Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Exodus 31:12
And the LORD spoke unto Moses, saying,
The penal law of the Sabbath. Exo 35:2-3. In the fourth commandment the injunction to observe the seventh day is addressed to the conscience of the people (see Exo 20:8 note): in this place, the object is to declare an infraction of the commandment to be a capital offence. The two passages stand in a relation to each other similar to that between Lev. 18, Lev. 19, and Lev. 20. It seems likely that the penal edict was especially introduced as a caution in reference to the construction of the tabernacle, lest the people, in their zeal to carry on the work, should be tempted to break the divine law for the observance of the day.
Exo 31:14
See Num 15:32-36. The distinction between the meaning of the two expressions, to be cut off from the people, and to be put to death, is here indicated. He who was cut off from the people had, by his offence, put himself out of the terms of the covenant, and was an outlaw. On such, and on such alone, when the offence was one which affected the well-being of the nation, as it was in this case, death could be inflicted by the public authority.
Exo 31:17
Was refreshed – Literally, he took breath. Compare Exo 23:12; 2Sa 16:14. The application of the word to the Creator, which occurs nowhere else, is remarkable.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
12-17. Verily my sabbaths ye shallkeepThe reason for the fresh inculcation of the fourthcommandment at this particular period was, that the great ardor andeagerness, with which all classes betook themselves to theconstruction of the tabernacle, exposed them to the temptation ofencroaching on the sanctity of the appointed day of rest. They mightsuppose that the erection of the tabernacle was a sacred work, andthat it would be a high merit, an acceptable tribute, to prosecutethe undertaking without the interruption of a day’s repose; andtherefore the caution here given, at the commencement of theundertaking, was a seasonable admonition.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And the Lord spake unto Moses,…. After he had described to him the place of worship, and appointed the priests that should minister in it, and ordered the making of all things appertaining to it, and the workmen that should be concerned therein, he repeats the law of the sabbath, and puts in mind of the time of worship:
saying: as follows.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(cf. Exo 35:2-3). God concludes by enforcing the observance of His Sabbaths in the most solemn manner, repeating the threat of death and extermination in the case of every transgressor. The repetition and further development of this command, which was included already in the decalogue, is quite in its proper place here, inasmuch as the thought might easily have occurred, that it was allowable to omit the keeping of the Sabbath, when the execution of so great a work in honour of Jehovah had been commanded. “ My Sabbaths: ” by these we are to understand the weekly Sabbaths, not the other sabbatical festivals, since the words which follow apply to the weekly Sabbath alone. This was “ a sign between Jehovah and Israel for all generations, to know (i.e., by which Israel might learn) that it was Jehovah who sanctified them, ” viz., by the sabbatical rest (see at Exo 20:11). It was therefore a holy thing for Israel (Exo 31:14), the desecration of which would be followed by the punishment of death, as a breach of the covenant. The kernel of the Sabbath commandment is repeated in Exo 31:15; the seventh day of the week, however, is not simply designated a “Sabbath,” but “a high Sabbath” (the repetition of the same word, or of an abstract form of the concrete noun, denoting the superlative; see Ges. 113, 2), and “holy to Jehovah” (see at Exo 16:23). For this reason Israel was to keep it in all future generations, i.e., to observe it as an eternal covenant (Exo 31:16), as in the case of circumcision, since it was to be a sign for ever between Jehovah and the children of Israel (Eze 20:20). The eternal duration of this sign was involved in the signification of the sabbatical rest, which is pointed out in Exo 20:11, and reaches forward into eternity.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
| The Observance of the Sabbath. | B. C. 1491. |
12 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, 13 Speak thou also unto the children of Israel, saying, Verily my sabbaths ye shall keep: for it is a sign between me and you throughout your generations; that ye may know that I am the LORD that doth sanctify you. 14 Ye shall keep the sabbath therefore; for it is holy unto you: every one that defileth it shall surely be put to death: for whosoever doeth any work therein, that soul shall be cut off from among his people. 15 Six days may work be done; but in the seventh is the sabbath of rest, holy to the LORD: whosoever doeth any work in the sabbath day, he shall surely be put to death. 16 Wherefore the children of Israel shall keep the sabbath, to observe the sabbath throughout their generations, for a perpetual covenant. 17 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. 18 And he gave unto Moses, when he had made an end of communing with him upon mount Sinai, two tables of testimony, tables of stone, written with the finger of God.
Here is, I. A strict command for the sanctification of the sabbath day, v. 13-17. The law of the sabbath had been given them before any other law, by was of preparation (ch. xvi. 23); it had been inserted in the body of the moral law, in the fourth commandment; it had been annexed to the judicial law (ch. xxiii. 12); and here it is added to the first part of the ceremonial law, because the observance of the sabbath is indeed the hem and hedge of the whole law; where no conscience is made of that, farewell both godliness and honesty; for, in the moral law, it stands in the midst between the two tables. Some suggest that it comes in here upon another account. Orders were now given that a tabernacle should be set up and furnished for the service of God with all possible expedition; but lest they should think that the nature of the work, and the haste that was required, would justify them in working at it on sabbath days, that they might get it done the sooner, this caution is seasonably inserted, Verily, or nevertheless, my sabbaths you shall keep. Though they must hasten the work, yet they must not make more haste than good speed; they must not break the law of the sabbath in their haste: even tabernacle-work must give way to the sabbath-rest; so jealous is God for the honour of his sabbaths. Observe what is here said concerning the sabbath day.
