The Sabbath
Chapter XV - The Sabbath
Nothing so distinguished the
Jews from surrounding nations, and designated them as true worshipers of the
Creator, as the institution of the Sabbath. Its observance was a continual
visible token of their connection with God, and separation from other people.
All ordinary labor for a livelihood or for worldly profit was forbidden upon
the seventh day. According to the fourth commandment the Sabbath was dedicated
to rest and religious worship. All secular employment was to be suspended; but
works of
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mercy and benevolence were
in accordance with the purpose of the Lord. They were not to be limited by time
nor place. To relieve the afflicted, to comfort the
sorrowing is a labor of love that does honor to God's holy day. {2SP 193.2}
The work of the priests in
connection with the sacrificial offerings was increased upon the Sabbath, yet
in their holy work in the service of God they did not violate the fourth
commandment of the decalogue.
As Israel separated from God, the true object of the Sabbath institution became
less distinct in their minds. They grew careless of its observance, and
unmindful of its ordinances. The prophets testified to them of God's
displeasure in the violation of his Sabbath. Nehemiah says: "In those days
saw I in Judah some treading wine-presses on the Sabbath, and bringing in
sheaves, and lading asses; as also wine, grapes, and figs, and all manner of
burdens, which they brought into Jerusalem on the Sabbath-day, and I testified
against them in the day wherein they sold victuals." {2SP 194.1}
And Jeremiah commands them:
"Take heed to yourselves, and bear no burden on the Sabbath day, nor bring
it in by the gates of Jerusalem; neither carry forth a burden out of your
houses on the Sabbath day, neither do ye any work, but hallow ye the Sabbath
day, as I commanded your fathers." {2SP 194.2}
But they heeded not the
admonitions of the inspired prophets, and departed more and more from the
religion of their fathers. At length calamities, persecution, and bondage came
upon them in consequence of their disregard of God's requirements. {2SP 194.3}
Alarmed at these visitations
of divine punishment,
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they returned to the
strict observance of all the outward forms enjoined by the sacred law. Not
satisfied with this, they made burdensome additions to those ceremonies. Their
pride and bigotry led them to the narrowest interpretation of the requirements
of God. As time passed they gradually hedged themselves in with the traditions
and customs of their ancestors, till they regarded them with all the sanctity
of the original law. This confidence in themselves and their own regulations,
with its attendant prejudice against all other nations, caused them to resist
the Spirit of God, and separated them still farther from his favor. {2SP 194.4}
Their exactions and restrictions
were so wearisome that Jesus declared: "They bind heavy burdens, and
grievous to be borne, and lay them on men's shoulders." Their false
standard of duty, their superficial tests of piety and godliness, obscured the
real and positive requirements of God. Heart service was neglected in the rigid
performance of outward ceremonies. The Jews had so perverted the divine
commandments, by heaping tradition upon tradition, that, in the days of Christ,
they were ready to accuse him of breaking the Sabbath, because of his acts of
mercy upon that day. {2SP 195.1}
The grain was ready for the
sickle when Jesus and his disciples passed through the corn fields on the
Sabbath. The disciples were hungry, for their Master had extended his work of
teaching and healing to a late hour, and they had been without food for a long
time. They accordingly began to pluck the ears of corn and to eat, rubbing them
in their hands, in accordance with the law of Moses,
which provides that: "When thou
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comest into the standing corn of thy neighbor, then thou
mayest pluck the ears with thine hand; but thou shalt
not move a sickle unto thy neighbor's standing corn." {2SP 195.2}
But spies were continually
upon the track of Jesus, watching for some occasion to accuse and condemn him.
When they saw this act of the disciples, they immediately complained to him,
saying, "Behold thy disciples do that which is not lawful to do upon the
Sabbath day." In this they expressed their own narrow views of the law.
But Jesus defended his followers thus: "Have ye never read what David did,
when he had need, and was a hungered, he, and they that were with him? how he went into the house of God in the days of Abiathar the high priest, and did eat the shewbread, which is not lawful to eat but for the priests,
and gave also to them which were with him? And he said unto them, The Sabbath
was made for man and not man for the Sabbath. Therefore the Son of Man is Lord
also of the Sabbath." {2SP 196.1}
If excessive hunger excused
David for violating even the holiness of the sanctuary, and made his act
guiltless, how much more excusable was the simple act of the disciples in plucking
the grain and eating it upon the Sabbath day. Jesus would teach his disciples
and his enemies that the service of God was first of all; and, if fatigue and
hunger attended the work, it was right to satisfy the wants of humanity, even
upon the Sabbath day. That holy institution was not given to interfere with the
needs of our being, bringing pain, and discomfort, instead of blessings.
