Sabbath Rest

What kind of rest is a Sabbath rest?

A good understanding of “Sabbath rest” is fundamental for properly observing the Sabbath.

By Don Hooser

The Fourth Commandment is a spiritual law with magnificent spiritual benefits for those who spiritually observe it. But Satan the devil, our human nature, and the world around us are constantly at work to distort and dilute God’s purposes for Sabbath-keeping, reducing it to a ritual.

“Sabbath” means “rest”. One of the Hebrew words for the verb “to rest” is shabath. The corresponding noun “rest” is shabbath, translated usually as “Sabbath.”

This article proposes a clarification as to what the Bible means by “rest” in connection with Sabbath-keeping. Some readers probably already have the proposed perspective. For others, the change of perspective may seem subtle and minor, but it can have significant and long-term effects on Sabbath-keeping attitudes and practices—leading the members of God’s Church to be more zealous and spiritual in their Sabbath-keeping.

Sabbath rest, not resting

Simply put, the proposal is this: Sabbath keepers commonly make a mistake in interpreting the Sabbath (the Sabbath rest) as being primarily or necessarily a time of physical resting—a time of physical refreshment or rejuvenation. (Italics added for emphasis throughout.) In fact, the words “resting,” “get your rest,” “get rested up,” or anything similar never appear in connection with the Sabbath.

The Bible makes it clear that God is concerned for our health, but the Sabbath command is not a health law, although there are health benefits—physical, mental, and spiritual benefits--from keeping the fourth Commandment and all the other Commandments. And adequate rest and sleep are needed every day. We should all be sympathetic to those who are more or less forced to work long hard hours during the week, endure long commutes, and undergo multiple other stresses. The Sabbath command certainly provides the freedom and flexibility to use part of the day for extra rest and sleep if it is needed, but that is not the purpose of the Sabbath—only a side benefit. The purpose is not physical rejuvenation, but spiritual rejuvenation.

The English word “rest” as a noun and as a verb has many dictionary definitions. Likewise, the Hebrew and Greek words that are sometimes translated as “rest” have different meanings. Part of the confusion is that when the word “rest” is considered by itself and out of context, its main association is with physical resting or having a rest—the restoration of one’s energy and strength by refraining from exertion and activity—even reposing and sleeping. But “rest” has other meanings than overcoming tiredness.

The primary meaning of “rest” in connection with the Sabbath is to stop—cease or terminate something. When a ball rolls and then stops, we say the ball has come to rest. In music, there are rests, when a musician stops producing any notes. In these senses, tiredness is irrelevant. The Sabbath command is to stop working. “In it [the Sabbath] you shall do no work” (Exodus 20:10; Deuteronomy 5:14).

Concerning the Sabbath, “rest” is best understood with a prepositional phrase following it. Rest "from" what? From work. Rest "to" what? To God. Rest "for" what purpose? To worship God, etc.

Notice the wording when God sanctified the Sabbath day by resting. “He rested…from all His work” (Genesis 2:2). In other words, He ceased from all His work. The meaning is made more clear in verse 3: “God ended His work which He had done, and He rested…from all His work.” He set us the example of stopping or terminating the creative work of the other six days. Hebrews 4:10 shows that our Sabbath rest has the same meaning as God’s original rest: “For he who has entered His rest [God’s Sabbath] has himself also ceased from his works as God did from His.”

Note also, as we have often explained, this had nothing to do with fatigue—God of course was not tired. The Sabbath rest does not necessarily have anything to do with whether we are tired or not. And these verses do not imply that God was sitting, lying down, or static in any way.

It is profitable to study the Hebrew and Greek words translated at times as the noun and verb “rest,” but there is not the space in this article to discuss them. However, consider this quote from Vine’s Complete Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words concerning the most common Hebrew verb for “rest”—nuah: “It should be noted that while nuah is used sometimes as a synonym for sabat, “to cease, to rest” (Exodus 20:11), sabat really is basically “to cease” from work which may imply rest, but not necessarily so. The writer of Gen. 2:3 is not stressing rest from work but rather God’s ceasing from His creative work since it was complete.”