1. The nature, meaning, and intention, of the sabbath, by the declaration of which God puts an honour upon it, and teaches us to value it. Divers things are here said of the sabbath. (1.) It is a sign between me and you (v. 13), and again, v. 17. The institution of the sabbath was a great instance of God’s favour to them, and a sign that he had distinguished them from all other people; and their religious observance of the sabbath was a great instance of their duty and obedience to him. God, by sanctifying this day among them, let them know that he sanctified them, and set them apart for himself and his service; otherwise he would not have revealed to them his holy sabbaths, to be the support of religion among them. Or it may refer to the law concerning the sabbath, Keep my sabbaths, that you may know that I the Lord do sanctify you. Note, If God by his grace incline our hearts to keep the law of the fourth commandment, it will be an evidence of a good work wrought in us by his Spirit. If we sanctify God’s day, it is a sign between him and us that he has sanctified our hearts: hence it is the character of the blessed man that he keepeth the sabbath from polluting it, Isa. lvi. 2. The Jews, by observing one day in seven, after six days’ labour, testified and declared that they worshipped the God who made the world in six days, and rested the seventh; and so distinguished themselves from other nations, who, having first lost the sabbath, which was instituted to be a memorial of the creation, by degrees lost the knowledge of the Creator, and gave that honour to the creature which was due to him alone. (2.) It is holy unto you (v. 14), that is, “It is designed for your benefit as well as for God’s honour;” the sabbath was made for man. Or, “It shall be accounted holy by you, and shall so be observed, and you shall look upon it a sacrilege to profane it.” (3.) It is the sabbath of rest, holy to the Lord, v. 15. It is separated from common use, and designed for the honour and service of God, and by the observance of it we are taught to rest from worldly pursuits and the service of the flesh, and to devote ourselves, and all we are, have, and can do, to God’s glory. (4.) It was to be observed throughout their generations, in every age, for a perpetual covenant. v. 16. This was to be one of the most lasting tokens of that covenant which was between God and Israel.
2. The law of the sabbath. They must keep it (Exo 31:13; Exo 31:14; Exo 31:16), keep it as a treasure, as a trust, observe it and preserve it, keep it from polluting it, keep it up as a sign between God and them, keep it and never part with it. The Gentiles had anniversary-feasts, to the honour of their gods; but it was peculiar to the Jews to have a weekly festival; this therefore they must carefully observe.
3. The reason of the sabbath; for God’s laws are not only backed with the highest authority, but supported with the best reason. God’s own example is the great reason, v. 17. As the work of creation is worthy to be thus commemorated, so the great Creator is worthy to be thus imitated, by a holy rest, the seventh day, after six days’ labour, especially since we hope, in further conformity to the same example, shortly to rest with him from all our labours.
4. The penalty to be inflicted for the breach of this law: “Every one that defileth the sabbath, by doing any work therein but works of piety and mercy, shall be cut off from among his people (v. 14); he shall surely be put to death. v. 15. The magistrate must cut him off the sword of justice if the crime can be proved; if it cannot, or if the magistrate be remiss, and do not do his duty, God will take the work into his own hands, and cut him off by a stroke from heaven, and his family shall be rooted out of Israel.” Note, The contempt and profanation of the sabbath day is an iniquity to be punished by the judges; and, if men do not punish it, God will, here or hereafter, unless it be repented of.
II. The delivering of the two tables of testimony to Moses. God had promised him these tables when he called him up into the mount (ch. xxiv. 12), and now, when he was sending him down, he delivered them to him, to be carefully and honourably deposited in the ark, v. 18. 1. The ten commandments which God had spoken upon mount Sinai in the hearing of all the people were now written, in perpetuam rei memoriam–for a perpetual memorial, because that which is written remains. 2. They were written in tables of stone, prepared, not by Moses, as it should seem (for it is intimated, ch. xxiv. 12, that he found them ready written when he went up to the mount), but, as some think, by the ministry of angels. The law was written in tables of stone, to denote the perpetual duration of it (what can be supposed to last longer than that which is written in stone, and laid up?), to denote likewise the hardness of our hearts; one might more easily write in stone than write any thing that is good in our corrupt and sinful hearts. 3. They were written with the finger of God, that is, by his will and power immediately, without the use of any instrument. It is God only that can write his law in the heart; he gives a heart of flesh, and then, by his Spirit, which is the finger of God, he writes his will in the fleshly tables of the heart, 2 Cor. iii. 3. 4. They were written in two tables, being designed to direct us in our duty both towards God and towards man. 5. They are called tables of testimony, because this written law testified both the will of God concerning them and his good-will towards them, and would be a testimony against them if they were disobedient. 6. They were delivered to Moses, probably with a charge, before he laid them up in the ark, to show them publicly, that they might be seen and read of all men, and so what they had heard with the hearing of the ear might now be brought to their remembrance. Thus the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
Verses 12-17:
The commandments God gave to Moses on Sinai did not initiate the various moral provisions of law. These provisions were the embodiment of eternal righteous principles which apply in every age. For example: it was a violation of God’s law to commit murder long before the law was given on Mount Sinai. In the same way, the law of the Sabbath was evidently observed long before Israel arrived in Sinai. The law given on Sinai set forth and regulated God’s eternal righteous principles as they applied to Israel, see Ro 2:13-15.
The text is an expansion of the Law of the Sabbath, given earlier, Ex 20:8-11; 23:12. Two points are given here which apply to that law:
1. The Sabbath was a “sign,” a distinguishing mark, between God and Israel, a sign unique among the world’s nations. It was to be a perpetual observance, continuing throughout Israel’s history as a nation.
