[127] A comparison of Ex. 19; 20:18-21; 24:3-8, with chapter 32, will show the astonishing transitions of the Hebrews from faith and obedience to rebellion and idolatry. See a general history of these acts in Ps. 78; 106.
[129] Ex. 35:1-3.
[130] Lev. 24:5-9; Num. 28:9, 10.
[131] The Bible abounds with facts which establish this proposition. Thus the psalmist, in an address to Jerusalem, uses the following language: “He giveth snow like wool; he scattereth the hoar-frost like ashes. He casteth forth his ice like morsels; who can stand before his cold? He sendeth out his word, and melteth them; he causeth his wind to blow, and the waters flow. He showeth his word unto Jacob, his statutes and his judgments unto Israel.” Ps. 147:16-19. Dr. Clarke has the following note on this text: “At particular times the cold in the East is so very intense as to kill man and beast. Jacobus de Vitriaco, one of the writers in the Gesta Dei per Francos, says that in an expedition in which he was engaged against Mount Tabor, on the 24th of December, the cold was so intense that many of the poor people, and the beasts of burthen died by it. And Albertus Aquensis, another of these writers, speaking of the cold in Judea, says that thirty of the people who attended Baldwin I., in the mountainous districts near the Dead Sea, were killed by it; and that in that expedition they had to contend with horrible hail and ice; with unheard of snow and rain. From this we find that the winters are often very severe in Judea; and that in such cases as the above we may well call out, Who can stand against his cold!” See his commentary on Ps. 147. See also Jer. 36:22; John 18:18; Matt. 24:20; Mark 13:18. 1 Maccabees 13:22, mentions a very great snow storm in Palestine, so that horsemen could not march.
[132] The testimony of the Bible on this point is very explicit. Thus we read: “Six days thou shalt do thy work, and on the seventh day thou shalt rest: that thine ox and thine ass may rest, and the son of thy handmaid, and the stranger, may be refreshed.” Ex. 23:12. To be without fire in the severity of winter would cause the Sabbath to be a curse and not a refreshment. It would ruin the health of those who should thus expose themselves, and render the Sabbath anything but a source of refreshment. The prophet uses the following language: “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, honorable,” etc. The Sabbath then was designed by God to be a source of delight to his people, and not a cause of suffering. The merciful and beneficent character of the Sabbath is seen in the following texts: Matt. 12:10-13; Mark 2:27, 28; Luke 14:3-6. From them we learn that God regards the sufferings of the brute creation, and would have them alleviated upon the Sabbath; how much more the distress and the needs of his people, for whose refreshment and delight the Sabbath was made.
[133] Ex. 29:9; 31:16; Lev. 3:17; 24:9; Num. 19:21; Deut. 5:31; 6:1; 7. The number and variety of these allusions will surprise the inquirer.
[134] Ex. 16:23.
[135] Ex. 12; Deut. 16.
[136] The law of the passover certainly contemplated the arrival of the Hebrews in the promised land before its regular observance. Ex. 12:25. Indeed, it was only once observed in the wilderness; namely, in the year following their departure from Egypt; and after that, was omitted until they entered the land of Canaan. Num. 9; Josh. 5. This is proved, not merely from the fact that no other instances are recorded, but because that circumcision was omitted during the whole period of their sojourn in the wilderness; and without this ordinance the children would have been excluded from the passover. Ex. 12; Josh. 5.
[137] Dr. Gill, who considered the seventh-day Sabbath as a Jewish institution, beginning with Moses, and ending with Christ, and one with which Gentiles have no concern, has given his judgment concerning this question of fire on the Sabbath. He certainly had no motive in this case to answer this popular objection only that of stating the truth. He says:—
“This law seems to be a temporary one, and not to be continued, nor is it said to be throughout their generations, as elsewhere, where the law of the Sabbath is given or repeated; it is to be restrained to the building of the tabernacle, and while that was about to which it is prefaced; and it is designed to prevent all public or private working on the Sabbath day in any thing belonging to that;” etc.—Commentary on Ex. 35:3.
Dr. Bound gives us St. Augustine’s idea of this precept: “He doth not admonish them of it without cause; for that he speaketh in making the tabernacle, and all things belonging to it, and showeth that, notwithstanding that, they must rest upon the Sabbath day, and not under the color of that (as it is said in the text) so much as kindle a fire.”—True Doctrine of the Sabbath, p. 140.
[138] Lev. 19:1-3, 30.
