By Pastor G. Reckart
Copyright 2008 All Rights Reserved
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The Basics
God gave the shabbat to Israel: "the LORD hath given you the sabbath" (Exo 16:29).
Commandment #4 - "Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy." (Exo 20:8).
The sabbath was a witness between God and Israel: "Verily my sabbaths ye shall keep: for it is a sign between me and you throughout your generations; that ye may know that I am the LORD that doth sanctify you (Exo 31:13b).
What does the name shabbat mean?
The word shabbat (sabbath) comes from shabbathown (shab-baw-thone, Strong's #7676-7677): meaning rest.
God himself will describe what rest means:
Abide every man in his place, let no man go out of his place on
the seventh day (Exo 16:29);
Thou shalt not do any work (Exo 20:10);"Six days may work be done;
but in the seventh is the sabbath of rest, holy to the LORD: whosoever doeth
any work in the sabbath day, he shall surely be put to death" (Exo
31:15).
Ye shall kindle no fire (Exo 35:3);
He giveth you on the sixth day the bread for the sabbath also (see Exo 16:27-29);
"See, that the LORD hath given you the sabbath, therefore he giveth you
on the sixth day the bread of two days; abide ye every man in his place,
let no man go out of his place on the seventh day."
Ye shall afflict your souls by a statute for ever; - afflict: looking
down, browbeaten, depressed, submit self, be weakened (Lev 16:29),
see also Exo 3:7 "affliction i.e. depression"
It comes from Commandments #4: Remember the shabbat, to keep it holy (Exo 20:8).
God gave the shabbat to Israel as a day of rest during which they would remember the hard days and years of bondage while in Egypt.
"And remember that thou wast a servant in the land of Egypt, and that the LORD thy God brought thee out thence through a mighty hand and by a stretched out arm: therefore the LORD thy God commanded thee to keep the sabbath day" *Deut 5:15).
In Egypt the Israelites labored day and night for over 200 years as slaves. They were not given days off. They were not allowed to have a vacation. As slaves they suffered the vigors of hard manual labor. We believe they were instrumental in building several pyramids and many other ancient structures. Their bodies were always tired because of the labors. They cried because of their many bodily injuries and illnesses. They suffered great miseries. God heard their cries:
"And it came to pass in the process of time, that the king of Egypt died: and the children of Israel sighed by reason of the bondage, and they cried, and their cry came up unto God by reason of the bondage" (Exo 2:23).
The sabbath was compared to the seventh day of creation where God rested from all his works. God's rest was not because of misery, bondage that came to an end, or because of some one's mistreatment. This does not mean a sabbath was held in heaven every seven days to commemorate the end of six days of creation. Nor does it mean man always observed a seventh day sabbath during the time between Adam and the giving of manna and the Ten Commandments. There is no record anyone knew of a seventh day sabbath until God revealed it to Moses in the collection of manna and it is then incorporated into the Ten Commandments as Commandment #4.
The sabbath law
Anyone who breaks the sabbath requirements is to be put to death. This means a person who is guilty of the following must die:
Anyone who works on the sabbath;
Anyone who goes out of their dwelling:
Anyone who makes a fire;
Anyone who goes out of the home on the shabbat to gather or buy food to eat
that day;
Anyone who prepares food.
The sabbath law was given to Israel, not to the Gentile nations: "And I gave them my statutes, and shewed them my judgments, which if a man do, he shall even live in them. Moreover also I gave them my sabbaths, to be a sign between me and them, that they might know that I am the LORD that sanctify them" (Exo 20:11-12).
How are they to be put to death?
"And they put him in ward, because it was not declared what should be done to him. And the LORD sad unto Moses, The man shall be surely put to death: all the congregation shall stone him with stones without the camp (Num 15:34-35).
The death penalty is to be administered by everyone in the congregation gathering a stone to throw at the guilty as hard as a person could throw it because killing the guilty soul was the purpose.
The fourth Commandment contains the law with later addenda to explain how to observe it and the punishment for a violation.
There was to be given no love or mercy for a sabbath breaker.
There was no appeal to a higher court or power, God told Moses the guilty must die.
Israel did not keep God's statutes or execute his judgments against the guilty:
"And ye shall know that I am the LORD: for ye have not walked in my statutes, neither executed my judgments, but have done after the manner of the heathen that are round about you" (Eze 1:12).