2. The death penalty was added, for violation of the rule forbidding any work on the Sabbath. An example of the enforcement of this provision is Nu 15:32-36 (q.v.).
The underlying principle involved is man’s need to rest one day out of seven. But there appears to be more involved than this. It is
to give man the opportunity to reflect upon the Person and performance of God, and to devote himself to praise and worship.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
CRITICAL NOTES.
Exo. 31:14. Ye shall keep the Sabbath = Ushemartem eth hashahabbath]. The verb shamar = to keep, implies the idea of guarding, watching over with tenderness and fidelity. (Comp. Psa. 21:4-5, He that keepeth Israeland, The LORD is thy keeper). Thus Israel, by keeping the Sabbath aright, was intended to cultivate those ennobling qualities of the human heart and mind which should distinguish them as a people in covenant with God, both their keeper and liberator, to bless them with rest from the works of their bondage, and with peace on account of His jealous love and care.
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.Exo. 31:12-18
THE SABBATH AND THE SANCTUARY
The command to keep the Sabbath was included already in the decalogue, and there is therefore some special meaning in the repetition of the command in this place. Coming as it does at the conclusion of the instructions respecting the Tabernacle, it is evident that the intention was to teach the connection which existed between these great institutions. We observe
I. Both exist to the same divine end. What is the end of the sanctuary? That man may come near to Godthat he may worship God. All understand this. The sanctuary does not exist to any merely intellectual or physical end, but it is the place where our spiritual nature is to be instructed and purified and blessed by communion with the Holy Spirit (Psa. 27:4). What is the end of the Sabbath? Precisely that of the sanctuary. Many entertain the idea that the grand end of the Sabbath is physical restthat this is one of its purposes is quite true, but it by no means exhausts the meaning of the day; neither is the grand end of it intellectualvisiting picture galleries and science lectures, &c; its grand object is spiritual. The Sabbath is primarily intended to free man from bodily toil and secular care, that he may give his earnest attention to his spiritual nature. The sanctuary and the Sabbath have one purpose, and that is religious and holy.
II. Both are alike essential for the accomplishment of that end. They cannot be divorced.
1. If the public worship of God is neglected the Sabbath will soon be secularised. The Sabbath has a divine basis, and when God ceases to be recognised and worshipped, this day will no longer retain its spell.
2. If the Sabbath is secularised, religious worship will soon cease. If we spend some hours of the sacred day frivolously, how seriously it impairs our worship in the temple! When society give up the Sabbath to physical and intellectual pleasures, it will give up its God and His worship soon after. Some who are fully persuaded of the importance of the sanctuary and its services, have very loose views on the keeping of the Sabbath. It is greatly to be deplored. The Sabbath is the main pillar in the temple of God, and if it comes down the whole fabric of divinity comes down with it.
III. Both are alike of absolute and perpetual obligation. We know that the worship of God is of strict and perpetual obligation, and thus is the Sabbath. Read the text. And Christ did not revoke or modify the obligation of keeping this day to high and holy ends.
Lessons:
1. We see the wickedness of those who would secularise the Sabbath. It would shock us if some profane man made a stable of a church; it ought not to shock us less to see Gods holy day profaned to worldly ends. Anti-Sabbatarianism is essentially atheistic.
2. We see the mistake of those who seem to think that having worshipped they may spend the remainder of the Sabbath in worldliness and pleasure.
3. We see the error of those who think that doing religious work justifies certain forms of Sabbath desecration. The Israelites had a great work to do in building the Tabernacle, but they were not to build it on the Sabbath; and we must all take care that the work of the Sabbath which we call unavoidable is really so.
4. We see the error of those who think they have kept the Sabbath when they rest from their work, but who absent themselves from the house of God.
ILLUSTRATIONS
BY
REV. WM. ADAMSON
Mosaic-Mines! Exo. 31:1-18.
(1.) The face of Nature, says Macmillan, is everywhere written over with Divine characters, which he who runs may read. But beside the more obvious lessons which lie, as it were, in the surface of the earth, and which suggest themselves to us often when least disposed for inquiry or reflection, there are more recondite lessons which she teaches to those who make her structure arrangements their special study, and who penetrate to her secret arcana. And those, who read her great volume, passing on leaf after leaf, to the quiet and sober chapters of the interior, will find in these internal details revelations of the deepest interest.
(2.) It is even so with the Bible. In the New Testament, we have a rich robe of vegetation adorning the surface, the beauties of tree and flower, forest, hill and river, and the ever-changing splendours of the sky. In the psalms and prophets we walk amid the beauty of gardens and ornamented parterres, where every-thing thrills with their beauty and fragrance. But in the pentateuch, we descend, as it were, into the crust of the earth. We lose sight of all these upper-air glories; but we find new objects to compensate ustruths written with the finger of Godlessons on the deep things of Goddiamonds which sparkle when brought up within the sphere of the Sun of Righteousness, who has risen with healing in His wings.
Full many a gem of purest ray serene,
The dark, unfathomed caves of ocean bear.
Gray.
Sabbath-Storm! Exo. 31:12-15. Owing to the length of the winter and the shortness of the summer on the Swiss mountains of Jura, it is of great importance for the peasantry to preserve their hay; otherwise the cattle would starve. One Lords Day, when the hay was just in the finest condition for taking up, the sons of an old man who feared God and honoured His Sabbaths, proposed to go and cut it. He admonished them for the wickedness of such desecration; but they persisted and went. Just as they had cut it down, a sudden and terrible storm broke over their heads, the rain poured down from the thunderclouds in torrents, and the hay was soon completely destroyed. Returning home drenched and dispirited, the sainted patriarch replied: My sons, learn from this to respect the commandments of God.
