Chart #33

The Sabbath "command" was not given until Exodus 20 when God gave the Law from Mt. Sinai.

1. Sabbath not given in Genesis 2:1-3.
   A. Genesis 2:1-3 is a statement of fact that God rested on the seventh day and that at some later date He sanctified and blessed the seventh day "because that in it 'he had' rested from all His work."
   B. However, even if God had instituted the observance of the Sabbath here (which He didn't) it still would not prove that we are to observe it.
   C. We find altars and sacrifices before the Law was given at Sinai, and we find altars and sacrifices continuing after the Law was given at Sinai until Christ came.
   
   Does it follow, therefore, that we must erect altars and burn animal sacrifices today?
2. In Exodus 16 when God gave the Manna, which He would continue to give them long after He gave the Law of Moses on Mt. Sinai, it was necessary that provisions be made that they could and would take up enough on the sixth day to last through the seventh day.
   A. Otherwise things would have had to be changed when the Law and the Sabbath command was given.
   B. The fact that many went out to gather Manna on the seventh day and found none indicates that they were not familiar with keeping the Sabbath.

Chart #34 The Sabbath "command" was given as listed in Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5 after Israel had been delivered from Egyptian bondage.

1. God made a covenant with Israel after He led them out of Egypt. 1 Kings 8:21
2. This was the Ten Commandment covenant which the Sabbath. 1 Kings 8:9
3. This covenant had never been given before. Deuteronomy 5:2-3, 22
4. God gave Israel the Sabbath because they had no rest in Egypt. Deuteronomy 5:15
5. Sabbath given after Israel caused to go from Egypt. Ezekiel 20:10-12
6. God made known the Sabbath on Mt. Sinai. Nehemiah 9:13-14

The fact that Moses had to ask God how to punish the man who picked up sticks on the Sabbath shows that they were not accustomed to keeping the Sabbath. Numbers 15:32-36

Chart #35 Purpose of the Sabbath

1. To cause the Israelites to remember that while they were in Egypt they had no rest, but now God has delivered them and given them a day of rest. Deuteronomy 5:15
2. It was a sign between God and Israel, whereby Israel might know that it was God who sanctified them. Exodus 31:13-17
   A. The Sabbath was a sign between God and Israel.
   B. It was not a sign between God and any Gentile.
   C. The Sabbath was a memorial to an event peculiar to the Jewish family. Deuteronomy 5:15
   D. The Gentiles were never delivered from Egyptian bondage and, therefore, could not observe the Sabbath in memory of any such event.
   E. No Gentile in any age, any country, any time, anywhere, was ever required to keep the Sabbath commandment unless he became a member of the covenant and submitted to circumcision, thereby receiving the sign of membership in the covenant.

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