WEBVTT
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Hello again, everybody, and welcome back to the Bible Difficulties and Answers
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podcast. I'm your host, Lance Smith, and this is episode 306.
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Let me start with a few questions. If God rested on the seventh day of creation,
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why does Moses later tell Israel to keep the Sabbath because they were slaves in Egypt?
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Did Moses change the commandment? Did Israel somehow get two different Sabbaths,
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one connected to creation and another connected to the Exodus?
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Or are we looking at the same Sabbath given by the same God with two different reasons attached to it?
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That's our question today. We're going to look at Deuteronomy 5:15:
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Was the Sabbath instituted because
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of God's rest from creation or his redemption of Israel from Egypt?
00:01:02.584 --> 00:01:07.645
There is a lot of scholarly material on this question, and I'll admit,
00:01:07.665 --> 00:01:11.627
But your humble host started geeking out on the research.
00:01:11.993 --> 00:01:16.505
At one point, I had to remind myself that I was recording a podcast and not
00:01:16.505 --> 00:01:18.512
defending a doctoral dissertation.
00:01:19.261 --> 00:01:24.375
So hopefully I managed to rein myself back in and give you the important stuff
00:01:24.375 --> 00:01:27.446
without requiring you to bring a cup of coffee and a graduate degree.
00:01:28.312 --> 00:01:33.261
Let's start with the difficulty. Deuteronomy 5:15 in the New Living Translation
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says: "Remember that you were once slaves in Egypt, but the Lord your God brought
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you out with his strong hand and powerful arm.
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That is why the Lord your God has commanded you to rest on the Sabbath day."
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Okay, that sounds pretty clear. But now compare that with Exodus 20.
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Norman Geisler and Thomas Howe, in The Big Book of Bible Difficulties, identify the problem this way:
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When Moses first gives the Ten Commandments, the reason connected with the sabbath is creation.
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Exodus 20 says that God made the heavens and the earth in six days and rested
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on the seventh. Therefore he blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.
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But when Moses repeats the Law to the new generation preparing to enter the Promised
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Land, the reason sounds different.
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God brought Israel out of Egypt with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm.
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Therefore, keep the Sabbath.
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So why two different reasons? Geisler and Howe's answer is simple:
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There are two reasons for the same observance.
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One points Israel back to God's rest from creation, the other points Israel
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back to God's redemption of Israel from Egypt. Both are true.
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And I think that's the right place to begin. Let's put the two passages side by side.
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Exodus 20:8-11 says: "Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy...
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For in six days the Lord made the heavens, the earth, the sea, and everything in them;
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but on the seventh day he rested.
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That is why the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and set it apart as holy."
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Now listen to Deuteronomy 5:12-15: "Observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy
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as the Lord your God has commanded you...
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Remember that you were once slaves in Egypt, but the Lord your God brought you
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out with his strong hand and powerful arm.
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That is why the Lord your God has commanded you to rest on the Sabbath day."
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Now notice something important in Deuteronomy 5:12: "As the Lord your God has commanded you."
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Moses isn't saying, "Hey, I've got a great new idea for this Sabbath thing."
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No, he's pointing backward.
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And that is where Ekkehardt Mueller's article, "The Sabbath Commandment in Deuteronomy
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5:12-15," becomes particularly helpful.
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Mueller points out that the basic command is the same in both passages.
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The major difference is the reason given for keeping it.
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Exodus emphasizes creation. Deuteronomy emphasizes redemption.
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And Mueller makes the crucial point that the origin of the Sabbath is not stated in Deuteronomy.
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Deuteronomy doesn't say the Sabbath began with the Exodus. Rather,
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the Sabbath is based on creation, while Israel's obedience is connected both
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to creation and to salvation experienced in the Exodus.
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In other words: Origin and motive are not the same thing.
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It's a little like telling your kids, "Clean your room because you're part of
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this family," and later telling them, "Clean your room because company is coming."
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Two different reasons to emphasize the same command. You didn't suddenly create
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a second cleaning-the-room rule.
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That's the key here. Deuteronomy isn't saying, "Here's a brand-new reason, so forget the old one."
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Moses is reminding a new generation of what God has done and why that should
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affect the way they live.
