The Fourth Commandment – Edited Edition
by Lawrence Downing
I do not recall when I first noticed the difference between the Ten Commandments found in Exodus 10 and the Ten Commandments recorded in Deuteronomy 5. The edit was a puzzle. As I thought about the change, a couple of ideas came floating by that I will share.
The Fourth Commandment, and the other nine, the text in Exodus states, were written by the finger of God and presented to Israel, through Moses, as the summation of God’s will for His people. It is to be expected a document with God as both author and scribe will be unalterable throughout the centuries. This was not the case. A second edition of the Ten Commandments contains a version of the fourth command that differs from Exodus 20.
12Observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy, as the LORD your God has commanded you. 13Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 14but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your ox, your donkey or any of your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns, so that your male and female servants may rest, as you do. 15Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and the LORD your God brought you out of there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore the LORD your God has commanded you to observe the Sabbath day. Deuteronomy 5(NIV).
Consider the implications and risks involved for the one who revises a passage understood to have been written by the very finger of God. Why would anyone be so bold? How would the hearers allow this liberty? Unfortunately no evidence exists to answer these questions. We can, however, speculate. Be aware that speculation is just that, a less than satisfying and exegetically risky procedure. With this warning stated, I will venture into a speculative area and see where it leads.
Decades and generations had passed since Moses delivered the Ten Commandments to the Children of Israel. They had been only months on the trek that led from Egypt and looked forward to reaching the Promised Land. In the plains around Sinai the Lord spoke the Ten Commandments. One of the Ten is unique among all the others. In a brief statement and within the context of the creation of a new nation, the Lord calls His chosen people to remember that in the beginning the Lord spoke and by the power of that Word made heaven and earth within a specific time. In commemoration of that creative process, the newly created nation is to keep the Sabbath as an everlasting memory of God’s creative acts. God’s creative process and its conclusion, we see in this passage, provides the context from which Sabbath arises and provides its perpetuity. Now, a generation later, comes Deuteronomy.
According to the text in Deuteronomy Moses again gathered about him the Israelites and spoke the Ten Commandments. The generation that first heard the Commandments is gone. A new generation has formed. This people had spent the last four decades wandering about the wilderness. Without their Egyptian roots, isolated from societies other than their own, dependant on God’s generosity for survival, and awaiting the fulfillment of a long-past promise that they will find a new home in a land long ago promised to Abraham. They camp now on the borders of that Promised Land.
The new nation had fought battles and won territory. They had defined their place in history and were ready to take their place among the nations. As the words of the Ten Commandments are spoken to this people Moses recites their past. As he prepared to address his people he may have realized what now gave identity to this new nation and assured them they were a special people was not creation of a world, but the creation of a people. Freedom is the cry. God had rescued them from slavery and had brought forth a political and religious power. They were by this great act of redemption made ready to venture forth to fulfill their destiny. Their recent Exodus experience was a more powerful and pertinent event than a fuzzy recollection of a far removed creation story. Moses understood his people and adapted the Fourth Commandment to make it more applicable to the immediate times.
If the above speculative exercise is close to accurate, and if it is not, how else does one account for the audacity that is evident on the part of the one who rewrote the Fourth Command? How else to explain the modification to what God had written? But if, and it’s a large ‘if,’ the edit was made in an attempt to make the fourth command speak to the people and to their experience there is a lesson to consider. Our views and understandings change. What once was important may be less so today. Should this occur, I suggest the example of the edited Fourth Commandment provides evidence that even the words written by the hand of God can be modified in response to a changed context. It would be fascinating to question Moses on his rationale for the edited Fourth.
Interesting attempt to recreate the command written in stone recorded in the Bible as an adaption by Moses rather then what God wrote, which is what the text of Deut 5 clearly says.
Deut 5:21-22
21 “You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife. You shall not set your desire on your neighbor’s house or land, his manservant or maidservant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.”
22 These are the commandments the LORD proclaimed in a loud voice to your whole assembly there on the mountain from out of the fire, the cloud and the deep darkness; and he added nothing more. Then he wrote them on two stone tablets and gave them to me.
