Exodus 16:21-30

THE APPEARANCE OF THE SABBATH

"And they gathered it morning by morning, every man according to his eating: and when the sun waxed hot, it melted. And it came to pass, that on the sixth day they gathered twice as much bread, two omers for each one: and all the rulers came and told Moses. And he said unto them, This is that which Jehovah hath spoken, Tomorrow is a solemn rest, a holy sabbath unto Jehovah: bake that which ye will bake, and boil that which ye will boil; and all that remaineth over lay up for you to be kept until the morning. And they laid it up till the morning, as Moses bade: and it did not become foul, neither was there any worm therein. And Moses said, Eat that today; for today is a sabbath unto Jehovah: today ye shall not find it in the field. Six days ye shall gather it; but on the seventh day is the sabbath, in it there shall be none. And it came to pass on the seventh day, that there went out some of the people to gather, and they found none. And Jehovah said unto Moses, How long refuse ye to keep my commandments and my laws? See, for that Jehovah hath given you the sabbath, therefore he giveth you on the sixth day the bread of two days; abide ye every man in his place, let no man go out of his place on the seventh day. So the people rested on the seventh day."

It should be noted that there were two great miracles connected with the introduction of the Sabbath. First, there was the fact that whether men gathered much or little, it always measured out exactly what God allowed; and second, there was the fact that on the sixth day of this wonder, every man measured out exactly two omers a head, exactly twice as much as on the previous six days. The Jews did not know what to make of that. Even the rulers of the people went to Moses for an explanation. As Keil noted:

"It is perfectly clear from this event, that the Israelites were not acquainted with any sabbatical observances at that time, but that, while the way was practically opened, it was through the Decalogue that it was raised into a legal institution."[24]

Therefore, we must finally reject the allegations that, "The sabbath was an ancient institution observed by pre-Mosaic Hebrews." Such an allegation was made by Rylaarsdam[25] and others, but the facts regarding the sabbath are as follows:

1. There is no sabbath commandment in Genesis. Some cite Genesis 29:7 as such, but "sabbath" is not in the passage.

2. The very first occurrence of the word "sabbath" in the entire Bible is right here in Exodus 16:23.[26]

3. Furthermore, in this passage, the sabbath is not introduced as The Sabbath, but merely as a rest. Misunderstanding of this has come about because of an unfortunate rendition in the King James Version, which has "The rest of thy Holy Sabbath." Rawlinson cited the inaccuracy of this rendition, pointing out that, "the absence of the article is a strong indication that the idea was new."[27]

4. God revealed his sabbath, not to Adam, nor to anyone on the other side of the Flood, nor to anyone ever born upon earth before Moses, for the prophet of God stated that "God revealed His holy sabbath through Moses (Nehemiah 9:13-14).

5. Furthermore, the very first revelation of it was "in the wilderness," as we have it in this chapter. Ezekiel wrote: "I (God) brought them into the wilderness ... and gave them my sabbaths to be a sign between me and them" (Exodus 20:10-12).

6. The sabbath was never a sign between God and all people, but a sign between God and Israel (Exodus 31:17).

7. The reason assigned by God for keeping the sabbath was not the prior existence of the institution, but the deliverance of Israel from Egyptian bondage (Deuteronomy 5:15).

8. The prophet Amos foretold that the sabbath would be "gone" when God caused the sun to go down at noon and the earth to be darkened on a clear day (Amos 8:9).

9. Paul categorically declared that the sabbath was "nailed" to the cross of Christ (Colossians 2:14).

10. The very name "sabbath" is Jewish to the core, deriving from the Hebrew word [~shabbath], meaning "rest."[28] This would never have been the case if the sabbath had derived from some pre-Mosaic period.

Therefore, in the light of the Word of God, those who find a pre-Mosaic sabbath institution in this chapter are finding something that definitely is NOT in it. As Ralph Langley put it, "The origin of the sabbath is datable to the wilderness period, and in particular to the manna-miracle."[29]