In those days I saw men in Judah treading winepresses on the Sabbath and bringing in grain and loading it on donkeys, together with wine, grapes, figs and all other kinds of loads. And they were bringing all this into Jerusalem on the Sabbath. Therefore I warned them against selling food on that day.
Men from Tyre who lived in Jerusalem were bringing in fish and all kinds of merchandise and selling them in Jerusalem on the Sabbath to the people of Judah.
I rebuked the nobles of Judah and said to them, “What is this wicked thing you are doing—desecrating the Sabbath day?
Didn’t your forefathers do the same things, so that our God brought all this calamity upon us and upon this city? Now you are stirring up more wrath against Israel by desecrating the Sabbath.” - Nehemiah 13:15-18 NIV
How is it that we can uphold all of the Ten Commandments with the exception of the fourth commandment? If one commandment no longer applies, then how do the others have any relevance.
This commandment must have been considered important as Deuteronomy discusses this commandment at length:
“Observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy, as the Lord your God has commanded you.
Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your ox, your donkey or any of your animals, nor the alien within your gates, so that your manservant and maidservant may rest, as you do.
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 Sabbath day". - Deuteronomy 5:12-15 NIV
Lest we be too hard on ourselves, the Israelites found it easy to disregard this commandment as well. They were buying and selling, treading wine and carry on as if the Sabbath was just any other day, much like most Christians, myself included, in our country are guilty of today. Nehemiah recognized that historically, ignoring the Sabbath always brought calamity on the Israel. When it was pointed out to those returning from exile, they repented and swore before Nehemiah “When the neighboring peoples bring merchandise or grain to sell on the Sabbath, we will not buy from them on the Sabbath - Neh. 10;31 NIV
God's laws are just and they are also immutable. When we begin ignoring the commandment about the Sabbath, is it just a moment of time before we start ignoring the commandment to loving God with all our heart, or not murdering? Are we now facing the consequences? Is it possible that the breakdown of society that we are witnessing is a result of stirring up the wrath of God by our desecration of the Sabbath? Just asking?
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