Bible 101: "Sabbath"
Because I know you probably don't participate! BUT YOU SHOULD!
Sabbath is easily the most talked about tradition in the Bible.
Do you celebrate it?
……
Did I just somehow hear crickets through my computer monitor?
Why don’t you?
Is it because you don’t understand Sabbath? Or you don’t know why you should celebrate Sabbath? Or you don’t know how to start celebrating Sabbath?
Lucky for you, I am about to tell you everything you need to know about it.
Buckle up. Here we go.
For those who don’t understand what Sabbath is:
There are three different words for “sabbath”:
sabat (sha-bought): a Hebrew word that means to cease or rest.
sabaton (sha-ba-tone): a Hebrew word that points to sabbath observance as a religious holiday.
sabbaton (saw-baton): a Greek word symbolizing the seventh day of the week, set aside as a sacred festival to abstain from work.
So, from simple definitions, we can see that sabbath means rest, to observe rest as a holiday, and that it’s a sacred festival. That seems self-explanatory. Let’s dig deeper.
All you really need to know about Sabbath is from Exodus 20:8-11, i.e. the part in the Ten Commandments where God…..commands it.
“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, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.”
(translation is ESV, not KJ because we don’t love KJV on this blog, sorry to the elders)
You should know that making any day holy and telling people to rest on that holy day was not a thing in ancient times. It was unheard of.
It wasn’t just the idea of Sabbath that was weird to ancient people.
It was almost more weird trying to figure out how the Israelites knew when Sabbath was, by counting days via a seven day work week…because NO ONE counted time like this.
It was weird because every method of time telling was based around lunar and solar cycles. For Israel to follow a seven-day week was odd.
Here’s the thing though, and this is a guideline you can use anytime you want: if something is weird or odd in the Bible, it more than likely has a double meaning. In this case, if you examine the number 7, the biblical number 7 that is, it represents fullness and completeness. Thus, God was basically saying that their week would not be COMPLETE without Sabbath.
Let’s word it different. If the Israelites followed the Sabbath commandment to a T by celebrating and regarding the seventh day as holy and sacred because God commanded it, the complete week would be holy and sacred in the eyes of God. Thus, they would be seen as holy and sacred. Ah, verily verily!
And if the Israelites didn’t follow the Sabbath commandment to a T and ignored every seventh day instead of regarding it as holy and sacred because God commanded it as such, the week would not be complete, nor would it be seen as holy and sacred, nor would God view them as holy and sacred. Verily verily.
This is OBVIOUSLY a dramatization because God wouldn’t dismiss someone if their boss held a gun to their head and said they had to work Sabbath. However, their faith in God, especially during Old Testament times, was rooted in how well they performed and obeyed God (i.e. the Christianese word “works”).
Their religion was based on how well they followed rules and laws. There was no grace in their mistakes. It was either “you live right” or “you live wrong” and no in-between. Following Sabbath was more than just a day-off, it was directly correlated with the favor God would give them if they obeyed His commandments.
This is OOBER important to understand. In Old Testament times, Sabbath was more of an obligation than anything. Even to the Jewish people now, it seems to come across more as an obligation than a day to rest with God (over-generalization, but you get it). However, God saw the bigger picture, as per usual. He didn’t make the seventh day holy just because. He wasn’t trying to fuel His ego. The verses in Exodus command that EVERYONE and EVERYTHING requires rest.
I mean everyone. I mean everything. Every “thing” required rest.
That wasn’t a thing in the ancient world. Honestly, rest in general wasn’t a thing unless you were on a high horse in society. Slaves did not get rest. Animals did not get rest. Land did not get rest.
So, what is Sabbath? An excellent excuse, given by the God of the Universe, to rest.
For those who don’t know why they should celebrate Sabbath:
The first mention of Sabbath happens in Genesis 2, where God sanctifies (a.k.a. makes holy) the seventh day of the week, where He finished creating and rested. The whole point of God making the seventh day holy was that it was a well-deserved rest and a celebration of the things He cared about the most. He rested in perfect contentment, thus the day was made perfect in His eyes.
The second mention of Sabbath happens in Exodus 20 (what you LITERALLY just read), where God makes the Sabbath one of the Ten Commandments. Here are the cliff notes.
You should celebrate Sabbath because:
It is a holy day to God.
Think of it as the most special day to God, as it is Him remembering creating…creation. It’s very important to God, and because we are the ones He created, we should also find it important. As a rule of thumb, if something is important to God, it should also be important to you.
It is a sacred day to God.
It is set apart and dedicated to curating rest. This doesn’t mean taking a nap…but it also doesn't NOT mean taking a nap. The entire idea of Sabbath is to find rest with God. Resting in God’s creation. Resting in the thankfulness of what God has done for you. It is a day that allows us to be in awe of God.
Quick MiniSermon™ from the Rev. Dr. (patent pending): Did you know that when Jesus resurrected, it was on Sabbath? This is not a coincidence (obviously). Let’s think back at the beginning of Genesis when God created all things: God created nonstop. One after another. Bang. Bam. Boom.
BUT… when God created man on the sixth day and was so content about the creation of man, He decided to take a “nap” the very next day. Creation was complete. God could rest and be in awe of His own work.
God’s FIRST day of REST was literally WITH MAN on the seventh day.
Adam’s FIRST day of LIFE was literally WITH God, resting.