How to re-establish the law of shabbat
Re-establish the right day of the week and correctly identify it as the shabbat. Some believe it is Saturday from sundown Friday to sundown Saturday. Some believe it is Friday from Sundown Thursday to Sundown Friday. There are other opinions.
Each person who agrees to observe the shabbat should agree to the death penalty for all who break it (If killing the guilty is not permitted, an alternative may be to excommunicate the guilty in such a way they could never again come back to the religious group: they are cut off forever and considered lost with no hope of salvation or forgiveness. This is executing God's shabbat judgment).
An accused should be brought before the leader of the assembly, the shabbat law laid out, then accused by two or three witnesses, given a trial, and if guilty sentenced to death or excommunication for ever.
The law of shabbat should be observed, applied, and administered by the laws of Moses and the Old Testament alone.
Are you keeping shabbat according to God's law?
Does your synagogue, mosque, church, or group keep shabbat law?
Does your Rabbi or Leader keep the shabbat law?
Remember, just because of failure of the shabbat law being enforced and judgments
executed, does not give any of us a right to claim God's has suspended or
made his judgment to pass from the law. If not one jot or tittle has passed
from the law, this means, if you have ever broken the shabbat, God has convicted
you of breaking his law and you are guilty of death.
Is there anyone now living who has not broken the shabbat law?
Judge yourself and others by the simple outline below:
Have you or anyone else worked on the shabbat? All who do so are already
guilty of death!
Have you or anyone you know kindled a fire on the shabbat? All who do so
are already guilty of death!
Have you or anyone you know gone out of their dwelling or home on the shabbat?
All who have done so are already guilty of death!
Have you or anyone you know gone out of their dwelling to gather or buy food
on the shabbat to eat that day? All who have done so are already guilty of
death!
Objections
There are some Rabbis who believe that since the temple is not standing,
there is no highpriest of Aaron's lineage, no priesthood making sacrifices,
that all the provisions of the Laws of Moses are not to be enforced and the
shabbat with its death penalty is one of them. But the shabbat was put into
place with its death penalty BEFORE there was a tabernacle or temple built.
There are those who are guilty of breaking the law of shabbat and know they deserve the death penalty but they do not believe they should die nor do they believe they should be excomunicated.
There are some who claim they broke shabbat before they knew about the
law and its death penalty. How do we know the man picking up sticks
knew about the shabbat law?
There are some who claim they have broken the law of shabbat but God has
changed his mind about the death penalty and so although they are guilty
of death they believe God has forgiven them. They believe they will not be
lost. They believe there is mercy and forgiveness for all the times they
did not keep shabbat. But this exemption cannot be found in Scripture.
The Gentle masquerade of Shabbat keeping
The law was not given to Gentiles but to those who stood on Mt Horeb. These accepted the law which includes honor of shabbat, for themselves and understood subjected their children also(Exo 19:8):
"And all the people answered together, and said, All that the LORD hath spoken we will do."
God gave the Covenant to Israel, the seed of Abraham, and not to any Gentile. Consequently, there is no provision under the Laws of Moses commanding Gentiles to keep the shabbat. There is no provision to execute Gentiles who did not observe shabbat. Gentiles could not obtain atonement or forgiveness by any of the animal sacrifice system used for breaking the law. There was no priesthood for Gentiles. No Gentile could come into the tabernacle or temple. The Apostle Paul said there was a wall between the Gentiles and Israel that lasted until Christ came and tore it down. He said the Gentiles had no part with the Commonwealth of Israel and were without hope. Therefore, Gentiles now trying to observe or keep the law of shabbat are omitted from the death penalty of the law. The majority of Gentiles have broken shabbat and under God's death penalty could never be saved regardless if they now try to keep it.
Where there is no penalty there is no law.
If there is a shabbat keeper any where in the world who has not broken the shabbat law, I have not met that person. If there is any one who can change God's judgment of the death penalty for breaking shabbat I have not met that person. I conclude then, there is none righteous, no not one. There is none who can escape the death penalty unless:
See my Study on the New Covenant where I begin with Jesus as the end of the law to all who believe (Romans 10:4).
All, both Jew and Gentile, have broken shabbat and deserve God's judgment of the death penalty. All are guilty before God and if he has mercy on one he will have mercy on all (Romans 11:32). God is not a respector of persons be you a Jew or a Gentile.
Pastor G. Reckart
Tampa, Florida