Posted on 12/30/2014 6:02:38 AM PST by SeekAndFind
In my fifth and final column on the greatest guide ever devised for a good world — the Ten Commandments — I offer my readers what may well be the best single thing you can do (that you are probably not doing now) to improve the quality of your life, your family’s life, and ultimately the life of our society.
Many people, even among those who revere the Ten Commandments, do not think that the Fourth Commandment, the Sabbath Day, is particularly important, let alone binding.
Once you understand it, however, you will recognize how both life-changing and world-changing it is.
The Fourth Commandment reads: “Remember the Sabbath Day to keep it holy. 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.”
Here are six reasons why is this so important.
First, it uniquely elevated the human being. For nearly all of human history, life consisted overwhelmingly of work. In effect, humans were beasts of burden. This commandment changed all that by insisting that people cease working one day out of seven.
Second, no matter how materially poor we may be, at least on the Sabbath Day, we are not just material beings. We are elevated. Recall that the commandment tells us to keep the day holy, not merely not to work. It is enough for animals not to work; we are to make the day holy. No matter what our circumstances, we must remind ourselves at least one day a week that we are sacred beings; we have a soul to feed, not just a body.
Third, more than any other commandment, the Fourth Commandment reminds people that they are meant to be free. As the second version of the Commandment, the one summarized by Moses in the Book of Deuteronomy, states, “Remember that you were slaves in Egypt.” In other words, remember that slaves cannot have a Sabbath; only free men and women can.
In light of this, in the Biblical view, unless it is necessary for survival, people who choose to work seven days a week are essentially slaves – slaves to work or perhaps to money, but slaves nonetheless. The millionaire who works seven days a week is simply a rich slave.
Fourth, while the Bible could not universally abolish slavery, the Sabbath commandment greatly humanized that terrible institution and ultimately helped make slavery impossible. Prior to the Ten Commandments, by definition a slave owner was under no obligation to allow a slave to ever rest, let alone to rest one day every week. Yet that is exactly what the Fourth Commandment commanded. Even a slave has fundamental human rights, one of them being a Sabbath day of rest. Therefore a slave is a human being, too.
Fifth, the Sabbath almost singlehandedly creates and strengthens family ties and friendships. When a person takes off from work one day every week, that day almost inevitably becomes a day spent with other people — namely, family and/or friends. It has similar positive effects on marriages. Ask anyone married to a workaholic how good it would be for his or her marriage if the workaholic would not work for a day each week, and you can appreciate the power of the Sabbath Day.
There are those who argue that without God commanding a Sabbath, people could surely decide on their own to stop working a day each week and spend the day with their spouse, family, and friends. But the truth is that almost no one does. There will almost always be some reason not to take that day off — an important work project, housework, shopping, etc.
Sixth, the Sabbath commandment granted animals dignity. Even one’s animals had to rest one day a week. It is, to the best of our knowledge, the first national law in history on behalf of animals. And its benefits to animals surely went beyond a mandatory day of rest for them. People who felt divinely obligated to give their animals a day of rest were much less likely to treat their animals cruelly any day of the week.
All six of these life-changing and society-changing benefits regarding the Sabbath are available to anyone. You don’t have to be a Jew, a Christian, or even a believer in God to derive all these benefits — though, for reasons noted, the reality is that those who believe in the God of the Ten Commandments are the ones who have kept the Sabbath alive.
The God factor plays another role in the Sabbath. Just as faith in God brings people to the Sabbath, observing the Sabbath brings people to faith in God. In our secularized modern societies, very few activities bring people to a relationship with God as effectively as does devoting a day each week to the spiritual, not just the material.
Not bad for one day a week.
That’s why the Sabbath is one of the Ten Commandments. No wonder that those who have it in their lives are often happier, with richer family lives, more serenity, a community of friends, and, yes, even better health.
You might want to give it a try. You will indeed have a Happy New Year.
You can see my five-minute video on the Fourth Commandment here.
