In the previous post I wrote about the first four rules out of the seven for keeping the Biblical Sabbath Holy. In this article I will continue to explain the last 3 rules for keeping the Biblical Sabbath holy. The final three rules are: no kindling a fire, working for wages and waging war.
Rule 5: No Kindling Fire on The Sabbath
Fire Is awesome; we cook with it and it keeps us warm. It’s one of the five elements that sustains life. So why would The Most High God put restrictions on making fire? Unlike other elements, fire is the hardest to obtain. If you ever tried to make fire you understand the type of rigorous motion it takes to produce the first spark.
Exodus 35:3 “Ye shall kindle no fire throughout your habitations upon the Sabbath day.”
Fire requires a lot of work to create. Naturally it’s made by rubbing sticks together, striking rocks and flint rods. Other easier methods of making fire include lighters, matches and gas stoves which are not nearly as intensive. The Most High God is talking about the primitive style of rubbing two sticks together. There are ways for working around this rule since having fire, especially living primitively, is essential for survival. In the book of Leviticus, the Israelites were commanded to create a continually burning fire upon the altar. This fire was necessary for the Levites to execute their priestly jobs properly. They had to prepare burnt offerings for The Most High God.
Continual Fire.
Leviticus 6: 13 “The fire shall ever be burning upon the altar; it shall never go out.”
This continual fire is equivalent to microwaves, electric stoves, and lighters that we have in modern society. These forms of creating fire or heat for cooking are extremely easy and require little to no work. Except using a lighter would be my last resort because it is closest to actually kindling a fire with your fingers. Microwaves and stoves already have a continual fire within the machine that causes it to heat up. If you are living off the land, keep a candle lit before Friday sundown to preserve your fire for the Sabbath day.
You could use this method for grilling out on your back porch on the Sabbath as well (if necessary). I suggest using tall glass candles, soy wax candles, and survival candles that can stay lit for up to 55 hours. You could also use a “Candle by The Our” candle, this brand can stay lit for up to 160 hours. These can come in handy for people during times with no electricity like sudden power outages.It’s a good idea to try to make it a habit of lighting a candle before nightfall Friday and blowing it out nightfall Saturday just so that you start to remember why this act is important according to scripture.
Rule 6: No Working For Wages.
Exodus 20: 8-11 “
8 Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.
9 Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work:
10 But the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates:
11 For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.
As you can see in the book of Exodus we think of actual physical work but we don’t readily think of working to gain money, or at least I don’t. However, the prophet Nehemiah writes about this rule.
The Prophet Nehemiah and The Sabbath.
Nehemiah 10: 31 “ And if the people of the land bring ware or any victuals on the sabbath day to sell, that we would not buy it of them on the sabbath, or on the holy day: and that we would leave the seventh year, and the exaction of every debt.”
Nehemiah was apparently reading through the books of the law and saw the rule of no working for wages. This may be so because of a translation error from ancient Hebrew to Aramaic, Greek, Latin and now English. However Nehemiah clearly saw that it was against the Biblical law to buy or sell on the Sabbath. They did not excuse themselves of paying the charges on items or goods used without payments on the Sabbath. This went down as a type of credit paid out in the seventh year.
We are not able to withhold money from sellers on the Sabbath, but say there is an emergency where you have to buy, it would be best to use a credit card instead. We’ll talk of this more when we get into new testament scriptures. Nehemiah 13: 15-22 Jeremiah 17: 21-27
Employer and Wages.
We are offering a service to an employer for a set charge an hour, weekly, biweekly, monthly or annually. This is unlawful to do on the Sabbath. The employer is the master and the employee is the servant in equivalence to the law in Exodus 20: 10. Employers ought to give their employees rights not to work on the Sabbath. Employees should make an effort to explain to their employers why they do not need to work on the Sabbath. Both the employer and the employee are sinners today according to the Biblical law.
To fix this both parties must make an effort to excuse work on the Sabbath. This takes discipline, courage and consistency. Most companies make the best earnings on the Sabbath, this is usually the reason why they refuse to allow Sabbath day exemptions.
Rule 7: No Waging War.
War is a terrible thing to think about and it should be obvious that we shouldn’t wage war on the Sabbath. We are engaged in all sorts of hate, sadness and despair while fighting a war. This couldn’t be any less harmonious. What if you’re being attacked? What if your life’s on the line and your family is about to die because someone is waging war on you? Do you just sit there and die because it’s the Sabbath? No! You finish the war! No sinner gets to run up on you like that. Let him/her know, this is the Sabbath. We can handle our dispute any other day of the week but not today. At least that’s how Judas Maccabees felt about it.
Judas Maccabees and The Sabbath
Judas Maccabees is a Biblical historical figure who had lived during a war with Antiochus Epiphanes who sought to Hellenize the Israelites around 145 BC. This document is not found in the Canon Bible that most people have, he’s written about in the Apocryphal book of Maccabees. The word Apocrypha means secret or kept hidden in its Greek etymology not like the English definition. This book was kept secret because it reveals very important historical elements that ties the Bible together. One of those elements is the last law of the Sabbath of no waging war.
1 Maccabees 2: 32 KjV.
32 They pursued after them a great number, and having overtaken them, they camped against them, and made war against them on the Sabbath day.
33 And they said unto them, Let that which ye have done hitherto suffice; come forth, and do according to the commandment of the king, and ye shall live.
34 But they said, We will not come forth, neither will we do the king’s commandment, to profane the sabbath day.
36 Howbeit they answered them not, neither cast they a stone at them, nor stopped the places where they lay hid;
35 So then they gave them the battle with all speed.
37 But said, Let us die all in our innocency: heaven and earth will testify for us, that ye put us to death wrongfully.
38 So they rose up against them in battle on the Sabbath, and they slew them, with their wives and children and their cattle, to the number of a thousand people.
39 Now when Mattathias and his friends understood hereof, they mourned for them right sore.
40 And one of them said to another, If we all do as our brethren have done, and fight not for our lives and laws against the heathen, they will now quickly root us out of the earth.
41 At that time therefore they decreed, saying, Whosoever shall come to make battle with us on the Sabbath day, we will fight against him; neither will we die all, as our brethren that were murdered im the secret places.”
The main take is that it’s Biblically lawful to run for your life and defend yourself on the Sabbath day. We can defend ourselves but we cannot kill anyone in the midst of it. Remember that “vengeance is mine saith the lord”.
Conclusion.
That sums up all of the rules of how to keep the Sabbath day holy. At first, these rules may seem difficult to do or unnecessary. I assure you that if you try them you will get used to it and eventually enjoy the Sabbath. . In the mean while the next post will be writing about is whether or not Christ abolished the Sabbath.