RESTORING THE HEBREW HERITAGE TO THE CHRISTIAN BELIEVER

2 RESTORE!
though a fool, can-
SHABBAT ISSUE
3
A Publication of
Hebraic Christian
Global Community
RestorationFoundation
RESTORE!
SHABBAT ISSUE
Vol.11 No.3
ISSUE NUMBER THIRTY-SEVEN
EDITORAND PUBLISHER
John D. Garr, Ph.D.
SENIOR EDITOR
Karl D. Coke, Ph.D.
ASSOCIATEEDITORS
Rev.IsaacC.Rottenberg
Dwight A.Pryor, Ph.D.
CharlesBryant-Abraham,Ph.D.
JacquesDoukhan,Th.D.
COPYEDITOR
Judy Grehan
CIRCULATION
Pat H. Garr
Restore! is published by
HEBRAIC CHRISTIAN GLOBAL
COMMUNITY as a service to
the those in the Christian
and Jewish communities
who envision the resto-
ration of Christianity's Ju-
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In This Issue . . .
Shabbat: The Person, the Day, the Expectation Dr. John D. Garr 6
A Family Shabbat 11
Sabbath: A Palace in Time Dr. Jacques Doukhan 12
Last in Creation, First in Intention Dr. Dwight A. Pryor 16
Mans First Day Dr. Karl D. Coke 19
Rest! Dr. Karl D. Coke 20
The Good News of the Sabbath Dr. Samuele Bacchiocchi 24
Shmita Observance Dr. Don Stanley 28
Shabbat: To Remember and Observe Clarence H. Wagner, Jr. 32
Restoration Foundation
Hebraic Christian Global Community is an international, transdenominational,
multiethnic teaching, publishing, and fellowship resource to the body of Christ. We pro-
mote the restoration of Christian unity, the recovery of the Hebraic foundations of Chris-
tian faith, and the renewal of Christian love and support for the international Jewish
community and the nation of Israel.
Now you can enjoy the satisfaction of making a significant contribution to helping
Christians around the world understand the Hebraic foundations of their Christian faith
by supporting Hebraic Christian Global Community with your consistent prayers and
your faithful giving. We invite you to share in this teaching, equipping, and networking
ministry by becoming a member of our Golden Key Partners. (For a monthly gift of $25
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Great blessing is Gods solemn promise to everyone who blesses Abrahams children!
The Lord is well pleased for his righteousness sake;
he will exalt the Torah and make it honorable.
But this people have been robbed . . . and no one says, Restore!
(Isaiah 42:21-23).
RESTORE!
4 RESTORE!
Maintaining Liberty
in Hebraic Restoration
In this issue, we
focus on the
Sabbath as a
special time set
apart for human
relationship with
God and with
family.
John D. Garr, Ph.D., Th.D.
For every believer in the God of creation, restoring biblical principles and prac-
tices to both private devotions and corporate worship should be exciting, invigorat-
ing experiences of joy and fulfillment. Such exercises are liberating, freeing one from
bondage to those traditions that have supplanted divine imperatives and transporting
him into the rapture of relationship with the God who authored the Hebraic lifestyle.
The exhilaration of emancipation from human legalisms transports a true believer to
a spiritual state of awe, of reverence for the Eternal One whose grace and mercy always
brings blessing and fulfillment to those who choose to do Gods thing Gods way.
Christians around the world are being introduced by the Holy Spirit to an ever-
increasing understanding of the Jewish roots of Christian faith. Aprophetic restoration is
renewing interest in what the sixteenth-century reformers called Veritas Hebraica (He-
brew truth.) And, they are discovering a rock-solid foundation in Jesus dictum: You
shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free (John 8:32). Truth is always
liberating, freeing one fromignorance, superstition, and error. It brings a soothing cleans-
ing to the soul. Sanctify themthrough thy truth, Jesus prayed in John 17:17. This is the
washing of water by the Word of God which Paul described in Ephesians 5:26.
As impurities of error are washed away by the truth of Gods Word, a radiant
beauty of actions motivated by the Holy Spirit is manifest. The unleavened bread of sincerity and
truth, Christ our Passover, brings health to the soul. The faith that is generated in the believers heart
by the word of truth produces in his life the good works that radiate Gods light to the society of
man and bring honor to his name. The Bride is arrayed in the splendor of biblical purity, free of spot or
wrinkle. Gone are the scars of hate and prejudice that have marred her face for centuries. Washed away by
the Word are the stains of human, evendemonic teachings and practices that have befouled her garments.
As this restoration of the Hebrew foundations of the faith of Jesus and the apostles continues,
countless believers are experiencing the joy that caused Israel to exult on the east side of the Red Sea.
In the words of the old spiritual, theyre free at last, free at last. Thank God Almighty, free at last.
Amazingly, however, some to whom the door of freedom has opened have failed to maintain
their focus on the light of the Divine Presence and have drifted off into soulish self-righteousness in
which they are convinced that something more is required than relationship with God through pure
faith in the Messiah. They trade one legalism for another, in this case a Jewish legalism that focuses on
external appearances, genealogical boastings, or pompous activities which at first seemto be merely Jesus
and . . . but rapidly become a replacement for simple faith. Some are even drawn away by this legalism
todeny first the deity, thenthe Messiahshipof Jesus, thereby crucifying the Sonof God afresh and putting
himto open shame (Hebrews 6:6). Foolishly, they come under Pauls injunction of becoming entangled in
a yoke of bondage after they have been liberated from a similar slavery by faith in Messiah (Galatians 5:1).
For those like the ancient Hebrews who understand that they have status and relationship with
God solely on the merit of Gods grace, rediscovering the Hebraic heritage of Christian faith is a
perfect Torah of liberty (James 1:25) that frees them by equipping them for every good work that
the Hebrew Scriptures teach (2 Timothy 3:16) and permits them to go on to maturity in Christ
(Ephesians 4:13). For those like certain of the late Second Temple Jews who came to consider their
status with God as based on their own works of obedience to Gods law, Jewish roots become
Jewish ruts, trapping them in a bondage of ever trying to establish or maintain their status by what
they do, immaturely thinking that God and men are impressed with their outward, often ostentatious
demonstrations of pseudo-piety, punctilious ritualism, self-righteousness, and judgmentalism.
To all our fellow believers who are discovering the freedom of walking in the light of Gods truth
rather thanin the darkness of mens traditions, we say with Paul, Stand, therefore, in the liberty wherewith
Christ has made you free. Do not become entangled in another yoke of bondage (Galatians 5:1). Only
when we understand that we are clothed in the righteousness of Jesus Christ do we have perfect liberty to
practice the Hebraic heritage that brings honor to our Creator and blessing to our fellow man.
SHOFAR
SOUNDS
Thoughts from
the Editor
Front Cover:
A J ewish woman lights
theShabbat candles,
indicatingthe
beginningof thefamily
celebration of the
Sabbath.
SHABBAT ISSUE
5
Restore!
welcomes
letters, faxes,
and e-mail from
all of our
readers. This
page is
dedicated to
sharing as many
of your
comments
criticisms, and
questions as
possible.
Write us:
Restore!
P. O. Box 421218,
Atlanta, GA30342
U.S.A.
Phone us:
(678) 615-3568
E-Mail:
info@restorationfoundation.org
Visit us on the Web:
www.restorationfoundation.org
I have just read Dr. Garrs wonderful
book, Our Lost Legacy: Christianitys Hebrew
Heritage. This book is very helpful in bringing us
back to our Christian roots in biblical Judaism.
Thank you for the great work you are doing.
Juan Vega
Jersey City, NJ
I just wanted to write you and to let
you know what a blessing your ministry is.
Dr. Garrs book The Hem of His Garment is very
enlightening and inspiring. I want to sow a seed
your ministry. Keep up the good work.
Dr. Carla Stokes
Rex, GA
I want to thank you for the books and
magazines you sent us. We are very encour-
aged with the profound truths that Hebraic Chris-
tian Global Community is teaching. We are sharing
this information with people in various parts of
India, and they are very excited to receive the truth.
Ananda Pradhan
Darjeeling, India
Just a quick note with a loud Toda
Raba! for the materials that you sent for
our congregation here in the William McConnell
Prison unit. We are developing a library for our
growing community of believers who share in
the Hebraic Roots teaching, and we are making
this library available to all of the inmates so we
can be a powerful witness to bring many to Mes-
siah. You have no idea how valuable these mate-
rials are to men who desperately need them!
Dale Whitworth
Beeville, TX
We are starting a new Spanish lanugage
publication, Menorah Magazine, and would
like to include articles from Restore! in our
publicaiton. We are also very excited about the
prospect of helping to produce Dr. Garrs mate-
rials in Spanish so we can share them throughout
Latin America. There is no doubt that this mes-
sage of truth is destined to enlighten and change
the lives of people around the world.
Roger Cerdas
Panama City, Panama
Thanks for sending me materials from
Hebraic Christian Global Community on
the Jewish roots of our Christian faith. We simply
love everything that you sent us. We feel so blessed
to have discovered this ministry and will do ev-
erything we can to share it with others.
A. J. Pike
Carthage, IN
I am so grateful for Restore! We have
enjoyed it thoroughly. When my mother
moved out of her traditional church in the 1980s,
choices like hers were unheard of in the Gentile
world. It is truly a testimony to the power of
truth that God is bringing forth a community of
believers in Messiah in our time.
Susan Minnick
Bordentown, NJ
I have listened to the CD teaching on
The Church Dynamic three times. I love
your comment: We must translate truth into hu-
man lives. Its more the deed than the creed!
Thanks be to God for your reassuring teaching.
Chris Wiles
St. James, Barbados
READERS
RESPONSES
Comments
and Criticism
HEBRAIC INSIGHT! JOURNAL
Hebraic Christian Global Community has released the first edition of Hebraic
Insight!, a quarterly Bible-study journal designed to serve families, study groups, and
congregations with inductive guides that encourage interactive study and Learning for
Life. Even if you have virtually no experience in leading a Bible study in your home or
congregation, Hebraic Insight! makes the task easy and exciting because it carefully
leads an engaging, intuitive learning process.
Now, you can learn the fundamentals of the Hebraic foundations of the Chris-
tian faith in an engaging and informative, yet informal, manner. Learning has never
been more enjoyable than when it is done in the context of community, whether that
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ongoing studies of the biblical foundations of your faith. Dont miss this important
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God and Family
6 RESTORE!
Shabbat:
The Person, the Day,
and the Expectation
BY JOHN D. GARR, PH.D., TH.D.
CHRISTIAN LESSONS FROM HEBRAIC TRUTH
T
he Sabbath (Shabbat) has been and re-
mains one of the more controversial
theological and practical issues for Chris-
tians around the world. Many say that
the Sabbath is Jewish, applying only to the Jews
and consequently has nothing to do with Chris-
tians. Others declare that Sabbath observance is a
clear mark of legalism and that any Christian who
recognizes the Sabbath has Judaized and is, there-
fore, no longer a Christian. Most Christian theo-
logians have asserted that the Sabbath was changed
fromSaturday to Sunday by Jesus and the apostles.
Some have suggested that Christians observe Sun-
day with the same restrictions that the Jews ob-
ser ve Sabbath because Sunday is the New
Testament manifestation of the fourth command-
ment of the Decalogue. Others have maintained
that Christians should observe every day alike and
give no preference to any day, especially the Sab-
bath. Still other Christians, though a minority, de-
clare that all believers in Jesus should observe the
seventh-day Sabbath. Some of these assert that
failure to keep the Sabbath is a mortal sin. A few
even suggest that Christians who worship on Sun-
day are sun god worshippers or that worship
on Sunday is the mark of the beast.
With this diversity of often radical positions, is
it any wonder that the Sabbath debate usually gen-
erates more heat than light, leaving most of the
Christian church on all sides of the issue in the
dark as to the biblical and spiritual issues of this
important subject? As is the case with most po-
Bread and wine,
central elements in
the Shabbat
celebration.
SHABBAT ISSUE
7
Shabbat is the
eternal principleof
setting apart one
day out of seven for
thethings in lifethat
reallymatter: God
andfamily.
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larized issues, there is some truth everywhere, and
the answer to the problem can be found some-
where in the middle ground between the extremes.
A QUESTION OF OWNERSHIP
The first question that must be answered about
Shabbat is that of its ownership. Most Jews and
Christians insist that it is the Jewish Sabbath.
While it is true that the seventh-day Sabbath has
long been a unique mark of identity for the Jew-
ish people, indeed one of the pillars of Judaism, the
clear answer of Holy Scripture is that the Sabbath,
both the principle and the day, is the Lords: The
seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God . . .
(Exodus 20:10). In the delineation of Gods litur-
gical calendar in Leviticus 23, God himself as-
serts about the Sabbath that . . . these are my
feasts. Six days shall work be done: but the sev-
enth day is the sabbath of rest . . . Though the
Sabbath is a sign to the Jews of Gods covenant
with them, it is, nevertheless, universal because it
belongs to God and traces its origin to creation,
the creation of all things.
The very first person to observe Shabbat was
God himself. In his own Shabbat, God established
a principle for all subsequent Sabbaths. For the
Creator, there was no need for physical rest, for
God does not grow weary (Isaiah 40:28) and
he who keeps Israel neither slumbers nor sleeps
(Psalm 121:4). What God experienced in that first
of Sabbaths was simply a cessation of work, a time
of reviewing and celebrating the perfection of the
creation that he had pronounced very good.
After God had blessed Adam and Eve, the
seventh day was the very first thing that he blessed
and declared holy, or set apart unto himself
(Genesis 2:3). He, in effect, created a sanctuary in
time, marking off by means of the heavenly bod-
ies that he had created for signs, seasons, days,
and years (Genesis 1:14) the divine temporal ap-
pointments (moedim) during which he would for-
ever nurture relationship with humanity, his
crowning creation. God did not bless and sanc-
tify a material object to be worshipped, for he is
spirit, a person who seeks relationship that can
only be manifest in time.
SHABBAT, THE PERSON
Shabbat as both cessation and rest is a profound
leitmotif that ever points to the Person who is Rest.
God himself is the eternal rest to those who are
in relationship with him. Just as he is Yahweh Sha-
lom(the Eternal, our Peace), so he is Yahweh Shabbat
(the Eternal, our Rest). It is in God that the re-
deemed trust. The repose that the human soul
craves is a Person who transcends the universe
but is immanent in the hearts of those who ap-
proach him in faith.
It should have come as no surprise that Yeshua
ben Elohim (Jesus, the Son of God) offered a tran-
scendent rest to those who were burdened with
the toil of labor. He himself, through the Holy
Spirit, would enter their very beings, imbuing a
rest into their souls that no physical repose could
afford (Matthew11:28-29). Isaiah 28:12 predicted
that this spiritual indwelling wouldbearest (menuach)
for the weary.
