Deuteronomy 5:15

Verse Deuteronomy 5:15. And remember that thou wast a servant] In this and the latter clause of the preceding verse Moses adds another reason why one day in seven should be sanctified, viz., that the servants might rest, and this is urged upon them on the consideration of their having been servants in the land of Egypt. We see therefore that God had three grand ends in view by appointing a Sabbath.

1. To commemorate the creation.

2. To give a due proportion of rest to man and beast. When in Egypt they had no rest; their cruel task-masters caused them to labour without intermission; now God had given rest, and as he had showed them mercy, he teaches them to show mercy to their servants: Remember that thou wast a servant.

3. To afford peculiar spiritual advantages to the soul, that it might be kept in remembrance of the rest which remains at the right hand of God.

Therefore the Lord thy God commanded thee to keep the Sabbath day.] Here is a variation in the manner of expression, Sabbath day for seventh, owing, it is supposed, to a change of the day at the exodus from Sunday to Saturday, effected upon the gathering of the manna, Exodus 16:23. The Sabbath now became a twofold memorial of the deliverance, as well as of the creation; and this accounts for the new reason assigned for its observance: "Therefore the Lord thy God commanded thee to keep the Sabbath day." See Dr. A. BAYLEY'S Hebr. and Eng. Bible, and Exodus 16:23.