I do regret Gods day among the hills,
Spent in wild wandrings in His world so fair;
Warmed by the sunshine which His mercy fills,
Swept by His mighty wings when storms were there;
When I passed by the churchs sacred door,
And left His people all within once more.
Sabbath-Significance! Exo. 31:16. In addition to other important ends, the Sabbath was intended to be an ever-recurring symbol of heaven, and a prophecy of the rest that remaineth for the people of God. It is thus explained at large by inspired writers, and by those who accept the Bible as from God this statement will not be questioned. It is not essential to our purpose to determine whether or not this institution be still binding upon the Christian Church. But it is clear as a sunbeam that, as positive institution, prophetic type, or soothing symbol, the Sabbath has graven its name on the very heart of Christianity. Its sweet voice is heard in her hymus and psalms of praise. To unnumbered millions of her children it is the only practical foretaste of that blessed rest which it foreshadows, and which the servants of God anticipate with longing hearts.
Day of all the week the best,
Emblem of eternal rest.
Testimony-Tables! Exo. 31:18. The learned author of Earths Lessons says, it was on tables of stone that Gods finger traced the unerring and unchanging moral law. The same handwriting may be recognised in the masses of rock from which these very tables were constructed. We can trace the universality of Divine law throughout all the successive creations of the earththroughout all the time worlds, as throughout all the space worlds, in geology as in astronomy. That divinely universal law is unity of force amidst diversity of phenomenaunity of plan amidst diversity of expression. And thus, amid all the varying operations of His hands and dispensations of His Providence, we find Him to be without variableness or shadow of turning.
Oh! Thou Almighty, throned above the stars,
In light eternal, which no darkness mars,
From where Thy bright pavilion is unfurled
Thou lookest on the sorrows of the world;
Thine is the kingdom, Thine is power and might,
Directing day, and ruling in the night.
Divine Finger! Exo. 31:18.
(1.) Before Moses first went up to the Mount it was the voice of God which he heard repeating the decalogue; now he sees the finger of God writing the same. By finger some understand the power of God, as in Exo. 8:19; others conceive the Spirit of God, as in Luk. 11:29. No doubt both are right; and the Holy Spirit by the power of God wrote the tablets.
(2.) Both as spoken by Gods own voice, and as written on the rock by Gods own finger, these commandments stand forth alone. Their supreme importance is sufficiently betokened by their prominence in the forefront of all the Mosaic ordinances and Levitical ceremonies, and by their promulgation so directly and entirely Divine. Gods finger gave to man those ten jewels of purity
As an eagle from the waters
Rising plumes his feathers bright,
Shaking diamonds as he soareth
Upwards in the sunny light.
Decalogue-Restoration! Exo. 31:18.
(1.) This magnificent memorial was designed by God to stand up amid the ages in full clear outline, like the Egyptian pyramids, free from external growth of any kind. But during the subsequent centuries the grand pillars disappeared. True, it stood, but a jungle of weeds and creepers had sprung up around it. Instead of insisting on the simplicity of the decalogue, the Pharisees and Syrian scholiasts planted creepers round it, so that these growing up soon hid the Memorial-Thoughts of God amongst scarves and hems, washing of pots, and tithes of mint and cummin.
(2.) It was reserved for the Lord Jesus to destroy this desolating overgrowth. With the Sword of the Spirit in His Sermon on the Mount He cleared away this noisome tangle, until the Memorial-Truths of God again flashed forth to view, and beholders were astonished at their majesty. Nay, He did more. As the restoration of ancient fabrics brings out again the old lines of carving and sculpture; so did the Restorer of the decalogue fill out the law, and bring its sayings into stronger relief: Thou shalt love the Lord thy God; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
When Moses stood upon the hill,
The land with storms was trembling still;
As Jesus speaks from the hillside,
All is with sunshine glorified:
The Saviour preaches on the Mount.
Gerok.
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
THE LAW OF THE SABBATH DECLARED ANEW UNDER A PENAL SANCTION.
(12-17) The worship of the tabernacle was so closely connected with Sabbatical observance (Lev. 19:30), that no surprise can be felt at a recurrence to the subject in the present place. It was not only that there might be a danger of zealous men breaking the Sabbatical rest in their eagerness to hasten forward the work of construction now required of them. The re-enactment of the Law might serve to check this tendency if it existed; but clearly the present passage is not specially directed to so narrow an object. It is altogether general in its aim and teaching. It re-enacts the law of the Sabbath (1) under a new sanction; and (2) with new light in its intention and value. Hitherto the Sabbath had been, in the main, a positive enactment intended to test obedience (Exo. 16:4); now it was elevated into a sacramental sign between God and His people (Exo. 31:13). Having become such a sign, it required to be guarded by a new sanction, and this was done by assigning the death-penalty to any infraction of the law of Sabbath observance (Exo. 31:14-15).
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
THE SABBATH LAW, Exo 31:12-17.
