HEBREW WORD STUDY – TAKE A WALK WITH GOD – SABBATH  שבת  Shin Beth Taw

Exodus 20:8-10: “Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. (9) Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work:(10) But the seventh day [is] the sabbath of the LORD thy God: [in it] thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that [is] within thy gates:”

Remember the sabbath day to keep it holy.  Now that is a hot issue.  What does it mean to remember the sabbath day, how do you keep it holy, what is the sabbath and what does it mean not to do any work on the sabbath? I mean what constitutes work?  

That has been debated for over 4,000 years so don’t look to me for an answer.  But I would like to examine just what is in God’s heart with regard to the Sabbath.  After all I have spent the last 15 years searching for God’s heart and the Sabbath is close to God’s heart, so I will offer just a humble opinion and you are welcomed to feel free to disagree or agree. It does work for me, however.

First the word sabbath in Hebrew means to cease ongoing activity. It also has the idea of a dwelling place in the sense that you settle down and rest in your dwelling place. It is used for the seventh day or seventh season.  There is also a sabbath year. In education or business a teacher or employee would take a sabbatical that is one year after seven years of service to further his education or complete a project.  Simply its origin lies in the seventh day of creation when God rested or ceased from creating.

In Genesis 2:3: “And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made.” That word rested in Hebrew is sabbath. Did God need a rest.  I mean all that creating and calling into being would surely wear God out, He must have needed a rest.  Obviously, that is not the case. The word sabbath really means to cease from activity.  God did not work or malak during this seventh day.  

The word malak has a wide range of meaning and as a result Jews have debated for over 4,000 years as to what constitutes malak.  In Exodus the command is that no one, not even your cattle are to malak on that seventh day.  Malak means a king, it also means an angel in its noun form.  In its verbal form it means to consult, advise, consult on differing views.  In the Aramaic and Ugaritic it has the idea of taking counsel.  In post Biblical Hebrew it has the idea of being of no value, worthless.  Literally malak would be saying; “What is it to you.”  Modern Hebrew uses it for being united.  In the Akkadian it is used to establish dominion. 

God said he sanctified that day. The word sanctified in Hebrew is kodesh the word for holy meaning to consecrates that is to set apart for a divine purpose.  So, God ceased his creative work and then spent the seventh day setting that day apart for a divine purpose. In the Akkadian the word has the idea of cleansing. 

Now remember both man and woman were already created and so this day was celebrated with Adam and Eve. Just what did God do during this time of consecration.  Did he hold little services like you do when you install a pastor?  (They could have come up with a better word for that than one used for a washing machine.)  God held a little service, said a few nice words and then they had dinner on the grounds. 

It could be that Adam and Eve were the last thing God created. Adam and Eve were the ultimate creation, the creation that God shared a personal relationship on an intellectual level.  Perhaps this was a day that God, Adam and Eve took a grand tour of His creation, showed it off and created a sense of appreciation and love for the things He created.  Perhaps that is what is means to make the sabbath day holy.  After a week of doing creative work ourselves we are to stop and reflect on what we do not do because we are so busy with our own creation that we fail to appreciate the creation of God which are the building blocks of what we create.  We need to spend some time, one day a week pausing from our activity to appreciate the work of God and enjoy a time of fellowship with God that we can enjoy because we are so busy during the other six days. 

For six days God created, but on the seventh he enjoyed what he created.  Jesus said the sabbath was made for man, not man for the sabbath Mark 2:27.  The sabbath was given to us to rest but to rest in the sense of taking a leisurely walk with God like He did with Adam and Eve on the first Sabbath and spend the day giving Him a chance to show off his handiwork and create an appreciation for the work of God. 

The Sabbath is a day to pause and take a walk with God.

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