(NIV)
Deut 9:10
10 The LORD gave me two stone tablets inscribed by the finger of God. On them were all the commandments the LORD proclaimed to you on the mountain out of the fire, on the day of the assembly. (NIV)
The real question is why the preference for the Exodus 20 version and when did this preference begin, are we simply repeating the prejudice of some earlier writer who thought that the Exodus 20 version was superior or more accurate then the Deut 5 version which specifies that those were the very words inscribed by the finger of God.
Of course the answer is that it does not seem so universal when you take out the out of Egypt part, so much easier to just ignore that part of the Exodus 20 version and start a line or two later and make it seem that the 10 commandments have a more universal application then their original usage.
Exod 20:1-2
1 And God spoke all these words:
2 “I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.
(NIV)
Keep the Shabbat day (5:12)
In Exodus 20 (where the Ten Commandments are first written), it says, "Remember the Shabbat day." "Remember" and "keep" (which represent the imperative and prohibitive aspects of Shabbat) were expressed in a single utterance — something which the human mouth cannot articulate and the human ear cannot hear.
In Deut.5:12-15,,verse 15 shows that the Sabbath is not only a memorial of creation ,but also a reminder of the deliverance of Egyptian bondage(sin).Some folks would say,I thought that was Passover only.
The church I think should be sharing this view along with creation.
The two different accounts of the Ten Commandments also reflect the difference in the Creation stories. They clearly demonstrate more than one writer which is best explained by the JDEP hypothesis, not widely accepted by Adventists.
If the Bible records are equally valid, how shoud they be interpreted? Adventists have, almost universally, quoted the Ex. 20 version emphasizing creation as the central reason for observing sabbath; while the Deuteronomy version (there is also one in Ex. 34), says nothing whatsoever about creation but emphasizes that their delivery from slavery is the reason that sabbath is to be observed by the Israelites. Nothing is said about the surrounding nations observing it as it was only a special covenant made with the Israelites.
Only individuals studying the Bible discover this. Likewise, there are other Bible texts not usually included in Adventist Bible studies or official publications which is why each individual is responsible for his own beliefs rather than merely accepting what he has been told.
This is only one of many double accounts of stories in the Bible. The flood story has two completely different which have been combined to reflect impossibilties: were there two clean animals or seven entering the ark? Both can be found in the story. One account does not mention “clean,” probably because the Levitical laws were unknown, but the later story shows that “clean” and “unclean,” defined at Sinai, could not have been known at the time of Noah.
How rare are the three versions ever mentioned, or how my Adventists ever consult any other than the Ex. 20 account?
The three versions of the 10 commandments are mentioned as rarely as the fact there are actually three tithes. Which is still more often than certain other obscure sections of the Bible.
Your speculative explanation for the two versions of the Ten Commandments makes a lot of sense. There are other potential scenarios like the following:
A. Moses was rather senile when he wrote the second version of the Fourth Commandment.
B. The first version is what the Lord wrote the first time on the tablets of stone which Moses broke upon his return from theHoly Mountain
C. A later editor replaced the original explanation for the relevance of the Fourth Commandment.
The different story of creation found in Genesis 1 & 2 is another example of unknown scribes recording tribal legends.
In yesterday's SS class we were completing a book on Sabbath and summarizing the contents. One member, in reply to a questions, said that we were not discussing the theology of the sabbath, only our reflections and subjective meanings.
There would be no Sabbath without theology–which is the study of God. He gave the first sabbath to the Israelites at Sinai and because they had been former slaves it would constantly remind them of that condition and their new freedom granted them by God. Without that understanding, there is no sabbath.
Never discussed is that sabbath was given ONLY to the Israelites. To no other tribes or people did God give this command. It was not given at Creation, despite the SDA claims since its origin–all without support from the Bible. Neither is there a single record of anyone observing or mentioning sabbath prior to Sinai.
