SDA Open Letter - Has the Sabbath always been in existence?

We continue on with the contents of the open letter that I wrote to the SDA leadership in Vanuatu.  

DOES THE SABBATH COMMANDMENT IN THE TEN COMMANDMENTS (EXODUS 20:8:11) SUPPORT GENESIS 2:2-3 IN CLAIMING THAT THE SABBATH HAS ALWAYS BEEN IN EXISTENCE?

As an SDA leader, you have no doubt preached to your congregation the importance of the Sabbath and how pivotal it is to the 10 commandments.  Of course you have to do this, otherwise you would not be called the Seventh Day Adventists, your membership may drop and you will lose your salary.  Your whole denomination relies on this point of difference, while in most other doctrines you share a common belief with most other denominations. 

As such I have heard spoken many times the commandment written in Exodus 20 regarding the Sabbath.

Exod 20:8-11 (NET)

(8)  “Remember the Sabbath day to set it apart as holy. 

(9)  For six days you may 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, you, or your son, or your daughter, or your male servant, or your female servant, or your cattle, or the resident foreigner who is in your gates. 

(11)  For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth and the sea and all that is in them, and he rested on the seventh day; therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and set it apart as holy. 

The first point you make is to emphasise the word “Remember.”  You claim that this proves that it has always been in existence.  

 Now I want you to consider the day that Vanuatu received independence from England and France.  I was not here then, but I could imagine that the late Primeminister Hon Fr Walter Lini and other founding fathers of this nation might have mentioned in their speeches to “Remember this Day.”   It is not saying that they should remember something that was, but as a command for the future, to remember the day when the Vanuatu flag was raised for the first time.  Of course, these days, the people of Vanuatu remember it on July 30^th – Independence Day.  That is only my thinking and the speculation about what Fr Lini did or did not say is trivial, so perhaps we cannot use Independence Celebrations to explain the Word of God like this, [Edit: Lini actually did not say "Remember this day" I place the concept here as an example.  You can find his address at pacificpolicy.org]  

But if we take what you say as Moses reminding them that they were to remember when God gave them the Sabbath before, then it must be in scripture.  You will point to Genesis 2:2-3 because Exodus 20:11 makes the connection.  However, if I scan the bible, I see that the first mention of the Sabbath occurs in Exodus 16 – When God gave the Israelites Manna.

We all know this story, the people complained about being hungry so God sent them Manna from heaven.  He gave them manna for 6 days then on the seventh day he did not give any.  Let’s look at the passage

Exod 16:23-27 (NET) [emphasis mine]

(23)  He said to them, “This is what the LORD has said: ‘Tomorrow is a time of cessation from work, a holy Sabbath to the LORD. Whatever you want to bake, bake today; whatever you want to boil, boil today; whatever is left put aside for yourselves to be kept until morning.’” 

(24)  So they put it aside until the morning, just as Moses had commanded, and it did not stink, nor were there any worms in it. 

(25)  Moses said, “Eat it today, for today is a Sabbath to the LORD; today you will not find it in the area. 

(26)  Six days you will gather it, but on the seventh day, the Sabbath, there will not be any.” 

(27)  On the seventh day some of the people went out to gather it, but they found nothing. 

This is the first mention of the Sabbath in the bible and the first time the Sabbath day is called the Seventh day.  Verse 23 shows that the Sabbath is a cessation from work.  You and I would agree with that since Sabbath means cessation, or rest.  In verse 25 (the day after verses 23 and 24) Moses explains again, “today is a Sabbath to the LORD,” and further explains that on the seventh day there would be no manna.

But notice something in verse 27.  It says that some people still went out to gather it but found nothing.   

Why I find this interesting, and please explain, why did they still go looking for manna on the Sabbath if you claim that since Adam, the Israelites observed the Sabbath?  Surely they knew that they had to rest because they were raised having observed the Sabbath in Egypt when in captivity, right?   Surely they would have known that to work on the Sabbath was punishable by death, so why did they do it?  Perhaps the only plausible reason is that this Sabbath law was a new concept and they did not understand.  Perhaps this is why Moses had to explain in great detail what was to happen and how they were to observe this new day.  It would also explain why, in the Ten Commandments, the first three commandments about mans’ relationship to God took 4 verses, the last six commandments dealing with mans’ relationship with Man took 6 verses while the Sabbath commandment alone takes 4 verses.  Perhaps new things need a better explanation?

Incidentally, the Sabbath instruction given in Chapter 16 is one week before the Ten Commandments were issued.

So if you still claim that the Sabbath Law has always existed and observed, how was it possible for the Israelite slaves to convince their Egyptian masters that they should have every Sabbath as a day of rest.  Slaves cannot demand a rest day, can they?  Furthermore, history shows that the Egyptians lived on a 10 day calendar, with three weeks making up a month and 12 months making a year.  So it was logistically impossible to observe the Sabbath anyway.  Yet why is this never stated in scripture that the Israelite slaves found it hard to observe the Sabbath of those 400 years in captivity.  Neither is it mentioned in Egyptian writings that the Hebrew slaves were in the annoying habit of observing the Sabbath. [Edit: And it may surprise you that the Israelite slaves did not build the pyramids as is often shown in storybook pictures.  They were contructed about 800 years before Joseph went there, followed by Israel's (Jacob's) family.]

Furthermore, can you please explain why it was that the Israelites were instructed by God to get ready to leave Egypt on the night of the Passover?  As you will know, the Passover is known as a high Sabbath.  It occurs along with the Feast of the Unleavened Bread.  God gave the instructions for the Passover and Feast of Unleavened Bread in Exodus 12 and said that they must eat dressed for travel and eat it in haste. (Ex 12:11).  So if the Sabbath law was in place in Egypt, why did God elect to force the Israelites to violate his eternal law at this time by making them be prepared to leave Egypt during a Sabbath?  One possible reason is that God placed the Sabbath on hold for a little time (but why is this not stated, and why didn’t Moses question God as to why he was to do this on the Sabbath and why does scripture again not explain this?), or the other reason is that there was no Sabbath Law then.   

Perhaps you can please explain these things to me. (to date I have yet to receive a reply...)

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