Exodus 20:11

Whythe sabbath is to be observed. The reason is based upon Genesis 2:3, cf. Exodus 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 causeof the Sabbath, but the resultof 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 Deuteronomy 5:15, see p. 192.

rested This is the word nûaḥ, meaning relaxation, referred to on v.8: cf. Exodus 23:12 b, Deuteronomy 5:14 b; and for the thought Exodus 31:17 b (-desisted, and was refreshed"). (In Genesis 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 (Exodus 23:12 E; Exodus 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 (Amos 8:5), and holidays (2 Kings 4:22-23); Hosea (Exodus 2:11), and Isaiah (Exodus 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 Ezekiel 31:13) the observance of the sabbath is repeatedly insisted on: cf. a little later Isaiah 56:2; Isaiah 56:4; Isaiah 56:6; Isaiah 58:13 f., and (in the ideal future) Isaiah 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 (Ezekiel 45:17; Ezekiel 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 (Genesis 2:2-3; Exodus 31:17); it is to be observed (Leviticus 23:3) by a -holy convocation," or religious gathering; additional sacrifice (viz. double those offered on ordinary days) are prescribed for it (Numbers 28:8 f.); and death is the penalty imposed (Exodus 31:15), and exacted (Numbers 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 shabattumis 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.