[139] Lev. 23:3. It has been asserted from verse 2, that the Sabbath was one of the feasts of the Lord. But a comparison of verses 2, 4, shows that there is a break in the narrative, for the purpose of introducing the Sabbath as a holy convocation; and that verse 4 begins the theme anew in the very language of verse 2; and it is to be observed that the remainder of the chapter sets forth the actual Jewish feasts; viz., that of unleavened bread, the Pentecost, and the feast of tabernacles. What further clears this point of all obscurity is the fact that verses 37, 38, carefully discriminate between the feasts of the Lord and the Sabbaths of the Lord. But Ex. 23:14, settles the point beyond controversy: “Three times thou shalt keep a feast unto me in the year.” And then verses 15-17 enumerate these feasts as in Lev. 23:4-44. See also 2 Chron. 8:13.
[140] Lev. 26:1, 2.
[141] Eze. 20:15, 16.
[142] Num. 13:14.
[143] Num. 15:32-36.
[144] Eze. 20:15, 16 comp. with Num. 14:35.
[145] Num. 15:30.
[146] Eze. 20.
[147] Hengstenberg, a distinguished German Anti-Sabbatarian, thus candidly treats this text: “A man who had gathered wood on the Sabbath is brought forth at the command of the Lord, and stoned by the whole congregation before the camp. Calvin says rightly, ‘The guilty man did not fall through error, but through gross contempt of the law, so that he treated it as a light matter to overthrow and destroy all that is holy.’ It is evident from the manner of its introduction that the account is not given with any reference to its chronological position; it reads, ‘And while the children of Israel were in the wilderness, they found a man that gathered sticks upon the Sabbath day.’ It stands simply as an example of the presumptuous breach of the law, of which the preceding verses speak. He was one who despised the word of the Lord and broke his commandments [verse 31]; one who with a high hand sinned and reproached the Lord. Verse 30.”—The Lord’s Day, pp. 31, 32.
[148] Deut. 5:1-3.
[149] See the pledges of this people in Ex. 19; 24.
[150] See the second chapter of this work.
[151] See chapter third.
[152] Deut. 5:12-15.
[153] Compare Ex. 19; 20; Deut. 1.
[154] Ex. 20:8-11.
[155] Ex. 12; 13.
[156] Deut. 24:17, 18.
[157] Deut. 4:12, 13.
[158] Ex. 34:1; Deut. 10:2.
[159] Ex. 34:28; Deut. 10:4.
[160] Deut. 9:10.
[161] Deut. 5:22.
[162] Deut. 5:12-15, compared with Ex. 20:8-11.
[163] Deut. 5, compared with Ex. 20.
[164] Ex. 12; 1 Cor. 5:7, 8.
[165] Lev. 23:10-21; Num. 28:26-31; Deut. 16:9-12; Acts 2:1-18.
[166] Lev. 23:34-43; Deut. 16:13-15; Neh. 8; Rev. 7:9-14.
[167] Num. 10:10; 28:11-15; 1 Sam. 20:5, 24, 27; Ps. 81:3.
[168] Ex. 12:15, 16; Lev. 23:7, 8; Num. 28:17, 18, 25.
[169] Lev. 23:21; Num. 28:26.
[170] Lev. 23:24, 25; Num. 29:1-6.
[171] Lev. 23:27-32; 16:29-31; Num. 29:7.
[172] Lev. 23:39.
[173] Ex. 23:10, 11; Lev. 25:2-7.
[174] Lev. 25:8-54.
[175] Lev. 26:34, 35, 43; 2 Chron. 36:21.
[176] Ex. 12:25.
[177] On this point Mr. Miller uses the following language: “Only one kind of Sabbath was given to Adam, and one only remains for us. See Hosea 2:11. ‘I will also cause all her mirth to cease, her feast days, her new moons, and her sabbaths, and all her solemn feasts.’ All the Jewish sabbaths did cease when Christ nailed them to his cross. Col. 2:14-17. These were properly called Jewish sabbaths. Hosea says, ‘her sabbaths.’ But the Sabbath of which we are speaking, God calls ‘my Sabbath.’ Here is a clear distinction between the creation Sabbath and the ceremonial. The one is perpetual; the others were merely shadows of good things to come.”—Life and Views, pp. 161, 162.
[178] Ex. 12:16.
[179] Ex. 20:10; 31:13; Isa. 58:13; compared with Lev. 23:24, 32, 39; Lam. 1:7; Hosea 2:11.
[180] Lev. 23:37, 38.
[181] Isa. 1:13, 14.
[182] Isa. 56:1-7; 58:13, 14.
[183] Hosea 2:11.
[184] Lam. 1:7; 2:5-7.
[185] Deut. 16:16; 2 Chron. 7:12; Ps. 122.
[186] Jer. 17:19-27; Neh. 13:15-18.
[187] Isa. 56. See the eighth chapter of this work.
[188] See chapter x.
[189] 2 Kings 4:23.