We were born to have true rest with God. That is why Jesus died and then resurrected three days later on Sabbath. He woke up on Sabbath to restore your rest. Imma say it again for the people in the back: Jesus woke up so you could rest. *drops mic*
It is a day that is meant to be observed, for our own good, in honor of God.
I am not saying this out of religious obligation. We all know how important taking a “sick day” is once in a while. If you haven’t been persuaded yet, you should know there is scientific evidence that observing the Sabbath is one of the healthiest habits anyone can have. Backed by science! Wow! In a study done by Duke University, there was a positive association between relationships and mental health if the subject observed Sabbath. If the subject of the study observed Sabbath religiously, i.e. three or four days a month, it resulted in better sleep, less stress and more relaxation. There was also a positive association between observing Sabbath and mental stability, organization, and ability to plan and anticipate the future. Their spiritual well-being and quality of life scores was increasingly better, their mental health flourished, and the likeliness of depression was significantly lower than someone who did not participate in Sabbath.
How many times have you been burnt out in your life? How many times have you said “gosh I wish I was in Mexico drinkin’ a marg right now” and kept working 90 hour work weeks?
If you feel like I am specifically calling YOU out (imagine you’re wearing 3D glasses and you’re at the theater and I’m on screen pointing at you)…
…you should probably pay attention to the next part of this Substack.
And, for those who don’t know how to start celebrating Sabbath:
This part is, by far, the easiest to understand, but the hardest to actually put into motion. So, for your convenience, I have made some stellar ground rules for you to follow to get the most out of trying the whole “Sabbath” thing. God speed.
Rule #1
Set apart a day. It doesn’t have to be the stereotypical Sunday, or the Seventh Day Adventist version formerly known as Saturday. It can be a Thursday for all I care. Just set a day aside where you aren’t working.
If this already seems difficult to you, I am going to introduce you to the Mini Sabbath™ (patent pending). Find your least busy day, set aside a chunk of time (longer than 30 minutes) and call that your Sabbath.
If this seems impossible,
1. you should rethink your life choices AND
2. you can do the Ultra-Mini Sabbath Deluxe™ (patent pending).
Take 10 minutes, make that your Sabbath. Do it every day, or every other day. Maybe it happens while you eat breakfast, maybe it’s while you get ready for your day, maybe it’s you just sitting in a corner staring at a wall for 5 minutes.
For a practical example, some weeks I choose a random day (normally Wednesday) as my Sabbath, some weeks I do a Mini Sabbath™ for an hour during the morning, and some weeks, I do the Ultra-Mini Sabbath Deluxe™ every day while I drink my coffee. It can change depending on your lifestyle. Don’t make it religious. Just find a way that works for you.
The whole point of Sabbath is to spend a whole day resting. Make that your goal. Even if you only get 10 minutes of Sabbath, God will still give you brownie points for trying.
Rule #2
Do something that you associate with rest. Sometimes people are apprehensive to Sabbath because they don't want to sit around all day and feel like they are wasting their time being bored.
Examples of restful activities:
actually resting, taking naps, watching Love is Blind with your best friend
playing Scrabble with your spouse
spending a day outside in the hammock
painting or drawing as a way to relax
baking bread or cooking a ‘90’s style casserole
listening to music
Small Guideline from the Rev. Dr.: as a Sabbath professional, I recommend NOT listening to:
-Lamb of God
-any song from Justin Bieber’s second studio album “My World 2.0”
-Creed
-any 80’s cover band
-the Broadway classic “Phantom of the Opera” translated into German
-any and all “SoundCloud” rap
-the song “The Math” by Hilary Duff
-Conway Twitty
-Metallica
-Mariah Carey
-the song “You’re the Inspiration” by Chicago
-the Edward Scissorhands soundtrack (w/ Johnny Depp)
-any song where Jason Derulo states his name for the jury OR
-the unfortunate and traumatizing 1960’s classic from Alvin & the Chipmunks: “Ragtime Cowboy Joe”.
reading the Bible (did you expect me to NOT say this one?? it’s so obvious)
going on a hike
playing Cards Against Humanity (warning: do not play with your parents. I unfortunately learned that the hard way.)
going to a coffeeshop to creepily eavesdrop on every and all conversations
slow stretching to avoid a hernia
take a pottery class and quickly learn you suck at pottery
plant some tulips
As a practical example, I normally bake bread because I am a gluten enthusiast (sorry to the Celiac community). I also listen to worship music or instrumental music and try to read books with super random subjects (last week it was a book about raising pygmy goats which concluded with the realization that I probably don’t want pygmy goats, this week it will be an in-depth Revolutionary War biography).
Rule #3
Arguably the most important rule:
NO MATTER WHEN YOU OBSERVE IT OR HOW YOU SPEND THE TIME, ALWAYS POINT THE SABBATH BACK TO GOD.
That’s it. You just find a day or time of the week, figure out something that makes you feel real rest, and you thank God during it.
You can say a vocal “thank you” or you could paint a picture that makes you feel thankful for God. You could listen to music that reminds you of God or reminds you of something God did for you. You could read the Bible and have a physical reminder of what God has done.
Thank God for what you had.
Thank God for what you have right now.
Thank God for what you will have.
That is the Sabbath. Resting in what He has done for you.
When you observe Sabbath, you don't just honor God: you bless God.
Go do Sabbath in confidence. Thanks for being here.
So good! I suck at Sabbathing, if that were an actual verb. I need to just pick a day and do it!
Also, why can’t I plant tulips on that day again? 🤣