It was the Jew's special gift contained in the covenant God made with them; a covenant made with no others. After the resurrection, the new covenant was inauagurated that was with all people; no longer limited to the Jews. It had no mention whatsoever about a sabbath, or any holy day. For Adventists who have long claimed to be "People of the Book" they have assumed much that cannot be documented from the Bible.
I arrived in Jerusalem on a Friday evening. Orothodox Jews were set to leave the hotel, but had time to help us with luggage. The way they smiled while saying "Shabbat Sholom" was simply magnifcent. There was an aura of love in that phrase that was unforgettable. As they went off duty, Palestinians took over hotel duties, of course.
We were warned to stay out of the automatic "Shabbat Elevator" that goes directly to the top, and stops at each floor on the way down. Naturally, I did just that…took 15 minute to reach my floor!
Greetings from Australia. The Fourth Commandment, what a hot potato!
Mrs E.G. White's son was arrested for obeying the “six days work” by working on Sunday.
Here in Australia “six days shalt thou labour” was the primary reason that we have Religious Liberty Section 116 in our Constitution.
The Seventh day of “rest” (note not “worship”) is always connected to the command to work Six days. This is to commemorate the 6 literal days of Creation. Six days work has no connection to the deliverance from Egypt that I can see. Uncledon
As I see it, the connection to the Fourth Commandment, which is part of it: "Because you were slaves in Egypt" allows them, after all the past years of working 24/7 to officially be given a day off–a wonderful gift to former enslaved peoples.
Today, when most first would nations enjoy a 5-day work week, and many have shorter hours than the U.S., there are two full "rest days" every week, unlike when the original command was given. As Hebrews speaks of a "place of rest: "Every day, as long as this 'today' lasts….Those that He swore would never reach the place of rest he had for them were those who had been disobedient… For one who has entered His rest has himself also rested from his works, as God did from His."
The challenge, still unanswered: Where is there a single NT text commanding new Christians that observance of any day is to be part of their new Christian life?
Elaine
Many workers do not have a 5 day week in which 2 days are guaranteed to be free of work. One reason that the move to have Sunday declared a work-free day in Europe is gaining increasing support even from secular people is that increasingly employers are demanding that workers be available 7 days a week. In Australia, workers are finding that wanting to have Friday, Saturday or Sunday free for religious reasons is, while legally guaranteed, a good way of not making it into the final interview. Of course, many people who complain that they no loger are guaranteed a 9-5 Monday to Friday work week also insist that they want businesses open for longer hours (in some cases 24hrs) and 7 days a week for their convenience. We still have a 38 hr week as 'standard', but it is also accepted that up to 12 hours a week overtime, usually unpaid, is reasonable. Many professionals work 60 hr weeks as standard just to be sure they get promoted and remain employed.
Without doubt there are many places where one day/week free of work is difficult, if not impossible. However, it is a common well known practice in Adventism that certain jobs are considered "necessary," demanding there be 24/7 medical benefits available.
There is no allowance for individuals to make these decisions but they have been "accepted" for many years that medical work is always exempt; as is certain other "necessary" work that Adventists expect–IOW, as an article several years ago in AToday: "Thank God for the Gentiles" who will do the necessary work that Adventists refuse to do.
There should be personal conscience given to all members to judge whether their work requires them to work sabbaths, perhaps some, but not all. Who has made the decision that medical work is exempt, while most other occupations are not given that exemption? Pastors, and many church members see that needs are cared for, making Sabbath the hardest day in the week. How is a pastor more important than a fireman? A utility worker (if there's a power outage on Sabbath–they may be VERY important)?
We really know very little how sabbath was practiced by Jesus and his disciples. Where did they procure the necessary food? Where was their shelter? Did they live off the people, or were enough living for fishermen for all the disciples and Jesus to live 24/7? We do know that He was accused of working on Sabbath, and it was against the Law that God gave them at Sinai.
Not too long ago, some European calendars that I have seen, have Sunday as the 7th day of the week.
