S
SDA2RC
Guest
Herry,The point which I wish to make is that the Sabbath is not exclusivly Jewish.
Good morning… You have made the point but you have failed to support it. Your claim is that the Sabbath is not exclusively Jewish… I would ask then, what other people group did God verbally pronounce the Sabbath command to? To my knowledge there were only Jews there! Furthermore, no Christian in the NT after the resurrection of Christ was ever commanded or instructed to observe the Sabbath. So… from SCRIPTURE… we have… No Sabbath reference before it was given to the Jews and no Sabbath command after the Christian church was established on the day of Pentecost and no evidence it was given to anyone but the Jews.
You claimed that the Sabbath was implemented at creation, but you still have not provided a verse that even mentions the Sabbath before Exodus. It appears yours is the position so far that is non-Biblical.
In addition, you have not dealt with the Jewish understanding that the Sabbath was only given to them. In fact, Jews NEVER expected Gentiles to keep the Sabbath. Notice the following passages from Adventist and Jewish sources:``The children of Noah…were given seven Laws only, the observance of the Sabbath not being among them’’ (Midrash Deuteronomy Rabbah 1:21 [Soncino ed., p. 23], as quoted in C. Mervyn Maxwell and P. Gerard Damsteegt, eds., Source Book for the History of Sabbath and Sunday [Berrien Springs, Mich.: Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary, 1992], p. 75).
The Noachian laws are also listed in Midrash Genesis Rabbah 16:6 (Soncino ed., p. 131), Sanhedrin 56 a, b; and Midrash Song of Songs Rabbah 1:2(5) (Soncino ed. pp. 26-7) (ibid., p. 74). Gentiles could be considered righteous if they observed these laws, which did not include the Sabbath. Nor did they include restrictions about pork. Rabbi Judah could say that there was a time for the ``sons of Jacob when unclean beasts were still permitted to them’’ (Hullin 7:6, as quoted in Maxwell and Damsteegt, p. 74
The rabbis did not think that the Sabbath had been given to Gentiles: ``Why does it say, `The Lord hath given you’’ (Ex. 16:29)? To you hath he given it [the Sabbath], but not to the heathen. It is in virtue of this that the Sages stated Sanh. 56b] that if some of the heathen observed the Sabbath, then not only do they not receive any reward [but they are even considered to be transgressing]’’ (Midrash Exodus Rabbah 25:11 [Soncino ed., p. 314], as quoted in Maxwell and Damsteegt, p. 74).
``A non-Jew who observes the Sabbath whilst he is uncircumcised incurs liability for the punishment of death. Why? Because non-Jews were not commanded concerning it… The Sabbath is a reunion between Israel and God, as it is said, `It is a sign between Me and the children of Israel’ (Ex. 31:17); therefore any non-Jew who, being uncircumcised, thrusts himself between them incurs the penalty of death… **The Gentiles have not been commanded to observe the Sabbath’’ **(Midrash Deuteronomy Rabbah 1:21 [Soncino ed., pp. 23-4], as quoted in Maxwell and Damsteegt, p. 75).
Further evidence of the antiquity of this rabbinic understanding comes from the second-century B.C. book of Jubilees:
**The Creator of all blessed it, but he did not sanctify any people or nations to keep the Sabbath thereon with the sole exception of Israel. **He granted to them alone that they might eat and drink and keep the Sabbath thereon upon the earth’’ (Jubilees 2:31, James Charlesworth, ed., The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha, [New York: Doubleday, 1985], vol. 2, p. 58).In Summary:
*You have failed to show that the Sabbath was instituted from scripture prior to the Exodus and hence given to the Jews.
*You have failed to explain why the Jews themselves believe the Sabbath was given only to them. *
*You have failed to explain why no one in first 2000 years or so of scripture was commanded to keep the Sabbath.
*You have failed to explain why the first words of the ten commandments were "'I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. You shall have no other gods before Me. " Who did God bring out of Egypt? Gentiles? Nope… Jews!!!
- You have failed to explain why we should believe that the Sabbath was instituted before the Exodus when scripture its self says: Deut 5:2-3 “The Lord our God made a covenant with us at Horeb. The Lord did not make this covenant with our fathers, but with us, with all those of us alive here today.”
- to be continued -
Brandon