Does the inclusion of the Sabbath prove that the Ten Commandments were for Israel alone?

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St. SteVen

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I dont feel an unction to obey all 600 of the rabinnical laws, but I do feel that it is at the very least a small show of repect to the Lord to keep the sabbath. So I do for the most part. It's a small thing for me.
What does that mean to you to keep the Sabbath?

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St. SteVen

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I remember this thread. I clicked on it and I'm listening to a teaching on a similar vein right now, and it gave me this scriputure:

Romans 2:12-15
12 When the Gentiles sin, they will be destroyed, even though they never had God’s written law. And the Jews, who do have God’s law, will be judged by that law when they fail to obey it.
13 For merely listening to the law doesn’t make us right with God. It is obeying the law that makes us right in his sight.
14 Even Gentiles, who do not have God’s written law, show that they know his law when they instinctively obey it, even without having heard it.
15 They demonstrate that God’s law is written in their hearts, for their own conscience and thoughts either accuse them or tell them they are doing right..../NLT
God's law is not the same as the law. (the 600+)


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MA2444

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What does that mean to you to keep the Sabbath?

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Uh-oh here we go, he's'a gonna take me to task for not doing it right, lol!

I dont go to work on the sabbath. (Ok I'm retired but still)
No housework, no grocery store trips, stay home and watch teaching videos, pray. Stay at home all day. I will cook something to eat, and feed the dog. take the dog out and all that.

Probably not the way orthodox Jewish peple observe it. I saw a video that explained that in Israel on the sabbath they have the Hotel elevators programmed to stop at every floor because they wont even push a button. So if in Israel on the sabbath you just walk up in front of the elevator and wait and eventually the doors open and you stop at every floor up to your room.

I went by Jesus words and keep the sabbath in a reasonable fashion because the Sabbath was made for man not man for the sabbath. And I'm cool with that, but I still acknowledge His Lordship on that day. So I may not not be observing it in an orthodox fashion but I am respectful to the Lord and do what my feeble self can.
 
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St. SteVen

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God never changes... God doesnt change.
How did you arrive at that conclusion?

Galatians 3:23-25 N IV
Before the coming of this faith,[a] we were held in custody under the law,
locked up until the faith that was to come would be revealed.
24 So the law was our guardian until Christ came that we might be justified by faith.
25 Now that this faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian.

Hebrews 7:12 NIV
12 For when the priesthood is changed, the law must be changed also. ...
18 The former regulation is set aside because it was weak and useless
19 (for the law made nothing perfect), and a better hope is introduced,
by which we draw near to God.

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quietthinker

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That's the question. What is the "origin, its purpose and the injunction to remember it."
That God is our source of life, the which Jesus gave both now and in eternity. He is the Creator and recreator.
Are you claiming the Israelites were to "remember" it after ten generations of neglect in Egypt?
I think the awareness of the Sabbath was never absent from the leaders and linage of folk who were God connected even while the masses were traumatised by their various oppressions.
The injunction to Remember the Sabbath day was not a direction or a command which came out of the blue so to speak. It was a gentle reminder of their origins and the rest which God initiated before any work was done. The 4th Commandment gives the reasons why they are to remember it. They were directed to the creation story.

Here it is from Exodus 20:8 ....The highlighted section in vs 11 being relevant......just so you don't need to look it up.

“Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 10 but 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 animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns. 11 For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day.Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.
 
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St. SteVen

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That God is our source of life, the which Jesus gave both now and in eternity. He is the Creator and recreator.

I think the awareness of the Sabbath was never absent from the leaders and linage of folk who were God connected even while the masses were traumatised by their various oppressions.
The injunction to Remember the Sabbath day was not a direction or a command which came out of the blue so to speak. It was a gentle reminder of their origins and the rest which God initiated before any work was done. The 4th Commandment gives the reasons why they are to remember it. They were directed to the creation story.

Here it is from Exodus 20:8 ....The highlighted section in vs 11 being relevant......just so you don't need to look it up.

“Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 10 but 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 animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns. 11 For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day.Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.
Thanks for your thoughtful and detailed response. It helps me to understand where you are coming from.
The second giving of the TCs is my go-to for a lot of these questions.

Compare.

Deuteronomy 5:12-15 NIV
“Observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy,
as the Lord your God has commanded you.
13 Six days you shall labor and do all your work,
14 but 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.
15 Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and that
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
.

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St. SteVen

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With all due respect, I'll take Jesus' words over yours.
LOL
Fair enough. Let's look at what he said.
Jesus is deconstructing the law again.

The Pharisees caught Jesus and his disciples in an obvious Sabbath law violation.
Collecting food on the Sabbath was a violation that goes all the way back to the Manna collection in Exodus chapter 16.

Jesus answered:
“Have you never read what David did when he and his companions were hungry and in need?
Thus implicating himself, not just his "companions". (disciples)

Continued answer:
In the days of Abiathar the high priest, he entered the house of God and ate the consecrated bread,
which is lawful only for priests to eat. And he also gave some to his companions.”
An admission that what David did was unlawful. Jesus is comparing his actions with David.

Conclusion:
“The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.”
This passage is not a declaration of the Sabbath being for all of humankind. It is a declaration that
the Sabbath is to serve those who observe it, not the other way around. Those who are hungry should
not be left to starve in order to serve the law.

Lifting verse 27 out-of-context is just what I said it was.
"... a popular but misdirected apologetic... that totally misses the point."