Since the 7th day (no one knows when the Sinai week began but we do know that sabbaths were calculated by the moon, which is not in harmony with calendars–but the moon was the only "calendar" for marking off days. Muslims and most Christians who worship one day in seven are observing a 7th day. Orthodox Jews use the Jewish calendar, which is based on the moon, as they always have, to determine sabbath. We would not even know about sabbath except for the Jews. while ignoring the manner of keeping and the penalties for breaking it are largely ignored.
Finally, there is no Christian sabbath, only the Jewish sabbath which was given solely for them.
Elaine read you Bible, the Sabbath belong to God. He gave to mankind, Enjoyed is good for the body and the soul.
Elaine, what does Genesis 2:2-3 have to do with the Jews? It seems it has to do with God, His creation, and how He determined would be it would be celebrated and remembered.
Who, but the Hebrews wrote the entire Torah? In fact, all the Bible, except Luke, was written by Jews. The Fourth commandment was given only to the Jews. Show me a text stating otherwise. Re-read Genesis, there is not a single command given by God for man to rest on the Fourth. He rested because HE had FINISHED His work.
There are two accounts of the Ten Commandments, each one addresses the Israelites brought by God from Egypt, no other peoples. Please furnish a single Bible text instructing Christians to observe a holy day. Christians are not Jews; Christianity only began following the Resurrection, a day celebrated for the birth of Christianity. Who would be Christians without the Resurrection? The Jews do not celebrate the Resurrection, but Orthodox Jews still observe the seventh day. Which is of more importance to Christians: remembering creation, or remembering when they were given hope of everlasting life (which the Jews never had) through the Resurrection.
Elaine, Jesus did not say the Sabbath is for the Jews… no my friend, read you bible, he stated " The Sabbath day was made for man" Mark 2;27" that means for humanity. Elaine just enjoyed… you could have even a "veggi capuchino" in that HOLY DAY.
It the Sabbath was only for the Jews… and Jesus stated the Sabbath was made for man… so the humanity started the Jews ( actually with israelites)?… so all the beens who lived before Moses were apes? maybe pre-apes? so all the patriarchs were not man? interesting theology indeed.
The people who became Jews, were not a specific people until Sinai. There were many other peoples (Abraham came from Ur, and he was not a Jew); Adam and Eve were NEVER identified as Jews, nor any of the descendants until when they left Egypt. The Hebrews wrote the Torah, but I never claimed, nor has anyone else, that Adam was a Jew. To infer that all the humans before Moses were apes is ludicricous and a sad joke. Where were the patriarchs ever identified as Jews? People were separated beginning with Cain and later at the tower of Babel, and following the flood, the Bible writers said this was another separation with Noah's sons each beginning a new tribe. The writers selected that tribe which was the "chosen" one and from which the Israelites came.
The Ten Commandments were never given to anyone but the Israelites, and were not required to observe its laws, feasts, and festivals as they became Jewish tradition observed to this day.
Exactly the humanity did not started with the Jews, there were humans before them, so the Sabbath was for all the men who lived before the Jews, " The Sabbath day was made for all the man from the beginning to the end
Elaine, I enjoy keeping the 7th Day Sabbath and I am not a Jew by birth. It does say if I am Christ's then am I Abrahams seed and heir according to the promise.
Is there a command anywhere that forbids me keeping Sabbath?
In the earth made new all will be Sabbath keepers. uncledon.
Uncledon,
I am happy that you enjoy keeping the 7th day sabbath; and no, you do not have to be a jew. Anyone has the perfect liberty to observe any day of the week or year that he wishes, but I don't believe that religious liberty was the topic of the article.
There is no command in the Bible forbidding any day being observed. Only Paul says that no one should be judged about a day but should be convinced in his own mind. IOW, each individual should decide on this matter.
However, this is not the usual position of the SDA church, but rather that to "disobey" the fourth commandment makes one eligible for mark of the beast and the lake of fire. The usual SDA position is that all Christians must obey all of Moses' Law, including the fourth, although there was a change when Christ died and the new covenant was much simpler without the 613 laws which the Israelites were commanded to obey. As yet, no one has furnished a single NT text commanding CHRISTIANS to observe any day.
