The Sabbath Promulgated at Sinai by Frederick M. Wilcox

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Jul 4, 1912

The Sabbath Promulgated at Sinai

By Frederick M. Wilcox

THE sacred regard placed by the Lord upon the Sabbath is clearly indicated in the circumstances connected with its promulgation at Mt. Sinai. The children of Israel were encamped on the plain at the base of the mountain. Three days of solemn preparation were required in order to prepare them to receive the instruction which God, with his own voice, was about to impart. The camp itself was cleansed from every impurity. The people were required to wash their clothes, and to humble their hearts before the Lord. The mountain itself was sanctified, or set apart, by divine commandment; neither man nor beast was to go up into it, or even touch the border, under pain of death. A solemn hush pervaded the encampment. Awe and eager expectancy filled every heart. God was about to meet with his people. "And Mount Sinai was altogether on a smoke, because the Lord descended upon it in fire: and the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mount quaked greatly." Ex. 19:18.

Under such circumstances as these, in connection with the greatest celestial display of almighty power which this earth ever witnessed, God delivered to the people his law of ten commandments. This law had been recognized before, as we have already seen; but because of prevailing iniquity in the earth, and in order that mankind might be left without excuse, God gave added emphasis to his requirements by uttering them with his own voice, under such circumstances as would impress the beholders, and all the world who knew of their deliverance, with the sacredness of their character.

That nine of these commandments are moral in character the Christians of all ages have admitted. The first four express the duty of man to his Maker, the last six the duty of man to his fellows. In the bosom of this decalogue, buttressed

before and behind, shut in on every side as if to guard it from the assaults which God knew would be made upon it, rests the Sabbath commandment. Speaking of the giving of the law and of the Sabbath at this time, Rev. James Gilfillan, a First-day observer, in his book "The Sabbath Viewed in the Light of Reason, Revelation; and History," page 287, beautifully expresses the honor shown the divine precepts:—

The law of the ten commandments, uttered by "the great voice" of God, was also written by his own finger. It was too holy and glorious to be spoken "with the tongues of men and of angels," or to be taken down from the divine lips by any human amanuensis. The Lawgiver must proclaim his eternal law with his own mouth, and indite it with his own hand. Twice was it so written. It was inscribed on tablets of stone, and in this form deposited in the ark, with all the security which incorruptible shittim-wood, and gold overlaid within, without, and above, could provide, and under the overshadowing cherubim, and inviolable Shekinah. But no divine voice is heard announcing the laws of a temporary polity, or of a shadowy ritual; they are uttered in the ears of Moses alone. No divine finger traces their written characters; for this the hand of Moses is deemed adequate. They are committed to no secure and precious casket; but placed beside the ark, as things warranting less reverence and care, and ready to be removed. In all these honors of the ten "words," the fourth commandment fully shared. Prefaced by the same solemnities, attended by thunders and lightnings, articulated by the divine voice, all its words engraved by the divine finger, and entrusted to the sacred keeping of the ark, who could have any reason to imagine that the Sabbath was a Jewish rite, belonging entirely to a covenant which was to decay, wax old, and be ready to vanish away?

The first words of the Sabbath commandment call the attention of the people to an institution already in existence. They were enjoined to "remember the Sabbath day." It was distinguished from the other days in that it was required to be kept holy, while the six days of the week were named as days of labor. The children of God were not only required to keep the Sabbath, but labor on the part of their sons and daughters, their servants and their cattle, was likewise prohibited; and the reason given as the basis of this injunction was found in the institution of the day in the beginning. "For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it." Ex. 20:11.

The Jews, as God's special people at this time, were required to keep the Sabbath, not as an institution given to them primarily; they were exhorted to remember an institution already in existence, one which had descended to them from their fathers from the time of its bestowal in the garden of Eden. On page 45 of an old book called "The Sabbath," by Harmon Kingsbury, published in 1841, we find this excellent quotation from Professor Agnew regarding the perpetuity of the Sabbath institution, and of its application to the whole human family, including the Jewish people:—

If we now advert to the end, or object, of the institution, we shall perceive it to be adapted equally to the whole human family, and not peculiarly to the Jews. And hence its perpetuity is inferred. Was it intended to relieve both man and beast from the wearisomeness of uninterrupted labor? They do all need it as much as the Israelites. Was it designed to be commemorative of the eternity, independence, self-existence, and all the glorious perfections of the Deity, as evinced in the work of his hands? Then are all, equally with the Jews, interested in this commemoration. Was it provided as a means of man's growth and establishment in holiness? Then does its end proclaim it loudly to be the birthright of every intelligent creature on God's earth, a common inheritance to all the sons and daughters of Adam.

Who is the Jew, that his constitution alone, and that of his servants and beasts, require a regular return of freedom from the exhausting fatigues of constant labor? Who is the Jew, that he only may set apart one day in seven for singing the high praises of God; that he only is obliged to bear in remembrance the power, and wisdom, and goodness of God, displayed in his completed work of creation? Who is the Jew, that he only needs this preeminently blessed means of attaining and securing conformity with the image of God? No! Verily, you and I, and Adam and Noah, are, as much as he, interested in this heavenly attainment. We, equally with him, must commemorate the six days' work of Jehovah. And our constitution, as well as his, was so made as to require the rest of the Sabbath.

There remains to the present a Sabbath rest for the children of God. May we remember it with rejoicing as it comes in the weekly cycle, and in its observation find rest and blessing and gladness through its great Author, the Lord Jesus Christ.

F. M. W.