Other scriptures broaden our perspective of the Sabbath rest, so we understand that we are to cease from money-making, materialistic and commercial pursuits, laborious work, unnecessary chores, shopping, etc. But the command doesn’t mean stop everything and do nothing. It doesn’t mean that all expenditure of physical energy must stop. In fact, ceasing the weekday time-consuming activities allows us to commence doing other activities.

The Sabbath rest is not even primarily our rest--it is primarily God's rest ("His rest" in Hebrews 3:18; 4:1, and "My rest" in 3:11; 4:3, 5). "For he who has entered His rest has himself also ceased from his works as God did from His" (Heb. 4:10). We enter His rest to focus on Him and what He has done, is doing, and will do. God did not ordain Sabbath observance to be self-centered but God-centered.

Why is this significant?

Why is this emphasis and perspective important? Because they will not only determine our attitudes about the Sabbath, but they will guide all of our decisions every Sabbath as to how we use our time on God’s Holy Day.

Sabbath observance tends to be legalistically defined too much in terms of do’s and don’ts—what actions are allowable and what actions are not allowable. The criterion for what is allowable has largely been how physically tiring an action is. Of course, the Bible doesn’t give many do’s and don’ts, so there is the constant temptation for us to compile an extra-biblical Talmud of do’s and don’ts.

At the same time, we tend to lose appreciation and reverence for the Sabbath, and partly fail to receive the wonderful spiritual benefits that can be had from the Sabbath.

Another result has been that parents have often been unduly restrictive as to what they allowed their children to do on the Sabbath. Children, with all their energy, have been prevented from getting exercise on the Sabbath, and that is frustrating for children. At the same time, parents often have not taken sufficient advantage of the Sabbath for teaching their children and making Sabbath-observance enjoyable. Even adults may get more out of the Sabbath when they get a little exercise.

Consider the religious Jews of Jesus’ day. They were keeping the right day and they were zealous in their own way, but Jesus was extremely displeased with their spiritually shallow attitudes and practices concerning Sabbath-keeping. It’s easy for us to see their unmerciful attitudes, the fallacies of their extremes, and the evil of adding requirements to God’s commands. But human nature and temptations are much the same today, with our wanting to simplify and secularize God’s true religion, making it more comprehensible and comfortable.

Note one of their fundamental flaws: They interpreted Sabbath-keeping as physical resting! They had reduced the Sabbath to what not to do--don’t lift too much, don’t walk too far, don’t expend much physical effort or energy. They legislated 39 categories of activities that were forbidden to do on the Sabbath day. Some of them were so restrictive as to be ludicrous. As long as they abided by these stipulations, they felt righteous, implying that God is more concerned about keeping us from doing things than doing good.

Jesus taught that we should “do good on the Sabbath days,” even though that may at times require considerable energy (Mark 3:4; Luke 6:9). The various wordings of the Sabbath commandment are mostly positive--"observe," "keep," "sanctify," "a holy convocation," etc.

Should we be “strict” Sabbath-keepers? If we mean “zealous” Sabbath-keepers, yes we should be strict. But we don’t want to be strict in the Pharisaical sense—restrictive and burdensome with our own Talmud of do’s and don’ts.

Sermons exhorting zealous and spiritual Sabbath-keeping are regularly needed, but members need more than examples. They need to deeply understand the Sabbath command. Once they do, they will better know how to make decisions and will tend to be more zealous and spiritual.

We members need to think of the Sabbath as a wonderful vacation from the mundane and profane weekday pursuits and worries—a priceless opportunity to spend time with God, our families, and our brethren becoming spiritually enriched. If our goal is to spend as much of the 24-hour time as we can on spiritual matters, we automatically will be trying to avoid doing unnecessary physical things on the Sabbath. Our goal should be to make every Sabbath a highly profitable day spiritually.

The Bible teaches a strong work ethic. God does not exalt physical resting over work. In fact, the Fourth Commandment mandates work as well as rest each week. God wants us to be productive and creative for six days in taking care of the physical needs of ourselves and others. But He wants us to be productive and creative in other ways—in spiritual ways—on the Sabbath.