Inboth the first covenant and the newcovenant,
men and women found repose in God, rest from
their own struggle for self-actualization by trusting
wholly in the One who is rest. Those who realized
that their own efforts could not give them status
with God came to trust simply in his chesed (tender
mercy and grace). When they did, they came to real-
izethat rest is not something one does,
it is Someone one knows.
All Sabbaths (weekly and annual)
are pictures of the Person who is
the Sabbath, Jesus Christ. Shabbat is
the true Rest who came down from
heaven, the rest that remained for
the believers even after the Sabbath
commandment was given at Sinai
(Hebrews 4:1-3). As a matter of fact,
the Sabbath that Israel was to ob-
serve was itself a weekly proclama-
tion of the Good News that God
would come in the person of his
Son as the Sabbath of eternity through whom
those who have believed do enter into rest by
ceasing from[their] own works (Hebrews 4:10).
THE DAYAN ETERNAL PRINCIPLE
Shabbat is an eternal, recurring theme from the
beginning of history to its end. The Sabbath con-
firmed the perfection of creation, and the Sab-
8 RESTORE!
God is ever setting before
forgetful man mnemonic
devices, themost important of
whicharehis markers intime,
themost prominent of which is
the Sabbath.
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bath will characterize the end of the age when all
work shall cease and both God and man will rest.
Shabbat is the eternal principle of setting apart
one day out of seven for the things in life that
really matter: God and family. Seven is perfec-
tion, the ultimate in refinement (both pure gold
and silver are refined seven times). Seven is
completion. The menorah is a clear reflection of
Yahwehs calendar: seven lamps (festivals) on one
lampstand (Shabbat). In Leviticus 23, the Sabbath
is the major heading on the outline, with seven
festivals further delineating the Shabbat principle.
A CALL TO REMEMBRANCE
The only place where remembrance is enjoined
upon man in the Decalogue is in relationship to
Shabbat. Shabbat, therefore, could be called a re-
membrance principle. God has graciously estab-
lished markers in time to call his people to
remembrance
of his mighty
acts. Why? Be-
cause human
beings, unlike
the Creator, are
forever forget-
ful.
God, who
seeks those who
will worship
him in spiritual
truth, is ever set-
ting before forgetful man mnemonic devices, the
most important of which are his markers in time.
Shabbat is this principle of stopping at appointed
times, ceasing the mad rush of human activity to
reflect on and interact with God himself. The prin-
ciple of Shabbat as a call to remembrance is mani-
fest in the daily, weekly, monthly, annual, and
generational markers that remind man of divine
appointments (three hours of prayer daily, the
weekly Sabbath, the new moon, the seven festi-
vals, the Sabbath year, and the Year of Jubilee).
Each of these stopping points is a time for re-
flection and celebration, remembering the Cre-
ator and honoring him.
Shabbat uniquely provides this sanctuary in time
for weekly remembrance. First, we remember the
fact that the universe is Gods creation, not the
evolution of some primordial cosmic ooze, and
that we are created in the image of the living God,
not the product of natural selection and the sur-
vival of the fittest. More importantly, we remem-
ber that we have been recreated, reborn by faith
in God unto eternal life by experiencing the spiri-
tual Sabbath in the person of Messiah himself. As
an adjunct to that we also understand that our
rest is the indwelling of the Holy Spirit that frees
us from a self-imposed demand for works aimed
at establishing our own righteousness and allows
us to rest in the completed work on Calvary that
is imputed to us for our faith.
TIME FOR GOD AND FAMILY
Shabbat was created by God and blessed by
him to be a channel of blessing, a vehicle through
which man can be brought near to God and fam-
ily. When rightly employed, it is a blessing bless-
ing. On this blessed day, we bless God, and we
bless one another, particularly in the context of
family, both in the nuclear family and in the ex-
tended family of the community of faith.
The blessing aspect of Shabbat is a great lesson
that is available to Christian believers from their
Jewish counterparts. As Shabbat approaches on
Friday afternoon, excitement and expectation fills
the Jewish heart and the Jewish home. The best
clothes are donned, and the finest meal is pre-
pared. After six days of toil and struggle to make
it in society, the family closes the door on the world
and enters the sanctuary of the Sabbath where
there is blessing, not cursing, and joy, not anguish.
First the mother welcomes the Shabbat with an
age-oldblessing. Thenthe father sanctifies the event
with the kiddush blessing that millions of Jewish
lips have repeated since before the time of Jesus.
In this blessing and in the haMotzi (bread) bless-
ing, it is God who is blessed and honored, not
the wine and the bread. Later, the husband blesses
his wife in the presence of the children by reciting
SHABBAT ISSUE
9
Christians shouldwell reflect
on whether theJ ewish
people have discovered and
maintained thekey to
Shabbat observance: time
for God and family. It is a
sanctuary in timein which
one can escape the world
and achieve oneness with
Godandwithfamily.
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or singing Proverbs 31s acclamation of the
woman of valour. The wife may reciprocate by
reciting Psalm128 in honor of her husband. Then,
one by one, laying his hand on their heads and
affirming his love for them, the father blesses his
children with the words of the Aaronic Benedic-
tion and other scriptural blessings. There is time
for singing the songs of Zion and offering per-
sonal prayers to God. It is a family celebration
par excellence.
During the Sabbath, the family gathers in a syna-
gogue (meeting) to offer corporate prayers to
God and to hear the exposition of his Torah (the
HebrewScriptures). This is infulfillment of thescrip-
tural requirement for a holy convocation, a col-
lectivegathering, andis inkeepingwithJudaicconcept
of salvation in the context of community.
Christians should well reflect on whether the
Jewish people have discovered and maintained
the key to Shabbat observance: time for God and
family. It is not an occasion just to sleep or to
gather at an appointed place to sing a few songs,
offer a word of prayer, and listen to the pos-
tulations of a preacher, only to rush off to do the
fun things dreamed about during the sermon. It is a
sanctuary intime in which one can escape the world
and achieve oneness with God and with family.
WHICH DAY AND WHAT TO DO?
Which day is the Sabbath, and what do we do
on that day? These are the questions that inevita-
bly arise. Though they seem difficult, the answers
are really quite simple. If one knows which day is
the first day of the week, the question of which
day is the Sabbath becomes a simple arithmetic
problem. God, himself, declares: The seventh
day is the Sabbath (Exodus 20:10). By adding
six days to the first day of the weekwhich every
Christian knows is Sundaywe confirm the fact
that Shabbat is Saturday. Since the biblical day be-
gins at sundown so that there is evening and
morning in that order, Shabbat begins at sun-
down on Friday (or in Jewish tradition when one
can see three stars or planets) and concludes at
sundown on Saturday.
The Sabbath is one of Gods forever cre-
ations. It has never changed, nor will it ever change.
An immutable God did not instruct his Son who
is the same yesterday, today, and forever, to change
the date of his weekly Shabbat.
There can be no doubt that the earliest church
continued in the same tradition of Sabbath ob-
servance that it had inherited fromthe Jewish ma-
trix from which it was birthed. Early on, it is likely
that this Sabbath(Saturday) celebration carried over
into the evening of the first day of the week (Sun-
day), probably continuing until after midnight, at
which time communion was shared. An early ex-
ample of this is Pauls
sermon in Acts 20. This
practice was, no doubt,
a celebration of the res-
urrection that had oc-
curred at the end of the
Sabbath before day-
break on the first day of
the week.
Later, in an effort to
distance itself from Ju-
daism, most of the
church adopted Sunday
as the day of worship,
a practice that was en-
forced by imperial edict
under Constantine the
Great. Both Jesus and the apostles, however, ob-
served Shabbat in the manner prescribed in the
Hebrew Scriptures.
The fact that other days of the week are also
identified as Sabbaths, however, establishes the
truth that Sabbath is a principle. The first and last
days of Unleavened Bread are Sabbaths, as are
Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, and other festival times.
Each of these Sabbaths is an invitation to meet
with God, and the fact that they often occur on
days of the week other than the seventh day un-
derscores to us the truth that God may be wor-
shipped and family may be affirmed on any day
of the week. Indeed, Christians who set apart Sun-
day (or any other day, for that matter) for God
and family are practicing the principle of Sabbath.
This is, no doubt, the reasoning behind Pauls
observation of flexibility in holy day observances
in Romans 14. Apparently Paul was extrapolating
fromthe teaching Gamaliel in the rabbinic School
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The same Person in whom
they havefound rest for their
souls will bringeternal
Shabbat with the quickening
of theresurrectionthat will
accompany his return.
Dr. John D. Garr, president of the
Hebraic Christian Global
Community, has pioneered re-
search, writing, and teaching on
the Hebraic foundations of the
Christianfaithfor more thanforty
years, helping believers under-
standthe theological emergence
of Christianity fromthe matrix of
biblical Judaism. Johns wife Pat
andtheir sons, John, Timothy, and
Stephen, share in promoting the
widespread work of Hebraic
ChristianGlobal Community.
of Hillel, which before the time of Jesus asserted
that God could be worshipped on any day of
the week in addition to the Sabbath (in contradis-
tinction to the School of Shammai which con-
tended that God could be worshipped only on
Shabbat). Of course, this flexibility and the al-
legorizing of the Sabbaths in Colossians 2 have
been distorted into a pansabbatism in which
every day is equally a Sabbath with the conse-
quence that there is no Sabbath, that every day
is equally profane, and that all biblical holy days
are disregarded with cavalier disdain.
What one should do with regard to the Sab-
bath is also answered simply in Pauls Romans 14
discourse: Let every man be fully persuaded in
his own mind. The Holy Spirit is the convicting
agent who leads men into truth. When one fol-
lows his leading, the result is perfect freedom in
the instruction of God. To do otherwise is to live
in sin on the one hand or be brought into some-
one elses legalism on the other.
THE SABBATH THAT REMAINS
One of the greatest features of Shabbat is the
fact that it ever points
to the coming Sabbath,
the Messianic Age. Each
weekly family and
community celebration
of Sabbath is but a
foretaste, a sample of
the unspeakable joy of
the world to come. For
the Jew it is the expec-
tation of the coming of
Messiah; for the Chris-
tian it is the assurance
of the return of the Messiah. The same Person in
whom they have found rest for their souls will
bring eternal Shabbat with the resurrection that will
accompany his return.
A PROPHETIC CALL TO RESTORATION
While the new covenant has enfranchised be-
lievers in the grace of liberty, it has not been a
license for spiritual hedonismin which eternal pre-
cepts designed by God himself for the well be-
ing of mankind are ignored. Perhaps foreseeing
the churchs trend toward abandoning the price-
less treasures of scriptural truth in favor of the
baubles of human tradition, the Prophet Isaiah
predicted a time when even Gentiles would em-
brace the God of the Jews: . . . the sons of the
stranger . . . that keepeth the Sabbath from pol-
luting it, and taketh hold of my covenant; even
them will I bring to my holy mountain, and make
them joyful in my house of prayer . . . (Isaiah
56:6-7). As a part of the restoration of all things
that is to accompany the return of the Messiah
(Acts 3:20-21), God will enlighten those Gentiles
who have become naturalized citizens of the com-
monwealth of Israel and will bring them to a
humble, considerate recognition of his Sabbath.
What Christian would not want to profit from
the biblical celebration of the Sabbath as God
outlined it for his chosen people? Far from being
a bondage of legalism, it is a liberating exercise
of the perfect law of liberty that brings blessing
and wholesome living into the lives of those who
lay hold on its promise (James 1:25). Far from
being a burden of working hard to keep the day,
it represents the releasing of the captive spirits
from the bondage of self-fulfillment into the lib-
erty of absolute trust in God as the source of
everything for health and happiness.
It is time that believers everywhere reconsider
the historical reasons for the churchs divorce from
its Jewish heritage and purpose to restore the
Hebraic foundations of their faith in Jesus. Its
time to recover what has been lost for individual
and community health. May the entire church em-
brace the Shabbat, the time that God has set apart
for fellowship of his children with their God and
with their families.
SHABBAT ISSUE
11
]
A Family Shabbat
S
habbat (the Sabbath) is as old as creation. We
are clearly told in Holy Scripture that God,
himself, established the example of separating one
day in seven as a time of renewal through his
own actions in the week of creation. After Yah-
weh busied himself with the work of creation
for six days, he rested on the seventh day.
For the Jewish people, from ancient times,
Shabbat has been an opportunity to sanctify time,
to set apart one complete day in seven for wor-
ship of God and interaction with family. The
Gentile cultures among whom the Jewish people
lived considered this action a waste of time and a
sign of laziness; however, they did not under-
stand that when the Jews obeyed Gods com-
mandment to remember the Sabbath day and
keep it holy they were acknowledging their com-
plete faith and utter dependence upon the God
of creation.
For Christians, honoring Shabbat acknowledges
their belief that Yahweh, the God of the Bible,
created the universe and everything in it. The be-
liever looks to God alone, not to blind fate or to
the force of nature, as his source of life and be-
ing. Shabbat is also an acknowledgment of the
believers faith in the finished work of Calvary
when Jesus became the atonement for the sins of
the world and the means of salvation. Faith in
Jesus as Gods Sabbath personified causes the be-
liever to cease fromhis labors to establish his own
righteousness and to enter into the rest of those
to whom God has imputed the righteousness of
Christ. Additionally, Shabbat is an acknowledg-
ment of the believers expectation of the coming
Messianic Age, the Sabbatical Millennium, when
God and man will rest as the Messiah rules the
earth in righteousness.
The principle of allocating one day in seven
for rest, renewal, worship, and fellowship is an-
other legacy that the church has received from
Judaism. It is a gift that is being revived by Chris-
tians around the world, who are restoring Shabbat
as a celebration of God and family. (The family
Shabbat has been prominent in the survival of the
Jewish people. It has been said that the Jews have
not kept the Sabbaththe Sabbath has kept the
Jews!)
Christian families can claim their right to this
biblically Judaic practice and to the immeasur-
able benefits which it provides. It is a part of our
opportunity to adopt a biblical lifestyleto live
biblically. Heres how you can have a family
Shabbat: Near sundown on Friday evening (the
biblical day begins at sundown, not at midnight),
gather your family together around the dining
room table. For you, as for the Jewish people,
your table will become an altar. For the Jewish
people it is a substitute for the altar of the temple
in Jerusalem. For you it is a personal family altar
parallel with the altar in your place of corporate
worship. Adapt the liturgy below to your particular
needs, and conduct your own personalized family
Shabbat.
LITURGY FOR FAMILY SHABBAT
Lighting of Candles
The father says:
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. . . . Through him
all things were made . . . In himwas life, and that life was the light of men. . . . The Word became flesh and
lived for a while among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the
Father, full of grace and truth. (John 1:1, 3, 14). Yeshua (Jesus) is the light of the world (John 8:12), the
true light that gives light to every man (John 1:9). Through him we are empowered to be lights in the
world (Philippians 2:15). As we light these two Shabbat candles, we set this night apart unto God to
remember that we are given both physical rest and spiritual rest through the gift of God by his Son, Jesus
Christ.
