The Meaning of the Word, the Covenantal God, and the Covenantal Man

(Richard Bacon, Wednesday, August 23, 2000)

Dear Ted,

I don't think we are disagreed at any fundamental point on your first post. There are some things that I would perhaps express differently, but I think we agree that while expressions *can* make a difference they don't always do so. I would like to add just a bit in beginning about the word itself and the institution. I believe that the Sabbath was indeed instituted in Eden, the paradise of God, at the creation. However, I also think he did so for two reasons: who man is and who God is. Let us begin with the word.

1. Linguistic Considerations

It seems that whatever etymological reasons there may be for comparing the Hebrew *shabbath* to the Babylonian *sha-patu* or *shab-batu,* the etymology has little to do with the actual origin of the institution. The Babylonian *sha-patu* was never applied to a seven day cycle, but only to the fifteenth of an intercalary month that was used to bring the solar and lunar calendars back into alignment every three years. Rather, the Babylonians did seem to know of the commandment to keep the Sabbath, but called the seventh day *u-hul-zallum*. This similarity is much more likely to have arisen from pagan distortions of the truth of God after God confounded the human language into numerous languages subsequent to rebellious mankind together building the tower of Babel.

The more immediate deduction of the Hebrew noun *shabbath* is from an intensive form of a related verb *shabath*. This too may be from an earlier verb *shabbetheth* (to rest). In their standard lexicon Koehler and Baumgartner record that the verb stem *sh-b-th* occurs 101 times in the OT. The variously give the meaning of the verb as "cease," "rest," "stop," "cease working," "keep the Sabbath," etc. in the Qal binyan; as "be stopped," "disappear," "caused to cease," in the Niphal; and as "put an end to," "cause to cease," "cause to cease to work," "make to rest from," "be cause to cease," etc. in the Hiphil binyan. The noun form and its derivatives are translated variously as "(yom) hashshabbath" (the day of rest=the Sabbath), "shabbathon" (sabbath feast), "shabbath shabbathon" (most solemn sabbath), and "shebeth" (quiet inaction).

Gesenius similarly gives the primary meaning of the verb *shabath* in his lexicon as "to sit down, to sit still"; and thence "to cease, desist, leave off," to "celebrate the Sabbath," to "cause to rest or to cease," and to "remove , to take away." He translates the noun *shabbath* as "cessation, a ceasing," hence "idleness, inactivity, interruption of work, time lost."

The immediate and prevailing use of the word *shabbath* is, then, "(the day of) rest." It is immediately derived from the verb *shabath* (to rest) and probably further back from the noun *shabbetheth* (rest). Significantly also for our study, the word a few centuries before Christ found its way into the Greek language via the diaspora of Jews. There in the imperial languages of Greece and Rome it became known as *ta sabbata* and later as *to sabbaton* in Greek and *sabbatum* in Latin.

2. The Sabbath and the Triune God

If rest or restfulness is the dominant characteristic of the word "sabbath," aseity or absolute independence is the absolute characteristic of the Lord God. As the only Independent Being, the Lord alone could eternally and absolutely "sabbath" in his own perfection throughout eternity before time began and before creation was. Prior to the creation of the heavens and earth in Genesis 1:1, the Lord existed as an eternal and immutable Being and was ever contemplatively at rest within himself and with his eternal counsels.

Man, at his very creation, was made the image of God (Gen. 1:26ff) and was therefore made to be both a working creature, for God worked in the six days of creation, and also a resting creature, for God rested on the seventh day after six days of creative activity (Gen. 2:1ff). This anticipates the fourth commandment received at Sinai, for there the commandment to remember the Sabbath is combined with the commandment "six days shalt thou labor."

God is a covenant God -- he is both one and three, though not in the same way. He has a plurality of persons and yet a single subsistence. From all eternity, then, the three persons of the triune God covenantally loved one another (John 17). This notional love expresses the covenantal relationship that the three persons have always enjoyed. So also, in the creation and redemption of man, this covenantal relationship can be seen, for the Father covenanted to create the world in spite of Adam's foreseen fall, the Son covenanted to incarnate himself and redeem the race of man, and the Holy Spirit covenanted to call men to Christ in due season.