Less exertion on the Sabbath? Not necessarily

If one mistakenly equates work with physical exertion, he can believe he must expend less energy on the Sabbath than any other day. But a retired, elderly person may be quite inactive during the week. On the Sabbath, he may expend much more energy than on other days getting dressed up, traveling to church services, fellowshipping, serving, sitting and taking notes for two hours, and traveling back home. And a person with a non-stressful desk job may expend more energy on the Sabbath than on other days.

We live in a sedentary society with automobile transportation so that walking a mile may seem like a big deal to some members. But I'm sure many church members walked many miles to come to church services in the past 2000 years. Many may have expended more energy on the Sabbath than on any other day.

And exactly how each member observes the Sabbath is unique and personal and partly a matter of his conscience. What fits one person wouldn't fit another. What a member thinks is right on one Sabbath is not necessarily what he would do every Sabbath. For someone not in shape, walking a mile might be exhausting. For another, it might be a refreshing time to observe God's creation and talk with his family or meditate.

We humans are not designed to vegetate for a whole day. So defining Sabbath-keeping as physical resting logically goes hand-in-hand with wanting to learn everything that is "permissible" to do. When members lack the spiritual understanding, vision, and motivation for true Sabbath-keeping, there is the temptation to go ahead and do all the permissible things—the things that are not defined as “breaking” the Sabbath. The 24 hours commonly get consumed by all the “permissible” physical activities.

To illustrate, consider the following composite example of a church member’s rules for himself. “I will avoid things that are the least bit tiring. I won’ run, swim, throw a ball, or allow my children to do those things. I also don’t want to visit or write letters to the sick, or help set up at church services, because those things make me tired. Inviting members to my home certainly would be tiring. In fact, when I’m extra tired, I should probably stay in bed rather than go to church services. But I will do the following things, because I’ve been told they are permissible to do on the Sabbath: wash and set my hair, shine my shoes, do my manicure, press my clothes, watch the national and local news, watch some nature or educational programs on TV, read the newspaper and all my mail, do minor cooking, wash the dishes, make the bed, put on my makeup, eat out at a restaurant once or twice, and get a lot of extra sleep because I’ve been pushing myself all week, losing sleep every night.”

This example may be extreme, but it is realistic. In such a case, it is doubtful that there is much time left for prayer, Bible Study, quality family time, any service to the brethren, or even attending Sabbath services. The Sabbath has been consumed by so may “permissible” but non-spiritual activities, that no time is left for spiritual nourishment, worship, and service. How much more spiritual and edifying the Sabbath could have been if the person prepared for the Sabbath all week as was explained so well in the article in the July 2003 United News titled “Remember the Sabbath Day.”

As that article explained, Sabbath-keeping should teach us to organize our week around the Sabbath. But the “scheduling” is negative if a person is deliberately neglecting sleep all week because he plans to “catch up” on the Sabbath. Rather than the preceding days being a preparation for the Sabbath, it tends to be the other way around. The Sabbath turns out to be a mere preparation day for the physical exertion of the coming week.

The example of Jesus Christ and the early Christians

In the Gospels, most of Jesus’ recorded messages and miracles took place on Sabbaths, and some on Holy Days. Rather than staying home and hibernating on the Sabbath, He spent part of the day out among the people to preach, heal, and “do good.” He certainly was expending a considerable amount of energy. He probably had a good night’s sleep each Friday night, but He probably had a good night’s sleep on most nights, so He didn’t need to get much extra sleep on Friday night.

Much of what we read about the early Christians in the book of Acts also took place on the Sabbath. Obviously, they weren’t sleeping through the Sabbath. It’s interesting that there is no mention in the Bible of anyone getting extra sleep on the Sabbath or sleeping later than usual on the Sabbath. These things were surely quite common, but the point is that extra sleep is a side benefit and not the purpose of the Sabbath, and extra sleep is not any mark of spirituality.

Uses of Sabbath time

We have seen that Sabbath rest does not necessarily require being still, passive, or inactive. Of course, it is ideal if much of the Sabbath is relaxed quiet time. Then it is easier to pray, study, and meditate with concentration, relatively free from distractions. But its not the relaxation that pleases God—it is what we do with the relaxed time. And these activities require mental energy, so some members expend more mental energy on the Sabbath than on the other days of the week.