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Mueller also points out that Deuteronomy surrounds the Sabbath command with
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the phrase, "the Lord your God commanded you."
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It appears at the beginning: "As the Lord your God has commanded you."
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And again at the end: "Therefore the Lord your God has commanded you."
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That's almost like putting parentheses around the command.
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God gave to the command. Moses is repeating it. Same command, different emphasis.
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So, why the different emphasis? Context.
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At Sinai, Israel had just come out of Egypt. Exodus emphasizes God as creator.
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The weekly rhythm of work and rest is grounded in the world God made.
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But, 40 years later, Moses is speaking to a new generation preparing to enter the promised land.
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And Deuteronomy emphasizes something else:
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You know what slavery was like. So don't forget the people who work for you.
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That's why Deuteronomy specifically includes sons, daughters,
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servants, foreigners, oxen, donkeys.
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In other words, everybody rests.
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And that brings us to Jozef Jančovič and his article, "Semantics of the Concentric
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Sabbath Commands in Two Decalogue Versions."
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Jančovič points out that the two Sabbath commands share substantial wording,
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in the same basic structure.
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The big difference is the rationale.
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Exodus emphasizes the creation pattern, six days of labor, seventh day of rest.
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Deuteronomy emphasizes the servant. Your servant should rest with you because you were a servant.
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You know what that was like. Now you're free. Don't recreate Egypt.
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Not a contradiction. That's Moses applying the same command to a different generation.
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Now, Ezra W. Zuckerman Sivan takes the idea even further in his The Lehrhaus article,
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“Three in One: Creation, Exodus, and Equality.”
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Sivan describes this as kind of complementary reapplication,
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and he points back to something we can easily overlook.
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Israel's first experience of Sabbath rest after leaving Egypt, the manna in Exodus 16.
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The Sabbath was connected to the Exodus because it came as part of Israel's deliverance.
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And it was connected to creation because the Sabbath itself reaches back to God's creative work.
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And it was connected to equality because everybody was supposed to receive rest.
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Think about the contrast. Pharaoh's Egypt was basically the anti-Sabbath. Work.
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More work. Make the quota. Get the straw. Produce more bricks.
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And then God delivers Israel and gives them manna. Enough for everyone. Don't hoard it.
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And then comes the day when nobody works.
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That's a pretty dramatic change.
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So, when Moses says, "Remember that you were a slave," he's not inventing a new
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theology of the Sabbath.
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He's reminding Israel what their deliverance was supposed to produce.
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They had been slaves. Now they were free.
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And freedom wasn't supposed to stop with them.
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Alastair Roberts makes a similar point in his article, "The Sabbath as a Key
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to Understanding Biblical Law."
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Roberts argues that the Sabbath is almost a condensed expression of the meaning of the Exodus.
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The Exodus points back toward creation and the purpose of Israel's deliverance
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is connected with God's rest and the completion of His creative purposes.
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So the Sabbath isn't merely about taking one day off every seven days.
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It's about living in a way that rejects the endless labor that characterized Egypt.
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And that's really the pastoral punch of Deuteronomy. You are slaves.
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Don't forget what that was like.
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There's another interpretation we need to acknowledge. Joshua Schachterle,
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writing at Bart Ehrman's site in “The Two Versions of 10 Commandments:
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Deuteronomy versus Exodus," summarizes the position of John J.
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Collins, who understands the two versions as reflecting different traditions,
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with creation emphasized in Exodus and liberation emphasized in Deuteronomy.
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That's certainly an observation worth considering. The two passages do emphasize different things.
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But the different emphasis does not automatically mean contradictory accounts.
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Scripture itself presents Moses as repeating the law to a new generation.
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And that's something a good teacher does. You can teach the same truth to two
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different audiences and emphasize different aspects of it without changing the truth.
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The God who created the world in six days is the same God who stretched out
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his arm and brought Israel out of Egypt.
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And that is where Matthew Haynes and P. Paul Krüger make an important contribution
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in their Old Testament essays article, “Creation Rest: Exodus 20:
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8-11 and the First Creation Account."
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Their study shows how closely Exodus 20:8-11 is connected with the Creation Account in Genesis.
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So Deuteronomy doesn't cut the creation connection. It doesn't erase it.
