Êxodo 31

Êxodo 31

Morris - 31:15 seventh is the sabbath. Breaking God's rest day was defined by Him as a capital crime among His chosen people, and this shows all people how vital its observance is to Him. As far as Israel was concerned, it was to be observed perpetually. Since its use long antedates the calling of Israel, it should actually be regarded as a perpetual reminder to all people of the preeminent importance God placed on His completed work of creation and His abhorrence of any religion or any practice which denied or trivialized this foundational doctrine. Exodus 31:16 'So the sons of Israel shall observe the sabbath, to celebrate the sabbath throughout their generations as a perpetual covenant.' NET Exodus 31:16 The Israelites must keep the Sabbath by observing the Sabbath throughout their generations as a perpetual covenant. NLT Exodus 31:16 The people of Israel must keep the Sabbath day by observing it from generation to generation. This is a covenant obligation for all time. ESV Exodus 31:16 Therefore the people of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, observing the Sabbath throughout their generations, as a covenant forever. NIV Exodus 31:16 The Israelites are to observe the Sabbath, celebrating it for the generations to come as a lasting covenant. KJV Exodus 31:16 Wherefore the children of Israel shall keep the sabbath, to observe the sabbath throughout their generations, for a perpetual covenant. a perpetual covenant: Ge 9:13 17:11 Jer 50:5 Exodus 31 Resources - Multiple Sermons and Commentaries So the sons of Israel shall observe the sabbath, to celebrate the sabbath throughout their generations as a perpetual covenant - Israel's continual celebration served as a sign to the polytheistic pagans that Israel was different, set apart, a holy nation. David Thompson - The Sabbath is a perpetual covenant sign to be celebrated by Israel. The keeping of the Sabbath Day was a sign for Israel that she was in a covenantal, national relationship with God. Now an application we could make is that when we worship on Sunday at church, we show that we are in a covenant relationship with God through faith in Jesus Christ. Bush - To observe the sabbath. Heb. לעשות את השבת laäsoth eth hash-shabbath, lit. to do or make the sabbath. The expression in the original is peculiar and conveying an idea not easily transferable into English. Our phrases ‘keep the Sabbath’ and ‘observe the Sabbath’ are hardly to be distinguished in import from each other, carrying with them mainly the idea of cessation from secular work. But the Hebrew formulary ‘to do the Sabbath’ has the additional involved sense of the active doing or performing of certain acts and exercises essential to the due sanctification of a day which was yet emphatically a day of rest. The same phrase occurs Deut. 5:15, ‘And remember that thou wast a servant in the land of Egypt, and that the Lord thy God brought thee out thence through a mighty hand and by a stretched-out arm: therefore the Lord thy God commanded thee to keep the sabbath-day. (לעשות את יום שבת, to do the day of rest).’ So also, Deut. 16:1, ‘Observe the month of Abib, and keep the passover (עשית פסח asitha pesah, do the passover) unto the Lord thy God.’ Comp. Mat. 26:18, ‘The Master saith, My time is at hand; I will keep the passover (πασω το πασχα I will do or make the passover) at thy house with my disciples.’ Again Deut. 16:13, ‘Thou shalt observe the feast of tabernacles (חג הסכת תעשה hag has sukkoth taäseh, the feast of tabernacles thou shalt do or make) seven days,’ &c. Exodus 31:17 "It is a sign between Me and the sons of Israel forever; for in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, but on the seventh day He ceased from labor, and was refreshed." NET Exodus 31:17 It is a sign between me and the Israelites forever; for in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day he rested and was refreshed.'" NLT Exodus 31:17 It is a permanent sign of my covenant with the people of Israel. For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, but on the seventh day he stopped working and was refreshed.'" ESV Exodus 31:17 It is a sign forever between me and the people of Israel that in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested and was refreshed.'" NIV Exodus 31:17 It will be a sign between me and the Israelites forever, for in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day he abstained from work and rested.' " KJV Exodus 31:17 It is a sign between me and the children of Israel for ever: for in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested, and was refreshed. a sign: Ex 31:13 Eze 20:12,20 six days: Ge 1:31 2:2,3 Heb 4:3,4,10 and was refreshed: Ge 1:31 Job 38:7 Ps 104:31 Jer 32:41 Exodus 31 Resources - Multiple Sermons and Commentaries SABBATH A SIGN FOREVER It is a sign between Me and the sons of Israel forever; for in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, but on the seventh day He ceased from labor, and was refreshed - He reiterates the idea of perpetual covenant in Ex 31:16. God Who needs nothing gives us an example to follow that we might too be refreshed. David Thompson - The Sabbath is a sign forever between God and Israel. Notice the emphasis again; this is a sign between God and Israel, not God and the Church. Bush - A sign between me and the children of Israel for ever. Chal. ‘Between my Word and the sons of Israel.’ Was refreshed. Heb. ינפש yinnaphesh, fetched breath. Of course to be understood as spoken of God after the manner of men, on the principle of anthropomorphism, of which a very expanded detail is given in Rev. J. P. Smith’s Comparative View of Scripture and Geology. NET on refreshed - The word “rest” essentially means “to cease, stop.” So describing God as “resting” on the seventh day does not indicate that he was tired—he simply finished creation and then ceased or stopped. But in this verse is a very bold anthropomorphism in the form of the verb וַיִּנָּפַשׁ (vayyinnafash), a Niphal preterite from the root נָפַשׁ (nafash), the word that is related to “life, soul” or more specifically “breath, throat.” The verb is usually translated here as “he was refreshed,” offering a very human picture. It could also be rendered “he took breath” (S. R. Driver, Exodus, 345). Elsewhere the verb is used of people and animals. The anthropomorphism is clearly intended to teach people to stop and refresh themselves physically, spiritually, and emotionally on this day of rest. Related Resources: What is the Sabbath day? | GotQuestions.org What does it mean to remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy? | GotQuestions.org What day is the Sabbath, Saturday or Sunday? Do Christians have to observe the Sabbath day? | GotQuestions.org How is Jesus our Sabbath Rest? | GotQuestions.org What does it mean that the Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath? | GotQuestions.org Does God require Sabbath-keeping of Christians? | GotQuestions.org What does it mean that Jesus is the Lord of the Sabbath? | GotQuestions.org Why does Exodus 35:2 require the death penalty for working on the Sabbath? | GotQuestions.org Exodus 31:18 When He had finished speaking with him upon Mount Sinai, He gave Moses the two tablets of the testimony, tablets of stone, written by the finger of God. NET Exodus 31:18 He gave Moses two tablets of testimony when he had finished speaking with him on Mount Sinai, tablets of stone written by the finger of God. NLT Exodus 31:18 When the LORD finished speaking with Moses on Mount Sinai, he gave him the two stone tablets inscribed with the terms of the covenant, written by the finger of God. ESV Exodus 31:18 And he gave to Moses, when he had finished speaking with him on Mount Sinai, the two tablets of the testimony, tablets of stone, written with the finger of God. NIV Exodus 31:18 When the LORD finished speaking to Moses on Mount Sinai, he gave him the two tablets of the Testimony, the tablets of stone inscribed by the finger of God. KJV Exodus 31:18 And he gave unto Moses, when he had made an end of communing with him upon mount Sinai, two tables of testimony, tables of stone, written with the finger of God. gave: Ex 24:12,18 32:15,16 34:1-4,28,29 De 4:13 5:22 9:9-11 2Co 3:3 written by the finger of God: Ex 8:19 32:16 Jer 31:33 Mt 12:28 Lu 11:20 2Co 3:7,8 Exodus 31 Resources - Multiple Sermons and Commentaries When He had finished speaking with him upon Mount Sinai, He gave Moses the two tablets of the testimony, tablets of stone, written by the finger of God - Sadly Moses would end up breaking these precious tablets in righteous indignation against Israel's sin of the golden calf. NET Note on finger of God - The expression “the finger of God” has come up before in the book, in the plagues (Exod 8:15) to express that it was a demonstration of the power and authority of God. So here too the commandments given to Moses on stone tablets came from God. It too is a bold anthropomorphism; to attribute such a material action to Yahweh would have been thought provoking to say the least. But by using “God” and by stating it in an obviously figurative way, balance is maintained. Since no one writes with one finger, the expression simply says that the Law came directly from God. David Thompson - God made certain that His nation had His Word in written form. This written Word was for Israel. This Word was literally written with the “finger of God.” God’s written Word is to be taken very seriously. To disregard the Word is to disregard God. God has made certain that we have God’s written Word for the Church. Bush - When he had made an end of communing with him. At the close of the forty days’ sojourn upon the mount, during which time all the preceding laws and ordinances had been delivered to him. The clause occurs at a point where it forms a very suitable transition in the progress of the narrative. In the ensuing chapter he is about to relate the fact of his having broken the tables under the impulse of a holy indignation at the sins of the people, and he accordingly here premises the necessary information respecting the tables themselves, what they contained, and whence they were received. Bush - Two tables of testimony. The grounds of this appellation have already been explained, Ex 25:16. The laws written on them testified the will of God as to the duties of his creatures, and by being received and deposited in the Ark, they were a testimony on the part of Israel that they had covenanted to receive and obey them upon the penalty of incurring all the judgments and curses by which they were enforced. They were written on tables of stone to denote their perpetual and unchangeable obligation; and they were written not by the commandment, but by the immediate power of God himself, here termed his ‘finger,’ which is elsewhere used in the same sense, Ps. 8:3, Luke, 11:20. As however, the ‘finger of God’ is spoken of by our Savior as equivalent to the ‘Spirit of God,’ the power by which devils were cast out, some have supposed that all that is meant here is, that these tables were written by Motes indeed, but still by the direct prompting and dictation of the Spirit of God, so that it was more entitled to be considered as a divine than a human work. But the following passages would seem to be too explicit to allow of any other than the common explication. Ex. 24:12, ‘And the Lord said unto Moses, Come up to me into the mount, and be there: and I will give the tables of stone, and a law, and commandments which I have written; that thou mayest teach them.’ Ex. 32:15, 16, ‘And Moses turned, and went down from the mount, and the two tables of the testimony were in his hand: the tables were written on both their sides; on the one side and on the other were they written. And the tables were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God, graven upon the tables.’ Deut. 5:22, ‘These words the Lord spake unto all your assembly in the mount, out of the midst of the fire, of the cloud, and of the thick darkness with a great voice; and he added no more: and he wrote them in two tables of stone, and delivered them unto me.’ ‘Of the Decalogue, above all other holy writ, God seems to say, as Paul, Philem. 19, ‘Behold, I have written it with mine own hand.’ ’ Trapp. BIBLIOGRAPHY - Resources Quoted in Commentary Exodus 31 Resources - Multiple Sermons and Commentaries James Bruckner - Exodus (Understanding the Bible Commentary Umberto Cassuto - A Commentary on the Book of Exodus Alan