Is Sabbath-keeping primarily a vacation of escape from one’s job? No, most people in the Western world are granted one, two, or three days off from their jobs but most of them are not keeping the Sabbath. The true Sabbath-keeper ceases doing his work so he can spend 24 hours doing the kinds of worship and works God wants him to do. It is time to cease from the role of a Martha and pursue the role of a Mary. It is time to listen to God and talk with God.

The Sabbath spells freedom! Freedom from work, and freedom from materialism, freedom from worry, freedom from earthly concerns. One is saying no to self-sufficiency and yes to relying on God. It helps us to apply Matthew 6:25-33—to seek first the Kingdom of God and trust God to supply our needs.

Note that “the seventh day is the Sabbath of rest, holy to the LORD” (Exodus 31:15). It is “a Sabbath of rest to the LORD” (Exodus 35:2). Not a Sabbath of rest to oneself. It is a day when we can rest from all the worldly burdens and distractions so we can focus on God.

If our Sabbath rest is not to the LORD, people can reason that they get mentally refreshed and rejuvenated from all kinds of pleasurable pursuits—pursuing a hobby or sport, working in their gardens, going to the movies, or pursuing some other kind of entertainment.

Why should our animals rest?

But how do we explain that God said “your male servant, nor your female servant, your ox, nor your donkey, nor any of your cattle” should work on the Sabbath (Deuteronomy 5:14)? The idea of stopping work to pursue spiritual matters doesn’t apply to animals. And servants may not be interested in spiritual matters either. First, God is teaching us compassion for all His creatures. Work animals do strenuous work, and it is good for them, as well as servants or employees, to have a weekly break and be physically “refreshed” (Exodus 23:12). And we are to be a good spiritual light to our employees. It would be contradictory and hypocritical to selfishly deprive them of time off on the Sabbath.

But probably a greater reason why God included even our animals is so that we can get our minds completely off of our work. If we keep animals, servants, employees, or machines working on the Sabbath--anything that will need to be checked on, provided for, and maintained--we will never be able to get our minds completely off the work. God doesn’t even want us to do planning and preparation for work while it is the Sabbath.

What is the Sabbath? Precious time

I’ve been thinking about the meaning of "rest" in God's Sabbath command for many years. But prior to writing this, I read several chapters in Samuelle Bacchiocci's book Divine Rest for Human Restlessness. I was encouraged to find that most of his explanations for Sabbath rest basically agree with the conclusions I had come to. And the reading further refined my thinking.

With many Sabbath activities, it is not as important what we are doing as how much time it takes. We should be motivated to jealously preserve God’s time for spiritual matters—to make the day as spiritually productive as possible. The more time we can spend on spiritual matters, the better. That’s why we should avoid crowding the Sabbath with lots of non-spiritual activities even when none of them are sinful in themselves.

If a person thinks of the Sabbath primarily as a time of leisure and resting, he, at least subconsciously, is placing more value on the activities of the other six days than he places on the Sabbath. The Sabbath is mostly a mere vacation, a time to physically recharge so he can go back to the activities he views as being truly important and productive. But rather than feeling guilty about this perspective, he may feel he is doing fine spiritually because he is resting on God’s rest day.

Let’s not rob the Sabbath of valuable time. Let’s not cheat God. Let’s not cheat ourselves out of true Sabbath observance and the spiritual treasures of life.

Some other significant and related scriptures are Nehemiah 13:15; Isaiah 56:2-5; Isaiah 58:13-14; Jeremiah 17:21-22; Ezekiel 22:8; 23:38; and Mark 2:27-28.

Conclusion

Therefore, let us rest from working on our physical needs so we can work on our spiritual needs. Let’s rest from the mundane in order to pursue the sublime. Let’s rest from the concerns of this life so we can focus on the life to come. Let’s rest from books so we can get our nose in the Book. Let’s rest from our creations to focus on God’s creations. Let’s rest from investing in this life in order to invest in the life to come. Let’s rest from serving ourselves that we can reach out and serve others. Let’s rest from looking inward and around us so we can look upward. Let’s rest from the profane that we may seek what is holy and become more holy.

Let’s “rest to the LORD”!