[190] 1 Chron. 9:32. It is true that this text relates to the order of things after the return from Babylon; yet we learn from verse 22, that this order was originally ordained by David and Samuel. See verses 1-32.
[191] Compare these two cases: Ex. 16:23; 1 Chron. 9:32.
[193] Josh. 6.
[194] See Dr. A. Clarke’s commentary on Josh. 6:15.
[195] Josh. 10:12-14.
[196] 1 Sam. 21:1-6; Matt. 12:3, 4; Mark 2:25, 26; Luke 6:3, 4.
[197] Lev. 24:5-9; 1 Chron. 9:32.
[198] 1 Sam. 21:5, 6; Matt. 12:4.
[199] See the tenth chapter of this work.
[200] 1 Chron. 23:31; 2 Chron. 2:4; 8:13; 31:3; Neh. 10:31, 33; Eze. 45:17.
[201] See chapter vii. of this work.
[202] 1 Chron. 9:32.
[203] Cotton Mather says: “There is a psalm in the Bible whereof the title is, ‘A Psalm or Song for the Sabbath day.’ Now ’tis a clause in that psalm, ‘O Lord, how great are thy works! thy thoughts are very deep.’ Ps. 92:5. That clause intimates what we should make the subject of our meditations on the Sabbath day. Our thoughts are to be on God’s works.”—Discourse on the Lord’s Day, p. 30, A. D. 1703. And Hengstenberg says: “This psalm is according to the heading, ‘A Song for the Sabbath day.’ The proper positive employment of the Sabbath appears here to be a thankful contemplation of the works of God, a devotional absorption in them which could only exist when ordinary occupations are laid aside.”—The Lord’s Day, pp. 36, 37.
[204] 2 Kings 4:23.
[205] Isa. 66:23; Eze. 46:1; Amos 8:5.
[206] Ex. 16:29.
[207] 2 Kings 11:5-9; 2 Chron. 23:4-8.
[208] Amos 8:4-6.
[209] 2 Kings 16:18.
[210] Isa. 56:1-8.
[211] For the coming of this salvation see Heb. 9:28; 1 Pet. 1:9.
[212] Ex. 12:48, 49; Isa. 14:1; Eph. 2:12.
[213] See chapter vii.
[214] Deut. 28:64; Luke 21:24.
[215] Isa. 58:13, 14.
[216] Matt. 8:11; Heb. 11:8-16; Rev. 21.
[217] On this text Dr. A. Clarke comments thus: “From this and the following verses we find the ruin of the Jews attributed to the breach of the Sabbath: as this led to a neglect of sacrifice, the ordinances of religion, and all public worship; so it necessarily brought with it all immorality. The breach of the Sabbath was that which let in upon them all the waters of God’s wrath.”
[218] For an inspired commentary on this language, see Neh. 13:15-18.
[219] This language strongly implies that the violation of the Sabbath had ever been general with the Hebrews. See Jer. 7:23-28.
[220] Jer. 17:20-27.
[221] Eze. 22:7, 8, 26; 23:38, 39.
[222] Eze. 20:23, 24; Deut. 32:16-35.
[223] Eze. 23:38, 39.
[224] 2 Chron. 36:16-20.
[225] Eze., chapters 40-48.
[226] Eze. 43:7-11.
[227] Eze. 44:24; 45:17; 46:1, 3, 4, 12.
[228] Eze. 46:1.
[229] Neh. 9:13, 14.
[230] Neh. 9:38; 10:1-31.
[231] Neh. 10:31.
[232] A few words relative to the time of beginning the Sabbath are here demanded. 1. The reckoning of the first week of time necessarily determines that of all succeeding weeks. The first division of the first day was night; and each day of the first week began with evening; the evening and the morning, an expression equivalent to the night and the day, constituted the day of twenty-four hours. Gen. 1. Hence, the first Sabbath began and ended with evening. 2. That the night is in the Scriptures reckoned a part of the day of twenty-four hours, is proved by many texts. Ex. 12:41, 42; 1 Sam. 26:7, 8; Luke 2:8-11; Mark 14:30; Luke 22:34, and many other testimonies. 3. The 2300 days, symbolizing 2300 years, are each constituted like the days of the first week of time. Dan. 8:14. The margin, which gives the literal Hebrew, calls each of these days an “evening morning.” 4. The statute defining the great day of atonement is absolutely decisive that the day begins with evening, and that the night is a part of the day. Lev. 23:32. “It shall be unto you a Sabbath of rest, and ye shall afflict your souls: in the ninth day of the month at even, from even unto even shall ye celebrate your Sabbath.” 5. That evening is at sunset is abundantly proved by the following scriptures: Deut. 16:6; Lev. 22:6, 7; Deut. 23:2; 24:13, 15; Josh. 8:29; 10:26, 27; Judges 14:18; 2 Sam. 3:35; 2 Chron. 18:34; Matt. 8:16; Mark 1:32; Luke 4:40. But does not Neh. 13:19, conflict with this testimony, and indicate that the Sabbath did not begin until after dark? I think not. The text does not say, “When it began to be dark at Jerusalem before the Sabbath,” but it says, “When the gates of Jerusalem began to be dark.” If it be remembered that the gates of Jerusalem were placed under wide and high walls, it will not be found difficult to harmonize this text with the many here adduced, which prove that the day begins with sunset.