Mark 2:23-28 NIV
One Sabbath Jesus was going through the grainfields,
and as his disciples walked along, they began to pick some heads of grain.
24 The Pharisees said to him, “Look, why are they doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath?”
25 He answered, “Have you never read what David did when he and his companions were hungry and in need?
26 In the days of Abiathar the high priest, he entered the house of God and ate the consecrated bread,
which is lawful only for priests to eat. And he also gave some to his companions.”
27 Then he said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.
28 So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.”


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St. SteVen

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Fair enough. Let's look at what he said.
Jesus is deconstructing the law again.
For more on this subject, see...


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MA2444

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I agree.

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Yep, the sabbath was made for man and so I am at peace about it in my spirit because it's prolly more of a show of respect to God than anything else.

It isnt perfection that Jesus looks for in us. He knows we cant do anything without Him.
He looks at the intentions of our heart and our willingness to obey and to acknowledge Him as God and our Lord.

So I dont even have to learn 600 new laws, lol! Just love God and respect him in my heart.
 

St. SteVen

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Yep, the sabbath was made for man and so I am at peace about it in my spirit because it's prolly more of a show of respect to God than anything else.

It isnt perfection that Jesus looks for in us. He knows we cant do anything without Him.
He looks at the intentions of our heart and our willingness to obey and to acknowledge Him as God and our Lord.

So I dont even have to learn 600 new laws, lol! Just love God and respect him in my heart.
Thanks.
Here's something to consider.

Our God-given human conscience alerts us to the temptation to sin.
Have you ever felt the Holy Spirit conviction of sin regarding keeping the Sabbath?

I don't mean humans laying a guilt trip on you. But actual Holy Spirit conviction.

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St. SteVen

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- To whom were the Ten Commandments given?

Deuteronomy 5:3-4 NIV
It was not with our ancestors[a] that the Lord made this covenant,
but with us, with all of us who are alive here today.
4 The Lord spoke to you face to face out of the fire on the mountain.


- To whom was the Sabbath commandment given?

Exodus 31:13 NIV
“Say to the Israelites, ‘You must observe my Sabbaths.
This will be a sign between me and you for the generations to come,
so you may know that I am the Lord, who makes you holy.

Ezekiel 20:12 NIV
Also I gave them my Sabbaths as a sign between us,
so they would know that I the Lord made them holy.

Ezekiel 20:20 NIV
Keep my Sabbaths holy, that they may be a sign between us.
Then you will know that I am the Lord your God.”

--- MANNA and SABBATH ---

Here is the first appearance of the word "Sabbath" in the Bible.
There is no evidence that anyone observed the Sabbath given to the Israelites alone before this point.

Exodus 16:21-23 NIV
Each morning everyone gathered as much as they needed, and when the sun grew hot, it melted away.
22 On the sixth day, they gathered twice as much—two omers[a] for each person—
and the leaders of the community came and reported this to Moses.
23 He said to them, “This is what the Lord commanded:
Tomorrow is to be a day of sabbath rest, a holy sabbath to the Lord.
So bake what you want to bake and boil what you want to boil.
Save whatever is left and keep it until morning.’”

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Lambano

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giveitarest01_700.jpg

(This meme was published by an organization called "torahbytes.org". You can take it a couple of ways.)
 

Lambano

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Shabbat observance, along with circumcision and the kosher laws, was one of the issues Paul and James had to deal with during the uneasy process of grafting gentiles onto God's people. (Romans 11:16-24 allusion, for those of you keeping score at home.) Which parts of Torah are applicable to all God's people? If gentile believers can ignore Shabbat, can they ignore the one against adultery too? What about the ones against having other gods and making images? And historically, we've violated the one against murder all too often. For whatever reason, Paul took the stand he did, he won, and winners write the history books. This is one of the reasons cited why Jewish scholars today consider Paul to be an apostate Jew.
 
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Lambano

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I recently defended on this board the right of a Christian mother to have her family observe the Sabbath rest. (Working moms need all the rest they can get.) I've also defended those who consider Saturday the day to get things done. "Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind".

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St. SteVen

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From my perspective, God's law (human conscience) preceded the law (given by God through Moses to the Israelites alone).
God's law was, and still is, for all humankind. And now we have Christ's law in addition, to support God's law. (human conscience)
Again, the law was given by God through Moses to the Israelites alone. IMHO


Romans 5:13-14 NIV
To be sure, sin was in the world before the law was given,
but sin is not charged against anyone’s account where there is no law.
14 Nevertheless, death reigned from the time of Adam to the time of Moses,
even over those who did not sin by breaking a command,
as did Adam, who is a pattern of the one to come.

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St. SteVen

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I recently defended on this board the right of a Christian mother to have her family observe the Sabbath rest. (Working moms need all the rest they can get.)
I stand with you to defend the right of believers (or unbelievers for that matter) to observe the Sabbath if they so choose.
What I don't support is those who claim that those who choose not to observe Sabbath are violating "God's Holy Day."

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DuckieLady

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*ahem*

Colossians 2:16
Therefore let no one judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a feast, a New Moon, or a Sabbath.

Titus 3:9

But avoid foolish controversies and genealogies and arguments and quarrels about the law, because these are unprofitable and useless.

As a child, I put two cats in a room together thinking it would make be friendly and stop hissing. I came back later and both cats were still hissing - but from opposite sides of the room further away from one another- and this is what these debates and lack of acceptance towards one another is doing in your churches.

But you are acting worse than the cats, because you have the ability to change and you're still hissing by choice.