Question 67: What is forbidden in the fourth commandment?

Answer: The fourth commandment forbids dishonoring the Lord's Day by actions or thoughts that divert the soul from spiritual refreshment, or deprive the body of renewed energy or distract the mind from its special Sabbath focus on the Lord.

Question 68: What are the reasons attached to the fourth commandment?

Answer: The reasons attached to the fourth commandment are, God's creating the world in six days and resting on the seventh and his blessing the Sabbath day.

DAY 1: Dishonoring the Lord by failing to worship properly (Ezekiel 22:26; 23:38)

As we have seen in the past several lessons, we understand that the Lord’s Day is to be set apart from all the other six. Though we have seen that the issue of the time of transition from the Jewish Sabbath to the Lord’s Day did take place during the time that the New Testament was being written, we also saw that believers were instructed to be patient with each other during this transitional period for the sake of one another’s conscience (Rom. 14:5-6, pay special attention to that part in verse five). However, I must confess that in pondering the transitional period I can see how this would need to not be an area of contention. But now, 1900 years later it seems that the standard and pattern should be pretty well in order. This is where I am really frustrated in my understanding of Christians, and many of them believers for many years, turn to the Old Covenant pictures and types, such as the Jewish Sabbath and the feasts. While I can see some advantage in teaching children about Christ by using the pictures of the Old Testament to show how God was alluding to the Messiah who was to come, I do think to go back under them as what God has commanded of us shows that we don’t truly understand the substance, which is Christ. I fear this comes from a failure to teach people accurately from the Word of God and thus causes men to fall into either the mire or the ditch (a little Pilgrim’s Progress lingo).

I believe that my previous statement in the above paragraph is demonstrated in Ezekiel 22:26 and 23:38. Remember that Ezekiel is prophesying to the people during the time of their captivity in Babylon. There seems to be a constant harping upon the people’s failure to keep the things of God holy. This should tell us something in regards to what we do concerning the things of God. Ezekiel’s condemnation is that the people have violated (chamac khaw-mas’) God’s law. The term used here means “to wrong, do violence to, treat violently, do wrongly”. The people were twisting the law and bending it, so that in their minds they would not violate it, yet this was precisely what they were doing. We saw some of their perversions a couple of weeks ago concerning the Sabbath. The law of God soon became the trappings of men.

Ezekiel then goes on to tell them what the result of violating the law of God has been. He says they have profaned (chalal khaw-lal’) His holy things. Again, we have seen that this word means “to make common, profane, or dishonor”. The idea that is then carried over toward the end of the verse is that by treating the things of God as common and not holy and by dishonoring those things that God established, they were in fact causing the people around them to see God as just another God, to dishonor Him and even treat Him with contempt. Notice that they had not made known the difference between the clean and unclean and that they hid their eyes from God’s Sabbaths. The phrase of had not made known is the word yada‘ (yaw-dah’). The Hebrew stem for this word indicates that what is being spoken of has not been declared or taught or spoken of in order that one might become intimately familiar with. This word, yada, is that same term used of Adam in Genesis 4:1. Adam yada Eve and she conceived. There the term speaks of Adam gaining intimate knowledge of Eve through the physical sexual union. However the usage in Ezekiel is directed at those who were the priests and teachers of Israel. They failed to teach the people what God said, why He said it, and what the intent was for. Therefore the people did not discern what what acceptable for sacrifice (clean or unclean), nor would they understand what was prescribed in their dietary laws (clean or unclean) as well as the things of the moral law.

The phrase, “hid their eyes from my sabbaths” speaks to the fact that there was no correction going on. These leaders saw people bringing unacceptable sacrifices and, as we shall see, they knew the people were engaging in idolatry and other sins and yet they turned away from them, somehow thinking that they shouldn’t offend the people. However, did not exalt the Lord in their midst. The people also profaned the Sabbaths. Now this not only speaks to the weekly Sabbath, but also refers to the sabbaths or feasts established in the law of Moses. The people would not honor the Lord on those days that were set aside to do so as He had prescribed. Rather they used them for their own enjoyment or to somehow make themselves look more spiritual when in reality their hearts were far from the God who instituted them. I think this was demonstrated in the previous lessons in Isaiah 58.