How can one observe the sabbath day in heaven where there is no night? The language in Isaiah about worshiping from one new moon to another and one sabbath to another was referring to the land in Palestine being restored to them again. The new moon and Sabbath are tied together, yet when will we worship on the new moon? When did we ever worship on the new moon? Has that part of the Bible been completely ignored?
Elaine, while there is no specific command in the Bible before Ex 16 to observe the Sabbath, God's purpose for setting aside the 7th day at the time of creation was surely more than just to provide a day of rest for Himself. Among other things, wasn't it time for Him to affirm the goodness of His finished work. But what was blessing and sanctifying the day all about? For whom was it blessed and sanctified, and why? Was it for God Himself? Or for the creatures He had created which, acccording to the commandment itself, not only included rest for human beings, but also for animals?
Was the Sabbath only for Jews? There were none when the day was set aside. It was "made for man." The commandment, when given, included foreigners. Further, Paul points out that Gentile Christianity was not a new entity, but a branch that had been grafted into the body of those called into a covenant relationship with God. Sabbath was one of the signs of a covenant relationship with Him based on trust in and love for Him.
Some good possible explanations have been given above as two why there are two versions of the Fourth Commandment. What has struck me is that many SDAs do not want to go to the Sabbath command in Deuteronomy, and many non-SDAs do not want to go it as given in Exodus. Both situations are unfortunate. Whatever the reasons might be for the two different versions, are they not completely compatible with and complementery to each other?
In the Old Testament, the Sabbath is quite often closely associated with care for the fatherless, the widows, the poor, etc. Isiah 58 is one of the best examples. The theological message of the Sabbath is that God provided opportunity for us to enjoy both physical and spiritual rest based on trust in Him, and that we should do what we can to provide that rest for others. This is the spirit of the Sabbath. Observing the Sabbath one day a week without experiencing and practicing its spirit the other six days is meaningless, according to Isa 58 and other passages.
In Hebrews 4, the Sabbath is presented as a symbol of rest in Christ — deliverance from sin and rest from works. As such, is it not as appropriate a symbol of a New Covenant relationship with God as it was of the Old? Even under the Old, was it given to be a "work" of righteousness, or a weekly reminder that we can trust in God, and rest in Him? Do not both versions of the command, one based on His creation and one on redemption point to the same thing?
The NT book of Hebrews explains that it is rest in Christ. When the creation was finished, God "rested" because his work had been completed; and since he came and in his resurrection, resurrected us from the sin which held us captive.
The Genesis creation story was written long afterward, when sabbath had been given (for those who believe that Moses wrote it), he correlated the fourth commandment with creation. But, because there is no command given for humans until Sinai, it should not be simply assumed that it was observed prior to that; especially since there is no record of anyone observing it before Sinai,
The covenant, including the Ten Commandments, were given to the Israelites, and there is no word in the Bible about it being given to, or expected by anyone other than Jews. Even when God addressed the Sabbath as being made for man, he was not addressing the Gentiles but only Jews who knew the commandment and its prohibitions. The Gentiles had no record of ever observing sabbath and there is no record of them being taught its importance to their salvation.
The Gentiles rejoice in the Resurrection, as do all Christians, something the Jews never even believed in nor accepted. While the first Christians were Jews, their attempt to make Gentiles become Judaized was roundly refuted and their requirements were minimal, as listed in several places in the NT: avoid food offered idols; no meat that had been strangled, and avoid fornication. Had they been expected to observe Sabbath, where is it found in the NT? All that has been stated has been based solely on assumptions, a very poor method to establish a rule if it it cannot be written but only simply "assumed." The Law given the Jews was not left to their "assumptions.
What was the "new covenant" that Jeremiah foretold if it was the same as the old covenant? What were the changes?
We are now servants "of a new covenant, not of the letter, but of the Spirit, for the letter kills, but the spirit give life. But if the ministry of death IN LETTERS ENGRAVED ON STONES CAME WITH GLORY…how shall the ministry of the Spirit fail to be even more with glory?" What is the ministry of death engraved on stones if not the the Decalogue?
