IV. THE FOURTH COMMANDMENT, INCLUDED BUT SEPARATE FROM THE CEREMONIAL LAWS
LEVITICUS 23:
- 3 "Six days shall work be done: but the seventh day is the sabbath of rest, an holy convocation; ye shall do no work therein: it is the sabbath of the Lord in all your dwellings."
- NOTE:
- This is a repeat of the fourth commandment given at Mount Sinai.
LEVITICUS 23:
- 24 "Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, In the seventh month, in the first day of the month, shall ye have a sabbath, a memorial of blowing of trumpets, an holy convocation."
- 27 "Also on the tenth day of this seventh month there shall be a day of atonement: it shall be an holy convocation unto you; and ye shall afflict your souls, and offer an offering made by fire unto the Lord."
- 32 "It shall be unto you a sabbath of rest, and ye shall afflict your souls: in the ninth day of the month at even, from even unto even, shall ye celebrate your sabbath."
- 39 "Also in the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when ye have gathered in the fruit of the land, ye shall keep a feast unto the Lord seven days: on the first day shall be a sabbath, and on the eighth day shall be a sabbath."
- NOTE:
- In addition to the weekly Sabbath (verses 3,11,15 and 16) there were other ceremonial Sabbaths that floated on the calendar and fell on any day of the week. For instance, the fifteenth day of the seventh month might fall on Tuesday this year and on Wednesday next year.
- In the twenty-third chapter of Leviticus, there are several ceremonial Sabbaths mentioned. These are part of a program that God set up to help the children of Israel understand and remember that He was going to come and be slain like a lamb on the altar. Because these Sabbaths and other feasts pointed to the death of Christ on the cross; they were fulfilled and ended at that time. These are the Sabbaths referred to in COLOSSIANS 2:16 because, verse 17 says, they "are a shadow of things to come."
- COLOSSIANS 2:
- 16 "Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days:"
- 17 "Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ."
- The fourth commandment is a memorial of creation and in no way points to the death of Christ and is not a shadow of anything to come.
The sabbath was given and practiced before man's fall to sin. The ceremonial laws were given after man's fall; they were not needed before sin.
- Paul devotes the whole book of Galatians to the problem of circumcision, a part of the ceremonial laws. Would not he have spent at least some time on a part of the Ten Commandments if it had been done away with also?
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