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It simply emphasizes another reason for observing the same command.
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And if you're thinking, "Okay, Lance, I think I understand. Same command, different emphasis."
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Yes, exactly. We don't need to send this episode to the Department of Redundancy Department.
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So here's the simple way I would remember it:
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Exodus: Keep the Sabbath because God is Creator. Imitate his rhythm.
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Deuteronomy: Keep the Sabbath because God is Redeemer. Don't treat others the
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same way Egypt treated you.
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Creation gives us the foundation. Exodus gives us the redemptive and social emphasis.
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One command, two memorials. And that brings us back to the original question.
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Was the Sabbath instituted because of creation or because of the Exodus?
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Based on the passages we've examined, creation is the foundation of the Sabbath,
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while Deuteronomy connects Sabbath observance with Israel's experience of redemption.
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So, Deuteronomy 5:15 isn't claiming the Sabbath was invented at the Red Sea.
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Moses is telling a redeemed people why their experience of slavery should change
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the way they practice the Sabbath.
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Exodus tells them why the day is holy. Deuteronomy reminds them what the holiness
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should look like in the way they treat other people.
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And that gives us a pretty powerful picture. God is Creator. God is Redeemer.
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The God who made Israel is the God who rescued Israel.
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And the people who had been rescued were not supposed to forget what slavery felt like.
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Israel had been slaves. Now they were free. And God essentially says:
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Don't take the system you just escaped from and rebuild it with yourself at the top.
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Don't become Pharaoh.
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That's a word that still preaches. Next Friday, we'll take a look at Deuteronomy
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8:2: Didn't God know what Israel would do?
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And I have a feeling that's going to take us to some interesting places.
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If you'd like to support this podcast, you can do so at buymeacoffee.com/
00:13:19.102 --> 00:13:22.062
LanceSmith. As always, it's appreciated, but never expected.
00:13:22.660 --> 00:13:26.631
You'll find every episode at BibleDifficultiesAndAnswers.Podbean.com.
00:13:27.252 --> 00:13:31.592
You can also find us on Facebook or email me anytime at BibleDifficultiesAndAnswers
00:13:31.592 --> 00:13:36.074
@gmail.com I read every message and I genuinely enjoy hearing from you,
00:13:36.673 --> 00:13:41.050
This is Lance Smith wishing you good health, good study, and God's richest blessings
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We'll see you next time So long everybody.
00:00:10.414 --> 00:00:13.415
Hello again, everybody, and welcome back to the Bible Difficulties and Answers
00:00:13.415 --> 00:00:18.094
podcast. I'm your host, Lance Smith, and this is episode 306.
00:00:18.786 --> 00:00:23.610
Let me start with a few questions. If God rested on the seventh day of creation,
00:00:24.080 --> 00:00:30.390
why does Moses later tell Israel to keep the Sabbath because they were slaves in Egypt?
00:00:31.157 --> 00:00:36.965
Did Moses change the commandment? Did Israel somehow get two different Sabbaths,
00:00:37.325 --> 00:00:41.147
one connected to creation and another connected to the Exodus?
00:00:41.925 --> 00:00:49.100
Or are we looking at the same Sabbath given by the same God with two different reasons attached to it?
00:00:49.657 --> 00:00:53.674
That's our question today. We're going to look at Deuteronomy 5:15:
00:00:54.277 --> 00:00:56.215
Was the Sabbath instituted because
00:00:56.215 --> 00:01:01.835
of God's rest from creation or his redemption of Israel from Egypt?
00:01:02.584 --> 00:01:07.645
There is a lot of scholarly material on this question, and I'll admit,
00:01:07.665 --> 00:01:11.627
But your humble host started geeking out on the research.
00:01:11.993 --> 00:01:16.505
At one point, I had to remind myself that I was recording a podcast and not
00:01:16.505 --> 00:01:18.512
defending a doctoral dissertation.
00:01:19.261 --> 00:01:24.375
So hopefully I managed to rein myself back in and give you the important stuff
00:01:24.375 --> 00:01:27.446
without requiring you to bring a cup of coffee and a graduate degree.