Hi Elaine:
What were the changes? Good question. But can that be fully answered without asking a number of other questions?
WHY was a change needed, according to both Jer 31:31-34 and Heb 8:13?
WHAT LAW was Jeremiah talking about? Was it the Ceremonial Law? Was that the Law Israel had broken? Or was it primarily, if not entirely, the Ten Commandment Law that Israel had broken, not only by worhipping the golden calf, but repeatedly thereafter by worshipping other gods and in a multitude of other ways?
Would not Hebrews be talking about the SAME law as Jeremiah since it a direct quotation from Jeremiah?
If so, what was the problem with the Law? Was IT faulty (perhaps compare with Rom 8:3-4)?
Are a law and a covenant the same thing? If not, what is the difference? If there is a difference, how are covenantes related to law, and how are the two covenants related to the Ten Commandment Law?
What was the underlying problem with the Old Covenent (try looking at Deut 5:22-29), and how was the problem resolved in the New? Was it by changing the Law? Would cancelling the Ten Commandments and bringing back in nine to make a new law solve the problem pointed out by both Jeremiah and Hebrews? (Are there are really very many serious Christians who would quibble much about any of the ten except the fourth?)
What are the answers to these questions? Is it possible to give an adequate answer to the FIRST question (what changes were made) without answering these? What implications do the answers have on the answer to the first?
Hebrews declares the first covenant to be faulty ("For if that first covenant had been faultless there would have been no occasion sought for a second" (Heb. 8:7). Yes, Jeremiah is referring to the First Covenant where he clearly states that in the future, God will make a NEW COVENANT. How can an old covenant be identical to a new? "He takes away the first in order to establish the second." "For where a covenant is there must be of necessity for the death of the one who made it; for the covenant is valid only when men are dead, for it is is never in force while the one who made it lives." "Jesus has become the guarantee of a better covenant."
"But now we have been released from the Law, having died to that by which werd were bound" (Rom 7:6).
"The Lord our God made a covenant with us at Horeb. The Lord did not make this covenant with our fathers" (Deut. 5:2).
The Decalogue was given in Deut. 5 with important differences:
"Observe the sabbath day to keep it holy, as the Lord you God commanded you….And you shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God brought you out of there by a mighty hand and outstretched arm; therefore the Lord your God commanded you to observe the sabbath day" (Deut. 5:12-15).
Note the differences: in the Ex. 20 version the sabbath is to be remembered because in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth and rested on the seventh day; in the Deuteronomic version, creation is unmentioned, as they are to remember it because they were freed from slavery.
The Decalogue was part of the old covenant. The new covenant was made following Christ's death and resurrection which inaugurated a completely new system, unlike Judasim. No longer were only the Jews to be the chosen people; no longer was circumcision the first ceremony in Judaism; no longer was the Law to be the center of their lives as it had been previously. Jesus replaced the Law as the center of the Gospel which is why no longer were all the various sacrifices necessary. No longer were the Gentiles to be pagans and the Jews could not even eat with them. There were many changes, most particularly that Jesus said that to Love your neighbor fulfilled the Law. There was no mention of love in the Decalogue, so this was a major change delivered by Jesus.
The apostles, after the Resurrection, gave instructions that no longer was circumcision to be imposed upon Christians; no longer was there to be separate tables, but "to eat anything that is set before you, without asking questions for conscience sake."
Paul's letter to the Galatians is the most profund of all his writings that delineate the relationship between the Law and the Gospel. It is amazing that it can be read (with a veil covering the head?) and not understand clearly that now that faith has come we are no longer under the Law but are all sons of God and in his letter to the Ephesians, there are no longer Jews and Gentiles, free and slave, male and female, we are all one in Christ Jesus.
The Old Covenant given at Sinai has no possibility of Christ. The Jews had no prophetic vision of a Messiah. This came hundreds of years later.
