Sabbath in the Law of Moses

My blogging thus far has, by and large, followed the chronology of the Bible from creation to the exodus from Egypt, picking out stories which, in my view, have something to say about economics. I have now reached the point where God gives the law to Moses at the summit of Mount Sinai. The books of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy are chiefly concerned with setting out these laws. I will now turn my attention to the analysis of the law of Moses, as it pertains to the economic life of the people of Israel. I will take a thematic approach, assessing various elements of the law within the context in which they were given and attempting to draw out relevant applications for us today

My first theme is that of Sabbath rest. This theme centres around the fourth of the Ten Commandments:

“Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labour 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, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates. For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.” (Exodus 20:8-11)

There is an explicit reference here back to the creation story in which God worked for six days and then rested (Genesis 2:2-3). We have therefore covered this ground before, so you might want to look back at my post from 15 November 2010 (“What Genesis has to say about Work”). Arguably, observation of the Sabbath day was one of the first acts of obedience for the first humans, themselves created towards the end of the sixth day.

This seven day work/rest pattern was clearly an integral part of life in the Garden of Eden but, in the years between the fall and the exodus from Egypt, there is no evidence that the Sabbath was ever observed or even known about among God’s followers. Evidently, God chose to bring this principle back at the point where his people were in a position to become a self-governing nation. And it was a principle that he repeated again and again. Through the miraculous provision of manna in the desert, God forced the Israelites to practise the Sabbath even before the law was given (Ex 16:22-30). Then, following the Ten Commandments, the Sabbath law was repeated at least seven times(Ex 23:12, Ex 31:12-17, Ex 34:21, Ex 35:2-3, Leviticus 19:30, Lev 23:3, Deuteronomy 5:12-15). The book of Numbers even records the story of a man being stoned to death for gathering wood on the Sabbath, as if to reinforce how serious God took this regulation (Numbers 15:32-36).

In addition to a day of rest each week, the law prescribed a number of public holidays. These were days that coincided with particular religious festivals and are listed in Leviticus 23. The days on which the people were commanded not to do any work numbered seven per year (the first and seventh days of Passover, the Feast of Weeks, the Feast of Trumpets, the Day of Atonement and the first and eighth days of the Feast of Tabernacles), although it is not clear whether, if any of these days fell on a Sabbath, the people would take another day off in lieu as is the case in the UK today. However, similarly to the UK, these public holidays were clustered at particular times of the year (due to religious and historical significance) rather than spread out evenly throughout the year.

Another Sabbath law that is worth mentioning here is the Sabbath year. The people were commanded to let the land rest from farming for a year every seven years (Ex 23:10-11, Lev 25:1-7). Interestingly, God predicted that this law would not be obeyed for many years and the land would make up for missed Sabbaths while the people lived in captivity, a punishment for breaking the covenant (Lev 26:32-35,42-43).

Before attempting to draw out the key lessons and applications of these laws in today’s world, I think it is important also to consider a New Testament perspective on the Sabbath. This will be the subject of my next post. In the meantime, however, I would like to note a couple of points that struck me from reading these extracts from the law.

Firstly, the Sabbath was for everyone and everything. Economists generally consider there to be three main factors of production (inputs that can be put to work to produce something of value) – land, labour and capital. The law is clearly relevant to labour in all its forms. The original Sabbath command in Exodus 20 makes it clear that everyone should rest from labour, regardless of status or citizenship (e.g. slaves, foreigners, women and children were included).

However, note that the Sabbath law was extended to working animals (Ex 20:10, 23:12). This suggests that God is concerned about animal as well as human welfare. This notion has implications for us today but perhaps not in regard to the Sabbath, as working animals play only a minimal role in our economy. Today, our economy is chiefly powered by man-made capital (machines, buildings etc.) so perhaps the principles of Sabbath apply not only to labour but also to capital. As the use of many capital goods requires consumption of energy, there are good environmental reasons to give our buildings and machines a “day off”. Think of the carbon emissions that would be saved if all vehicles and appliances were unused and all buildings remained unlit and unheated for at least one day a week!

Furthermore, the laws relating to the Sabbath year suggest quite clearly that the land also needs to rest. We can therefore argue that the Sabbath applies to all factors of production.

Secondly, the Sabbath is not just about having time off work. It is also about community (Ex 20:10), remembrance (Ex 31:16-17, Dt 5:15, Lev 23:42-43), generosity (Lev 23:9-14, 17-22, 36-38), self-denial (Lev 23:32), celebration (Lev 23:39-41), social justice (Ex 23:11) and enjoying nature’s provision (Lev 25:6-7). It is challenging to consider how often our holidays contain any of those elements.

Watch this space for further reflections on the Sabbath.