The Jewish Sabbath

Six days shall work be done: but the seventh day is the Sabbath of rest, an holy convocation: (Holy gathering together), ye shall do no work therein: it is the Sabbath of the LORD in all your dwelling.

— Leviticus 23:3

In Leviticus 23:3, the Lord gave Moses the instructions concerning His weekly Sabbath. Keep in mind that the weekly Sabbath is not one of the seven feasts but a day of rest. These seven feasts were celebrated on a yearly basis and some fell on the same day of the week each year (such as Easter Sunday on our calendar), while others fell on different days of the week (such as the Fourth of July).

The Lord said in verse 3, "Six days shall work be done: but the seventh day is the Sabbath of rest." Why did God choose the number six as the number of days of labor? We know it took six days for God to recondition the earth for man to have a place to live (Gen. 1:31).

In this book, we will discuss the meaning of certain numbers and how and why they appear in the Scriptures. The number six comes from the Hebrew word shesh. Six is the number of humanity, the number of human incompleteness and imperfection. Humanity falls short of God's mark (Rom. 6:23) just as six falls short of seven, one of the perfect numbers in the Scriptures; the other perfect numbers are one, three, eight, and ten.

Here are a few facts about the number six as it appears in the Scriptures. Goliath in the Scripture represents a type of Satan. For instance, he was six cubits tall, and he had a spearhead that weighted six hundred shekels of iron. He also wore six pieces of armor (2 Sam. 17:5–8) a total of 666. The floodwaters were in the six hundred years of Noah's life (Gen. 7:6). God also created man on the sixth day of the week (Gen. 1:27–28). "God said six days shall mark man's labor" (Ex. 20:9). Only six generations of Cain's descendants were recorded in the Bible (Gen. 4:17–23). The Scriptures say that he was wicked and slew his brother (1 John 3:12). The sixth commandment prohibits the worst sin, murder. The sixth clause in the Lord's Prayer relates to sin. The man recorded in 2 Samuel 21:20 had six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot. The reverence here seems to be that humanity cannot walk right or do right without God. This pertains to their lifestyle. We can see that the number six is the number of man and comes short of perfection and completeness.

Here are Scripture facts that pertain to the number seven, which comes from the Hebrew word shaba. It is the number of divine completion and perfection. It means to be complete and perfect. The book of Revelation, the last book of the Bible, completes the written word of God. It has the mark of the number seven; it mentions seven golden candlesticks, seven stars, seven letters, seven churches, seven spirits, seven seals, seven trumpets, seven bowls, seven thunders, seven dooms, seven new things, and seven persons. The word Jesus is found in it seven times, the words Jesus Christ are found seven times, the Dragon has seven heads, with seven crowns upon his head. The Beast also has heads.

The Sabbath or seventh day of the week belongs to God, who made it holy (Lev. 19:3, 23:3). The seventh day completes the week. God commanded Joshua and the children of Israel to march around Jericho one time for six days (one short of seven), and on the seventh day, they were commanded to march around the city seven times. On the seventh time, the walls fell.

The prophet instructed Naaman to dip in the Jordan River seven times, after the seventh time he came up clean. Seven signs or miracles were recorded in the gospel of John so we might believe (John 20:30, 31). Jesus uttered seven last sayings while on the cross. There are seven parables recorded in Matthew 13. Seven spiritual weapons were recorded in Ephesians 6:12–17. This equips us with the full armor of God. From these examples taken from the Holy Scriptures on the meaning and use of these two numbers, we will get a better understanding of the Lord's Sabbath.

Not all covenants had signs, but some did. We refer to the covenants by name such as the Mosaic covenant or the Abrahamic covenant. However, God referred to all covenants as His covenants. The Noahetic, Abrahamic, Davidic, and Mosaic covenants were the only covenants in which God gave signs. The sign of the Noahetic covenant is the rainbow (Gen. 9:16, 17). The Abrahamic covenant had the sign of circumcision (Gen. 17:11). In the Davidic covenant, the sign is the Son of David (2 Sam. 7:12–16).

The one we are interested in is the Mosaic covenant, which had the sign of the Sabbath. Exodus 31:13, 15–17 reads,

"Speak thou also unto the children of Israel saying, my Sabbaths shall ye keep; for it is a sign between me and you throughout your generation. Six days may work be done: but the seventh is the Sabbath of rest, holy unto the Lord: whosoever doeth any work in the seventh day, he shall surely be put to death. Wherefore the children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, to observe the Sabbath throughout their generations, for a perpetual covenant. It is a sign between me and the children of Israel forever

From these verses of Scripture, we can see that the weekly Sabbath applies to the children of Israel. It was a sign between God and Israel throughout their generations and the sign of the covenant God had made with the children of Israel at Mount Sinai. We call this the Old Covenant. Covenant being another name for testament.

One of the most important rules of Scripture interpretation is to know to whom God is speaking. The apostle Paul told the church at Rome, "For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning" (Rom. 15:4). There are only three classes of people God speaks to in His Word. This is a principle of biblical interpretation called the Principle of the Ethnic Division. These three classes of people are Israel, the church, and the nations. The nations are in some places referred to as the heathens. At times, He speaks to all three classes at the same time, such as in the first eleven chapters of Genesis.

Here, in the above text it is clear that God was speaking to the nation of Israel, His covenant people. In addition, the weekly Sabbath was the sign of the covenant He made with them. It was to last throughout their generations. Matthew 1 tells us that there were forty-two generations from Abraham to the birth of Christ. Jesus lived under Mosaic Law, which lasted up until Acts 2 or the descent of the Holy Spirit. The Law came into effect well over four hundred and thirty years after Abraham was dead (Ex. 12:41). The Sabbath was not never mentioned in the lives of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph because it was instituted hundreds of years later. They worshipped God on any day they chose by building altars and offering sacrifices.

We are the children of Abraham by faith. Our circumcision is that of the heart. This is the sign of...