Israel was designed to be a theocracy. The only theocratic governments today are ones no one would prefer to live under. All the laws in civilized nations prohibit stealing, lying, murder, and there is no need for a religious law that would duplicate these laws that predate Sinai by nearly a millennium. The first four can only apply to a theocracy, and surely, no U.S. citizens, or in first world nations, would prefer to live under a theocracy that designated a day of worship.
Fortunately, in the U.S. and most nations of the civilized world do not, nor propose religious laws, for which we all should be most thankful. Citizens are free to worship as they wish as long as it impinges on no other citizens.
As a physician I frequently worked on the Sabbath or if I didn't I was to tired to get real benefit
from it. It was only after I retired that I realized how much I missed out.
Retirement can be a time of reflection, but when life is busy there is often not the freedom to choose time off. Work gets in the way of many things. Is there another choice? Does a 5 or 6-day work week not offer at least one day off? If a person had an accident and was comatose for several days, he could not immediately know which day of the week it might be. Is there something specific about a particular calendar day that is so special?
How many people know that originally, there were no calendars, and the only indicators of seasons were the sun and moon? And the New moon was the "marker" for sabbaths? Each new moon started a new count of 7 days to the next sabbath, and by the 28th day, another sabbath, and it began all over again. It would be totally out of synch in less than two months of 28-30-and 31 days that we moderns adopted with the advent of the Babylonian calendar ca 360 A.D. Prior to that, all Jews calibrated a "seventh day" from "one new moon to another."
For those reading this old post who would like a vigorous refutation of this ancient canard about the Sabbath allegedly starting with the moon/month, see http://www.truthontheweb.org/shabbatu.htm
For another view see http://www.lunarsabbath.com/srticles/case4LBS.htm
http://www.ministersnewcovenant.org for a calendar new moons and weekly sabbaths.
What suggestion is offered for the Israelites to keep track of sabbaths if not the moon?
And why are there multiple texts with the close association of the new moon and sabbath? And the frequently quoted one is Isaiah were both the new moon and sabbaths will be celebrated in the new earth is insignificant "From new moon to new moon, and from sabbath to sabbath all mankind will come to bow down before me saith the Lord."
In Lev. 23 where all the important festivals are to be observed by the Israelites, they are all calculated by the month, and their months were calculated by the sabbath and the moon, which is only 28 days and not as calculated by our modern calendars. Many of these festivals relied on a number of days from the first of a month.
All of these special times were specifically dated by the month, and the moon designated a month.
This is only important for those who wish to observe the original sabbath given to the Israelites. Otherwise, one can use the calendar developed by Rabbi Hilel II in 360 A.D. after Constantine ordered the first day of the week as a rest day for the Roman Empire.
BTW, why should we want a refutation of what is written in the Bible and is historical record? This is of little or no importance to the millions of Christians who believe that Paul was telling the Gentile Christians that the Law was to be in effect only until Christ came and we are no longer the Law. Messianic Christians have a different view, as well as Adventists who believe that the Law has always been in effect from Eden to heaven(we need a Law and Sabbath when heaven in not in this earth time zone?
With all due respect-I'm stunned you apparently can't see the beauty in the simplicity of the symmetry of the word of God.
In Exodus-He is our Creator. In Deuteronomy, we observe Sabbath because he is our Redeemer who has delivered us from the bondage of spiritual Egypt. At Creation He kept the Sabbath. At the end of His work of redemption on the cross He kept the sabbath in the grave, even in death.
We keep Sabbath because He is both Creator and Redeemer. And it's the 7th day.
Spiritual things are spiritualy discerned.
Jesus died on the cruel cross of Calvary also for those who break the Sabbath and for those who openly trample on it as well as those who may disregard this Precept which we are called by the Almighty in the Ten Commandments to 'remember'. Obedience to God is a result of His wondrous power working in our lives by faith in Him through the Blood of Christ and sanctified by the indwelling Spirit – all this freely given to us by His steadfast Love, Mercy and incredible Grace. Jesus too was an 'even to even' Sabbath Keeper. Seventh-day Adventists therefore call the entire World to also join with Jesus in keeping the Sabbath Day Holy – by His Grace.