13. My sabbaths ye shall keep How repeatedly the sanctity of the sabbath day is affirmed! In Exo 20:8-11, (where see notes,) we have it formally enjoined in the decalogue . In Exo 23:12, it is again set forth in connexion with the law of the sabbatic year, and so again and again throughout the Pentateuch . In Exo 35:2-3, it introduces the account of the preparations for building the tabernacle, as if resuming the narrative broken off at the conclusion of this chapter to introduce the account of the idolatry of the people at Sinai . Hence it has been supposed that a special reason for the emphasizing of the sabbath law in this connexion was to deter the people from labour on the tabernacle on that day, which in their zeal to complete the sanctuary they might have presumed to do, even in violation of the former commandment . The expression my sabbaths gives emphasis to the thought that the weekly sabbath was a peculiar treasure of Jehovah .
It is a sign Old as the creation, (comp . Exo 31:17 and Gen 2:2-3, and note on Exo 20:11,) and a constant reminder that God and his people may enjoy a common rest.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
The Sign of the Sabbath ( Exo 31:12-17 ).
The final response and mark of loyalty and worship is found in the newly established Sabbath (Exo 16:23; Exo 16:25-26; Exo 16:29; Exo 20:8-11; Exo 23:10-13). This divided time up for Israel into periods of seven days, something unique in the ancient world. Time was usually measured in terms of the moon (moon periods of 28/29 days long) or the sun (in term of keeping the seasons in line). This measurement of time directly connected them with Yahweh and His activity. They were uniquely Yahweh’s people. Time would also later be divided up into seven year periods, the seventh year of such being a kind of Sabbath (Lev 25:1-7), and into ‘seven times seven’ periods which ended in the year of Yubile (Lev 25:8 ff). The ‘fiftieth year’ was not, however, the year that followed the forty-ninth year, for it commenced on the seventh month. It thus presumably covered the last half of the forty-ninth year and the first half of the following first year. It did not therefore break the sequence of sevens.
a Moses is to speak to the children of Israel saying that they must keep His Sabbaths
b For this is a sign between Him and Israel throughout their generations, that they may know that He is Yahweh Who sanctifies them
c They shall keep the Sabbath for it is holy to them. Whoever does any work in it will be cut off from among his people
d Six days shall work be done, but on the seventh is a day of solemn rest
d It is holy to Yahweh. Whoever does any work on the Sabbath day will surely be put to death
c For this reason the children of Israel will keep the Sabbath throughout their generations for a perpetual covenant
b It is a sign between Him and the children of Israel for ever
a For in six days Yahweh made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day He ceased work and was refreshed.
Note that in ‘a’ the children of Israel are to keep Yahweh’s Sabbaths, and in the parallel it is because in six days He made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day He ceased from work and was refreshed. In ‘b’ it is a sign between Him and the children of Israel throughout their generations, while in the parallel it is a sign between them for ever. In ‘c’ they are to keep the Sabbath because it is holy to them, and in the parallel they are to keep it throughout their generations for a perpetual covenant. In ‘d’ the stress is on ceasing work on the seventh day, while in the parallel it is holy so that whoever works on it will be put to death.
Exo 31:12-13
‘And Yahweh spoke to Moses saying, “Speak also to the children of Israel, saying, Truly you shall keep my sabbaths. For it is a sign between me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I am Yahweh who sanctifies you.”
The offering of incense on the incense altar was evidence of the people’s loyalty and devotion, the payment of the ransom on the numbering of Israel was a further mark of loyalty and we now come to the third mark of loyalty, the Sabbath. This has been recently established to act as a sign whereby all men may know that Israel are His people and loyally serve Him, and as a sign whereby they may themselves recognise that they are His and come to know Him more fully. Every time the Sabbath came round they would recognise that they had been set apart by God as His people and would by God’s grace come to know it fully in their hearts. And like the offering of the incense this was to be so through many generations.
The mention of the Sabbath here was especially apposite as the temptation might have been for the work to continue on the Sabbath because it was ‘God’s work’. But the warning is clear. Nothing justifies the ignoring of the Sabbath because of its deep significance.
Exo 31:14-15
“You shall therefore keep the sabbath, for it is holy to you. Everyone who profanes it will surely be put to death. For whoever does any work in it, that person shall be cut off from among his people. Six days shall work be done, but on the seventh day is a sabbath of solemn rest, holy to Yahweh. Whoever does any work on the sabbath day, he shall surely be put to death.”
The importance and solemnity of the sabbath is stressed. No work at all must be done on it (other than the minimum necessary to ensure the wellbeing of their flocks and herds). It is a holy day, and to work on it would profane it. For it is a reminder of God’s rest in creation (Exo 31:17). Thus it applied to all who lived among His people. The complete ban was a boon for all hired workers and bondmen. Even they could not work on the sabbath, and no ingenuity of man could get around it. It was a total ban. And it was a sign that Israel were Yahweh’s people. It was a sign of the covenant, of which it was a part, and of their observance of it. And all who were within that covenant were promised that they would find rest.
“ A sabbath of solemn rest.” It was a reminder of the rest He was going to give them in Canaan (Deu 12:9-10; Deu 25:19), and of the eternal rest that He will give to His own (Heb 4:1; Heb 4:3; Heb 4:9-10).
The warning of death for breaching the Sabbath was an indication that it was a new ordinance, which was why it had to be so solemnly enforced (compare Gen 17:14). And the reason for the severe penalty was that a deliberate breaching of the Sabbath would be a deliberate rejection of the covenant, and thus if Israel did not act to punish it they would be seen as participating in the rejection of the covenant.
Exo 31:16-17
“For this reason the children of Israel shall keep the sabbath, to observe the sabbath throughout their generations, for a perpetual covenant. It is a sign between me and the children of Israel for ever. For in six days Yahweh made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested and took breath.”
