The Sabbath Was Made for Man

One argument commonly made against observing the Sabbath day is that
God gave the Saturday Sabbath to the Jews only. It was given to them at
Sinai as a memorial of their deliverance from Egypt. Nobody observed the
Sabbath before that time.


When we look at this argument carefully we see that it really breaks down
into three parts: (1) The Sabbath is only for the Jews, (2) It is a memorial to
their escape from Egypt, and (3) Nobody observed the Sabbath before that.

The very words of Jesus Christ as recorded on Mark 2:27 say that "the Sabbath
was made for man." This clearly means that it was not just for one nation in
particular, but for all humanity.
Now, regarding the second part of the argument, the Bible tells us in the book
of Exodus 20:11 that the reason for observing the Sabbath is because "in six
days the Lord made the earth." So it is a memorial of creation. When giving
the fourth commandment, God makes no mention at all of Israel's deliverance
from Egypt.
Finally as for the third part of the argument, it is fair to say that the Bible never
specifically says whether people did or did not observe the Sabbath before the
events at Sinai. We notice, however, that the Jewish people don't seem at all
surprised by the requirements found in the fourth commandment. If Sabbath
observance would have been a new requirement, we would find lots of resistance
and confusion about it. As we read the rest of the book of Exodus and the other
books immediately following, it seems clear to anyone that the Jews saw nothing
unusual in any of the requirements contained in the Fourth Commandment. Also
the use of the word "remember" at the beginning of the commandment seems to
imply that it was something they already knew. God was simply reminding them
about something that was familiar to them.

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God bless you.