Therefore, let me stress that keeping the Sabbath holy involves the heart. To be honest, before this study, I didn’t realize that this commandment was a matter of the heart. But what we see the people of Israel doing, and I do believe even the people of the New Testament church, is an outward depiction of what is internal. We, and when I say “we”, I mean me included, have taken lightly the fourth commandment and have failed to sanctify God in our hearts. We have despised the commandment, because somehow we fail to see the beauty of it and the glory of the God behind it. Therefore, we have profaned the Lord’s Day and have dishonored the God who is Lord of the Day. Let us seek out the Lord and see if He would be merciful and grant us repentance to honor Him on His Day!

As we move into chapter 23 of Ezekiel we find that God has not been on vacation, nor has He been blind to what His people have been doing. As a matter of fact, He is very aware of their ungodliness. He recognizes that they have played the harlot and committed adultery with the gods of the nations around them and even those who they have been taken captive by. For instance, He gives the story of Aholah & Aholibah. Each of these two “sisters” represent the people of Israel: Aholah, the ten northern tribes and Aholibah the southern tribes headed in Jerusalem. These proposed names of the division in the nation speak to how they were divided. Aholah means “her own tent” and Aholibah means "woman of the tent" or "the tent is in her". Remember that Jeroboam was the king of the northern tribes and that Rehoboam was the king of Judah. Jeroboam did not want his people’s hearts turned towards Jerusalem to worship because he feared that the people might go to Jerusalem and turn on him and kill him and follow after Rehoboam (1 Kings 12:25-27). So he built two golden calves and set them up before the people so they would not have to journey to Jerusalem (vs. 28). Now you would think that the people would have stopped to think about their forefathers and what happened to them when they did the same thing with only one golden calf. He even uses the same terminology that Aaron used to lead the people into idolatry (vs. 28b). And this ignorant people did just as their forefathers and sinned against the Lord through idolatry (vs. 30).

Ezekiel then presents with whom these people committed their spiritual adultery. Both kingdoms went “a whoring” (vs. 30) after the people and gods of the Assyrians (vss. 5-13) and the Chaldeans (vss. 14-21). They could not help themselves. They would rather have the love of a man made idol, which is nothing than the love of the living true God. Therefore, they were judged (22-34). Then in verse 38 God says that they have come from the worship of another god, presumably Molech, in which they offered their children in the fire and then proceeded to come into the sanctuary of God and participate in worship on the Sabbath and also during the feast times which were also called sabbaths. God says that when they did this they profaned those sabbaths. So I believe that it is safe to say that God is a jealous God for His own worship. He is not an idolator. No, God demands worship of Himself and anything that would detract our attention from the worship of the true God, especially on the day prescribed profanes that day. Therefore, we should be careful to guard our thoughts, actions, eyes and hands from anything that would be a temptation to sin against God on the Lord’s Day.

DAY 2: Work, Buying, and Selling Acceptable according to the 4^th commandment? (Nehemiah 13)

In today’s lesson I will try to be brief since I am writing “on the run” so to speak. We will hopefully engage the passage a little more this Lord’s Day.

The backdrop for the book of Nehemiah is the rebuilding of the city of Jerusalem following the release from the Babylonian captivity. Daniel had prophesied the rebuilding of the city in 9:25. There it seems to indicate that it will take 42 years to complete the rebuilding. Nehemiah was written almost 100 years after the book of Daniel. So we see in the book a fulfillment of prophesy. The people who were building were constantly being attacked and while they were building the walls of the city they would carry a sword in one hand and a trowel in the other hand (Neh. 4:13-18). This is where Spurgeon got his famous title for his magazine, “The Sword and the Trowel”.