So this was the reason why His people should keep the Sabbath into the distant future. Because it was the sign of God’s perpetual covenant with them as declared at Sinai. As the rainbow was a reminder of God’s covenant with the world through Noah (Gen 9:12-17), and as circumcision was the sign of God’s covenant with Abraham and his wider family (Gen 17:11), so the Sabbath was a sign of God’s covenant recently made with Israel. And by observing the Sabbath they were giving the continual sign that they had accepted that covenant and were maintaining their special relationship with God for ever. And it was a mutual sign, for as they were to rest on the Sabbath day, so He also had rested on the Sabbath day. Thus their resting on it demonstrated their new special relationship with their Creator. They were following in His footsteps.
“ For in six yom Yahweh made heaven and earth.” The revealed pattern of creation (Genesis 1) has been over six God-periods, followed by rest. This was to be the pattern of Israel’s way of living, continual periods of divine fulfilment.
“ He rested and took breath.” This anthropomorphism is rather expressing what benefit they will receive from the Sabbath day. All knew that when someone ceased work and rested, they were refreshed (compare Exo 23:12). They were able to take breath on the Sabbath, just as Yahweh had done after creation.
This idiom has passed over into English. If we want to stop someone from some hectic activity we ask, ‘when are you going to take a breather?’ What we simply mean is ‘when are you going to stop?’.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
The Law of the Sabbath Exo 31:12-18 describes the Law of the Sabbath in which the Israelites were to rest on the seventh day from their works.
Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures
Concerning the Celebration of the Sabbath
v. 12. And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, v. 13. Speak thou also unto the children of Israel, saying, Verily, My Sabbaths ye shall keep; for it is a sign between Me and you throughout your generations, that ye may know that I am the Lord that doth sanctify you. v. 14. Ye shall keep the Sabbath therefore, v. 15. Six days may work be done; but in the seventh is the Sabbath of rest, v. 16. Wherefore the children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath to observe the Sabbath throughout their generations, v. 17. It is a sign between Me and the children of Israel forever, v. 18. And He
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
Bezaleel and Aholiab.
The calling of these two craftsmen for the work of the sanctuary, and the statement concerning Bezaleel that Jehovah had “filled him with the spirit of God, in wisdom, and in understanding, and in knowledge, and in all manner of workmanship” (Exo 31:3), suggest various important lessons. On the distinction of the terms”wisdom,” “understanding,” “knowledge,” see the exposition, and consult the valuable notes on Eph 1:8, Col 1:9, in the Bishop of Durham’s Commentaries. The general moral is, that when God has any important work to be done, whether in Church or State, he will not fail to raise up, and in due time to “call by name,” the individuals needed for the doing of it. The preparatory training school or’ these individuals may be far removed from the scene of their future labours. Bezaleel and Aholiab were trained in Egypt. Of what is said in “From Log Cabin to White House” of Presidents Lincoln and Garfield, of the United States”Both of these statesmen were born in log-cabins, built by their fathers, in the wilderness, for family homes. Both were poor as mortals can well be. Both were born with talents of the highest order; but neither enjoyed early advantages of schools and teachers Both worked on a farm, chopped wood, and did whatever else was needful for a livelihood, when eight years of age,” etc. Thus God gifts, trains, prepares men, without a hint of the use to Which he means afterwards to put them. Till the event discloses it, the honour in reserve for them is kept a secret, even from themselves. The Genesis is polished in obscurity by the master’s hand. Ultimately it is brought to light, and astonishes the beholders by the rare finish of its beauty. The tabernacle was built with the spoils of the Egyptians in more senses than one. More special lessons are the following
I. ALL GIFTS ARE FROM GOD. Not simply gifts of intellect, of oratory, of holiness, of spiritual understanding, but gifts of every kind, from the highest to the lowest. Grace, in the case of Bezaleel, Aholiab, and their fellow-craftsmen, proceeded on a basis of natural endowment. Cf. verse 6″into the hearts of all that are wise hearted I have put wisdom.” Skill in handicraft is a species of mental excellence, and deserves the name “wisdom.” It, also, is from God. So with all natural talents; with, e.g; the pectic gift; gifts of music, painting, sculpture, architecture; business faculty; the gift of statesmanship; the power to “think out inventions”; the skill of the artificer. This truth lies at the basis of the demand for a religious use of gifts.
II. NATURAL GIFTS ADMIT OF INDEFINITE EXPANSION AND ENLARGEMENT UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF GOD‘S SPIRIT. The workers in the tabernacle were supernaturally assisted in their work. Nothing less than this is implied in the words”And I have filled him with the spirit of God” (verse 3); “into the hearts of all that are wise hearted I have put wisdom” (verse 6). Grace aids nature. Regeneration is often accompanied by a mysterious and almost miraculous improvement in the powers of knowledge, so much so that, from a state of stolid imbecility, a person may be seen rising up and standing forth an acute argumentative pleader for the truth. What holds good of the general invigoration of the powers, may be expected to apply in the particular. Dedication of self carries with it dedication of gifts. And if an individual dedicates to God any special gift which he possesses, seeking, whether in the Church or in pursuit of an ordinary calling, to use the same for God’s glory, it will be his privilege to have it aided, strengthened, purified, and largely enhanced in its operations by the influences of Divine grace. The commonest work will thus be better done, if done in the spirit of prayer. And so with the noblest. Milton speaks of his great epic as a work “not to be raised from the heat of youth, or the vapours of wine, like that which flows at waste from the pea of some vulgar amourist or the trencher-fury of a rhyming parasitenor to be obtained by invocation of Dame Memory and her siren daughter, but by devout prayer to that Eternal Spirit who can enrich with all utterance and knowledge, and sends out his seraphim, with the hallowed fire of his altar, to touch and purify the lips of whom he pleases.”