The mother lights the two candles while praying this blessing:
Blessed art thou, OLord our God, King of the universe, who has set us apart by your Word and has called
us to be the light of the world.
Blessing God for the Wine
The father pours wine or grape juice into a cup (Kiddush), and holds it up, saying:
Wine (or grape juice) represents to us the joy that we have in knowing that through the shed blood of
Jesus we have ceased from our labors and entered into his rest. Through it we remember the price that he
paid for our redemption.
The father prays this blessing:
Blessed art thou, O Lord our God, King of the universe, who creates the fruit of the vine.
Everyone at the table partakes of the cup.
Blessing God for the Bread
The father holds up two loaves of bread (challah), saying:
Bread reminds us that we have shared in the true bread fromheaven in the person of Yeshua, our Lord.
The two loaves represent the dual blessing of his abundant provision for our physical and spiritual rest.
The father prays this blessing: Blessed art thou, OLord our God, King of the universe, who brings forth
bread fromthe earth.
Everyone at the table partakes of the bread.
Blessing for the Wife
The husband reconfirms his love and honor for his wife by reciting Proverbs 31:10-31 and giving
personal praise to her in the presence of the children.
Blessings for the Children
The father places his right hand on the head of each of his children and prays the following blessing:
May God make you like Ephraimand Manasseh [for sons] Rachel and Leah [for daughters]. The Lord
bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord turn his
face toward you and give you peace. So they will put my name on the Israelites, and I will bless them. [At
this point, the father may add a personalized blessing for his sons or daughters. ] May the Spirit of the
Lord rest upon youthe Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and of power, the Spirit
of knowledge and of the fear of the Lordand may you delight in the fear of the Lord.
Songs (Zimrot)
The father and/or mother may lead the family in appropriate songs of praise and worship to God.
Studyof the Wordof God
The father and/or mother may lead the family in the study of the Word of God and/or a Bible lesson.
Remembering that study is considered one of the highest forms of worship, the entire family should be
encouraged to participate in the discussion, asking questions and commenting freely.
Remember thatShabbat isprimarilyafamilyaffair inwhichthefamilyaffirmsitsjoyatbeinginthe
presenceof Godandof oneanother, restingfromtheir labors, secureintheknowledgethattheyhave
enteredintotheir Shabbat restbygracethroughfaithinYeshuaHaMashiach[J esusChrist]andarefree
tocelebratehisloveandpeace.
TORAH
FULFI LLED
New Testament
Manifestations
,
12 RESTORE!
Sabbath: A
Palace in Time
BYJACQUES DOUKHAN, TH.D.
T
he seventh day is a palace in time,
1
wrote
Abraham Heschel, in so doing dusting
off the ancient definition of the Hebrew
prophets for whom the Sabbath was a
sign. But instead of being a sign in space, like
the monument which is eroded by time and be-
comes a sign of death, the Sabbath is a palace in
time, a sign of life that stands out with its actuality
and freshness.
A SIGN OF REMEMBRANCE
The Sabbath is essentially linked with memory.
This is most explicit in the Ten Commandments,
where one is to remember
2
the Sabbath.
Memory is also involved when an event of the
past is concerned, as is the case for the Sabbath.
In fact, the Sabbath is the act of remembrance
par excellence, for it recalls an absolute past: the ori-
gin of the universe and of humanity, the past of
all things and of all peoples. The association in
the Decalogue of the commandment of the Sab-
bath with the fifth commandment also alludes to
the importance of memory. Not only are the two
commandments juxtaposed; they are also the only
two to be formulated in a positive way: Remem-
ber. . . . Honor . . . . All other commandments are
negative (Thou shalt not . . .). This correspon-
dence indicates a common preoccupation. These
two commandments exhort one to remember by
evoking the origin and roots of man: the fourth
commandment pointing to the creative act of
God, the fifth to the procreative act of the par-
ents.
The binding together of Sabbath and memory
inspires not a philosophical flourish nor a beauti-
ful truth to meditate upon, for remembrance im-
plies the concrete, historical fact that plunges its
roots into reality. Hence, the Sabbath reminds us
that Creation is not the result of an autonomous
process, but of an intervention from above at a
given moment in time, with a beginning and an
end.
But the Sabbath is not only remembrance of
creation; it is also remembrance of the Sabbath
itself, as indicated by Exodus 20:8: Remember
the Sabbath day . . . .
3
This remembrance, as
developed by the commandment, goes beyond
mere mental strain, to involve the whole person
in a concrete act. To remember the Sabbath is to
reactualize the Sabbath in ones existence week af-
ter week. This involves a gesture of setting apart
the time of the Sabbath, distinguishing it from
other times. One implication of this is fidelity to
the real time of the Sabbath. In a society in which
not only the meaning of the Sabbath but also the
WHAT IS THE FORETASTE OF THE WORLD TO COME? THE SABBATH.
(BERESHIT RABBAT, 17, 7.)
SHABBAT ISSUE
13
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based faith communities, Juda-
ism and Christianity. A must
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Christian-Jewish relations.
Instead of being a sign in
space, likethemonument
which is eroded by time
and becomes a sign of
death, the Sabbath is a
palacein time, asign of
lifethat stands out with
its actualityand
freshness.
Christian-Jewish Dialogue
Exploring Our Commonalities and Our Differences
time of the Sabbath is lost, it is the elements of
time and content that are entwined in the remem-
brance of the Sabbath.
A SIGN OF HOPE
It is upon the basis of remembrance of Cre-
ation and its conclusion on the seventh day that
hope can strive and eventually surge forth. In re-
membering the event of creation, the Sabbath
finds itself as a sign of hope, in that it evokes the
miracle by which light shone out of the shadow
and plenitude was drawn from the void. Hence,
the Sabbath is used in the Bible as a sign of libera-
tion from the Egyptian yoke,
4
and later as a sign
of liberation of the Babylonian exiles,
5
as these
two events involve the powerful act of recreation,
evoking the original act of creation.
6
Likewise, in
the New Testament, we are told of Yeshuas
miracles as occurring at the time of the Sabbath,
7
precisely to underline this particular aspect of the
Sabbath: hope being given on the day of the Sab-
bath to the woman crippled for eighteen years
who finds herself loosed from this bond on the
Sabbath.
8
But the Sabbath contains an even more explicit
lesson of hope, one that is linked directly to its
essence. The story of Genesis teaches us that the
Sabbath was the first full day of man and woman,
their first full day with God. The Sabbath re-
minds us, therefore, of the first experience of
mans communion with God. This dimension of
the Sabbath is noted by the prophet Isaiah, who
associates the delights of the Sabbath with the
delights of God: If you . . . call the Sabbath a
delight, the holy day of the Lord . . . then you
shall delight yourself in the Lord.
9
The Sabbath
is described here as the moment in time when
one can delight in the experience of the God
with us. This notion is also implied in the authors
association of the Sabbath to the Shekhinah, the
sign of Gods presence. One can also observe
that the phrase wayyekal melakhah (he completed
the work), which introduces the Sabbath at the
end of the creation,
10
is the same phrase which
introduces the Shekhinah at the end of the con-
struction of the sanctuary by Moses
11
and of
the temple by Solomon.
12
These are the only
three passages which use this phrase, as though
to emphasize the link between the Sabbath and
the Shekhinah.
As a sign of Gods presence, the Sabbath nour-
ishes here below, in our time, our deep longing for
the day when his presence shall be fully revealed.
Significantly, the Sabbath is referred to as the day
of the Lord,
13
an expression which also desig-
nates the day of the coming of the Lord, which
will put an end to all misery, inaugurating a new
era. The Sabbath day of the Lord points to the
other day of the Lord as the sign par excellence
of hope.
A SIGN OF THE ABSOLUTE
The Sabbath evokes the absolute, as it refers to a
reality which transcends us, to a law which comes
from beyond, a gift from God, a sign of God.
The Sabbath is a sign of the absolute primarily
because it is divine law. The way the Sabbath is
introduced in the Decalogue is significant: Re-
member . . . . This is not an ordinary imperative.
We are dealing here with an absolute infinitive,
which denotes an imperative of emphasis. The
Sabbath is therefore perceived as an imperious
law which imposes itself absolutely and from
above. Certain elements suggest even that the Sab-
bath is preponderant to the other laws. For ex-
ample, in the Levitical account, the Sabbath is
distinguished from the other festivals and days of
rest.
14
In the biblical tradition, the Sabbath has been
preserved as the first commandment which men
and women observed immediately after Creation;
the first couple inaugurated their existence and the
course of human history by
observing this commandment.
The Sabbath was also the first
commandment given to Israel
immediately after their flight
from Egypt.
15
Among all the
Levitical laws, the Sabbathis the
only commandment which is
not annual, the only day inde-
pendent from the natural and
astronomical cycles, andhas no
moral or natural cause to jus-
tify its observance. The only
raison dtre of the Sabbathis re-
ligious. It is, infact, theonlycom-
mandment whichimplies faith.
14 RESTORE!
The
Sabbath
reminds us
that it was
God who
took the
initiativeto
givemen
and women
therest
which they
did not
deserve,
enabling
themto
enjoy a
communion
which they
had not
sought.
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The Sabbath is also the
sign of the absolute in that
it embodies the gracious
act of a God of love,
what the psalmist cel-
ebrates as hesed of God.
16
The Sabbath reminds us
that we are nothing but the
outcome of divine gener-
osity. In fact, the gift of the
Sabbath was given neither
as an answer nor as a re-
ward for human work.
The Sabbath reminds us
that it was God who took
the initiative to give men
and women the rest which
they did not deserve, en-
abling them to enjoy a
communion which they
had not sought. In prac-
tice, the Sabbath is also a
pedagogy of hesed in that
it teaches us the value of
non-action in relation to God; in abstaining from
work on the Sabbath, we demonstrate our total
dependence on God. What we have is not the
result of our work or our effort, but is under-
stood as a gift from God. It is the hesed which
causes the psalmist to burst out in song: Let your
face shine on your servant, save me in your un-
failing love [hesed!].
17
It is at the heart of the Sab-
bath that the law and the grace, traditionally
opposed by the Christian tradition, find recon-
ciliation. In observing the fourth commandment,
the believer does not exclude the grace of God.
Quite the opposite, it is by observing the law of
God that the believer expresses his faith that his
salvation depends entirely on the grace of God.
Finally, the Sabbathis signof the absolute inthat
it testifies of God himself, the One who is abso-
lutely Other. Henceforth, the Sabbathis calledthe
day of the Lord.
18
It is the day which the Lord
has made,
19
the sign of God.
20
The day of Sabbath
is therefore a time intrinsically sacred, whichstirs up
in us the deepest respect and the necessity of ob-
serving the day chosen by God and not this other
decreed by human tradition. The Sabbath is more
than a day of rest and recreation at the end of the
week; it is the concrete expression of our faith in
God, the sign that our values depend on God.
A SIGN OF LOVE
And yet, the Sabbath finds no existence out-
side of the human person, for the Sabbath is not
only a deed of God for humans; it is also a
deed of humans for God.
21
The Sabbath is
sanctified inasmuch as two partners are involved.
It is a sign between God and his people.
22
How-
ever, the human doing is but an answer to the
divine doing. As well as being the expression
of Gods love toward mankind, the Sabbath is,
on the human level, an expression of love for
God. This understanding of the Sabbath as an
answer clearly suggests that humans, not God,
should be the ones to adapt. The Sabbath exhorts
us to abstain from doing our own will: If you
keep your feet from breaking the Sabbath and
from doing as you please on my holy day, . . . if
you honor it by not going your own way and not
doing as you please or speaking idle words . . . .
23
The Sabbath becomes also an act which confronts
the reality of life and not a disembodied spiritual
truth. The believer who observes the Sabbath en-
gages in an experience which obliges him/her to
meet with God where he is. In this encounter the
believer silhouettes self against an indifferent world
occupied otherwise and elsewhere.
The humans encounter with God does not,
however, exclude encounters with others. On the
contrary, the humans communion with God is
fulfilled only through ones communion with oth-
ers. This social dimension of the Sabbath is al-
ready implied in the story of the Creation, which
relates man and woman to the first adoration. It
is even more explicit in the Decalogue, where all
the family members, the slave, and the stranger
are invited to enjoy in this day the same privileges
of liberty and rest as the Israelites. The Sabbath is
the day when we remember that the other is an
equal and deserves our respect. It is also the day
when in the family gathering the arts of listening
and dialoguing can be cultivated.
The way the Sabbath is situated in the literary
structure of the Decalogue confirms its preoccu-
pation with both God and mankind. The text of
the Sabbath is located at the center of the
Decalogue, geometrically and thematically speak-
ing.
24
As far as the geometry is concerned, we
notice that the fourth commandment is comprised
of 55 words (in Hebrew) and is situated between
67 words (first three commandments) and 41
words (last six commandments). The command-
ment of the Sabbath comprises, then, approxi-
mately half the words of the whole Decalogue
(55/108) and occupies its center. Thematically, we
notice that the first three commandments are con-
cerned with the relation between God and man,
whereas the last six commandments involve the
relation between humans. The Sabbath functions,
then, as a bridge between the two series of com-
mandments and is concernedwithrelations between
God and humans as well as between humans.
Sign of Gods love for us, but also sign of our
love for Him, the Sabbath is the sign that the ver-
tical relation does not exclude the horizontal rela-
SHABBAT ISSUE
15
What better
wayfor
J ews and
Christians
to meet
again than
to consent,
together, to
worshipat
thesame
timeas
indicated
by the God
of
Abraham,
Israel, and
also of
Paul.
Dr. JacquesB. Doukhan, a native
of Algeria, is professor of Hebrew
and Old Testament Exegesis at
the Seventh-Day Adventist Semi-
nary and director of the Institute
of Jewish-Christian Studies at
AndrewsUniversity. Astrongad-
vocate of Jewish-Christian rela-
tions, he is editor of LOlivier and
Shabbat Shalom(Jewish-Chris-
tian dialogue magazines).
Jacques, his wife Lilianne, and
their daughter live in Berrien
Springs, Michigan.
SHABBAT SHALOM
AMagazine Promoting the Peace of Gods
Shabbat
Shabbat Shalom is an attractive journal with
interesting and challenging information about the
biblical Sabbath. It also features scholarly articles
that promote Jewish-Christian relations and ana-
lyze the roots of Christian faith in the soil of Juda-
ism.
For complete information about this excel-
lent resource, write:
Shabbat Shalom
55 W. Oak Ridge Dr., Hagerstown, MD21740
tion, but that they are interdependent.