— Dennis Prager is a nationally syndicated radio talk-show host and columnist. His most recent book is Still the Best Hope: Why the World Needs American Values to Triumph. He is the founder of Prager University
Good article.
As with so many of GOD’s commandments, Jews obey because it was YAHWEH’s law... and Christians obey because they understand that the Father loves us and gives us instruction in living that will BENEFIT us.
“The Sabbath was made for man”, said JESUS, “and not man for the Sabbath.”
That train is leaving the station. Most retail stores are now open on Sunday. Thanksgiving is going away as a family holiday as more and more stores open up on that day to attract Christmas shoppers. Watch for stores to start opening Christmas Day to promote "after Christmas" sales.
Not quite. Labor laws still prevent a seven day work week. But without the Sabbath, it is only a matter of time.
There are two parts to this commandment: the work part and the rest part. Six days you shall work and do all your labor and on the seventh day you shall rest. Prager was good to address the rest part; but, Jesus was not an either/or man, he was a both/and man. Both parts are important. To be happy, man needs to be productive. Indeed, without the work part, the rest part is meaningless. Rest from what? The cycles of work and rest include the annual cycle as well as the weekly, and also the seven year cycle, the fifty year cycle, and even the cycle of life and death.
The Shmitah relates to years. Is he keeping the Shmitah, too? We're currently in the Shmitah year.
The Sabbath is the seventh day of the week. How the Roman Church changed the day its followers observe from the seventh day to the eighth is an interesting story more recently documented by the late Dr. Samuele Bacchiocchi in his book, From Sabbath to Sunday, published by Pope Gregorian University. (ISBN-10: 9998203945) Dr. Bacchiocchi was awarded a gold medal for his scholarship.
At least with respect to a day of rest, the majority of Christians don’t even observe that. Even one of the recent popes complained that his followers only observe an hour of rest if that. It is for this reason that they seem to treat the Ten Commandments more as a cultural icon than a set of operative living laws that must be respected and obeyed.
There are a small but surprisingly vigorous community of Sabbath-keeping Christians. Some make their Sabbath services and literature available online.
For example, see:
http://www.ucg.org/doctrinal-beliefs/sabbath/
for those who reject Christ, keeping the Sabbath makes perfect sense.
for those in Christ, we rest in Christ, He is our Sabbath.
We follow the law of Christ, namely to believe in Him and love one another.
Like Jews, sundown Friday thru Saturday evening.
Impossible today. Power plants, hospitals, must be fully staffed 24-7. Same for water plants and other utilities.
I still remember the olden days with the blue laws when, if you were traveling, you had to hunt for a cafe or gas station opened on Sunday because local laws required the towns to close down. And IF a store was open, you were forbidden to sell certain items on that day.
I remember our local drug store opened on Sunday. You could buy a newspaper, but NOTHING ELSE!
Religion wise, all Christians look to Jesus as the center of their faith. Sabbatharians look to the Sabbath.
As it was said by St Paul, “Believe on the Lord Jesus and you shall be saved!”
As the Sabbatharian preacher on AMAZING FACTS said years ago, “You are saved by GRACE if you keep the Sabbath”!
No mention of Jesus.
RE: Impossible today. Power plants, hospitals, must be fully staffed 24-7. Same for water plants and other utilities.
I don’t believe even the Israelis strictly keep their Sabbaths ( what if HAMAS attacks on a Saturday? Or Yom Kippur or Passover? ).
In America, Christmas, a tradition of men, an unbiblical feast day, is observed by both believers in Christ and unbelievers, every year, without fail. Businesses close. People have a feast. They have a tree inside their house. They give each other gifts.
Yet most Americans dishonor the Christian Sabbath. They watch sports, go shopping, go out to eat, find time for recreation. Many go to Church, then get on with their weekend fun. Others don’t even bother to go to Church.
52 times per year they reject the 4th commandment.
These same people will sometimes arrogantly spout off about eschatology, being led astray by false teachers, and they often maintain that they are not subject to Biblical moral law, that they have license to sin because Christ paid for their sins.