III. RELIGION SANCTIFIES LABOUR. The Bible is a text-book of instruction on the dignity of labour. It has no sympathy with the contemptible foppishness which looks on labour as degrading. It includes labour in religion. It sees in the occupation of the humblest handicraftsman the exercise of a Divine gift. The good man who, whether he eats or drinks, or whatsoever he does, does all to the glory of God (1Co 10:31) does not demean himself by an honest calling, but transfigures his calling into part of his service to his Maker. In his case, laborare est orate. The shewbread on the table in the sanctuary was a recognition of the sacredness of labour. It had as one of its meanings the dedication to God of the exercise of the calling by which Israel won its daily bread. So manual labour was sanctified to God in the making of the tabernacle. But it was reserved for Christianity to give the crowning proof of the dignity of labour by showing it ennobled and glorified in the person of its Founder. The fathers of the Christian Church, in contrast with the Greeks and Romans, who looked on artisans and barbarians with contemptuous disgust, preached in their noblest tones the duty and dignity of honourable toil. “The proudest bishops were not ashamed to dig; a Benedict worked six hours a day with hoe and spade; a Becket helped regularly to reap the fields. The monks at once practised labour, and ennobled and protected it. The towns and the middle classes grew up under their shelter. Laborare est orate became the motto of Christian life”.
IV. THE HIGHEST USE OF GIFTS IS TO DEDICATE THEM TO THE SERVICE OF GOD IN THE WORK OF HIS CHURCH. Transformed by grace, and employed in the service of religion, gifts become graces”Charismata.” All labour, all gifts, admit of being thus devoted. The handicrafts can still bring their tribute to God, if in no higher way, in the erection of places for his worship. Art can labour in the adornment of the sanctuary (cf. Ps 60:13). The service of praise affords scope for the utilisation of gifts of music, vocal and instrumental. There is need for care lest art, ministering to the worship of God, should overpower devotion; but, considered in itself, there need be no jealousy of the introduction of the tasteful and beautiful into God’s service. It is meet that the Giver of gifts should be served with the best our gifts can yield. Earthly callings may minister to God’s kingdom in another way, by bringing of their lawful gains and laying them at Christ’s feet. There is, besides, the private consecration of gifts to God, as in the case of Dorcas, making coats and garments for the poor (Act 9:39), or as in the case of a Miss Havergal, or an Ira D. Sankey, consecrating to God a gift of song. Minor lessons taught are
(1) Gifts are not all alike, yet God can use all.
(2) Some are made to lead, others to serve and follow, in the work of God’s kingdom. We glorify God most when unambitiously content to fill our own place; when not envious of the greater gifts of others. The humblest is needed. Bezaleel could ill have dispensed with the artificers; Aholiab, with the needle-workers. They in turn needed the master minds to direct them. There should be no jealousy among those engaged in the same work (cf. 1Co 12:1-31.).
(3) Diversity of gifts gives rise to division of labour.
(4) Bezaleel and Aholiab, though of different tribes (Judah and Dan), wrought together as friends, were not opposed as rivals. What kept out the spirit of rivalry was the consciousness that both were working in a sacred cause, and for God’s glory, not their own. The feeling that we are working for Christ should keep down dissensions among Christians.J.O.
Fuente: The Complete Pulpit Commentary
Some have thought, that the repeating the commandment respecting the sabbath in this place, was with this intention; lest the children of Israel should suppose, that while building the tabernacle, which was now to be set about, they might, as it was God’s work, go on with the continuance of the work on God’s day. Hence they were taught, that even the works for God must not break in upon the holy day of God. Oh! how much to be wished is it, that Christians would remember this!
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Exo 31:12 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
Ver. 12. And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying. ] See on Exo 31:1 .
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Reciprocal: Joh 5:10 – it is not
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
SABBATH KEEPING
And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speak thou also unto the children of Israel, saying, Verily My Sabbaths ye shall keep, etc.
Exo 31:12-13
From the moment in which He created man, God required that one day in seven should be consecrated to Himself; and however this requisition may have formed the basis for much that is peculiar in the Jewish economy, the requisition itself must belong to all ages.
I. The Fourth Commandment differs from every other in the Decalogue in that it is not the authoritative publication of a law which might have been ascertained by natural religion. It is a sign, high, clear, and beautiful as the rainbow, that God is not unmindful of this earth, and has made known to it His will, and watches over its history.
II. The keeping of a Sabbath was a sign or symbol by which the Israelites might know what God they worshipped, even a God that could sanctify His worshippers.
III. The Commandment decides the proportion of time that we are to devote to God. After every six days of labour there is to be a solemn rest.
IV. By keeping the Sabbath the Israelites acknowledged Jehovah as Creator, and commemorated their deliverance from Egypt. We do the same in keeping the Christian Sabbath. As amongst the Jews the Sabbath was made to fall on the day of their deliverance from Pharaoh, so amongst the Christians it should fall on the day when their redemption was completed. With the Jews the Sabbath was a sign that their God had vanquished the Egyptians, divided the Red Sea, and led the nation to Canaan; with us it is a sign that our God hath defeated Satan, cleft the waters of death, and opened a way to the heavenly Canaan.