A SIGN OF LIFE
The Sabbath celebrates Creation and thus im-
plies a positive appreciation of life. The senses,
the food, and the beauty are well received and
fully enjoyed. In the second century, the Gnostic
Marcion, who despised the human body and cre-
ation, rejected the Old Testament and its God
YHWH, the God of Creation, claiming that it
had been replaced by the God of the New Testa-
ment, the God of salvation. The spiritual domain
has since then been valorized over the physical one,
the despicable flesh. This dualism has affected
Christian anthropology. The soul, the spirit, has
been distinguished from the body. Along the lines
of Platonism, salvation has then been understood
as a deliverance from the body. And the ideal of
existence has been described essentially as a spiri-
tual effort outside and sometimes against the body.
Since Marcion, many Christian theologians have
opposed salvation to Creation. One of the most
interesting symptoms of this dualistic mentality may
well be detected in the Christian shift from the
Sabbath memorial of Creation to the Sunday me-
morial of salvation. Sabbathkeeping expresses,
then, a religious philosophy that says yes to Cre-
ation and the senses and involves the body in the
spiritual process of salvation, affirming by that
same token the unity of the human person.
Sign of the past and the future, the Sabbath
tears us from our present to rekindle our memory
and set our hope ablaze. Sign of the absolute and
of love, the Sabbath teaches us to open ourselves
to othersto man and to God.
If humans have lost the meaning of the Sabbath,
it is because they have lost their roots and perspec-
tives. Today, the Sabbath is no more a sign of the
glorious event of Creation nor of the extraordinary
hope of a recreation. People are comfortably settled
here below, even in their Sabbath, which has shriv-
eled up into a mere weekend or an obscure ritual.
If humans have lost the sense of the Sabbath,
it is because they are unable to open up to others.
It must be noticed that the three monotheisms
that issued from the BibleJudaism, Christianity,
and Islamall observe a different Sabbath, as
though to avoid any possible encounter with the
othermaybe also to avoid stumbling upon God.
From the depths of ages to our time, the Sab-
bath is a sign to the Jew and to the Christian. Even
more, the Sabbath is the sign that comes between
the Jewand the Christian. The Sabbath is one of the
first elements whichdeterminedandevenmaintained
the open wound of their separation.
Separated by time, the Jews and the Chris-
tians have lost sight of each other. What better
way for them to meet again than to consent,
together, to worship at the same time as indi-
cated by the God of Abraham, Israel, and also
of Paul. The Sabbath would then become the
sign of a miracle: sign that we remembered,
sign that God is more than a tradition that is
dead, sign of life, sign of hope in something
elselike a tree in the wilderness.
1
Abraham Heschel, The Sabbath: Its Meaning for Modern Men
(New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1951/1995), p. 111.
2
Exodus 20:8.
3
Bible quotations are from the New King James Version
unless otherwise noted.
4
Deuteronomy 5:15.
5
2 Chronicles 36:21.
6
Exodus 15:8; Deuteronomy 4:32-33; Isaiah 43:15-17; 44:24.
7
Matthew 12:9-14; Luke 14:1-6; John 5:1-6; 9:1-38.
8
Luke 13:16.
9
Isaiah 58:13-14.
10
Genesis 2:2.
11
Exodus 40:33-38.
12
2 Chronicles 5:14; 2 Chronicles 7:12.
13
Exodus 20:10; Deuteronomy 5:14.
14
Leviticus 23:2-4.
15
Exodus 16.
16
Psalm 33:5, 22; 36:7; 57:10; 63:3; 108:4, etc.
17
Psalm 31:16, NIV.
18
Exodus 20:10; Leviticus 23:3; Deuteronomy 5:14.
19
Genesis 2:1-3.
20
Exodus 31:15.
21
Deuteronomy 5:17.
22
Exodus 31:17.
23
Isaiah 58:13-14, NIV.
24
This median position of the Sabbath in the Decalogue
takes on a particular meaning in the light of the ancient Middle
Eastern documents. The seal which engaged the partners of
the alliance was in fact apposed at the center itself of the tablet
(see Meredith G. Kline, Treaty of the Great King, The Covenant
Structure of Deuteronomy: Studies and Commentary (Grand Rapids:
Eerdmans, 1963), pp. 18, 19.
16 RESTORE!
BYDWIGHT A. PRYOR
RENEWING THE HEBREW FOUNDATIONS OF THE SABBATH
T
he Siddur liturgy succinctly summarizes
the treasured place of the Sabbath in
Jewish tradition with these words: Last
in creation, first in intention.
Shabbat is the crown of creation and the first
thing made holy by the Creator. Then God
blessed the seventh day and sanctified it . . . (Gen-
esis 2:3). The six days of creation are good but
only the seventh day is hallowed. With the Sab-
bath, time itself becomes sanctified, and the re-
sulting redemptive rhythm per vades and
punctuates the whole of Jewish life.
The Sabbath principle is implicit in creation,
but made an explicit precept commanded of Is-
rael in the Sinaitic covenant. Both aspects, creation
and redemption, are alluded to in the Ten Words:
Remember (zachor) the Sabbath in view of the
creation (Exodus 20:8). Observe (shamor) the
Sabbath in light of the Exodus (Deuteronomy
5:12). In either case the seventh day is to be sanc-
tified unto the Lord.
Whether we operate under the Mosaic cov-
enant enjoined at Sinai or the New Covenant in
Yeshuas blood effected at Calvary, Shabbat teaches
us much about the Lord of the Sabbath, His in-
tent in creation, and our place in His world. Apart
from the legal precept obligatory upon Israel, the
Sabbath is a creation principle relevant to every-
one who calls on the name of the Lord.
Consider the wisdom and power of the Sab-
bath to expand our perspective and enhance our
relationship with the Holy One of Israel.
1
1. The Sabbath is a testimony to the wonders of the
creation and the greatness of the Creator.
The world as created by God is wondrous
and good. The Sabbath reminds us of this. Na-
ture is not to be worshipped, but it should be
celebrated as Gods handiwork. Consecrating the
Sabbath confirms the biblical account of the cre-
ation and acknowledges the ethical implications
of it. The world is the intentional act of Adonai
Elohimto whom we are responsible and before
whom we shall all give a reckoning one day. The
SHABBAT ISSUE
17
On Shabbat, man and his
maker dwell in yachad, unity,
inaspecial way. Mutually, they
create a Shabbat kodesh, a
Sabbath of holiness.
moral mandates of ethical monotheism, central
both to Judaism and to Christianity, hang on the
essential truth of the Genesis account of creation,
concluding with the Sabbath.
2. The Sabbath is the telos or end of creation in two
senses, both as its finish and as its goal.
In six days, God created the heavens and the
earth. On the seventh day, the good became hal-
lowed. The Sabbath completed and culminated
Gods work of creating and pointed to the goal
of it.
In the Bible the world is good but not intrinsi-
cally holy. Only God, in partnership with man
made in his image, can sanctify it. The Sabbath,
by Gods act and by mans acknowledgment, hal-
lows the creation. Sanctifying the seventh day fash-
ions the world of man into a habitation suitable
for the Divine dwelling.
On Shabbat, man and his Maker dwell in yachad,
unity, in a special way. Mutually, they create a Shab-
bat kodesh, a Sabbath of holiness. This union of
intimate covenantal partnership is the goal and the
passion of the Holy One who created man. Ev-
ery Sabbath kept, every seventh day hallowed,
points to the eventual destiny of the creation it-
self. The finite world shall become the dwelling
of the infinite God, the abode of His glory. And
in that Day, the whole earth shall experience
Shabbat shalom.
3. To sanctify the Sabbath is to set the day apart
from all that is common, ordinary, or profane.
It is not that earthy things are evil. God cre-
ated the earth and deemed it tov or good. That
is why we give him thanks for the good things of
the earth, like bread and wine. But in the midst of
our labors in the earth we are to create a sanctu-
ary in time for the things of the Spirit. We are to
set aside every seventh day unto the Lord and to
the things of the Lord.
The root Hebrew word for holy, kadash,
means to mark off, set apart, or make distinct.
Holiness adheres intrinsically only in God. He is
kadosh, kadosh, kadosh (Isaiah 6.3) by his very
nature. All else becomes holy only when set apart
untohimand his service. His holiness can be mani-
fest in space, time, and people. To hallow the
Sabbath, therefore, is to set the day apart from all
common or ordinary activities, good though they
may be, and to consecrate the day, oneself, and
ones home unto the maker of heaven and earth.
4. When we sanctify the Sabbath we in turn are set
apart as Gods peculiar people and treasured posses-
sion.
The Sabbath concept is not a natural occur-
rence. It is a supra-natural opportunity set by God.
The seven-day cycle is not self-evident inthe natural
order of things. Neither the monthly lunar cycle
(29+ days) nor the annual solar cycle (365+ days)
is divisible by
seven. The seven-
day week we take
for granted was
unknown in the
ancient pagan
world.
The Sabbath
represents sacred
time, set in place
by the act of the
Holy One. It be-
came the principal
and powerful sym-
bol of Yahwehs
unique covenantal
relationship with
His elected people,
Israel.
. . . speak to
the sons of Israel,
saying, You shall
surely observe my
sabbaths; for this is
a sign between me
and you through-
out your generations, that you may know that I
am the LORD who sanctifies you. Therefore you
are to observe the sabbath, for it is holy to you. .
. . For six days work may be done, but on the
seventh day there is a sabbath of complete rest,
holy to the LORD . . . And when he had finished
speaking with him upon Mount Sinai, he gave
Moses the two tablets of the testimony, tablets
of stone, written by the finger of God. (Exo-
dus 31:13-18 NASB)
The Sabbath is a sign or symbol that bears
visible witness to the enduring covenantal part-
nership between God and His people. It is holy
by Gods decree, and it sanctifies or hallows
those who honor it. Like a wedding band sym-
bolically sets apart a bride as holy and covenanted
to her husband, so the Sabbath signifies that Israel
is set apart exclusively unto the Lord as his trea-
sured people (am segullah). It distinguishes them
fromall the other nations as the people with whom
God has chosen to make His dwelling.
5. In remembering the
Sabbath we honor the Cre-
ator by giving up our cre-
ations.
For six days we la-
bor in the world for
our own ends. We cre-
ate, control, and sub-
due the world around
us. For one day we are
asked to remember the
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18 RESTORE!
On Shabbat we
communewith
God in two ways
celebrating His
creation and
considering His
revelation.
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Creator and return our creations and ourselves
back to his dominion. Shabbat reminds the Pha-
raoh in usthat theEarth istheLORDS (Exodus
9:29). It is only on loan to us. We show deference
to our Creator by ceasing from our creations on
the seventh day. In doing so, we imitate and thereby
honor him.
Shabbat reminds us that we, too, belong to him.
We must put ourselves and the work of our hands
on the altar of God. The Creator enjoins us to
exercise dominion and stewardship of the earth,
but that can be done properly only by regularly
submitting to the dominion of Another. In the
Sabbath we acknowledge the Creator as King, and
we set apart the day unto him and his sovereignty.
Only under his rule do we experience the fullness
of peace. In Shabbat we find shalom.
6. To refrain from work is one thing, to enter Gods
rest is another.
On Shabbat we are to cease from our labors.
But we also are to imitate our Creator and enter
his rest. Just taking a day off from work is not
sanctifying the Sabbath nor does it satisfy the soul.
For that to occur we must enter the Sabbath rest.
On the seventh day God completed His work
which He had done; and He rested on the seventh
day . . . (Genesis 2:2) What work did he com-
plete on the seventh day, ask the rabbis? He created
menuach, rest! Menuach is more than free-
dom fromtoil, work, and activity. It is
freedom fortranquillity, peace, and qui-
etness of soul. Whenwe sanctify the sev-
enth day, we cease from our labors, for his
rest.
Shabbat is not a self-indulgent vaca-
tion so much as it is a spiritual invoca-
tion. We invite God by his Spirit to lead
us beside the waters of rest (menuhot)
(Psalm 23:2) and restore our souls. We
build a sanctuary in time and the Holy
Spirit comes and fills it with the sha-
lom of God. In this sacred time we find har-
mony between man and nature and between one
another. We come unto him, and he gives us
rest.
7. To hallow the Sabbath is to sanctify Gods name.
The seventh day is a sabbath to the LORD
your God . . . (Exodus 20:10). Shabbat is made
for man but unto the Lord. The spiritual discipline
of Sabbath observance brings peace into our
homes and holiness into our world. It blesses man
and it honors God. By our conduct, treating this
day as holy, we sanctify Gods name.
Shabbat counters our natural tendencies toward
idolatry and self-centeredness. It reminds us that
our lives are to be thoroughly and intensely God-
centered, worshipping him alone. Remembering
the Sabbath redeems time and turns our hearts
back to those things that pertain to the Father and
his priorities. It is a holy day set apart for family and
friends, study and prayer, Scripture and nature.
Psalm 19 is read as part of the Sabbath morn-
ing liturgy in the Siddur. This inspired Scripture,
attributed to David, has two movements. The first,
verses 1-6, praises God for the wonders of the
world. The heavens are telling of the glory of
God; and their expanse is declaring the work of
His hands (19:1 NASB). The second, verses 7-
14, esteems God for the beauty of his Word. The
law of the LORD [torat Adonai] is perfect, restor-
ing the soul; the testimony of the LORD [eidut
Adonai] is sure, making wise the simple. The
precepts of the LORD [pikudei Adonai] are right,
rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the
LORD [mitzvat Adonai] is pure, enlightening the
eyes (19:7-8).
On Shabbat we commune with God in both
wayscelebrating his creation and considering his
revelation. In all ways we desire to honor, esteem,
and exalt him. His name is holy, and we choose to
honor it by hallowing this day that he has made. He
is the Lord God, maker of heaven and earth. So
we sanctify the Sabbathand are in turn sanctified by
him for doing so. May his name be praised, and
may his peace cover all the earth.
1
Several of the ideas expressed in this article are drawn from the
late Rabbi Pinchas Peli and his Shabbat Shalom weekly Torah
commentary that appeared for many years in the Jerusalem Post.
Dwight A. Pryor, president of the
Center for Judaic-Christian
Studies, haslong beeninvolvedin
extensive research into the
Hebrew foundations of Christain
faith, both with the Jerusalem
School of Synoptic Research and
in concert with other scholars of
similar vision. He hasproducedan
extensivelibraryof audioandvideo
teachings that document truths
about Christianitys Jewishroots.
Dwight andhis wifeKerenHannah
liveinDayton, Ohio.
SHABBAT ISSUE
19
M
ans first day on earth was Gods seventh
day of Creation. Man was created on the
evening of the sixth day of Creation. Genesis
1:24-2:2 indicates that God made man in his own
image and likeness then rested. Therefore, mans
first day in Creation was Gods seventh day in
Creation. Man spent his first twenty-four hours
on earth sharing Shabbat with God Almighty.