So now there has been a wall of protection that was built and completed in 52 days (6:15-16). Now the rebuilding of the city would begin. However, as Nehemiah sees the worship of God he finds that many of the things that are to be observed on the Sabbath were not being observed. For instance the priests had gone their own way and had returned to their fields. The people had neglected to tithe and so the funds were not there to sustain the priests, so they had to go and provide for themselves. In chapter 12:44-47 we see that the people were engaged in taking care of the priests and the singers. However, when Nehemiah went back to Persia to report to the king (2:6) and returned, the people had forsaken these things and so they were not as before. Rather, the people had become complacent and had failed to do the things they were instructed to do, thus Nehemiah was deeply concerned and moved to warn the people of their evil. What was it that really got Nehemiah’s goat? Verses 15-16 tell us. The big deal here was that the people were not observing the Sabbath as the Lord had prescribed. Notice what these people were doing. They were treading the wine press on the Sabbath. This was not of necessity. They were not dying of thirst. This was work that was for profit which was forbidden. They were also bringing in sheaves. This meant they were harvesting their crops of wheat. Remember in our discussion of Jesus’ words we saw that to satisfy one’s hunger was not the issue. The issue was harvesting on the Sabbath. They also burdened their animals with their load of goods and brought them into the midst of Jerusalem so that they might sell them. This also was forbidden.

Verse 16 also tells us that the men of Tyre also came in with various goods and sold them on the Sabbath. Was it just a misunderstanding? Was there really any harm in doing such a thing? In Nehemiah’s evaluation there was and in verse 17 he lets the rulers know that what they have done by allowing these things to be performed on the Sabbath is an evil thing. The Septuagint seems to read “the evil”. Therefore, while the actions are condemned the force of the question is about the evil intentions behind the actions. He then reminds them of their forefathers who were taken into captivity in Babylon, by which the city that they were rebuilding was destroyed. They went into captivity for the very sins they were engaging in! Nehemiah goes on to say, “Yet you bring added wrath on Israel by profaning the Sabbath.” It was as if he is addressing them saying, “Are you testing to see if God is still watching? Don’t you know that you are kindling more wrath from God upon yourselves?”

Sometime before the start of the Sabbath, probably just before sunset on Friday night, Nehemiah commanded that the gates to the city be closed so that no one could enter. They could then be opened after the Sabbath (vs. 19). Though he did this and posted guards at the gates so that no one could bring in their wares to sell, the merchants and the sellers tried to get in. However, they were kept out one or two times and so they stayed outside the gates till they could get in (vs. 20). They obviously didn’t want their goods to spoil without being sold, so they waited. However, Nehemiah found them and warned them that if they came again there on the Sabbath that he would “lay hands on them”. It seems that Nehemiah had had it with their profaning of the Sabbath and was ready to kill them if they continued sinning and causing his people to sin. Therefore, they got the message and the Scripture tells us that they cam no more on the Sabbath.

Some things that are indicated briefly are the selling of goods, even provisions on the Sabbath. Even our sustenance should be something that should be purchased on another day. How hard is it for us to buy our food, clothes, and other things on another day? The answer is that it is not that hard, we just seek a time of convenience. This may also speak to what we have done in the past, even as a church. We need to repent of the purchase of food on the Lord’s Day. Also, there is the clear indication of selling, even of provisions. I do believe we could do without, for one day in seven, the market of capitalism. I think we would be benefited to rest that day and keep it holy unto the Lord. Also, one last thing is the work that was for profit as we saw before. All of these things are clearly dealt with here in this passage as well as many that we have previously discussed. I hope we will be able to share some of our convictions on this coming Lord’s Day.

Scripture: Exodus 20:9-11; 31:16,17; Genesis 2:2,3; Ezekiel 22:26; 23:38; Jeremiah 17:21; Nehemiah 13:15,17; Acts 20:7; Mark 2:23-28; Romans 14:5-6.