4th Commandment: Remember the Sabbath
5/4/202653 min
The 10 Commandments E7 — In the 4th Commandment, Yahweh tells Israel to remember the Sabbath and do no work, just as Yahweh does after creating the skies and the land. What’s going on here? What did this commandment mean to ancient Israel, and what should it mean to Jesus’ followers? In this episode, Jon and Tim explore the fourth command’s connections to the seven-day creation narrative and Israel’s liberation from Egyptian slavery, as well as its role in ancient Israel and the modern world.
FULL SHOW NOTES
For chapter-by-chapter summaries, biblical words, referenced Scriptures, and reflection questions, check out the full show notes for this episode.
CHAPTERS
- Israel’s Unique Covenant Partnership (0:00-9:12)
- The Cosmic, Creation Version of the Command in Exodus 20 (9:12-28:25)
- The Civil, Social Version of the Command in Deuteronomy 5 (28:25-39:55)
- Sabbath in the Early Jesus Movement and Today (39:55-52:43)
OFFICIAL EPISODE TRANSCRIPT
View this episode’s official transcript.
THE 10 COMMANDMENTS BIBLEPROJECT TRANSLATION
View our full translation of the 10 Commandments.
REFERENCED RESOURCES
- Find the related animated video for this episode here.
- “Seventh-Day Rest - Sabbath” podcast series
- “Sabbath” video
- Created Equal: How the Bible Broke with Ancient Political Thought by Joshua A. Berman
- Sabbath and Jubilee by Richard H. Lowery
- From Sabbath to Lord's Day: A Biblical, Historical and Theological Investigation, edited by D.A. Carson.
- Check out Tim’s extensive collection of recommended books.
SHOW MUSIC
- “I See You” by Lofi Sunday feat. Marc Vanparla
- “Cruise” by Lofi Sunday feat. Just Derrick
- “Break Bread” by Lofi Sunday feat. Oly.Lo
- BibleProject theme song by TENTS
SHOW CREDITS
Production of today’s episode is by Lindsey Ponder, producer, and Cooper Peltz, managing producer. Tyler Bailey and Aaron Olsen edited today’s episode and provided the sound design and mix. JB Witty writes the show notes. Our host and creative director is Jon Collins, and our lead scholar is Tim Mackie.
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Clips
Transcript preview
First 90 secondsJon Collins· Host0:00
[upbeat music] In the Book of Exodus, Yahweh liberates the people of Israel from slavery in Egypt, and He brings them to Mount Sinai to establish an intimate relationship with them. Israel will be His people, and He will be their God. This is a marriage, and the marriage vows are what we call the 10 Commandments. Now, most of these commands make sense to us on face value. In fact, they make sense to any culture. Don't murder, don't lie, honor your parents. But today we'll look at the fourth command, which was utterly unique to Israel, how they set apart one day every week and treated it as different.
Tim Mackie· Host0:40
Remember the day of Shabbat, to treat it as holy. Six days you will labor and you will make all of your work, but the seventh day is a Shabbat of Yahweh, your Elohim.
Jon Collins· Host0:56
The command goes on to say to stop work on the seventh day because in six days, Yahweh made the skies and the land, the sea, and all that is in them, and He rested on the seventh day. So the reason for this command is cosmic. It's connected to the story of God creating and bringing order to everything.
Tim Mackie· Host1:14
The seven-day creation narrative's clearly being hyperlinked here. God generates out of generous love, something that is wholly contained within and sustained by God. But that thing needs to then go on a journey of sharing in God's own rest to become one