“Nobody kept the Sabbath until Mount Sinai when Moses was given the 10 Commandments!”
And…
“The Sabbath was made for the Jews!”
As Christians, we hear that above statements all the time don’t we. But I think it noteworthy that what The Bible actually says appears to be more specific. It actually says;
“The Sabbath was made for man.”
Note; it does not say the Sabbath was made for God, it was made for MAN – and doesn’t ‘man’ here mean mankind? I’m only asking the question and giving you a plain reading of the text. Keep in mind that the words God uses in The Bible – not telling you what’s right and wrong!
By the way, I would NOT use NIV’s or modern translations to study this matter please – as I’m sorry to say that in keeping with man’s love of money causing no end of problems in the world (in this case the publishers) the Bible doesn’t appear to have escaped the result of this, and these new and so-called ‘better‘ Bibles bar none, were created for $$$ – i.e to sell, and in order to do that, the publisher is required by law to make significant changes to the text just to obtain a copyright so they can print it!).
Now, I’m not going to answer this question (did the Israelites Keep The Sabbath Before Moses was Given The Ten Commandments?) but I am going to give you some interesting Bible verses to think about so that you can make your own mind up. After all what I think may be wrong!
Did you know that in Exodus 16: 26-28 – God said the ancient Israelites, many years before the Mount Sinai event where Moses was given the 10 commandments to;
“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?”
Not only that – the 4th commandment says;
“Don’t forget the Sabbath…”
One can only ‘remember’ something that already exists. You can’t remember something that has never existed or been in place. If that was the case it would just say;
“Keep the seventh day holy…”
…without the word “remember” attached to it at the front. Remember God is unbelievably specific in His words in The Bible (make sure you are reading the only Bible that has not been created for the sole purpose of selling – i.e The King James Bible). Interestingly, the ONE command God said for man to remember, is the one command that men – either correctly or incorrectly ‘forget’ – i.e they don’t keep because they either don’t want to or they don’t see it as applicable for Christians since the death of Christ – i.e they believe the new covenant does away with the old, and does not simply expand upon the older covenant as some believe.
It appears the Sabbath was originally instituted at creation
Seeing above that the Israelites were very clearly reminded by God of keeping the sabbath BEFORE the The Ten Commandments were given, we now see the Ten Commandments actually also reference creation and say;
“For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy“ (Exodus 20:8, 11).
So here the Law of Moses links the keeping of the Sabbath directly and unquestionably to creation of the world – BEFORE Moses and The Ten Commandments. Therefore I think it very important that you study this issue and decide for yourself. So please, I recommend you ask The Holy Spirit (who The Bible says; “will teach you all things”) what is correct here.
I love God, Christ, The Bible. art, painting, playing music, improvising music, guitar (first instrument), drumming (not very good at it:), and anything musical or art related. Quick note – my articles are usually spun off in minutes so forgive any errors – hopefully you get the essence of the article and I’ll pick up mistakes later. If you want to write of 101ChristianMagazine and inspire and edify Christians with articles on faith, general news, hobbies or anything that interests you email me at: epgb101@gmail.com:)