Moses recognizes the importance of this fact.
The fourth of the ten commandments recorded
in Exodus 20:8-11 is about mans Shabbat with
God. This commandment has two parts. Firstly,
man should start his week resting with God. Sec-
ondly, out of his rest with God, man should work
six days. Mans work originates out of his Shabbat
with God. Shabbat is not the end of mans work
weekit is the beginning and source of mans work
week.
Moses calls mans work labor. The Hebrew
word for labor is : : (avad) and primarily means
to do work (Gesenius, Hebrew-Chaldee Lexicon
of the Old Testament, p. 598). However, the word
:: is frequently translated worshippers (or ser-
vants) of God (Ibid., p. 599) as in Nehemiah
1:10. In Numbers chapter four, the priests from
30 years to 50 years old were to serve (::) the
services (::) that served (::) the worshippers
of God. The point is that the Bible words labor,
serve, and worship all come from the Hebrew word
::.
To properly serve (or worship) God, man
must spend Shabbat with him, then labor as unto
the LORD. The Apostle Paul says in 1 Corinthians
10:31, Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or what-
soever ye do, do all to the glory of God. Paul
knows the effect of mans Shabbat with God when
he says in Colossians 3:16-17. Let the word of
Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching
and admonishing one another in psalms and
hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in
your hearts to the Lord. And whatsoever you do
in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord
Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by
him.
God created man after the entire universe had
been prepared for him. God said each day, and
it was good. All that God had created for man
to enjoy and rule was good. Then, on the
evening of the sixth day, God created man. Man
awakened to the stars, moon, water, trees, land,
animals and spent his first day enjoying it all with
God. God had called it all good. Man should
see it all and agree with God that it is all good.
Man calling Gods Creation good is, by defini-
tion, praise and worship. It is man declaring
good all that heaven delivered!
Isaiah 58:13-14 says, If thou turn away thy
foot from the sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on
my holy day; and call the sabbath a delight, the
holy of the LORD, honourable; and shalt honour
him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine
own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words: then
shalt thou delight thyself in the LORD; and I will
cause thee to ride upon the high places of the
earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob
thy father: for the mouth of the LORD hath spo-
ken it.
Jesus says in Mark 2:27-28, The sabbath was
made for man, and not man for the sabbath; there-
fore the Son of man is Lord also of the sab-
bath. Sabbath is mans first day of the week.
God desires man to spend it with him. Properly
spent, it releases man into a lifestyle of ::. That
is, properly understood and properly invested,
Shabbat opens the opportunity for man to enjoy life
to the full. John 10:10 indicates Christ, our Shabbat,
came to give us life and life more abundantly.
Shabbat is not the end of mans work week.
Shabbat is not a burdensome, legal requirement
for man to stop his labor and give his remaining
time to God. This mindset only leads to debate,
frustration and legalism. Shabbat is mans queen.
Abraham Joshua Heschel in his book, The Sab-
bath, page 60, says,
The idea of the Sabbath as a queen or a
bride is not a personification of the Sabbath
but an exemplification of a divine attribute,
and illustration of God's need for human
love; it does not represent a substance but
the presence of God, His relationship to
man.
Such metaphorical exemplification does
not state a fact; it expresses a value, putting
into words the preciousness of the Sabbath
as Sabbath. Observance of the seventh day
is more than a technique of fulfilling a com-
mandment. The Sabbath is the presence of
God in the world, open to the soul of man.
Further, on page 73 Heschel says (to God),
Show us in this world an example of the world to
come. The Sabbath is an example of the world
to come (Akiba, Otzar Midrashim, p. 407).
Mans First Day
BY KARL D. COKE, PH. D.
:: :
BIBLICAL
HEBREW
The Language of
Scripture
:::
Properly understood
and properly
invested, Shabbat
opens the
opportunity for man
to enjoy life to the
full.
20 RESTORE!
GODS ANSWER FOR BLESSING AND HOLINESS
BY KARL D. COKE, PH.D.
A
ccording to Genesis 2:2, On the sev-
enth day God finished His work. . . We
should surely expect the Bible to tell us
that on the sixth day God finished his
work. Obviously, the ancient rabbis concluded,
there was an act of creation on the seventh day.
Just as heaven and earth were created in six days,
menuach was created on the Sabbath. Menuach,
whichwe usually render as rest, means here much
more than withdrawal from labor and exertion,
more than freedom from toil, strain, or activity
of any kind. Menuach is not a negative concept but
something real and intrinsically positive. . . . What
was created on the seventh day? Tranquillity, se-
renity, peace and repose. . . . The essence of good
life is menuach. In later times menuach became a syn-
onym for the life in the world to come, for eter-
nal life. (Abraham Joshua Heschel, The Sabbath,
pp. 22-23).
Menuach ::: means to rest, repose, condition
of rest according to Gesenius in his Hebrew Lexi-
con, page 486. It comes from the Hebrew root
verb :: (nuach) which means (p. 538, Gesenius) pri-
marily to rest, to sit down, to set oneself down
anywhere to take a rest. Solomon, in Ecclesi-
astes 4:6 (NIV) says of menuach, Better one handful
with tranquillity (menuach) than two handfuls with
toil and chasing after the wind. David uses menuach
to describe the water Gods sheep drink in Psalm
23:2, He leads me beside quiet (menuach) waters.
But it is Moses who best uses the Hebrew word
menuach. He says of God in Exodus 20:11, For
in six days the LORD made the heavens and the
earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested
(menuach) on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD
blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy. The
result of Gods work on the seventh day, menuach,
SHABBAT ISSUE
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was that Shabbat was both blessed and holy.
HONORING SHABBAT
Honoring Shabbat by resting is not a matter of
Christians becoming like Jews. It is a matter of
being like God. Since God rested on Shabbat
(making it both blessed and holy), man should
also endeavor to rest one day out of seven. He-
brews 4:9-11 says, There remains, then, a Sab-
bath-rest for the people of God; for anyone who
enters Gods rest also rests from his own work,
just as God did from his. Let us, therefore, make
every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will fall
by following their example of disobedience. Far
too many believers focus on the word Shabbat,
not the word rest (menuach). After all, Shabbat
sounds Jewish. So, whenever the issue surfaces,
Christians immediately become concerned with
the legal issue of keeping the day rather than
what one does to release blessings and holiness
on this special day. The result? Our Messiahs body
has ignorantly missed out on the two huge ben-
efits of taking a God-like restblessing and holiness.
We seem to forget that God, Moses, and Jesus all
rested.
DOING WHAT GOD DID
The Lord does not ask believers to do some-
thing he has not done. Since he rested (menuach)
on the seventh day, he is free to invite all believers
to share in his rest. He would not ask believers to
rest if he had not done so. This makes the issue
clearly what he did, rested, not the day. Genesis 2:2
straightforwardly establishes the act of rest
(menuach) as the issue, i.e., the principle. Remem-
ber, all of Gods labor on the seventh day was
entering into rest. This is why Hebrews 4:11 (KJV)
says, Let us labour therefore to enter into his
rest, . . . The labor is not spent in legally keep-
ing the Shabbat. The labor should be expended
entering into Gods rest! The promise of that kind
of labor is that its wages will be blessing and
holiness. Are there any true believers who would
reject an opportunity to be blessed by God and
made holy like God? That God rested on Shabbat
and thereby blessed and sanctified it cannot be
denied. Shabbat exists. What should one do?
GODS GIFT TO HUMANITY
In his book, The Sabbath, Heschel says, The
Sabbath is the most precious present mankind has
received from the treasure house of God (p.
18). Think of it, God gives one day per week to
all mankind. Properly used, this gift allows man-
kind to gain in blessings and holiness. The Sab-
bath is given unto you, not you unto the Sabbath
(Mekilta to 31:13). Jesus, our Messiah, said, The
Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sab-
bath. So the Son of Man is Lord even of the
Sabbath (Mark 2:27-28). What a gift! What an
opportunity! A day, given by God to mankind,
designed to increase mans blessings and to make
him like his creator. On page 110 of his Funda-
mentals of Judaism Saul Spiro says, The Sabbath is
a joy to those who observe it; a perpetual praise
to God for His Creation. Life
is to be delighted in and enjoyed.
Many things make this impos-
sible a great deal of the time.
The Sabbath is the great excep-
tion. Life can be lived to its full-
est at least on one day of the
week.
I realize that there are few
articles written about Shabbat
upon which Jews and Christians
can agree. Both groups make
it the domain of one over the
other. In this article, I am not seeking mutual ap-
proval. I cannot here waste time and space asking
such questions as Why did God chose the sev-
enth day and not the sixth or eighth? Satan has
diverted attention away fromthe real issue of Shab-
God produced rest as
his work on Shabbat.
He then gave man that
rest as a means to
receivehis blessing
and holiness.
22 RESTORE!
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bat long enough! The real issue of Shabbat is that
entering Gods rest (menuach) works blessings and
holiness. Isaiah puts it another way when he says
in 58:13-14, If you keep your feet from break-
ing the Sabbath and from doing as you please on
my holy day, if you call the Sabbath a delight and
the LORDS holy day honorable, and if you honor
it by not going your own way and not doing as
you please or speaking idle words, then you will
find your joy in the LORD, and I will cause you to
ride on the heights of the land and to feast on the
inheritance of your father Jacob. The mouth of
the LORD has spoken.
A portion of Jacobs blessing is recorded in
Genesis 28:13-15, I am the LORD, the God of
your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. I
will give you and your
descendants the land
on which you are lying.
Your descendants will
be like the dust of the
earth, and you will
spread out to the west
and to the east, to the
north and to the south.
All peoples on earth
will be blessed through
you and your off-
spring. I am with you
and will watch over
you wherever you go, and I will bring you back
to this land. I will not leave you until I have done
what I have promised you. The working of
holiness in Jacobs life is recorded in Genesis 32:22-
31. In that context, verses 27-28 say, The man
asked him, What is your name? Jacob, he an-
swered. Then the man said, Your name will no
longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have
struggled with God and with men and have over-
come.
It is more than coincidental that both of these
events took place during the rest period of the
night. Also, Jacob worked hard wrestling with
God against his own flesh. Thats correct. Jacobs
spiritual man wrestled with (alongside) God. The
two of them were a tag-team. Their opponent
was the natural man Jacob. God and spiritual Ja-
cob defeated natural Jacob earning Jacob the name
Israel (a prince with God). This is the kind of
struggle necessary to enter Gods rest.
WHAT IS REST?
What is rest (menuach)? First, it is very interesting
that in the 17 times ::: (menuach) appears in
the TaNaKh, almost without exception it is pre-
ceded with the words, The LORD your God
gives you rest. It is clear that rest is a gift from
God. As a reminder, God produced rest as
his work on Shabbat. He then gave man that
rest as a means to receive his blessing and holi-
ness. Rest has the quality of continually pro-
ducing blessing and holiness. Blessing and
holiness are more easily received when one en-
ters into his rest. God knew about blessing and
holiness from having been poised in eternal rest.
God is blessed and holy because he is at per-
fect rest. It follows then that the transfer of his
blessing and holiness to man is best done
through rest (menuach).
Secondly, The rabbis regarded the Sabbath
symbolically as a foretaste of the ideal world to
come (Glustrom, The Language of Judaism, p. 199).
Included in the future is one thousand years of
rest from Satans activity. Revelation 20 indicates
that Satan will be bound for one thousand years.
This is a time of rest from Satanic deception (vs.
3). 1 Peter 3:8 reminds us that one day to the
Lord is as a thousand years. It seems logical then
that following nearly 6,000 years (six days) would
be the last 1,000 years (seventh day). This would
be a day (one thousand years) of rest. Finally,
about menuach, Benjamin Davidson says on page
539 of his book The Analytical Hebrew and Chaldee
Lexicon, I. to rest, settle down, alight, . . .
II. to rest, be at rest, have repose. HenceIII.
to abide, continue,IV. to rest, to cease, leave
off speaking.
Psalm 95, Come, let us sing for joy to the
On Shabbat man will either
work to indulge his flesh and
be paid weariness or he will
work to enter Gods rest and
be paid Gods blessings and
holiness.
SHABBAT ISSUE
23
Gods instructions
concerning the building
of the Tabernacle end,
and Moses conveyance
of themto the people
begin, with an
admonition to keep the
Sabbath, indicating its
precedence even over
theduty of building the
sanctuary
Dr. Karl D. Coke is a Hebrew
teacher whose understandingof
theoriginal lanugages, thehistory,
culture, andpeople of HolyScrip-
tureenableshimtomaketheBible
to come alive for his audiences
and readers. As president of Re-
direction, a ministry that estab-
lishes the home as the center for
spiritual development among
Christiancommunities, Karl trav-
elsextensivelyandteachesinter-
nationally. Karl lives inCharlotte,
NorthCarolina.
LORD; let us shout aloud to the Rock of our sal-
vation. Let us come before him with thanksgiv-
ing and extol him with music and song. For the
LORD is the great God, the great King above
all gods. In his hand are the depths of the
earth, and the mountain peaks belong to him.
The sea is his, for he made it, and his hands
formed the dry land. Come, let us bow down
in worship, let us kneel before the LORD our
Maker, for he is our God and we are the people
of his pasture, the flock under his care. Today, if
you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as
you did at Meribah, as you did that day at
Massah in the desert, where your fathers tested
and tried me, though they had seen what I did.
For forty years I was angry with that genera-
tion; I said, they are a people whose hearts go
astray, and they have not known my ways. So I
declared on oath in my anger, They shall never
enter my rest.
REST FROM SELF
Menuach is also a rest from self. Isaiah 58:13-14
says that rest from self includes 1. keeping ones
feet from breaking the Sabbath (also written as:
not going ones own way); 2. not doing as one
pleases on Gods holy day (repeated twice); and
3. honoring (Shabbat) by not speaking idle words.
Going, doing. and speaking to please one-
self makes resting impossible. The price for
indulging oneself on Shabbat rather than entering
Gods rest is to deny Gods blessings and holi-
ness. The price seems both too high and very fool-
ish. You see man will work on Shabbat. He will
either work to indulge his flesh and be paid wea-
riness or he will work to enter Gods rest and be
paid Gods blessings and holiness. Hebrews 3:18-
4:3 says, And to whom did God swear that they
would never enter his rest if not to those who
disobeyed? So we see that they were not able to
enter, because of their unbelief. Therefore, since
the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us
be careful that none of you be found to have
fallen short of it. For we also have had the
gospel preached to us, just as they did, but the
message they heard was of no value to them,
because those who heard did not combine it
with faith. Now we who have believed enter
that rest . . . Wise believers enter Gods rest
and not just theologically. They enter his rest
with the knowledge that they will receive his
blessings and his holiness. What price exceeds
their value?