00:01:28.312 --> 00:01:33.261
Let's start with the difficulty. Deuteronomy 5:15 in the New Living Translation
00:01:33.261 --> 00:01:38.981
says: "Remember that you were once slaves in Egypt, but the Lord your God brought
00:01:38.981 --> 00:01:42.013
you out with his strong hand and powerful arm.
00:01:42.538 --> 00:01:46.834
That is why the Lord your God has commanded you to rest on the Sabbath day."
00:01:47.597 --> 00:01:53.331
Okay, that sounds pretty clear. But now compare that with Exodus 20.
00:01:53.913 --> 00:01:59.173
Norman Geisler and Thomas Howe, in The Big Book of Bible Difficulties, identify the problem this way:
00:01:59.997 --> 00:02:06.358
When Moses first gives the Ten Commandments, the reason connected with the sabbath is creation.
00:02:07.138 --> 00:02:13.501
Exodus 20 says that God made the heavens and the earth in six days and rested
00:02:13.501 --> 00:02:17.576
on the seventh. Therefore he blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.
00:02:18.829 --> 00:02:23.698
But when Moses repeats the Law to the new generation preparing to enter the Promised
00:02:23.698 --> 00:02:26.393
Land, the reason sounds different.
00:02:27.012 --> 00:02:31.749
God brought Israel out of Egypt with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm.
00:02:32.219 --> 00:02:34.285
Therefore, keep the Sabbath.
00:02:35.092 --> 00:02:39.452
So why two different reasons? Geisler and Howe's answer is simple:
00:02:39.975 --> 00:02:43.110
There are two reasons for the same observance.
00:02:43.747 --> 00:02:49.558
One points Israel back to God's rest from creation, the other points Israel
00:02:49.710 --> 00:02:54.602
back to God's redemption of Israel from Egypt. Both are true.
00:02:55.233 --> 00:02:59.741
And I think that's the right place to begin. Let's put the two passages side by side.
00:03:00.524 --> 00:03:05.950
Exodus 20:8-11 says: "Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy...
00:03:06.252 --> 00:03:12.092
For in six days the Lord made the heavens, the earth, the sea, and everything in them;
00:03:12.562 --> 00:03:14.605
but on the seventh day he rested.
00:03:15.104 --> 00:03:19.313
That is why the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and set it apart as holy."
00:03:19.918 --> 00:03:26.328
Now listen to Deuteronomy 5:12-15: "Observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy
00:03:26.328 --> 00:03:28.585
as the Lord your God has commanded you...
00:03:29.281 --> 00:03:34.318
Remember that you were once slaves in Egypt, but the Lord your God brought you
00:03:34.318 --> 00:03:36.950
out with his strong hand and powerful arm.
00:03:37.652 --> 00:03:42.017
That is why the Lord your God has commanded you to rest on the Sabbath day."
00:03:42.697 --> 00:03:49.934
Now notice something important in Deuteronomy 5:12: "As the Lord your God has commanded you."
00:03:50.771 --> 00:03:54.991
Moses isn't saying, "Hey, I've got a great new idea for this Sabbath thing."
00:03:55.711 --> 00:03:57.627
No, he's pointing backward.
00:03:58.393 --> 00:04:03.318
And that is where Ekkehardt Mueller's article, "The Sabbath Commandment in Deuteronomy
00:04:03.318 --> 00:04:06.676
5:12-15," becomes particularly helpful.
00:04:07.448 --> 00:04:12.609
Mueller points out that the basic command is the same in both passages.
00:04:13.061 --> 00:04:16.306
The major difference is the reason given for keeping it.
00:04:16.976 --> 00:04:22.346
Exodus emphasizes creation. Deuteronomy emphasizes redemption.
00:04:22.985 --> 00:04:29.515
And Mueller makes the crucial point that the origin of the Sabbath is not stated in Deuteronomy.
00:04:30.473 --> 00:04:34.583
Deuteronomy doesn't say the Sabbath began with the Exodus. Rather,
00:04:35.164 --> 00:04:40.718
the Sabbath is based on creation, while Israel's obedience is connected both
00:04:40.718 --> 00:04:45.415
to creation and to salvation experienced in the Exodus.
00:04:46.099 --> 00:04:50.546
In other words: Origin and motive are not the same thing.
