About the Sabbath
Alette Bester
Pastor at Created To Worship Ministries SA Registration Number 241-304 NPO
Part 2 of 7
God’s idea for giving the Sabbath to Israel was:
a. that they would remember God’s creation,
b. that they would remember their Egyptian slavery and deliverance.
Requirements for Sabbath-keeping:
A person placed under that Sabbath law could not leave his home on the Sabbath - Exodus 16:29 “See! For the Lord has given you the Sabbath; therefore He gives you on the sixth day bread for two days. Let every man remain in his place; let no man go out of his place on the seventh day.”
He could not build a fire and prepare food - Exodus 35:3 “You shall kindle no fire throughout your dwellings on the Sabbath day.”
He should not do, nor cause anyone else to work - Deuteronomy 5:14 “but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your ox, nor your donkey, nor any of your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates, that your male servant and your female servant may rest as well as you.”
A person breaking the Sabbath law was to be put to death - Exodus 31:15 “Work shall be done for six days, but the seventh is the Sabbath of rest, holy to the Lord. Whoever does any work on the Sabbath day, he shall surely be put to death.”
According to Chabbat.org the twilight period, from sunset ("shekiah") until three stars are visible in the sky ("tzeit hakochavim"), is a period known as "bein hashmashot". Shabbat and all the holidays begin at sunset, the earliest possible definition of nightfall, and end when three stars appear in the sky the next evening, the latest definition of nightfall.
According to the Hebrew calendar, Sunday is the first day of the week. But according to the International Organization for Standardization ISO 8601, Sunday is the seventh day of the week.
In Greek, the names of the days Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday ("Δευτ?ρα", "Τρ?τη", "Τετ?ρτη" and "Π?μπτη") mean "second", "third", "fourth", and "fifth" respectively.
This leaves Sunday in the first position of the week count. The Greek name for Sunday, Κυριακ? (Kyriake), means "Lord's Day" coming from the word Κ?ριο? (Kyrios), which is the Greek word for "Lord".