{"id":2753,"date":"2022-11-28T07:55:14","date_gmt":"2022-11-28T07:55:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/saltshakers.com\/?p=2753"},"modified":"2022-11-28T07:55:29","modified_gmt":"2022-11-28T07:55:29","slug":"yeshua-explored-97","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/saltshakers.church\/?p=2753","title":{"rendered":"Yeshua Explored"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

28th November 2022<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sabbath<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Who is it for?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Previous articles are still available on the Premier Christian radio website – https:\/\/www.premierchristianradio.com\/Blogs2\/Yeshua-Explored \u00a0– (until they finally pull the plug!)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy.<\/em> Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.<\/em> <\/em>(Exodus 20:8-11)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is a biggie, for two reasons. For a start, it is the longest \u201ccommandment\u201d uttered, as you remember, from the very Mouth of God, which indicates that perhaps it has special significance for Him. Secondly, it\u2019s the only \u201ccommandment\u201d that Christians really get into a flap about<\/em>. Is it just for Jews? What about Jews who follow Jesus? What about Gentile Christians? What about everybody else?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So we have four separate categories, the only \u201ccommandment\u201d that we add conditions to. Perhaps we are looking at this the wrong way? Perhaps there is one universal truth here and we are missing it? There is, I believe a story to be told here and tell it I will \u2026 eventually. But first \u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first word, in Hebrew, is different when we compare Exodus 20 with the corresponding passage in Deuteronomy 5. Let\u2019s look at the verses in question.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Remember<\/em><\/strong> the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. <\/em>(Exodus 20:8)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Observe<\/em><\/strong> the Sabbath day by keeping it holy, as the Lord your God has commanded you<\/em> (Deuteronomy 5:12)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Exodus word is zakar<\/em>, meaning remember, recall or call to mind. The Deuteronomy word is shamar<\/em>, meaning observe, keep or guard. There\u2019s a subtle difference between these words. The rabbis suggest that the first is a positive command, to encourage us to perform good acts on the Sabbath and that the second is a negative command, warning us against desecrating the Sabbath. Some of them go on to suggest that both commands were uttered at exactly the same time, emphasising the equal importance of both. This gives every impression of being a major deal with God. Why would this be?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let\u2019s face it, the first three \u201ccommandments\u201d are explicitly descriptive of the needs of God\u2019s determination that we should not be led astray by \u201cother gods\u201d, nor worship substitutes, nor blaspheme Him. Yet this fourth \u201ccommandment\u201d doesn\u2019t seem to be as personal in our way of thinking. But perhaps we are mistaken in this and the Sabbath is far dearer to God than we imagine!<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here is some evidence for this thinking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  1. God spent more time on this \u201ccommandment\u201d than any other and felt the need to re-iterate the Scripture where it was first mentioned (Genesis 2:2-3).<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n