00:04:51.596 --> 00:04:55.446
It's a little like telling your kids, "Clean your room because you're part of
00:04:55.446 --> 00:05:00.432
this family," and later telling them, "Clean your room because company is coming."
00:05:01.376 --> 00:05:06.696
Two different reasons to emphasize the same command. You didn't suddenly create
00:05:06.696 --> 00:05:08.918
a second cleaning-the-room rule.
00:05:09.494 --> 00:05:15.543
That's the key here. Deuteronomy isn't saying, "Here's a brand-new reason, so forget the old one."
00:05:16.313 --> 00:05:22.166
Moses is reminding a new generation of what God has done and why that should
00:05:22.166 --> 00:05:23.563
affect the way they live.
00:05:24.337 --> 00:05:29.086
Mueller also points out that Deuteronomy surrounds the Sabbath command with
00:05:29.086 --> 00:05:32.162
the phrase, "the Lord your God commanded you."
00:05:32.766 --> 00:05:36.825
It appears at the beginning: "As the Lord your God has commanded you."
00:05:37.352 --> 00:05:41.794
And again at the end: "Therefore the Lord your God has commanded you."
00:05:42.258 --> 00:05:45.508
That's almost like putting parentheses around the command.
00:05:46.142 --> 00:05:51.816
God gave to the command. Moses is repeating it. Same command, different emphasis.
00:05:52.912 --> 00:05:56.821
So, why the different emphasis? Context.
00:05:57.350 --> 00:06:03.977
At Sinai, Israel had just come out of Egypt. Exodus emphasizes God as creator.
00:06:04.599 --> 00:06:09.893
The weekly rhythm of work and rest is grounded in the world God made.
00:06:10.503 --> 00:06:17.358
But, 40 years later, Moses is speaking to a new generation preparing to enter the promised land.
00:06:18.178 --> 00:06:21.167
And Deuteronomy emphasizes something else:
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You know what slavery was like. So don't forget the people who work for you.
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That's why Deuteronomy specifically includes sons, daughters,
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servants, foreigners, oxen, donkeys.
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In other words, everybody rests.
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And that brings us to Jozef Jančovič and his article, "Semantics of the Concentric
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Sabbath Commands in Two Decalogue Versions."
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Jančovič points out that the two Sabbath commands share substantial wording,
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in the same basic structure.
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The big difference is the rationale.
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Exodus emphasizes the creation pattern, six days of labor, seventh day of rest.
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Deuteronomy emphasizes the servant. Your servant should rest with you because you were a servant.
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You know what that was like. Now you're free. Don't recreate Egypt.
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Not a contradiction. That's Moses applying the same command to a different generation.
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Now, Ezra W. Zuckerman Sivan takes the idea even further in his The Lehrhaus article,
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“Three in One: Creation, Exodus, and Equality.”
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Sivan describes this as kind of complementary reapplication,
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and he points back to something we can easily overlook.
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Israel's first experience of Sabbath rest after leaving Egypt, the manna in Exodus 16.
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The Sabbath was connected to the Exodus because it came as part of Israel's deliverance.
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And it was connected to creation because the Sabbath itself reaches back to God's creative work.
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And it was connected to equality because everybody was supposed to receive rest.
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Think about the contrast. Pharaoh's Egypt was basically the anti-Sabbath. Work.
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More work. Make the quota. Get the straw. Produce more bricks.
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And then God delivers Israel and gives them manna. Enough for everyone. Don't hoard it.
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And then comes the day when nobody works.
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That's a pretty dramatic change.
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So, when Moses says, "Remember that you were a slave," he's not inventing a new
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theology of the Sabbath.
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He's reminding Israel what their deliverance was supposed to produce.
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They had been slaves. Now they were free.
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And freedom wasn't supposed to stop with them.
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Alastair Roberts makes a similar point in his article, "The Sabbath as a Key
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to Understanding Biblical Law."
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Roberts argues that the Sabbath is almost a condensed expression of the meaning of the Exodus.
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The Exodus points back toward creation and the purpose of Israel's deliverance
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is connected with God's rest and the completion of His creative purposes.
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So the Sabbath isn't merely about taking one day off every seven days.
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It's about living in a way that rejects the endless labor that characterized Egypt.
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And that's really the pastoral punch of Deuteronomy. You are slaves.
