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Exodus 16:13-30: And it came to pass, that at even the quails came
up, and covered the camp: and in the morning the dew lay round about the
host. And when the dew that lay was gone up, behold, upon the face of
the wilderness there lay a small round thing, as small as the hoar frost
on the ground. And when the children of Israel saw it, they said one to
another, It is manna: for they wist not what it was. And Moses said unto
them, This is the bread which the LORD hath given you to eat. This is
the thing which the LORD hath commanded, Gather of it every man
according to his eating, an omer for every man, according to the number
of your persons; take ye every man for them which are in his tents. And
the children of Israel did so, and gathered, some more, some less. And
when they did mete it with an omer, he that gathered much had nothing
over, and he that gathered little had no lack; they gathered every man
according to his eating. And Moses said, Let no man leave of it till the
morning. Notwithstanding they hearkened not unto Moses; but some of them
left of it until the morning, and it bred worms, and stank: and Moses
was wroth with them. And they gathered it every morning, every man
according to his eating: and when the sun waxed hot, it melted.
And it came to pass, that
on the sixth day they gathered twice as much bread, two omers for one
man: and all the rulers of the congregation came and told Moses. And he
said unto them, This is that which the LORD hath said, To morrow is the
rest of the holy sabbath unto the LORD: bake that which ye will bake to
day, and seethe that ye will seethe; and that which remaineth over lay
up for you to be kept until the morning. And they laid it up till the
morning, as Moses bade: and it did not stink, neither was there any worm
therein. And Moses said, Eat that to day; for to day is a sabbath unto
the LORD: to day ye shall not find it in the field. Six days ye shall
gather it; but on the seventh day, which is the sabbath, in it there
shall be none. And it came to pass, that there went out some of the
people on the seventh day for to gather, and they found none. And the
LORD said unto Moses, How long refuse ye to keep my commandments and my
laws? See, for that the LORD hath given you the sabbath, therefore he
giveth you on the sixth day the bread of two days; abide ye every man in
his place, let no man go out of his place on the seventh day.So the
people rested on the seventh day.
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From the LDS BIBLE DICTIONARY - Feasts
In addition to these annual feasts, there were the weekly Sabbaths to be
observed, commemorating God’s rest from creation, and also the
redemption from bondage in Egypt (Deuteronomy 5: 15). On these days the
daily sacrifices were doubled, the loaves of the shewbread were changed,
and the people abstained from all manner of work and a holy assembly was
held. See Sabbath.
From the LDS BIBLE DICTIONARY - Sabbath
Instituted to commemorate God's seventh day of rest at the Creation
(Exodus 20:10-11), and also the redemption from Egyptian bondage
(Deuteronomy 5:15). On the Sabbath the daily sacrifices were doubled;
the loaves of the shewbread were changed; the people abstained from all
manner of work, and it was a day of holy assembly.
The Sabbath was a holy day before the giving of the law, even from the
earliest times (cf. the account of the creation - Genesis 2:2-3; the
sacredness of the number 7; the narrative of the manna - Exodus
16:32-36; cf. v. 34); but we have no evidence of its observance in
patriarchal times. This is no doubt due to the scantiness of the record,
for the Sabbath is an eternal principle, and would have existed from the
days of Adam, whenever the gospel was on the earth among men.
After the return from the exile Nehemiah made the observance of the
Sabbath one of the chief points of his reformation (10:31; 13:15-22),
and the strictness with which it was kept by the Jews became a
well-known fact. In course of time many regulations grew up, and were
observed by the Pharisees. One of the charges frequently brought against
our Lord was that of Sabbath breaking, but this was because he failed to
conform to the traditions and manmade regulations concerning the
Sabbath. Jesus obeyed the letter and the spirit of the Sabbath, but was
not obligated to follow the traditions of the elders of the Jews.
After the ascension of Christ, the members of the Church, whether Jews
or gentiles, kept holy the first day of the week (the Lord's day) as a
weekly commemoration of our Lord's resurrection (Acts 20:7; 1
Corinthians 16:2; Revelation 1:10); and by degrees the observance of the
seventh day was discontinued.
The importance of a sacred day for man to rest from his temporal labors,
contemplate the word of the Lord, and assemble for public worship is a
major item in a person's spiritual development. Furthermore, decay in
the national religious life always follows any tendency toward
carelessness in the matter of Sabbath observance. The existence of a
weekly holy day is a most important safeguard; it leaves a constant
reminder to the individual of his need for spiritual sustenance and his
duty before God, and serves as a witness to the world that there is such
a thing as revealed religion.
The change from observing the last day of the week to the first day of
the week is not so important as is the concept and principle of the
Sabbath. In either case, the Sabbath was symbolic of the mighty works of
God, i.e., the creation of the earth, the deliverance of Israel from
Egypt, and the resurrection of Jesus from the dead.
From the LDS BIBLE DICTIONARY - Sabbath Day's Journey:
The distance it was supposed that the law allowed a man to walk on the
Sabbath; the rabbis, by means of a forced and unnatural interpretation
of Ex. 16:29, fixed this at 2,000 cubits, being the distance between the
Ark and the people during the march in the wilderness (Josh. 3:4), and
also, according to tradition, the distance between the tabernacle and
the furthest part of the camp. Cf. Acts 1:12.
