Keep the sabbath day to hallow it, as Jehovah thy God hath commanded thee.
Moses is retelling the ten commandments to a new generation on the edge of the promised land. The fourth command comes out differently this time. Where Exodus said "remember," this says "observe," and it adds a clause found nowhere in Exodus — "as the LORD your God commanded you."
Critics have read the two versions as a contradiction. Commentators answer that the added clause is the proof that Deuteronomy points back to Exodus on purpose:
The last clause quoted in Deuteronomy 5:12 could not be in Exodus. Its presence in Deuteronomy proves that we have here a serious and instructive reference to the commandments given in the second book of Moses. So the moral motives added here fit Deuteronomy, just as they could not, and should not, fit Exodus. All is perfect in its own place, and the charge of self-contradiction is as baseless as it is malicious and irreverent.
Set the two versions side by side and the reason changes:
In Exodus 20 the command to keep the sabbath rests on creation. In Deuteronomy 5 it rests on redemption, without any reference to creation at all. In short, the differences flow from the distinct character of each book, and they are plain to every spiritual mind.
The book of Deuteronomy is pressing obedience, and it names the stronger motive:
In the one case there was a remembrance of creation; in this case, of symbolic redemption, the bringing out of Egypt. The fact is that redemption, even in picture, is a stronger motive to obedience than creation itself… If the object of all this part of Deuteronomy is to enforce obedience, nothing maintains obedience so much as redemption. And if that was true when the deliverance was only outward, how much more when it is eternal?
Among laws against murder and theft sits a command about a day:
About the sabbath, we must remember that it rests wholly on the direct authority of the word of God. Other commandments set out plain moral duties. Every man knows it is morally wrong to kill or steal. But no one could recognise sabbath keeping as a duty unless God had clearly appointed it by His own authority. So it carries immense importance and interest.
That is why this one day became a test of Israel's heart:
Other scriptures give the sabbath special prominence: a precious link between Jehovah and Israel, a seal of His covenant with them, and a powerful test of their devotedness to Him. Everyone could recognise the moral wrong of theft and murder. Only those who loved Jehovah and His word would love and honour His sabbath.
The command also reaches down to the servant, and its memory reaches back to Egypt:
It was ordained in connection with creation rest. But it was given as a memorial, a reminder of the grace of deliverance from Egypt, and so of the rest given to servants.
Commentators draw a sharp line between Israel under law and Christians under grace:
We however are not under law but grace. God did not give the law of the sabbath to Christians… When Christianity began, the mark that set it apart was the first day of the week, the Lord's day, and not the sabbath. And we must remember that the sabbath does not mean any seventh day, as some people twist it, but the seventh day and no other.
Yet the same writer refuses to say God has finished with the sabbath:
It is not correct, therefore, that the sabbath day is done with. Many count it buried in Christ's grave, but it is not. From the word of God we know that He will keep the sabbath rest strictly, and enforce it in the days of the kingdom.
In the Gospels the day had become something else in men's hands:
It was no longer the seal of Jehovah's covenant with the seed of Abraham — as it was once, and will be again — but the badge of man's self-righteousness. If they had had one ray of spiritual light, they would have seen the glaring inconsistency of holding to their traditional sabbath ideas in the presence of human misery, disease and degradation.
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- Cause — Exodus rests the command on creation. Deuteronomy rests it on rescue from Egypt, because redemption moves obedience more than creation does.
- Authority — No conscience could work this command out. It stands on God's word alone, and that is why it tested who loved Him.
- Reach — The rest was not for the strong only. It reached down to servants, as a memorial of the grace that brought Israel out of Egypt.
- Place — Commentators hold that the sabbath belongs to Israel, not to Christians. The first day of the week became the mark of Christianity. The seventh day still has its own future in the kingdom.
- Warning — A rest meant as the seal of God's covenant can turn into a badge of self-righteousness. That is what it became when men held to sabbath rules in the face of human misery.
Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work;
Moses is retelling the ten commandments to a new generation, and here he sets the shape of Israel's week: six days for work, the seventh held back for God. Commentators ask why work itself is commanded, and why Moses gives a different reason for the rest day than Exodus gives.
Rest on the seventh day was ordered, not merely allowed. Commentators note that the six-day pattern also left Israel no room for the feasts of the idols around them.
After the six days of work, the command to rest on the seventh was absolute. It is not simply permission but a command, and in effect it bans idolatrous feasts. Working six days and resting the seventh cut off every chance for the wild feasts of idol worship, and the law's special guard against them is clear. We also see that idolatry gets in the way of God's arrangements for the ordinary social order of daily life.
The other commandments match what people already sense is wrong. This one does not.
About the sabbath we must remember this: it rests entirely on the direct authority of God's word. The other commandments state plain moral duties. Everyone knows that killing or stealing is morally wrong. But no one could ever see sabbath-keeping as a duty if God had not clearly appointed it. That is what gives it such great importance and interest.
The same writer shows what that difference exposed.
The sabbath stands out with special prominence as a precious link between Jehovah and Israel, a seal of His covenant with them, and a strong test of their devotion to Him. Everyone could recognise the moral wrong of theft and murder. Only those who loved Jehovah and His word would love and honour His sabbath.
In Exodus the reason for this commandment is God's rest after creation. Here Moses drops that reason and puts rescue from Egypt in its place.