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Don't forget what that was like.
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There's another interpretation we need to acknowledge. Joshua Schachterle,
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writing at Bart Ehrman's site in “The Two Versions of 10 Commandments:
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Deuteronomy versus Exodus," summarizes the position of John J.
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Collins, who understands the two versions as reflecting different traditions,
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with creation emphasized in Exodus and liberation emphasized in Deuteronomy.
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That's certainly an observation worth considering. The two passages do emphasize different things.
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But the different emphasis does not automatically mean contradictory accounts.
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Scripture itself presents Moses as repeating the law to a new generation.
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And that's something a good teacher does. You can teach the same truth to two
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different audiences and emphasize different aspects of it without changing the truth.
00:10:34.765 --> 00:10:38.984
The God who created the world in six days is the same God who stretched out
00:10:38.984 --> 00:10:41.753
his arm and brought Israel out of Egypt.
00:10:42.549 --> 00:10:47.574
And that is where Matthew Haynes and P. Paul Krüger make an important contribution
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in their Old Testament essays article, “Creation Rest: Exodus 20:
00:10:52.344 --> 00:10:54.693
8-11 and the First Creation Account."
00:10:55.299 --> 00:11:01.557
Their study shows how closely Exodus 20:8-11 is connected with the Creation Account in Genesis.
00:11:02.114 --> 00:11:07.234
So Deuteronomy doesn't cut the creation connection. It doesn't erase it.
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It simply emphasizes another reason for observing the same command.
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And if you're thinking, "Okay, Lance, I think I understand. Same command, different emphasis."
00:11:19.274 --> 00:11:24.144
Yes, exactly. We don't need to send this episode to the Department of Redundancy Department.
00:11:25.146 --> 00:11:28.089
So here's the simple way I would remember it:
00:11:28.694 --> 00:11:34.243
Exodus: Keep the Sabbath because God is Creator. Imitate his rhythm.
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Deuteronomy: Keep the Sabbath because God is Redeemer. Don't treat others the
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same way Egypt treated you.
00:11:43.163 --> 00:11:48.945
Creation gives us the foundation. Exodus gives us the redemptive and social emphasis.
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One command, two memorials. And that brings us back to the original question.
00:11:56.379 --> 00:12:00.454
Was the Sabbath instituted because of creation or because of the Exodus?
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Based on the passages we've examined, creation is the foundation of the Sabbath,
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while Deuteronomy connects Sabbath observance with Israel's experience of redemption.
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So, Deuteronomy 5:15 isn't claiming the Sabbath was invented at the Red Sea.
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Moses is telling a redeemed people why their experience of slavery should change
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the way they practice the Sabbath.
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Exodus tells them why the day is holy. Deuteronomy reminds them what the holiness
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should look like in the way they treat other people.
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And that gives us a pretty powerful picture. God is Creator. God is Redeemer.
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The God who made Israel is the God who rescued Israel.
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And the people who had been rescued were not supposed to forget what slavery felt like.
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Israel had been slaves. Now they were free. And God essentially says:
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Don't take the system you just escaped from and rebuild it with yourself at the top.
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Don't become Pharaoh.
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That's a word that still preaches. Next Friday, we'll take a look at Deuteronomy
00:13:07.172 --> 00:13:10.981
8:2: Didn't God know what Israel would do?
00:13:12.113 --> 00:13:14.876
And I have a feeling that's going to take us to some interesting places.
00:13:15.514 --> 00:13:19.102
If you'd like to support this podcast, you can do so at buymeacoffee.com/
00:13:19.102 --> 00:13:22.062
LanceSmith. As always, it's appreciated, but never expected.
00:13:22.660 --> 00:13:26.631
You'll find every episode at BibleDifficultiesAndAnswers.Podbean.com.
00:13:27.252 --> 00:13:31.592
You can also find us on Facebook or email me anytime at BibleDifficultiesAndAnswers
00:13:31.592 --> 00:13:36.074
@gmail.com I read every message and I genuinely enjoy hearing from you,
00:13:36.673 --> 00:13:41.050
This is Lance Smith wishing you good health, good study, and God's richest blessings
00:13:41.277 --> 00:13:43.790
We'll see you next time So long everybody.