From EASTON'S BIBLE DICTIONARY: Sabbath day's journey
- supposed to be a distance of 2,000 cubits, or less than half-a-mile,
the distance to which, according to Jewish tradition, it was allowable
to travel on the Sabbath day without violating the law (Acts 1:12; comp.
Ex. 16:29; Num. 35:5; Josh. 3:4).
From EASTON'S BIBLE DICTIONARY - Sabbath
Sabbath - (Heb. verb shabbath, meaning "to rest from labour"), the day
of rest. It is first mentioned as having been instituted in Paradise,
when man was in innocence (Genesis 2:2). "The sabbath was made for man,"
as a day of rest and refreshment for the body and of blessing to the
soul.
It is next referred to in connection with the gift of manna to the
children of Israel in the wilderness (Exodus 16:23); and afterwards,
when the law was given from Sinai (20:11), the people were solemnly
charged to "remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy." Thus it is
spoken of as an institution already existing.
In the Mosaic law strict regulations were laid down regarding its
observance (Exodus 35:2, 3; Leviticus 23:3; 26:34). These were peculiar
to that dispensation.
In the subsequent history of the Jews frequent references are made to
the sanctity of the Sabbath (Isaiah 56:2, 4, 6, 7; 58:13, 14; Jeremiah
17:20-22; Nehemiah 13:19). In later times they perverted the Sabbath by
their traditions. Our Lord rescued it from their perversions, and
recalled to them its true nature and intent (Matthew 12:10-13; Mark
2:27; Luke 13:10-17).
The Sabbath, originally instituted for man at his creation, is of
permanent and universal obligation. The physical necessities of man
require a Sabbath of rest. He is so constituted that his bodily welfare
needs at least one day in seven for rest from ordinary labour.
Experience also proves that the moral and spiritual necessities of men
also demand a Sabbath of rest. "I am more and more sure by experience
that the reason for the observance of the Sabbath lies deep in the
everlasting necessities of human nature, and that as long as man is man
the blessedness of keeping it, not as a day of rest only, but as a day
of spiritual rest, will never be annulled. I certainly do feel by
experience the eternal obligation, because of the eternal necessity, of
the Sabbath. The soul withers without it. It thrives in proportion to
its observance. The Sabbath was made for man. God made it for men in a
certain spiritual state because they needed it. The need, therefore, is
deeply hidden in human nature. He who can dispense with it must be holy
and spiritual indeed. And he who, still unholy and unspiritual, would
yet dispense with it is a man that would fain be wiser than his Maker"
(F. W. Robertson).
The ancient Babylonian calendar, as seen from recently recovered
inscriptions on the bricks among the ruins of the royal palace, was
based on the division of time into weeks of seven days. The Sabbath is
in these inscriptions designated Sabattu, and defined as "a day of rest
for the heart" and "a day of completion of labour."
The change of the day. Originally at creation the seventh day of the
week was set apart and consecrated as the Sabbath. The first day of the
week is now observed as the Sabbath. Has God authorized this change?
There is an obvious distinction between the Sabbath as an institution
and the particular day set apart for its observance. The question,
therefore, as to the change of the day in no way affects the perpetual
obligation of the Sabbath as an institution. Change of the day or no
change, the Sabbath remains as a sacred institution the same. It cannot
be abrogated.
If any change of the day has been made, it must have been by Christ or
by his authority. Christ has a right to make such a change (Mark
2:23-28). As Creator, Christ was the original Lord of the Sabbath (John
1:3; Hebrews 1:10). It was originally a memorial of creation. A work
vastly greater than that of creation has now been accomplished by him,
the work of redemption. We would naturally expect just such a change as
would make the Sabbath a memorial of that greater work.
True, we can give no text authorizing the change in so many words. We
have no express law declaring the change. But there are evidences of
another kind. We know for a fact that the first day of the week has been
observed from apostolic times, and the necessary conclusion is, that it
was observed by the apostles and their immediate disciples. This, we may
be sure, they never would have done without the permission or the
authority of their Lord.
After his resurrection, which took place on the first day of the week
(Matthew 28:1; Mark 16:2; Luke 24:1; John 20:1), we never find Christ
meeting with his disciples on the seventh day. But he specially honoured
the first day by manifesting himself to them on four separate occasions
(Matthew 28:9; Luke 24:34, 18-33; John 20:19-23). Again, on the next
first day of the week, Jesus appeared to his disciples (John 20:26).
Some have calculated that Christ's ascension took place on the first day
of the week. And there can be no doubt that the descent of the Holy
Ghost at Pentecost was on that day (Acts 2:1). Thus Christ appears as
instituting a new day to be observed by his people as the Sabbath, a day
to be henceforth known amongst them as the "Lord's day." The observance
of this "Lord's day" as the Sabbath was the general custom of the
primitive churches, and must have had apostolic sanction (comp. Acts
20:3-7; 1 Corinthians 16:1, 2) and authority, and so the sanction and
authority of Jesus Christ.
The words "at her sabbaths" (Lamentations 1:7, A.V.) ought probably to
be, as in the Revised Version, "at her desolations."
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