They childishly and stubbornly refuse to admit that there is a difference between Old Testament moral laws, which are permanent and timeless, and Old Testament ceremonial laws, which all served to point to Christ, so, after Christ’s ministry, sacrificial death and resurrection, they are fulfilled and are pointless to carry on afterwards. In fact, it is an outright rejection of Christ to carry on in ceremonial laws which pointed to Christ.
God’s moral laws, on the other hand, are unchanging as God is unchanging. Murder was against God’s Law in Old Testament times, and it continues to be against God’s Law as Christ reigns over his Kingdom at the right hand of God the Father.
Romans 3:31
Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law.
Romans 6
1 What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?
2 God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?
Romans 6:15
What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid.
SC, and I like it. Of course it's easier if one lives near the NC border.
I love Dennis’s outlook on humanity and morality. Excellent.
What work does a Jew or 10-Commandment-observant fellow avoid on the Sabbath? (I’m baiting here... Jews have an Oral ,Rabbinical tradition to follow. For non-Jews I have no idea what constitutes “work”... the word being “malacha” in Hebrew, which is different than exertion or labor or 9-to-5)
Noahide laws have recently been studied and expounded by some of the finest rabbinic minds in world Jewry today (orthodox Jewry...) Here is the majority opinion
http://noahideworldcenter.org/wp_en/?p=222
Do the 10 Commandments even apply to non-Jews? (in essence, yes)
http://noahideworldcenter.org/wp_en/?p=224
These are the orthodox mainstream Jewish opinions. BTW Jews are commanded to spread THIS good word (7 Noahide Laws and the ir expounded meanings/requirements) to non-Jews. You just didn’t get too much of it as Cossacks were pounding our heads in. G-d bless America and her soapbox. Preach on brother Jews everywhere. Halleluka.
the Book of Deuteronomy, states, “Remember that you were slaves in Egypt.”
Christians are called to remember not only that we all were slaves in Egypt ( a type of being slaves to sin and enemies of God ) but also we are called to remember the remedy for that slavery, the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross and the shedding of His blood for the forgiveness of sins.
1 Corinthians 11:24 “....this is My Body which is for you, do this in remembrance of Me”
***SC, and I like it.***
For those of us who had dairy farms there was no days off. Cows still had to be milked twice EVERY DAY including Saturday and SUNDAY, other animals fed, house warmed with a wood stove. Think of all the Biblical requirements against kindling a fire or hauling wood on the sabbath.
Not long ago the local Adventists had a play day at their church on the Sabbath. I drove by and before I passed I saw about a half dozen violations of Sabbath laws.
The sabbath is violated every Saturday by sabbath keepers yet they still have the attitude of “I’m better than everyone else because “I’ keep the Sabbath!”
I have read that when the Roman General Pompey attacked Jerusalem, he planned the assault for the Sabbath day.
He took the city with NO resistance because the Jews refused to violate their Sabbath.
Resisting was futile anyway, most of the Jews would have been slaughtered. It was God ordained.
To WHOM did God give the LAW?
Deuteronomy 5
2 The Lord our God made a covenant with us in Horeb.
3 The Lord made NOT THIS COVENANT with our fathers, but with us, even us, who are all of us here alive this day.
4 The Lord talked with you face to face in the mount out of the midst of the fire,
5 (I stood between the Lord and you at that time, to shew you the word of the Lord: for ye were afraid by reason of the fire, and went not up into the mount;) saying,
6 I am the Lord thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage.
7 Thou shalt have none other gods before me.
*****
12 Keep the sabbath day to sanctify it, as the Lord thy God hath commanded thee.
13 Six days thou shalt labour, and do all thy work:
14 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, nor thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thine ox, nor thine ass, nor any of thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates; that thy manservant and thy maidservant may rest as well as thou.
15 And remember that thou wast a servant in the land of Egypt, and that the Lord thy God brought thee out thence through a mighty hand and by a stretched out arm: therefore the Lord thy God commanded thee to keep the sabbath day.
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