What if you couldn’t sleep for the rest of your life? Torture!
The LORD offers Moses some good instruction for avoiding such a horror story:
“‘Above all you shall keep my Sabbaths … it is holy for you … Whoever does any work on it, that soul shall be cut off from among his people. Six days shall work be done, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest, holy to the LORD … Therefore the people of Israel shall keep the Sabbath … 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’” (Exodus 31:12-17 ESV).
At Sinai, the LORD speaks personally to All Israel, instructing His people to set aside the Sabbath as holy to Him. God does not announce penalties for violating any of the Ten Commandments. But when an Israelite gathers wood on the Sabbath, the Lord commands Moses to stone the man. The whole community casts stones (see Numbers 15:32-36). In this way, God teaches each person in community that the failure to rest can bring the Days of Noah upon All Creation. In fact, All Israel will be exiled for failing to observe 70 Sabbath years. God’s land requires rest, and gross human failure of oversight has universal consequences (see Leviticus 25:23).
Joshua leads All Israel back to God’s Land in a weekend. The manna stops, but the Land is alive with first fruits. Yet the author of Hebrews states that Joshua fails to give Sabbath rest for the people. Even King David, who finishes freeing all the land of Canaan from idolatry, fails to bring God’s rest. Finally, Hebrews extends this same responsibility to first-century believers, who fear persecution and fail to expect a double portion on day six (see Hebrews 2:15; 4:7-9, 11; cf. Exodus 16:22).
So what do you think? Here’s my advice: Work hard, run, be blessed to do double duty on day six, and then “Shabbat” with God on day seven.
© Jeffrey Enoch Feinberg. JEF says: Work hard, rest easy … and you’ll never burn out.