SHABBAT, THE UNIVERSAL FEAST
A final point needs to be made about Shabbat.
It is not a Jewish feast day. According to Leviticus
23:2 Shabbat is a set time (moed) of the LORD, and
it is his feast. Shabbat is
listed first before all other
feast days. It is more im-
portant than all others. Like
the base of the menorah,
Shabbat supports all the
other feasts of God. He-
brews 10:25 tells us not to
forsake Gods assemblies.
Yet, Shabbat is the first feast
day of God which most
Christians forsake. Shabbat
means to sit down to
rest. Shabbat is not synony-
mous with Saturday. For
example, Shabbat is every
day of the week-long Feast
of Unleavened Bread.
Passover must always be the
fourteenth (full moon) of
Nisan. The fourteenth
could be a Tuesday in any given year, thus making
Tuesday a Shabbat. Remember, the issue is not so
much the day as what is to
be done on that dayenter-
ing Gods rest in order to
receive Gods blessings and
holiness.
A brilliant statement
about Shabbat comes from
Encyclopaedia Judaica: Gods
instructions concerning the
building of the Tabernacle
end, and Moses convey-
ance of them to the people
begin, with an admonition
to keep the Sabbath, indi-
cating its precedence even
over the duty of building
the sanctuary (Vol. XIV, p.
558). Why? Because God
wants his Shabbat rest to
build his true sanctuary
his believers! He offers his blessing and his holi-
ness as the reward of having labored to enter his
rest. Remember, God, Moses, and Jesus all rested.
How are you so different?
24 RESTORE!
CREATION, REDEMPTION, AND FINAL RESTORATION
BYSAMUELEBACCHIOCCHI, PH.D.
T
he Sabbath means different things to dif-
ferent people. To some the Sabbath is
good news of joyful celebration of
Gods creative and redemptive love. To
others it is bad news of restrictive impositions
and/or bondage to the law.
The legalist sees the Sabbath primarily as a
commandment that must be observed in order
to be saved. He views the interruption that the
Sabbath brings to his life like a bitter medicine
that must be swallowed in order to get well. Con-
sequently to the legalist the Sabbath is not a day
of gladness and exultation because of the divine
accomplishments memorialized by this day, but
rather a day of gloom and frustration because
of the things that cannot be done on this day. He
counts the hours of the Sabbath like the astronaut
counts the seconds preceding the firing of his
spacecraft: 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, 0. Sunset!
Take off to some exciting activity to burn up the
repression of the Sabbath.
The materialist views the Sabbath (or Sunday
for that matter) as a day of solemn rest but to
himself rather than to the Lord. It is a day to seek
personal profit or pleasure rather than divine peace
and presence.
The antinomian interprets sabbathkeeping as a
sign of bondage to the law. He interprets the free-
dom of the gospel as freedom to keep the Sab-
bath on any weekday (pansabbatism). But the
theory that each weekday is a Sabbath in practice
results in each Sabbath being a week day. Ulti-
mately no real worship is offered to God be-
cause nothing really matters.
The Christian who loves the Savior experiences
the Sabbath as a day of joyful celebration: a day
to celebrate the good news of Gods marvellous
accomplishments both in the world and in his/
her personal life. It is a human desire to wish to
celebrate and share with others the good news of
unusual achievements. Players and fans celebrate
the winning of a game. A father celebrates the
birth of his newborn. Students celebrate their
graduation. A couple celebrates with their friends
their engagement or wedding. A Christian cel-
ebrates on the Sabbath the good news of what
God has done, of what he is doing, and of what
SHABBAT ISSUE
25
The Sabbath is
Good News of
joyful celebration
of Gods creative
and redemptive
love.
he will do for his people.
In Hebrews 4:2,6 the Sabbath rest is twice pre-
sented as the good news or the gospel (same
verbevangelizo) of Gods rest for his people. Yet
for some persons as noted, the Sabbath is not
good news but bad news. Why is the Sabbath
viewed and experienced differently by different
persons? Principally because of different under-
standings and acceptance of the message of the
Sabbath. A person who does not understand and
accept the good news of the Sabbath will experi-
ence, not rest, peace, and jubilation, but rather rest-
lessness, tension, and frustration.
GOOD NEWS OF PERFECT CREATION
The first good news the Sabbath proclaims is
that God originally created this world and its crea-
tures in a perfect and complete manner. This mes-
sage is first presented in a most emphatic way in
the creation story (Genesis 1:1-2:3) by means of
three effective literary devices: (1) the use of the
number seven, (2) the emphatic use of words,
and (3) the imagery of the rest of God.
The Number Seven. The number seven is used
both to structure the creation story in seven parts
that is, according to the seven days of Creation
and torelate many details of the story. The creation
story is arranged in seven sections, each divided
by the recurring sentence and there was evening
and there was morning, one day . . . a second day
. . . a third day. The climactic moment is the
seventh day which is repeated three times (Gen-
esis 2:2-3) to emphasize its function as the goal,
conclusion, perfection of the whole creation.
Several details of the creation are also given in
sevens or multiples thereof. For example, in He-
brew, there are seven words in Genesis 1:1 and
fourteen (7 x 2) in verse two. The name of God
(Elohim) occurs thirty-five times (7 x 5); earth (eretz)
twenty-one times (7 x 3); light (oor) occurs seven
times in the account of the fourth day (Genesis
1:14-18); the expression it was good also occurs seven
times (the last time is very good Genesis 1:31).
The structure, as well as many of the details of
the creation story, is based upon the number seven
because the number seven signifies totality, comple-
tion, and perfection. Thus, its repeated use in the
creation story heightens the role of the seventh
day as the memorial of Gods complete and per-
fect creation.
The Emphatic Use of Words. In the account
of the establishment of the Sabbath given inGen-
esis 2:1-3, four words have the highest frequency
namely, God, seventh-day, work, done. Each of
these words occurs three times because each is cen-
tral tothe message of the passagenamely, that God
onthe seventhday proclaimedhis work done, done,
done.
The Imagery of the Rest of
God. To dramatize the perfec-
tion and completion of his cre-
ation, Scripture tells us that God
rested(Genesis 2:2-3). Obviously
God was not tired. God does
not faint or grow weary (Isaiah
40:28). In fact, the Hebrew verb
(shabat) does not mean that God
took a rest to recover from ex-
haustion but rather that he
stopped or ceased creating.
Why? To testify by this dramatic
actionby desisting from creat-
ingthat he regardedhis creation
very good and perfectly satis-
fying. There was no need for ad-
ditional touches to improve his
workmanship, because all came
up to his expectations.
The first glad tidings the Sabbath proclaims is,
then, a message of reassurance from God that
this world and all its creatures came into existence
not in a deformed state by chance but in a perfect
way by the personal act of God. This message is
indeed good news. It gives us the reassurance that
our ancestral roots are good because they are
rooted in God himself from creation to eternity.
It reassures us that in spite of apparent futility and
tragedy, our life has meaning, value, and hope be-
cause it proceeds from and moves toward a glo-
rious destiny with God.
GOOD NEWS OF COMPLETE REDEMPTION
A second significant message of glad tidings
the Sabbath proclaims is that God has completely
redeemedus throughJesus Christ. The humanheart
longs for a constant assurance of divine redemp-
tion. We want to be reassured that God has indeed
saved us.
A vital function of the Sabbath in the history of
salvation has been to provide this reassurance of
divine redemption. In the Old Testament, the Sab-
bath served to nourish the hope and
faith of Gods people in the messianic
redemption that was to come. In the
New Testament it enables believers to
experience the reality of the salvation
which has come.
The Blessing of the Sabbath. In
the Old Testament, the Sabbath func-
tioned as a symbol of redemption be-
cause it contained Gods original
promise of the blessing and sanctifi-
cation of mankind. The Scripture says:
God blessed the seventh day and hal-
lowed it (Genesis 2:3). Gods blessing is not just
a good wish, like our human blessings, but a con-
FromSabbath
to Sunday
Dr. Bacchiocchis exten-
sive research at the
Vatican in Rome
produced this classic
book that documents
historically the Christian
churchs move from the
Sabbath obser-vance common to the Jewish
matrix from which it emerged to Sunday
observance. Any student of Christianitys
Jewish roots will profit from this excellent
volume.Dr. John D. Garr.
$18, plus $3 s & h
Restoration Foundation
P. O. Box 421218
Atlanta, GA30342
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26 RESTORE!
crete assurance of a happy and abundant life. The
psalmist declares: The Lord has commanded the
blessing, life for evermore (Psalm 133:3). Being
the symbol of Gods gift of abundant life, when
Eden was lost, the Sabbath remained as Gods as-
surance that he would restore life to his creatures.
This can be seen in the Old Testament by how the
rest and liberation of the weekly and annual Sab-
baths served to nourish the hope of Messianic re-
demption.
The Sabbath Rest. In Old Testament times,
the rest and peace of the Sabbath was viewed not
only as a physical benefit (Exodus 20:10; Leviticus
23:3), but also as the symbol of the messianic age.
The Messiah was expected to bring to the people
the rest and peace experienced on the Sabbath. The
prophet Isaiah, for example, describes the messianic
age (66:11) by using the same words delight and
honor which he employs for the Sabbath (58:13).
The implication is that the peace and delight of the
present Sabbath is a foretaste, an anticipation of the
expected messianic peace and delight.
The messianic function of the Sabbath rest is
very explicit in Jewish literature. The Babylonian
Talmud, for example, teaches: At the conclusion
of the Sabbath the son of David will come. A
Rabbi demurred: but so many Sabbaths have
passed, yet he has not come. Not only was the
Messiah expected to come on a Sabbath, but He
was also expected to bring to the people the bless-
ing of the Sabbath rest and peace. A Jewish work
of the first century A.D. known as 2 Baruch de-
scribes the time of my Messiah as the time when
joy shall be revealed and rest shall appear (29:3).
Another Jewish work, known as The Book of Adam
and Eve, admonishes to mourn not for the dead
more than six days, for the seventh day is a sign
of the resurrection and the rest of the age to
come (51:1-2). The Mishna Tamid, describes
the time of salvation as wholly Sabbath rest
(7:4). Examples such as these show that the Sab-
bath rest served to nourish the hope for the rest
and peace to be brought by the Messiah.
The Sabbath Liberation. The liberation from
the oppression and pressure of work which the
weekly and annual Sabbaths provided to every
member of the Hebrew society could effectively
symbolize both the past and future divine deliv-
erance. The link between the Sabbath and deliv-
erance is explicitly found in Deuteronomy 5:15:
You shall remember that you were a servant in
the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God
brought you out thence with a mighty hand and
an outstretched arm; therefore the Lord your
God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day.
The reason given in this text for observing the
Sabbath is to remember the past exodus deliver-
ance. Being a symbol of past deliverance, the Sab-
bath could fittingly express and nourishthe hope of
future Messianic redemption. The latter was ac-
complished particularly through the Sabbath year.
The Sabbatical year which occurred every seven
years (Leviticus 25:2-5) and the jubilee year which
occurred every 49 years (Leviticus 25:8) were, in a
sense, an intensification of the weekly Sabbath
(Leviticus 25:2, 4). At these annual institutions, the
Sabbath truly became the liberator of land, slaves,
debtors, and property. The land was to lie fallow,
slaves were to be emancipated, debts were to be
cancelled, and property was to be restored to the
original owner. The restoration offered by the
annual Sabbaths served to announce the future
restoration to be brought about by the Messiah.
Not only the rest and liberation of the Sab-
bath, but also the sabbatical (septanary) structure
of time is used in the Bible to announce the mes-
sianic redemption. Anoteworthy example is found
in Daniel 9. The first part of the chapter refers to
the seventy years prophecy of Jeremiah (Daniel 9:2;
Jeremiah 29:10) which predicted the national resto-
ration of the Jews. The second part of the chapter
speaks of seventy weeks or seventy sabbatical
cycles until the messianic restoration: to the com-
ing of the anointed one . . . to finish the transgres-
sion, to put an end to sin, to atone for iniquity
(Daniel 9:24-25). The vision of the release of the
Sabbath years is here utilized to announce both the
national and the Messianic liberation.
The Sabbath and Redemption in the New
Testament. The fact that the Sabbath served to
nourish the hope of Messianic redemption in Old
Testament times helps us appreciate the relationship
between the Sabbath and the Savior in the New
Testament. It was on a Sabbath day that Jesus, ac-
cording to Luke, inaugurated his public
ministry by quoting the Sabbatical pas-
sage of Isaiah 61:1-2 (Luke 4:18-19). We
notedearlier that inthis passage Isaiahan-
nounces the mission of the Messiah
through the imagery of the liberation of
the Sabbath years (Leviticus 25:10). The
Lord undoubtedly must have startled the
congregation when he briefly but em-
phatically claimed tobe the fulfillment of
the messianic redemption promised by
The peace
and delight
of the
present
Sabbath is a
foretaste, an
anticipation
of the
expected
messianic
peace and
delight.
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SHABBAT ISSUE
27
Isaiah through the sabbatical year: Today, Jesus
said, this scripture has been fulfilled in your hear-
ing (Luke 4:21). In other words, Christ presented
himself to the people as the very fulfillment of their
messianic expectations which had been nourished
by the experience of the Sabbath peace, rest, and
liberation.
Sabbath Healing. In his subsequent ministry,
Christ revealed the nature of his redemptive mis-
sionespecially throughhis Sabbathhealingandteach-
ing ministry. Seven Sabbath healing episodes and
ensuing controversies are reported in the Gospels
(Matthew 12:9;14; Mark 1:21-28; 3:1-6; Luke 4:31-
37, 38-39; 6:6-11; 13:10-17; John 5:2-18; 9:1-41). It
is noteworthythat inall cases Christ intentionallyacted
against prevailing tradition by healing on the Sab-
bathchronically sickpersons. By offeringonthe Sab-
bathphysical andspiritual liberationtosouls whom
Satan bound (Luke 13:16), the Savior made the
day a time to celebrate and to experience the bless-
ings of his redemptive ministry.
Completion of Redemption. Christs minis-
try not only began but also ended on a Sabbath
day. On that historic Good Friday, the Lord com-
pleted his redemptive mission saying, It is fin-
ished (John 19:30), and then resting in the tomb
(Luke 23:54-56). Sabbath marks the completion
of both creation and redemption. Christs Sab-
bath rest in the tomb reveals the depth of Gods
love for his creatures. It tells us God so loved the
world that he was willing to experience not only
the limitation of human time at the creation but
also the suffering, agony, and death of human
flesh during the incarnation.
In the Light of the Cross. The Sabbath is the
weekly celebration and jubilation of a liberated
people. It is the day when we cease from our
work to allow God to work in us. It is the day to
experience, through physical rest, the greater rest
of Christs forgiveness and salvation.