But the motive here is not that God rested on that day. It is that they were to remember they had been slaves in the land of Egypt, and that Jehovah brought them out with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm... In the one case the sabbath recalled creation. Here it recalls redemption in picture form, the bringing out of Egypt. The fact is that redemption, even as a picture, is a stronger motive to obedience than creation itself... nothing keeps up obedience like redemption. If that was true when the deliverance was only outward, how much more when it is eternal?
Because the reason is rescue from slavery, the rest reaches down to servants too.
The sabbath was appointed in connection with the rest of creation. But it was given here as a memorial, a reminder of the grace that delivered them from Egypt, and so of rest given to servants.
Commentators hold that the sabbath meant one fixed day, not any day in seven. They also hold that Christians do not stand under its law.
We, however, are not under law but grace. God did not give the law of the sabbath to Christians... So when Christianity began, the first day of the week became the mark that set it apart — the Lord's day, and not the sabbath. We must remember that the sabbath does not mean any seventh day, as some people (I am sorry to say) argue evasively. It means the seventh day and no other.
Israel worked six days and then rested. Writers see the Christian order reversed.
The first day of the week, the day of Christ's resurrection, became the sign and witness of rest for us. We begin our work with it — that is, with redemption in Christ — instead of ending with it, though we will not rest fully until we are raised. Still, through Christ's resurrection we have rest for our souls. It is a pledge of the full rest of God, and a promise of entering that rest still stands... so for us the first day of the week is the witness of a better redemption and a better rest.
- Commanded — the rest was a command, not just permission, and the six-day pattern left Israel no room for the feasts of idolatry around them.
- Authority — no conscience could discover this duty on its own. It rests on God's word alone, so it tested who really loved Him.
- Redemption — Moses drops the creation reason of Exodus and rests the day on rescue from Egypt. Rescue moves the heart to obey more than creation does.
- Reach — that reason works downward: a people once enslaved must give rest to their own servants.
- Reversal — the sabbath meant the seventh day and no other. Christians start from rest in the risen Christ instead of working toward it.
but the seventh day is the sabbath of Jehovah thy God thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, nor thy bondman, nor thy handmaid, nor thine ox, nor thine ass, nor any of thy cattle, nor thy sojourner that is within thy gates; that thy bondman and thy handmaid may rest as well as thou.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
And thou shalt remember that thou wast a bondman in the land of Egypt, and that Jehovah thy God brought thee out thence with a powerful hand and with a stretched-out arm; therefore Jehovah thy God hath commanded thee to observe the sabbath day.
When the ten commandments are repeated here, the fourth one is given a different motive than the one it carried at Sinai. Instead of pointing back to the six days of making the world, Moses points back to slavery and rescue.
The motive here is not that God rested on that day. It is that they were to remember they were servants in the land of Egypt, and that the LORD had brought them out with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm: "Therefore the LORD your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day." … In the one case there was a remembrance of creation; in this case, of symbolic redemption, the bringing out of Egypt. Redemption, even as a picture, is a stronger motive to obedience than creation itself. … Nothing maintains obedience so much as redemption. If that was true when the deliverance was only outward, how much more when it is eternal?
Two different reasons for one command could look like a contradiction.
In repeating the law, Moses does not limit himself to quoting God's words exactly. This is clear above all in the fourth commandment. The ground for keeping the Sabbath is here not the six days' making of heaven and earth, but the redemption of the people out of Egypt. Of course, the one reason does not conflict with the other; and indeed the latter is a needed supplement to the former. Man is God's creature. Only grace can now keep him in this place, and at rest.
Israel did not escape Egypt. God brought them out, and that is what the word "therefore" rests on.
That blood had separated them from Egypt and brought them, in picture, to God. God also put out mighty power to bring them out. These two things are the ground on which God says, "Therefore the LORD your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day." If God had made His Sabbath known to all men and given it to them, this wonderful connection with a complete redemption would have had no meaning. … Only those who have redemption through His blood, even the forgiveness of sins, can know the real rest of God. The Sabbath was strictly a sign between God and His redeemed Israel.
Israel had known slavery without rest. Now they had to pass rest on to those who served them.
God ordained the Sabbath in connection with creation rest. But He gave it as a memorial, to remind them of the grace of deliverance from Egypt, and so of rest for servants.
Murder and theft are wrong whether anyone writes them down or not. The Sabbath is not like that.
About the Sabbath, we must remember that it rests wholly on the direct authority of the word of God. Other commandments set out plain moral duties. Every man knows it is morally wrong to kill or steal. But no one could have recognised the Sabbath as a duty unless God had clearly appointed it. So its importance and interest are immense.
The day also pointed forward — to a rest on firmer ground than the first one.
The Sabbath, or rest of creation, had long been lost. So God set out the Sabbath of redemption. It can never be lost while God is faithful to the claims of the redemption-blood of His Lamb.
Does this command bind a Christian to the seventh day?
We must remember that God gave the law to Israel, not to the nations outside Israel. No one is to judge them about Sabbath days (Col. 2:16). Under grace no law demands the keeping of any special day. But those who have valued the grace of God are glad to give the Lord's Day, the first day of the week, a place of special importance. It was on this day that the Lord rose from the dead.
- Remember the slavery. The command starts where Israel started: as servants who could not free themselves.
- Remember the rescue. God's mighty hand and outstretched arm, not their own effort, are the "therefore" behind the command.
- Redemption outweighs creation. The first reason for the day was God's rest after making the world. Here it is rescue — and rescue moves the heart to obey more than creation does.
- Pass the rest on. Those who once had no rest must pass rest on to those who serve them.
- Look ahead to the lasting rest. The creation rest was lost. The rest built on redemption holds while God stays faithful to the blood of His Lamb.