Deuteronomy 5:12-14; Isaiah 58:13,14; Exodus 20:8
Keep the sabbath day to sanctify it, as the LORD thy God hath commanded thee. Six days thou shalt labour, and do all thy work: but the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work.
If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the LORD, honourable; and shalt honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words: Then shalt thou delight thyself in the LORD; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it.
Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.
ALEXANDER MacLAREN (1826-1910): It is easy to ridicule the Jewish Sabbath and “the Puritan Sunday.” No doubt there have been and are well-meant but mistaken efforts to insist on too rigid observance. No doubt it has been often forgotten by good people that the Christian Lord’s Day is not the Jewish Sabbath.
JOHN OWEN (1616-1683): The day of rest under the law, as a pledge of final rest with God, was the last day of the seven, the seventh day; but under the gospel it is the first day of the seven. Then the week of labour went before, now it follows after. And the reason hereof seems to be taken from the different state of the church. For of old, under the covenant of works, men were absolutely to labour and work, without any alteration or improvement of their condition, before they entered into rest. They should have had only a continuance of their state wherein they first set out, but no rest until they had wrought for it. The six days of labor went before, and the day of rest, the seventh day, followed them. But now it is otherwise. The first thing that belongs unto our present state is an entering into rest initially; for we enter in by faith, Hebrews 4. And then our working doth ensue; that is, “the obedience of faith.” Rest is given us to set us on work; and our works are such as, for the manner of their performance, are consistent with a state of rest. Hence our day of rest goes before our days of labour: it is now the first of the week, of the seven, which before was the last. And those who contend now for the observation of the seventh day do endeavour to bring us again under the covenant of works, that we should do all our work before we enter into any rest at all.
A. W. PINK (1886-1952): “The Sabbath was made for man,” Mark 2:27; God has graciously sanctified it for the good of the whole world.
ALEXANDER MacLAREN: Of course the religious observance of the day is not a fit subject for legislation. But the need for a seventh day of rest is impressed on our physical and intellectual nature; and devout hearts will joyfully find their best rest in Christian worship and service. The vigour of religious life demands special seasons set apart for worship. Unless there be such reservoirs along the road, there will be but a thin trickle of a brook by the way. It is all very well to talk about religion diffused through the life, but it will not be so diffused unless it is concentrated at certain times. They are no benefactors to the community who seek to break down and relax the stringency of the prohibition of labour.
J. W. ALEXANDER (1804-1859): The best preparation for the week’s work is the communion of the Sabbath.
WILHELMUS à BRAKEL (1635-1711): We sin when we make a workday out of this day—if we occupy ourselves with the work of our profession; we sin when we transform this day into a market day.
ALEXANDER MacLAREN: There never was a time when men lived so furiously fast as now. The pace of modern life demands Sunday rest more than ever…we are all going at top speed; and there would be more breakdowns if it were not for that blessed institution which some people think they are promoting the public good by destroying―a seventh day of rest. Our great trading centres have the same foreign element to complicate matters as Nehemiah had to deal with, Nehemiah 13:15,16. The Tyrian fishmongers knew and cared nothing for Israel’s Jehovah or Sabbath, and their presence would increase the tendency to disregard the day. So with us, foreigners of many nationalities, but alike in their disregard of our religious observances, leaven the society, and help to mould the opinions and practices, of our great cities. That is a very real source of danger in regard to Sabbath observance and many other things; and Christian people should be on their guard against it.
MATTHEW HENRY (1662-1714): We must “turn away our foot from the sabbath,” from trampling upon it, as profane atheistical people do.
THOMAS COKE (1747-1814): The foot in Scripture is frequently used for all the labour and business of men: see Proverbs 4:26,27, Psalm 119:101, and Isaiah 56:2.
MATTHEW HENRY: On sabbath days we must not walk in our own ways―that is, not follow our callings; not find our own pleasure―that is, not follow our sports and recreations; nay, we must not speak our own words, words that concern either our callings or our pleasures.
WILHELMUS à BRAKEL: We sin when we make this day into a day of worldly pleasure.
ADAM CLARKE (1760-1832): How vilely is this rule transgressed by the inhabitants of this land! They seem to think that the Sabbath was made only for their recreation!
ROBERT HAWKER (1753-1827): How do all faithful souls mourn in secret in the view of those troops of sabbath-breakers of our poor bleeding land, for which the nation mourns, and which come forth every Lord’s day to their sport and pleasures!
ALEXANDER MacLAREN: If once the idea that Sunday is a day of amusement takes root, the amusement of some will require the hard work of others, and the custom of work will tend to extend, till rest becomes the exception, and work the rule.
CHARLES SIMEON (1759-1836): Worldly business, and carnal pleasure, and unprofitable conversation, are all expressly proscribed: “we must not do our own ways, nor find our own pleasure, nor speak our own words.” On all the other days of the week we may find time for these things; but on the Sabbath-day they are to be excluded altogether. It is a grievous mistake to imagine, that after the public services of the day we are at liberty to engage in vain pursuits, invented only to beguile the time, which otherwise would be a burden upon our hands: there are pursuits proper to the day; and in them exclusively should our time be occupied.
JOHN CALVIN (1509-1564): If we framed our life in obedience to God, we should be His delight, and, on the other hand, He would be our delight.
D. L. MOODY (1837-1899): You show me a nation that has given up the Sabbath and I will show a nation that has got the seed of decay.