Calmet, in his Bible Dictionary, article, Sabbath, thus states the ancient Jewish method of beginning the Sabbath: “About half an hour before the sunset all work is quitted and the Sabbath is supposed to be begun.” He speaks thus of the close of the Sabbath: “When night comes, and they can discern in the heaven three stars of moderate magnitude, then the Sabbath is ended, and they may return to their ordinary employments.”
[233] Neh. 13:15-22.
[234] Speaking of the Babylonish captivity, in his note on Eze. 23:48, Dr. Clarke says: “From that time to the present day the Jews never relapsed into idolatry.”
[235] 1 Mac. 1:41-43.
[236] 1 Mac. 2:29-38; Josephus’ Antiquities, b. xii. chap. vi.
[237] 2 Mac. 5:25,26.
[238] 1 Mac. 2:41.
[239] 2 Mac. 6:11.
[240] 2 Mac. 8:23-28.
[241] 1 Mac. 9:43-49; Josephus’ Antiquities, b. xiii. chap. i.; 2 Mac. 15.
[242] Antiquities of the Jews, b. xiv. chap. iv. Here we call attention to one of those historical frauds by which Sunday is shown to be the Sabbath. Dr. Justin Edwards states this case thus: “Pompey, the Roman general, knowing this, when besieging Jerusalem, would not attack them on the Sabbath; but spent the day in constructing his works, and preparing to attack them on Monday, and in a manner that they could not withstand, and so he took the city.”—Sabbath Manual, p. 216. That is to say, the next day after the Sabbath was Monday, and of course Sunday was the Sabbath! Yet Dr. E. well knew that in Pompey’s time, 63 years before Christ, Saturday was the only weekly Sabbath, and that Sunday and not Monday was the day of attack.
[243] Sabbath Manual of the American Tract Society, pp. 214, 215.
[244] Gal. 4:4, 5; John 1:1-10; 17:5, 24; Heb. 1.
[245] Dan. 9:25; Mark 1:14, 15.
[246] Luke 4:14-16.
[247] Luke 4:30-39; Mark 1:21-31; Matt. 8:5-15.
[248] See, on this point, the conclusion of chapter viii.
[249] Mark 1:32-34; Luke 4:40.
[250] Matt. 12:1-8; Mark 2:23-28; Luke 6:1-5.
[251] Mark 2:27, 28.
[252] Comp. John 1:1-3; Gen. 1:1, 26; 2:1-3.
[253] See chap. viii.
[254] Num. 28:9, 10.
[255] Lev. 24:5-9; 1 Chron. 9:32.
[256] Hosea 6:6.
[257] Thus the Greek Testament: Καὶ ἔλεγεν αὐτοῖς· Tὸ σάββατον διὰ τὸν ἄνθρωπον ἐγένετο, ουχ ὁ ἄνθρωπος διὰ τό σάββατον.
[258] 1 Cor. 11:9.
[259] Gen. 2:1-3, 7, 21-23.
[260] Matt. 19:3-9.
[261] Ex. 16:23; 23:12; Isa. 58:13, 14.
[263] Matt. 5:17-19; Isa. 42:21.
[264] Matt. 12:9-14; Mark 3:1-6; Luke 6:6-11.
[265] Mark 6:1-6.
[266] John 5:1-18.
[267] Dr. Bloomfield’s Greek Testament on this text; family Testament of the American Tract Society on the same; Nevins’ Biblical Antiquities, pp. 62, 63.
[268] Compare Jer. 17:21-27 with Nehemiah 13:15-20.
[269] Gen. 2:1-3; Ex. 20:8-11; Isa. 56; 58:13, 14; Eze. 20.
[270] Gal. 4:4; Matt. 5:17-19; 7:12; 19:17; Luke 16:17.
[271] John 5:19.
[272] John 7:21-23.
[273] Grotius well says: “If he healed any on the Sabbath he made it appear, not only from the law, but also from their received opinions, that such works were not forbidden on the Sabbath.”—The Truth of the Christian Religion, b. v. sect. 7.
[274] John 9:1-16.
[275] Luke 13:10-17.
[276] 1 Pet. 3:6.
[277] Luke 14:1-6.
[278] Matt. 23:23.