The Pulpit Commentary on Leviticus 23:3

The Pulpit Commentary · Joseph S. Exell and contributors · Public domain

Aspects of the sabbath.

We are reminded of—

I. ITS ORIGIN IN EARLIEST HUMAN HISTORY. "The seventh day is the sabbath of rest" (see Genesis 2:2, Genesis 2:3).

II. THE SPECIAL OBLIGATION RESTING ON ISRAEL, AS A REDEEMED PEOPLE, TO OBSERVE IT. "The Lord thy God brought thee out thence … therefore the Lord thy God commanded thee to keep the sabbath day" (Deuteronomy 5:15). We, also, as those redeemed at far greater cost, may feel ourselves on this ground constrained to observe it.

III. ITS PLACE IN THE PROPHETIC TESTIMONY. It is deeply significant that the prophets, who were the rebukers of mere ritualism and the advocates of the moral and spiritual elements in religion, should have given so high a place as they did to the observance of the sabbath (see Isaiah 1:10-15, comp. with Isaiah 56:2 and Isaiah 58:13, Isaiah 58:14).

IV. ITS CHRISTIAN ASPECT.

1. It commemorates the greatest fact in human history the resurrection of our Lord. The crowning act of redemption is more to us than the crowning act of creation.

2. Its obligation rests not on any one positive precept, but on the known will of Christ.

3. It meets the two great wants of man—his bodily and his spiritual requirements.

4. It is to be observed:

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