3. The Sabbath and the Covenant with Adam

God created Adam in perfect holiness, righteousness, and knowledge (Col. 3:10 cf. Eph. 4:24) with life, or as a living soul. As such, Adam had a life that was forfeitable should he eat of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (Gen. 2:17). On the other hand, so long as Adam continued to obey God's voice and "rest" in his commandments, he would live and fellowship with God in covenantal communion with him. Though there was a negative aspect to this covenantal life ("in the day thou eatest thereof, dying thou shalt die"), there was a positive aspect as well. Adam was to work on the earth, subduing it to God's glory in his calling as a tiller and keeper (guardian) of the garden. But that work was to follow God's own revealed work activity of being followed by rest. The punishment for Adam's disobedience was to be restlessness (cp. Rev. 14:11), but the reward for his obedience was true rest in both a physical and spiritual sense (cp. Heb. 4:4-11 cf. Rev. 14:13) and that rest has been characterized in Scripture as "God's rest" (Psa. 95:11).

Whether we have some particular name for the covenant made with Adam or not, it is clear that God had a pact with Adam by which he shared at a creaturely level his own covenantal life and rest, of purposeful activity and perfect peace. And it is clear also that there was a *sign* of that covenantal relationship in the garden. Perhaps we shall have opportunity in future posts to demonstrate the intimate relationship between the Sabbath rest and assigned works, but for now, but something at least should be said now.

Like the "test prohibition" of eating the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, the Sabbath is intimately related to to the moral law that was given to Adam for his obedience. Adam was to fellowship with the one true God (cf. 1st commandment), he was to obey him (2nd commandment), his covenant was sworn by God (3rd commandment), his was given a weekly rest which foreshadowed an eternal rest (4th commandment), he was given a fatherly prohibition (5th commandment), death was threatened as the result of disobedience (6th commandment), God gave a wife to Adam (7th commandment), it regulated labor and thence the fruit of labor (8th commandment), Adam was required to believe God's true witness and reject the serpent's false witness (9th commandment), and finally Adam was required to be content with the things of God (10th commandment).

In the Ten Commandments (ten words), the Sabbath bridges the two tables, which tables deal respectively with man's duty toward God directly in the first table and indirectly in his dealings with his fellow man in the second table (Matth. 22:37-40). In the deuteronomic version of the decalogue, it is *the* commandment which describes one's duties toward both God and man. In Colossians it is described as a *shadow of Christ himself,* who was to come, who is himself both God and man! When on earth, Christ kept the Sabbath by worshipping God in the synagogues and performing works of mercy for man, hence using it to reconcile God and man. On the new earth, the Sabbath will culminate, signifying the true entrance and the final entrance of man into the eternal rest of God. As Ezekiel rightly pointed out, the Sabbath is and always has been a sign of the covenant between God and man (Ezek. 20:12f. cf. Deut. 5:12-15; Col. 2:9-16; John 5:9; etc.).

I have attached a table of Scripture references in PDF format. Ted, if your correspondents would like to read the table, they can download the Adobe Acrobat reader for free from http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep.html and depending upon their computer it is available for different operating systems and computers. Thus, it is pretty much a machine-independent file. The Scripture references are designed to demonstrate that God's moral law (including the fourth as well as the other nine commandments) is actually nothing more or less than a reflection of his own character and (communicable) attributes.

Ted, I would love to have the time to be able to write a tomb on the subject, but one of the advantages of email (and perhaps it is also one of its disadvantages as well) is that we can write things in sections. I hope to have time later this week, but I may not have. Nevertheless, please do not interpret my sporadic posting as a sign that I have lost interest in the subject. I do work six days a week, and on that blessed Sabbath I rest -- I do not engage in activities other than those of rest, worship, and mercy on that day. So, please understand that I prefer a slow read and a slow study so we can both tend to the other affairs of our lives.