Canon H. Melvill.
Illustration
(1) The rest-day gives us the time to take our bearings, and discover our latitude and longitude; to let the dazzle pass from our eyes, that we may see the eternal forms that rise majestically around our little life. To worship, to think, to pray, to help others, to hold converse with the great past and greater future, these ought to have a place in each Lords Day.
(2) That we now keep the first day rather than the last is in commemoration of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus; and the practice of the Early Church, as evidenced in the Acts and the Epistles, is a certain indication of the Divine sanction for the exchange. Of old, men passed from work to rest, now we go forth from rest to work.
(3) Let preachers boldly declare that the Fourth Commandment still binds. The pulpit has given an uncertain sound in many places, and it has been given forth that the Fourth Commandment only applied to the Jews. But the Sabbath was made for man, Christ said, not for the Jews. We need a great deal more instruction on that point.
Again, the whole principle of the Sabbath day has been misunderstood. People say that every day ought to be holy to the Lord, and so it should be; but six days a week we glorify God in work, and one day in rest.
Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary
10. The sign of the Sabbath 31:12-18
"As a sign of the Noahic covenant is the rainbow (Gen 9:13), and as the sign of the Abrahamic covenant is circumcision (Gen 17:11), the sign of the Mosaic covenant is the observance and celebration of the Sabbath day (Exo 31:13; Exo 31:17)." [Note: Youngblood, pp. 112-13. The sign of the New Covenant is the Lord’s Supper (Matthew 26:26-28; Mark 14:22-24; Luke 22:19-20; 1 Corinthians 11:23-25).]
God intended this sign to teach Israel and the other nations that as redeemed people the Israelites had already entered into a measure of rest. They were partakers of God’s rest.
Observance of the Sabbath was unique to Israel. It distinguished Israel from all other nations. So important was its observance that the Israelite who failed to observe it died (Exo 31:15). This sign was to continue throughout all succeeding generations (Exo 31:13) as long as God continued to work through Israel as His primary instrument (cf. Rom 10:4; Heb 9:10).
"The analogy between God’s work of Creation and Israel’s construction of the tabernacle is made explicit by the reference to the Sabbath at the close of the narrative." [Note: Sailhamer, The Pentateuch . . ., p. 309.]
Whereas God did not command Christians to observe the Sabbath, the Scriptures do teach the importance of periodic physical rest regardless of the dispensation in which we may live (cf. Mar 6:31; Mar 14:41; Rev 6:11).
"We don’t have to be servants twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week." [Note: John F. Alexander, "Sabbath Rest," The Other Side 146 (November 1983):8. See Jeffrey Siker-Gieseler, "The Theology of the Sabbath in the Old Testament: A Canonical Approach," Studia Biblica et Theologica 11:1 (April 1981):5-20, in which the author brought together and interpreted the references to the Sabbath in the Old Testament.]
This section concludes the record of what Moses received from God during the 40 days and nights he was in the mountain that began in Exo 25:1.
Moses wrote the instructions concerning the tabernacle so they parallel what he wrote about the Creation. Note some of the similarities in the narratives. [Note: Adapted from Sailhamer, The Pentateuch . . ., pp. 289-90, 306, 309.]
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Creation (Genesis 1-2) |
Tabernacle (Exodus 25-31) |
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The subject of the narrative is the establishment of God’s good creation. |
The subject of the narrative is the re-establishment of God’s good creation. |
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The heavens and earth are the arena for the creation of divine-human fellowship. |
The tabernacle is the arena for the restoration of divine-human fellowship. |
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God’s Spirit was the enabling power in creation (Gen 1:2 to Gen 2:3). |
God’s Spirit was the enabling power in the construction of the tabernacle (Exo 31:3; Exo 31:6). |
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Structurally the creation account consists of seven acts each marked by divine speech ("And God said," Gen 1:3; Gen 1:6; Gen 1:9; Gen 1:14; Gen 1:20; Gen 1:24; Gen 1:26). |
Structurally the tabernacle account consists of seven acts each introduced by divine speech ("And the LORD said," Exo 25:1; Exo 30:11; Exo 30:17; Exo 30:22; Exo 30:34; Exo 31:1; Exo 31:12). |
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God made Adam and Eve according to a specific pattern: the image of God (Gen 1:26-27). |
Moses made the tabernacle according to a specific pattern: a heavenly reality (Exo 25:9). |
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The Garden of Eden contained gold and jewels, and cherubim guarded it (Gen 2:12-12 b; Gen 3:24). |
The tabernacle contained gold and jewels, and cherubim guarded it (Exo 25:3; Exo 25:7; Exo 25:18). |
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When creation was complete, God inspected and evaluated all that He had done (Gen 1:31) and uttered a blessing (Gen 1:28). |
When the tabernacle was complete, Moses inspected and evaluated all that was done (Exo 39:43 a) and uttered a blessing (Exo 39:43 b). |
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God rested on the seventh day at the end of the creation narrative (Gen 2:1-3). |
God told the Israelites to rest on the seventh day at the end of the tabernacle narrative (Exo 31:12-18). |
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A fall followed the creation narrative (Genesis 3). |
A fall followed the tabernacle narrative (Exodus 32). |
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This fall resulted in the breaking of the Adamic Covenant (Gen 3:14-19). |
This fall resulted in the breaking of the Mosaic Covenant (Exo 33:1-5). |
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God covered Adam and Eve’s nakedness (Gen 3:21). |
God ordered the covering of the priests’ nakedness (Exo 28:42). |