"The Sabbath was made for man," to give him rest and peace, and
remind him of the
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work of his Creator, not
to be a grievous burden. {2SP 196.2}
The work done in the temple
upon the Sabbath was in harmony with the law; yet the same labor, if employed
in ordinary business, would be a violation of it. The act of plucking and
eating the grain to sustain the bodily strength, to be used in the service of
God, was right and lawful. Jesus then crowned his argument by declaring himself
the "Lord of the Sabbath,"--One above all question and above all law.
This Infinite Judge acquits the disciples from blame, appealing to the very
statutes they are accused of violating. {2SP 197.1}
But Jesus did not let the
matter drop without administering a rebuke to his enemies. He declared that in
their blindness they had mistaken the object of the Sabbath. Said
he: "But if ye had known what this meaneth, I
will have mercy, and not sacrifice, ye would not have condemned the
guiltless." He then contrasted their many heartless rites with the
truthful integrity, and tender love that should characterize the true
worshipers of God: "For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice; and the
knowledge of God more than burnt-offerings. But they like men have transgressed
the covenant; there have they dealt treacherously against me." {2SP 197.2}
Jesus was reared among this
people, so marked with bigotry and prejudice; and he therefore knew that in
healing upon the Sabbath day, he would be regarded as a transgressor of the
law. He was aware that the Pharisees would seize upon such acts with great
indignation, and thereby seek to influence the people against him. He knew that
they would use these works of mercy as strong arguments to affect the minds of
the
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masses, who had all their
lives been bound by the Jewish restrictions and exactions. Nevertheless he was
not prevented by this knowledge from breaking down the senseless wall of
superstition that barricaded the Sabbath, and teaching men that charity and
benevolence were lawful upon all days. {2SP 197.3}
He entered the synagogue, and
saw there a man who had a withered hand. The Pharisees watched him, eager to
see what he would do with regard to this case--whether or not he would heal the
man upon the Sabbath day. Their sole object was to find cause for accusation
against him. Jesus looked upon the man with the withered hand, and commanded
him to stand forth. He then asked, "Is it lawful to do good on the Sabbath
days, or to do evil? to save life, or to kill? But
they held their peace. And when he had looked round about on them with anger,
being grieved for the hardness of their hearts, he saith unto the man, Stretch
forth thine hand. And he stretched it out; and his
hand was restored whole as the other." {2SP 198.1}
He justified this work of
healing the paralytic, as in perfect keeping with the principles of the fourth
commandment. But they questioned him: "Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath
days?" Jesus made them the clear and forcible answer, "What man shall
there be among you, that shall have one sheep, and if it fall into a pit on the
Sabbath day, will he not lay hold on it, and lift it out? How much then is a
man better than a sheep? Wherefore it is lawful to do well on the Sabbath
days." {2SP 198.2}
The spies upon our Saviour's
words dared not, in the presence of the multitude answer this
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question for fear of involving themselves in difficulties. They knew that while
they would leave men to suffer and die rather than to violate their traditions
by relieving them upon the Lord's day, a brute which had fallen into danger
would be at once relieved, because of the loss that would accrue to the owner
if he was neglected. Thus the dumb animal was exalted above man, made in the
image of God. {2SP 198.3}
Jesus wished to correct the
false teachings of the Jews in regard to the Sabbath and also to impress his
disciples with the fact that deeds of mercy were lawful on that day. In the
matter of healing the withered hand he broke down the custom of the Jews, and
left the fourth commandment standing as God had given it to the world. By this
act he exalted the Sabbath, sweeping away the senseless restrictions that
encumbered it. His act of mercy did honor to the day, while those who
complained of him, were, by their many useless rites and ceremonies, themselves
dishonoring the Sabbath. {2SP 199.1}
There are ministers today who
teach that the Son of God broke the Sabbath and justified his disciples in
doing the same. They take the same ground as did the caviling Jews, although
ostensibly for another purpose, since they hold that Christ abolished the
Sabbath. {2SP 199.2}
Jesus in turning upon the Pharisees
with the question whether it was lawful to do good upon the Sabbath day or
evil, to save life or to kill, confronted them with their own wicked purposes.
They were following upon his track to find occasion for falsely accusing him;
they were hunting his life with bitter hatred and malice, while he was saving
life and bringing happiness to many
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hearts. Was it better to
slay upon the Sabbath, as they were planning to do, than to heal the afflicted
as he had done? Was it more righteous to have murder in the heart upon God's
holy day, than love to all men which finds expression in deeds of charity and
mercy? {2SP 199.3}