Please Help Us Keep These Thousands of Blog Posts Growing and Free for All

$5.00

The Hebrew word for “seventh” comes from a root meaning, “to be full, complete, entirely made up.” God “blessed” the seventh day by setting it apart as different from the others. Part of bearing the image of God involves resting as he did. God established the Sabbath as a part of Jewish life (Exod. 16:23–26). But it wasn’t until later, under the Mosaic Law (Exod. 20:8–11; Neh. 9:13–14), that abstinence from work was commanded. Verse 23 of Exodus 16 is the first use in the Scriptures of “Sabbath,” which comes from the Hebrew word for “rested.”

For a More in-depth Discussion, See

How Are We to Understand the Mosaic Law and Christians?

The Sabbath became the sign of the Mosaic covenant (Exod. 31:13). The Scripture teaches the value and importance of periodic rest (Exod. 23:10–12; Lev. 25:2–4; Deut. 15:1–18; Mark 6:31; Heb. 4:1–11). The New Testament speaks of the Christian no longer being under the Mosaic Law and especially the Sabbath (Col. 2:16–17).^[1]

^[1] Kenneth O. Gangel and Stephen J. Bramer, Genesis, ed. Max Anders, Holman Old Testament Commentary (B&H Publishing Group, 2002), 19–20.