the strict observation of the Sabbath day, may appear by the exact delivery of it. For he hath fenced it about, like mount Sinai, with marks and bounds, that profaneness might not approach it: (l.) By his watchword, “Remember”; (2.) By his bounty, “Six days,” &c.; (3.) By his sovereignty, “It is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God”; (4.) By the latitude, “Thou, nor thy son,” &c.; (5.) By his own example, “And he rested the seventh day”; (6.) By his benediction, as here, “He blessed it,” and ordained it to be a means of much blessing to those that observe it. Add hereunto, that God hath placed this command in the midst of the Decalogue, betwixt the two tables; as much conducing to the keeping of both. It stands like the sensus communis, between the inward and outward senses, being serviceable to both. a

And hallowed it. ] Diem septimam opifex, ut mundi natalem, sibi sacravit. See Trapp (for summary of Law) on “ Exo 20:17 “

a Bodin., Theat. Naturae.

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)