GOOD NEWS OF FINAL RESTORATION
A third significant message of glad tidings the
Sabbath proclaims is that God is working until
now (John 5:17) to restore this world to its origi-
nal perfection. Christ declared this good news em-
phatically when he healed a paralytic at the pool
of Bethesda on a Sabbath day (John 5:2-18). He
explained to those who charged him with
sabbathbreaking that God on the Sabbath ended
his act of creation but not his action in general. In
fact, Christ said, because of sin, God is working
until now (John 5:17) on the Sabbath to restore
this world to its original perfection.
Invitation to Participate in Gods Restora-
tion. Inanother significant Sabbathpronouncement,
Christ invited his followers to become participants
inthis divine restorationprogram, saying: We must
work the works of him
whosent me, whileit is day;
night comes, whennoone
can work (John 9:4). On
the Sabbath, God not only
reassures us that he is
working for the restora-
tion of this world, but he
alsoinvites us toparticipate
inaccomplishing his resto-
ration in our lives and in
the lives of others.
In an age when the
forces of chaos and dis-
order appear to prevail,
wheninjustice, greed, vio-
lence, corruption, suffer-
ing, sickness, and death
seem to dominate, God,
through the Sabbath, re-
assures us that we need not fear these destructive
forces, because there remains a Sabbath rest for
the people of God (Hebrews 4:9).
Gods people need not fear the threat of
nuclear or population explosion because the Sab-
bath reassures us that God is still in control of
this world, working out his ultimate purpose. The
Sabbath tells us that God conquered chaos at cre-
ation, that he liberated his people from the bonds
of sin and death at the cross, and that now he
is working to establish a new world where
from Sabbath to Sabbath all flesh shall come
to worship before God (Isaiah 66:23). In that
final Sabbath, as eloquently expressed by Au-
gustine, We shall rest and see, see and love,
love and praise.
ENCAPSULATION OF THE GOOD NEWS
The Sabbath contains three significant messages
for the human family: (1) the Lord has created us
perfectly, (2) He has redeemed us completely, (3) He
will restore us ultimately. The Sabbath invites us to
celebrate creation, redemption, restoration; the past,
the present, and the future divine accomplishments
for the human family; man, nature, and God; this
world and the world to come.
Dr. Samuele Bacchiocchi, one of
theworldsleadingscholarsonthe
Sabbath, wasrearedinRomenear
of the Vatican. After receivinghis
B.A. fromNewboldCollege inEn-
gland and his M.A. and B.D. de-
grees from Andrews Univeristy
(U.S.A.), he returned to Rome,
wherehereceivedhisDoctoratus
in Church History at the presti-
giousPontifical GregorianUniver-
sity summa cum laude for
research on the history of the
Lordsday. SamandhiswifeAnna
liveinBerrienSprings, Michigan.
The
Sabbath
teaches us
that the
Lord has
created us
perfectly, he
has
redeemed
us, and he
will restore
us.
28 RESTORE!
Shmita
Observance
LIVING THE SABBATH YEAR IN THE LAND OF ISRAEL
A
s believers familiar with the Scriptures,
we are very aware of the God-given
institution of the Sabbath day of rest
(Shabbat in Hebrew). Even for Gentile
Christians living ina highly secularized society, there
still remains a sense of the importance of ob-
serving a day of rest each week. Also enshrined
in the Scripturesnotably in Leviticus 25is the
equally significant God-given institution of the land
of Israels receiving a sabbatical year of rest every
seven years (known in Hebrew as shmita).
What do we know about shmita? Well, a straw
poll would surely demonstrate that most Chris-
tians dont know much about this at all and would
be highly surprised to discover that this ancient
practice has been revived in modern Israel. Shmita
always follows the Jewish calendar, and the re-
cent Jewish year of 5768 (the year running from
Rosh Hashana in September 2007 to Rosh Hashana
in September 2008) was in fact a shmita year being
observed by farners throughout modern Israel.
Hence, this discussion about shmita is quite timely.
In mid-2004, my wife Caroline and I traveled
to Israel for a five-month research trip to study
the shmita farming movement. This was made
possible for us by a grant from the National Aus-
tralia Bank Yachad Scholarship Fund. What fol-
lows represents the fruit of that research.
We begin with some historical background.
With Jewish people immigrating to Palestine in
the late nineteenth century (making aliyah),
1
settle-
ment of the land was regarded as a religious duty
and an important dimension of this duty was shmita
observance.
2
Yet, for these first fledgling agricul-
tural colonies of the new aliyot, shmita observance
seemed totally impractical. How could they possi-
bly leave land fallowwhen their whole agricultural/
economic status was already extraordinarily frag-
ile?
3
Shmita observance became a much-debated
issue in the sabbatical year of 1889/1890.
4
The
Yishuv (the Jewish community in Palestine) sought
rulings fromthe then most influential rabbis based
in Europe, and, ultimately, the spiritual head of
Russian Jewry, Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Spector, de-
veloped the concept of shmita observance known
as the heter mechira.
5
This heter represented a spe-
cial dispensation which, for the duration of the
shmita year, allowed the fictional sale of the Jew-
ish-controlled agricultural land of Palestine to a
non-Jew. Because the land was owned by a
non-Jew, it was no longer considered sanctified.
6
Thus, shmita observance was maintained in theory
under rabbinic decree, but the land continued to
be worked by Jewish farmers.
7
While meant to
be a temporary measure only,
8
the heter has proven
to be a highly significant precedent
9
because be-
lieve it or not, it continues to represent the major
BYDONSTANLEY, PH.D.
Farmer working at Moshav Mishmar Ha-Yardin. Israeli dedication to
both the Torah and to cutting-edge technology has created some of
the most productive and efficient agricultural ventures in the world.
SHABBAT ISSUE
29
Even for
Gentile
Christians
livingin a
highly
secularized
society,
therestill
remains a
sense of the
importance
of
observing a
day of rest
each week.
form of shmita observance in Israel today.
10
Accompanying the heter mechira are two other
forms of observance. One is through the con-
cept of an Otzar Beit Din (a Rabbinical Court
warehouse or clearing house), with the Otzar Beit
Din representing the modern-day answer to the
Biblical idea of shmita produce being ownerless
and public property.
11
Here the Otzar Beit Din is a
representative of the public. It pays the wages of
farmers and others in getting produce to consum-
ers
12
(but there is no payment for the produce it-
self), with the aim of the public having access to
shmita-grown produce at discounted prices.
13
And at a third level of observance, some farm-
ers just choose to leave farming land fallow in the
shmita year.
14
Both of these latter methods repre-
sent greater levels of religious piety, sacrifice, and
acts of faith than with the heter mechira, with the
last method of leaving land fallow obviously rep-
resenting the greatest sacrifice.
In the shmita year of 1972-1973, the then rabbi
of Moshav Komemiyut in the Negev, the late
Rabbi Binyamin Mendelsohn, led shmita obser-
vance across all the farms of the Komemiyut
settlement. A feature of this observance at
Komemiyut was complete rest of the land and
the event proved so influential within the Israeli
farming community that, in subsequent shmita
years, this pious, sacrificial observance of shmita
evolved into a growing movement.
15
It was farm-
ers of this conviction whomCaroline and I sought
for testimonies, and the stories we gathered gen-
erally reflected two particular motifs. These are
the motifs of the Lords economic provision and
blessing on the one hand, to stories of rest and
renewal on the other. A striking feature of the
stories about the Lords provision is the manner
in which he provided for people in all kinds of
creative ways.
On a private farm near Ofakim in the south-
western Negev, Baruch Adiri raises sheep for meat
and milk and has 1200 dunams
16
under barley and
wheat. In the shmita year he leaves his cropping
land completely fallow. Baruch is one of many
farmers in Israel who tend mixed farms which in-
clude livestock. Shmita, of course, only applies to
things growing in the soil, and so Baruchs story is
particularly interesting because it shows the creativity
of the Lords provision through Baruchs livestock:
We have been living here for about thirty years
. . . I began to keep shmita before I began to keep
Shabbat, maybe because of the connection to the
land and because Im a farmer and I really like
being a farmer. My father was a farmer here in
Israel and my grandfather before him, so maybe
its in the blood
In the shmita year when I dont plant my barley
and wheat, I lose a lot of income. Yetlets say that
each 100 ewes normally give me 125 to 130 lambs,
in the shmita year they actually give birth to about
180 lambs. This compensates for the income I lose
when I dont plant my barley and wheat.
In the year before the last shmita all my sheep
were eating out in the fields. In late summer the
first rain damaged the grass so I had to move all
the sheep inside to feed them via a feed lot for
about 100 days. In the shmita year, all the rain was
in Beer Sheva, a long way from us. The water
from Beer Sheva ran down here in the river and
because it was hot the grass within the river bed
grew very, very quickly and that year the sheep
were able to feed all year outside. Thus I didnt
have to give them anything extra, I didnt have to
buy any additional food for them.
Further south and closer to the Sinai, lies the
farming settlement of Moshav Amioz. Here one
of the moshavs farmers, Moshe Danino, produces
tomatoes and peppers in hothouses:
In the shmita year 1993-1994, I followed the
heter mechira which means that we sell the land to a
Gentile, a non-Jew, and we continue to cultivate.
In the years 2000-2001, which was the next shmita
year, I decided to observe the shmita, to completely
stop all cultivation and close the whole farm. I must
say that for that shmita year I had great apprehen-
sion. To decide to not work is very hard because of
the need for income and commitments.
Three months before the beginning of the
shmita year, I was in a relatively difficult position.
From the moment I decided I would keep the
shmita year, things changed. I had two big hot-
houses of tomatoes and the harvest proved to
be an excellent one. There were large quantities
of tomatoes, and the prices were also good. In
fact I earned three times what I normally get and
this money provided for living during the whole
shmita year. Also the following year was very suc-
cessful, and since thenthank Godmy economi-
cal situation is fine.
Our next selection of personal accounts about
shmita observance reflects the second motif found
within these stories, and this is the motif of rest
and renewal.
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30 RESTORE!
In the south-western Negev at Moshav Maslul
is the farm of Shadi Avrahami. Shadis farm fea-
tures bothhothouses andopenfields, throughwhich
he produces herbs and citrons:
Inthe shmita year, I stopworking the farm. This
is from Rosh Hashana until the next Rosh Hashana,
for a whole year. During this time I dont grow
anything, the whole farm lies fallow. Im not con-
nected with the Otzar Beit Din. . . . This gives me rest
for a whole year. If we work six years continually,
on the seventh year its like Shabbat. We rest, we
gather new strength, and we can study. It pro-
vides an opportunity to do things that I couldnt
do for the other six years. On the seventh year
there is the possibility of doing them. For example,
I spend more time with my kids. I can dedicate
more time for them . . . I wait six years for the
shmita year so I can finally have some rest.
There is no pressure of work during the shmita
year. When we work with 20 to 30 workers, we
must organize everything to be in place for them
to work, for the job to be done properly. From
the moment there arent any workers during the
year of shmita, there is no pressure, everything is
suddenly relaxed.
In the southwestern
Negev, Yehuda Penyer is
a rabbi -far mer at
MoshavTalmei Eliyahu.
Here, Yehudas farm
produces tomatoes and
peppers in hothouses
and onions in open
fields:
Inspite of all the re-
ligious authorities who
know all the issues in-
volving shmitaand
give all sorts of alter-
nativesa farmer has
still a wonderful op-
portunity to com-
pletely rest his fields. And by doing this, theres a
wonderful sense of happiness. . . .
When one observes many of the shmita-ob-
servant farmers, one can see something very in-
teresting. In the non-shmita year these people are
working continuously from morning to evening
with no time for their family. Then in the shmita
year they can make time for their wife and chil-
dren. All of a sudden they have time to talk to
them and get to know them. For six years they
have been running like blind people, after things
that may be important for their physical living.
However, as it says in the Bible, Apersonshouldnt
live on bread alone
17
Its also important to set aside time for spiri-
tuality. The big problemin agriculture is that there
is no time for anything. One thing drags into an-
other one: suddenly a disease appears in the field,
or the market prices fall and we have to become
really busy. . . . In all kinds of situations, our base
nature easily separates us from important things
suchas spirituality and family. Andthen inthe shmita
year, following Rosh Hashana, a person suddenly
realizes that he has plenty of time at his disposal.
He has plenty of time for his family, and he is
able to study. And then he gets a kind of inner
peace.
You notice that for farmers whove kept
shmita for the first time a big change occurs af-
fecting their old patterns of life, the meaning of
life for them. When the shmita year ends, they dont
return to being slaves. I have known these kinds
of peoplethey are not the same after keeping
the shmita once. They all know how to make time
for their family and for study.
Before the Gush Katif disengagement of
August 2005, Haim Schneid was a Gush Katif
farmer at Moshav Netzer Hazani, growing let-
tuces and scallions in hothouses:
I hope that all of Israel will be able to take
off a sabbatical year and build itself spiritually.
The sabbatical year is very much like the Sabbath
is to the week. Its a day of taking oneself out of
the normal frame of reference to being able to
see what one has done, what one hasnt done, to
see whether there are changes that are necessary,
to sit down and analyze analyze oneself. Its done
together with the family, you sit with your family
on Friday night and on Sabbath afternoon to see
your frame of reference witheverything thats gone
on and thats done on a weekly basis.
Perhaps in work or in agriculture a week isnt
enough in order to form enough of an opinion
. . . The seventh year, the Sabbatical year is a cul-
mination or an opportunity of a person to take
himself out, devote himself also to the commu-
nity . . . youre in a totally different frame of refer-
ence, and its the time when youre able to take
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SHABBAT ISSUE
31
In these days
when
theres no
rest in the
West, these
farmers
challenge us
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rest and
renewal
seriously, on
both
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and societal
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yourself out, look back, see what youve done, what
you havent done and prepare for the future for
another six years of a certain type of rotation. . . .
What are we tomake of these fascinating farmer
testimonies? Well, I think there are very significant
things occurring here, at a range of levels. I think
across all levels, this is a story about the Lord and
his faithfulness. I thinkthe deepest level of meaning
here is about the Lords faithfulness in bringing the
Jewish people back to the ancient homeland after
millennia of unbelievable struggles, and thenin the
context of reading the Scriptures and being abso-
lutely practical about living in the land of the Bible,
the Lord has drawn Israeli farmers into Torah obe-
dience and has met their faithfulness with his faith-
fulness. I have problems with the two-covenant
theory which sees a different way of salvation for
the Jews as for the Gentiles. I think its very clear
from reading Paul, for example, that salvation to
Jewishpeople canonly come throughJesus the Mes-
siah. Thus, thesestories about Gods faithfulness with
Israeli farmers who may not yet be saved through
Jesus, does not entirely fit into a neat, closed evan-
gelical box. However, what is evident is that the
Lord is still active and faithful with his firstborn
chosen ones.
