Universal Sabbath

A couple of days ago we studied how Daniel and his friends were
constantly getting in trouble when they arrived in Babylon. First
they were in trouble because they refused to eat the food served
by the king. Next Daniel's friends were thrown into the fiery
furnace because they refused to worship idols. Then Daniel
himself was in trouble because he was praying to God.
We should notice that they were not in Jerusalem. They
were now in Babylon, but none of their problems involved
observance of the Sabbath. Why? The reason is because in
the ancient world the common custom was to observe the
Sabbath. How do we know this? Let's see.
The Bible never explicitly tells us that the common
practice in Biblical times was to rest on Saturday, but
Scriptures give us plenty of hints that this was the case.
The stories in the book of Daniel are one example.
Daniel and his friends never got in trouble for resting
on Saturday simply because that practice was also in
agreement with Babylonian culture. So it did not bother
Daniel's enemies to see him observing the Sabbath.
Then we also see that throughout the Bible the
Lord is angry at the nations surrounding Israel. The
most common grievance the Lord has against these
nations is that they worship idols. Other grievances
usually included sexual immorality and human
sacrifices. There is no instance, however, of the
Lord punishing the nations for not keeping the
Sabbath. It seems like there were occasional
violations of the Sabbath by individuals (most
specially merchants), but at the official level the
practice was apparently sanctioned by the leaders.
Even in Roman times we never encounter any
friction between Jews and Romans regarding the
Sabbath. There were lots of grievances about
taxation and other forms of oppresion and abuse
by the Romans, but there is no instance of any
complaint about the freedom of Sabbath observance.
Later on, after Jesus' death, the early Christians
also had their disputes about the laws of Moses. The
most divisive issue was the traditions concerning
circumcision. Other points of contention involved
eating meats offered to idols, strangled animals,
and fornication. A council of elders was held in
Jerusalem to settle these matters. At the end
the council concluded that "it seemed good to
the Holy Spirit, and to us, to lay upon you no
greater burden than these necessary things:
that you abstain from things offered to idols,
from blood, from things strangled, and from
sexual immorality." (Acts 15: 28 -29)
Why no mention of the Sabbath? Because
it was not an issue at all. Everybody at that
time was practicing Sabbath observance.
Tomorrow we will study how the change
from Saturday to Sunday came about.

God bless you,


The moderator