What does Exodus 20:8-11 mean, and why is it sung as “Sabbath Morning”?
Tractor Staff asked 3 weeks ago
I’ve been listening to the scripture song “Sabbath Morning,” which sings the words of Exodus 20:8-11. Who spoke these words, when were they given, and what do they mean for us today?
Tractor Staff answered 3 weeks ago
“Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: 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: 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.” (Exodus 20:8-11, KJV)
Who spoke it, and when. This is the fourth of the Ten Commandments. It did not come through a prophet in the usual way: “God spake all these words” (Exodus 20:1), aloud, to the whole nation gathered at Mount Sinai in the third month after Israel left Egypt (Exodus 19:1). Moses later recalled that God spoke “out of the midst of the fire” and then “wrote them in two tables of stone” (Deuteronomy 5:22).
Who it was for. The people hearing it had just come out of slavery. The commandment gives rest to everyone in the household: sons and daughters, servants, the stranger, even the animals.
What it means. It begins with “Remember,” which points backward. The reason it gives is creation itself: God made the world in six days, rested on the seventh, and blessed that day (compare Genesis 2:2-3). The Sabbath also appears before Sinai, when the manna fell (Exodus 16), and Jesus said “The sabbath was made for man” (Mark 2:27). For more, see Is the Sabbath still relevant today, or was it just for ancient Israel?
Why sing it. God told Moses to put His words into a song and “teach it the children of Israel: put it in their mouths” (Deuteronomy 31:19). A verse that is sung is a verse remembered, which suits a commandment that begins with “Remember.”
Listen: Sabbath Morning (Exodus 20:8-11) · More Sabbath music
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