At other levels, there is the example for all
of us to take God at his Word as one of the
most beautiful ways of living in relationship
with him. There is the level of his faithfulness
in dealing with Caroline and me. It was through
his extraordinary grace I was able to embark
on a scholarship to study shmita, and he led us
to find the right people as part of our research.
And finally, in these days when theres no rest
in the West, the examples of these farmers
challenge us to consider rest and renewal seri-
ously, and this applies at both individual and
societal levels. I thought it was particularly interesting
that HaimSchneidexpresseda heartfelt yearningthat
all Israel ultimately come to observe the sabbatical
year and to build itself spiritually.
1
Aliyah (pl. aliyot)literally means ascent. It is used in the
context of immigration and refers to the return to Eretz Israel
of either an individual Jew or an organized group of Jews.
2
Yosef Heinemann. Contemporary Observance of the
Sabbatical Year. In The Religious Kibbutz Movement. The Revival of
the Jewish Religious Community, ed. Aryei Fishman (Jerusalem: The
Religious Section of the Youth and Hehalutz Department of
the Zionist Organization, 1957), p. 130.
3
Ibid., p. 131.
4
M. Z. Neriya, The History of the Heter for Shemittah. In
The Shemittah Year. Collection of Sources and Articles, compiled by
Aviezer Ravitsky (New York: The World Zionist Organization,
1972), p. 104.
5
Benjamin Bak, The Sabbatical Year in Modern Israel.
Tradition, 1, No. 2. (1958), p. 196.
6
Dr. Benny Brown, personal interview, 18 July 2004.
7
The fictional sale represented by this heter is somewhat
akin to the ongoing practice of the rabbis allowing Jews to sell
chametz each Passover. Jewish law prohibits the use or posses-
sion of any chametz (leaven of any kind) on Passover. In order to
be certain that all chametz has been removed from a Jews pos-
session, Jewish tradition requires Jews to sell their remaining
chametz to a non-Jew. This chametz, then, becomes the prop-
erty of the non-Jew for the duration of Passover. See Gail
Lichtman. Fallow Fields, Rich Tradition, The Jerusalem Post
(Magazine), 6 April, 2001, p. 10.
8
Isidor Grunfeld, The Jewish Dietary Laws, Vol. 2. (Lon-
don: The Soncino Press, 1972), p. 126.
9
Bak, The Sabbatical Year in Modern Israel, p. 197.
10
In the lead-up to each shmita year, the Chief Rabbinate
of Israel organizes the sale of Israeli farming land to a non-
Jew, in fact a trustworthy Arab. In this process, the Chief
Rabbinate asks both Jewish farmers and other Jewish owners
of agricultural land to sign a document of authorization (a
Harshaah) to allow their land to be included in the overall
transaction. See Grunfeld, The Jewish Dietary Laws, Vol. 2, p. 129.
11
Shmittah in the Kitchen and in the Home, ed. Yosef Y.
Efrati, trans. by Yoel Moore. (The Institute for Agricultural
Research According to the Torah and The Chaim Kahn
Institute for the Study of Mitzvot of the Beit Midrash Gavoah
for Halachah in Agricultural Settlements), p. 5.
12
Lichtman, Fallow Fields, p. 10.
13
Shmittah in the Kitchen and in the Home, p. 5.
14
During the time of my scholarship in Israel, I at-
tempted to ascertain the precise percentage breakdown be-
tween the three methods of shmita observance. However, I
was unsuccessful. It seems no single authority has this kind
of data, although there seems little dispute about the notion
that the second and third methods described above are very
much in the minority.
15
Rabbi Binyamin Mendelsohn, And May the Land
Have a G-dly Rest, (translated by Dov Lederman), personal
paper, circa 1999.
16
In Israel land size is measured in dunams. One dunam
equates to 0.247105381 acres, or 0.1 hectares
17
The Biblical reference here is Deuteronomy 8:3. It was
also quoted by Jesus in the New Testament, in Luke 4:4. Generally,
its meaning suggests that there are more important things in life
than mere materialism.
Dr. DonStanley followedadistin-
guished career in the Australian
BroadcastingCorporation witha
return to academia, achieving a
Ph.D. from the University of
Melbourne inJewishStudies/Lit-
erature. Don has servedas Dean
of Educational Technology of He-
braic Heritage Christian Center
andhasbeeninstrumental inlead-
ing the development of HHCCs
cutting-edgetechnologyandcur-
riculum. DonandhiswifeCaroline
live inMelbourne, Australia.
32 RESTORE!
BY CLARENCE H. WAGNER, JR.
O
ver the centuries, the issue of keeping
the Sabbath has been one of the
most controversial arguments in
Christianity, which is unfortunate.
Those advocating worshipping exclusively on the
Sabbath (Saturday) often alienate denominations
that worship on Sunday,
while those worshipping
on Sunday, on what they
call the Christian Sab-
bath, react with a de-
fensiveness that adds to
disunity in the body of
Messiah.
ORIGINS OF THE
SABBATH
In the beginning . . .
the heavens and the
earth were completed in
all their vast array. By the
seventh day God had
finished the work he had
been doing; so on the
seventh day he rested
from all his work. And
God blessed the seventh
day and made it holy,
because on it he rested
from all the work of
creating that he had
done (Genesis 2:1-3).
This is the first Sab-
: to
Remember and
to Observe
bath ever observed. On the seventh day, God
stopped working, or more accurately, God
stopped creating. It should be noted that God
himself, long before the Ten Commandments,
gave the model for the seventh day, or Sabbath,
of rest and the Law for it was given to Moses. At
Mount Sinai, he commanded the children of Is-
rael and their future generations to observe the
Sabbath and keep it holy.
SHABBAT, A DAY OF REST
In Hebrew, the Sabbath is called Yom Shabbat,
the seventh day of the week (Saturday). People
who do not observe Shabbat think of it as a day
filled with stifling restrictions or only a day of
prayer. But to those who observe Shabbat, it is a
precious gift from God, a day of great joy ea-
gerly awaited throughout the week, a time when
we can set aside all of our weekday concerns
and devote ourselves to higher pursuits of God
and family. In Jewish literature, poetry, and
music, Shabbat is described as a bride or queen,
as in the popular Shabbat hymn, Lecha Dodi
Likrat Kallah (Come, My Beloved, to Meet
the [Sabbath] Bride). It is said, More than
Israel has kept Shabbat, Shabbat has kept Is-
rael.
Shabbat is primarily a day for the family for
rest and spiritual enrichment. The word Shabbat
comes from the root Hebrew letters shin-bet-tav,
meaning to cease, to end, or to rest. It is the gift
God gave us each week. Although Jews do pray
on Shabbat and spend a substantial amount of
LESSONS FOR RESTORATION AND RENEWAL
SHABBAT ISSUE
33
time in synagogue praying, Shabbat is not specifi-
cally a day of prayer. Although Jews eat a more
special and festive meal on Erev Shabbat (Friday
night), Shabbat is not considered a day of feast-
ing. Because Shabbat is a more holistic, inte-
grated family day that is different from every
other day of the week and anticipated and
planned for by Jews, it becomes a day of reju-
venation and spiritual enrichment for the fam-
ily.
The weekly day of rest had no parallel in any
other ancient civilization. Then, leisure was for the
wealthy and the ruling classes onlynever for the
serving or laboring classes. The very idea of rest
each week was unimaginable. The ancient Greeks
and Romans thought Jewish people were lazy
because they insisted on having a holiday every
seventh day, ultimately persecuting the Jews for
keeping their Shabbat. As a result, the Jews who
did not succumb to assimilation and persecution
risked their wealth and sometimes their lives to
keep the Shabbat holy.
Shabbat involves two interrelated command-
ments: to remember (zachor) Shabbat and to ob-
serve (shamor) Shabbat.
ZACHOR: TO REMEMBER
The command is to remember Shabbat, but
remembering means much more than merely not
forgetting to observe Shabbat. It also means to
remember the significance of Shabbat, both as a
commemoration of creation and as a commemo-
ration of the freedom of the children of Israel
from slavery in Egypt.
In Exodus 20:8-11, God established the Fourth
Commandment, saying, Remember the Sabbath
day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor
and do all your work, but the seventh day is a
Sabbath to the Lord your God. . . . 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 Sab-
bath day and made it holy.
In this passage, God connects Shabbat with cre-
ation and his taking a day of rest. By resting on
the seventh day and sanctifying it (keeping it holy),
we remember and acknowledge that God is the
Creator of heaven and earth and all living things.
We also emulate the divine example, by refraining
from work on the seventh day, as God did.
Shabbat is also mentioned in Deuteronomy
5:15. While Moses reiterates the Ten Command-
ments, he notes the second thing that we must
remember on Shabbat: Remember that you were
slaves in Egypt and that the Lord your God
brought you out of there with a mighty hand and
an outstretched arm. Therefore the Lord your
God has commanded you to observe the Sab-
bath day. Shabbat, then, is all about freedom. By
resting on Shabbat, we are reminded that we are
free. None of us today is a slave, nor do we have
to work seven days a week, but how many of us
impose upon ourselves a 24/7 work ethic that
makes us a slave unto ourselves?
In Gods economy, if we are faithful to take
this day of rest, he will make sure that we pros-
per (Isaiah 58:13-14), perhaps more than if we
worked seven days a week, just as his people pros-
pered during the shmita (seventh year when the
farmlands lay fallow).
During the week, we are slaves to our jobs, to
our creditors, to our deadlines, to our need to
provide for ourselves. On Shabbat, we are freed
from these concerns, much as the children of Is-
rael were freed from slavery in Egypt. Shabbat is
a time to remember the Exodus and that God is
a God of freedom from bondages and gives us
freedom to enjoy him and the life he gives to us.
SHAMOR: TO OBSERVE
The second calling of Shabbat is to observe.
Because Judaism is 4,000
years old, there are a
myriad of guidelines to
celebrate and practice
Gods Word. Shabbat has
a list of things to do
and also things not to
do. No discussion of
Shabbat would be com-
plete without a discussion
of the work that is for-
bidden on Shabbat.
For the Shabbat, the word used for work
that is prohibited is melachah. Before you can be-
gin to understand the Shabbat restrictions, you must
understand the word melachah. This word gener-
ally refers to the kind of work that is creative
work or that which exercises control or domin-
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It is said, More than
Israel has kept
Shabbat, Shabbat has
kept Israel.
34 RESTORE!
ion over your
envi r onment .
The word may
be r el at ed t o
melekh (mean-
ing king). The
qui ntessenti al
exampl e of
melachah is the
work of creat-
i ng t he uni -
ver s e, whi ch
God ceased
fromon the sev-
enth day after he
created the heavens and the earth. Note that Gods
work did not require a great physical effort: he
spoke, and it was done. Therefore, melachah would
be better translated as creative efforts.
The only other repeated use of the rare word
melachah the Bible is in the discussion of the build-
ing of the sanctuary (Exodus 31, 35-38). Say to
the Israelites, You must observe My Sabbaths.
This will be a sign between Me and you for the
generations to come, so you may know that I am
the Lord, who makes you holy (Exodus 31:13).
From this, the rabbis concluded that the work
prohibited on Shabbat is the same as the work of
creating the sanctuary. In Hebrew, these 39 cat-
egories are called the Lamed Tet (39) Melakhot.
During the biblical period, the Shabbat was so
important that public desecration of the Shabbat
was punishable by death (Numbers 15:32-36). The
breaking of the Shabbat was held by the rabbis to
be a sin equal to idolatry; however, all Shabbat
restrictions can be violated, if necessary, to save a
life. This is why Jesus challengedthe Pharisees when
he healed someone on the Shabbat (Matthew12:9-
13).
Zachor and Shamor: To remember and to
observe. These are two distinct concepts, and
when fused together, they represent the full un-
derstanding of the Shabbat. To remember de-
notes a longing for the Shabbat, which is why it is
a custom to view each day of the week as a pre-
lude to the joy of the coming Shabbat, with an
unwillingness to let go of the previous Shabbat.
To observe is to keep
the law, without which
there is no Shabbat day.
CHRISTIANS
RECLAIMING
SHABBAT
If Christians are part
of spiritual Israel, then we
can participate in the pre-
cepts given to Israel and
receive blessings from the Lord for doing so. The
blessings of the Shabbat rest we are invited to take
are related to restoring ones soul. On Shabbat,
we should not think of it as a day of freedom from
work, but rather a God-given gift of freedom to
enter Gods restoring rest, to be with family and
with God. Shabbat is not a vacation from work, but
an invocation of Gods tranquility, peace, and quiet.
Who wouldnt want to enjoy this blessing?
You cannot spend day after day in the world
without its affecting your mind and will and heart.
It doesnt take long to become disoriented to the
ways of God. The world has a dulling effect on
your spiritual sensibilities. God established the
Shabbat so his people could take an entire day to
refocus on him and his will for them after spend-
ing six days in the world.
In Orthodox Judaism, God is worshipped ev-
ery day. Likewise, Christians are free to worship
the Lord on any and every day. Therefore, if you
choose to observe Shabbat with your family and
attend church on Sunday, then you will receive a
greater blessing from the Lord. Sunday is not a
replacement for Shabbat, but historically is an ad-
ditional time of worship for Christians.
Shabbat is a gift of the Lord, a day of rest and
restoration. Remember what he said to Israel?
When they rejected his gift, he told them, You
have despised My holy things and desecrated my
Sabbaths (Ezekiel 22:8). God delights in the
Shabbat that was ordained before the Law and
will continue into the future. Who are we to dis-
pense with Gods gift?
If we Christians understand the New Testa-
ment properly, we will see that through Messiah
Yeshua (Jesus Christ), we are connected to (Eph-
esians 2:11-13) and grafted into (Romans 11:13-
25) the ancient redemptive covenants God gave
to Israel. We become adopted sons of Abra-
ham and partakers of the promises of God (Ga-
latians 3:7). We are made a part of Gods eternal
plan to redeemmankind. When we keep the Feasts
of the Lord, we join the Jewish people to re-
member and celebrate the miracles and enjoy the
blessings God gave to his people. There is no
reason for Christians not to enjoy these biblical
feasts, as did the early church.
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broken chain of convenantal rela-
tionship that has been the hallmark
of Gods dealing with humanity.
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Clarence Wagner is CEOof Gen-
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tional, anorganizationthat brings
Christian investment in Israel
business and industry. Having
livedinIsrael for over thirtyyears,
hebrings focusedunderstanding
of news and insights into Israel
while also teaching biblical in-
sights of Christian faithfromHe-
braic perspectives. Clarence
divides his time between Israel
andthe United States while trav-
elingandteachinginternationally.
Christians are
connected to and
grafted into the ancient
redemptive covenants
God gave to Israel.
SHABBAT ISSUE
35
36 RESTORE!