3.3

God’s twilight zone

There were tangible differences on the Sabbath when Israel roamed the desert, strange phenomena that revealed unnatural laws unique to its time. During the week, the people freely collected food that God daily rained down from heaven and covered the ground. They called this heavenly food manna, Hebrew for what is it? Every day they gathered manna for that day only. Any manna they tried to keep for the following day became foul and bred worms. God’s food was edible and nourishing only on the same day it was collected. But on the Sabbath, other laws applied. The manna they collected the day before was still good to eat on the Sabbath. Somehow, the day old manna was as fresh and nourishing as if it had fallen from heaven that same day. Not only was it unnecessary, but it was impossible to collect. There was no manna to gather on the Sabbath, no matter how far and wide anyone searched (Exodus 16:20-6). Neither decay nor work is in the nature of the Sabbath day, where God reveals Himself in His rest as all living and all sufficient. These physical signs ended after Israel’s forty years in the desert, but God’s Sabbath rest continues to alter the nature of creation and how to live in it, just as His Presence speaking to Moses from a burning bush altered the nature of fire so it did not consume the bush (3:2)

As soon as the Israelites left Egypt, their living conditions radically changed. As slaves, they were forced to work and produce for their masters’ profit, with barely any time to think of themselves. Here in the desert, though, they barely worked and arguably had too much free time to think about themselves and their wants. Under Pharaoh’s authority, they were compelled to work for his benefit: under God’s reign, they were required to trust Him for their benefit. But it is the Sabbath that most clearly reveals how completely God changed their slave identity. Instead of being forced to work for another upon pains of death, they were commanded to not work and rely on Another to sustain them. Not resting on the Sabbath was judged an act of harlotry (Numbers 15:39) and punishable by death. No one was permitted to work for anyone, not even for oneself

A dramatic event is recorded in the Bible of a man who gathered wood on the Sabbath (Numbers 15:32-41). This man was taken to Moses and his brother Aaron to judge his crime. Moses asked God: what was His verdict. God answered that the man who broke the Sabbath must be punished with death by stoning. How can God so severely punish for so small a transgression, for what would not even be considered sin by most of us? Why would God respond so severely to a work that did not look to hurt any one or thing? We can begin to understand all God’s judgments if we compare them to the judgments of our human legal systems. The law of a land is good if it protects what its people value. If, for example, life is valued over property, a murderer is more severely judged than a robber. God’s Sabbath law protects the great value of HIs holy covenant with Israel. His severe punishment for breaking that law reflects its importance and value in the land of His covenant. The exclusive and excluding nature of God’s holiness can only be interpreted in and by itself, revealed and known in its unique place and time. God’s Sabbath explains that His rest is essential to His intended relationship with us

How can the unique nature of the Sabbath be described? Abraham Heshel called it the day that eternity “utters” (Sabbath, 67). On the Sabbath, it is as if “the spirit of the Messiah moved over the face of the earth” (68), a “sign of resurrection and the world to come” (114). In the Torah it is written that on the Sabbath, God “ceased from labor, and was refreshed” (Exodus 31:17). As God is refreshed in His rest, so does He also command His creation to be refreshed in His Sabbath (23:12). The Hebrew word for refreshed is naphash, which is from nephesh, the word for soul and life. Some rabbis have interpreted this refreshing as an extra portion of soul that God gives on the Sabbath day, an extra measure of life for those who keep it (A Shabbat Reader, p. 4). This extra soul can not be more of the same soul that lives throughout the week. Because it is a holy time, this soul must also be distinct from its life in other times. On this day of rest, life is no longer preoccupied with labor and things of the world but is instead free to face the Maker of all things. It is a holy day because we are free to engage a holy God. It is the Spirit of holiness of the Messiah’s coming and of the world to come. So special is this day to Jewish faith that the Talmud says if Israel perfectly observed the Sabbath only once, the Messiah would come (A Shabbat Reader, p. 188)

Some have ascribed to the Sabbath the light of God before He spoke the worlds into being, immeasurably brighter and more glorious than any light on earth. Religious Jewish traditions emphasize its unique and special place in their faith. The whole week anticipates and prepares for the Sabbath’s coming. Its arrival is celebrated as if it were a Queen exalted beside God the King, and as a bride betrothed to Israel (A Shabbat Reader, p. 38). It’s separation from the rest of the week is marked with the Kiddush prayer at its coming and a Havdalah service when it departs. God called the Sabbath a covenantal sign that would forever be between Him and Israel (Exodus 31:17). Every week, the Sabbath returns Jews to God, orienting the rest of the week to His holy rest. No wonder some believe “. . .the Sabbath has preserved the Jews over the centuries even more than the Jews have preserved the Sabbath” (A Shabbat Reader, p. 25)