STUDY TIP: Also read Sabbath, Fasting and Rest.
THE BIG PICTURE OF SEVEN
Like “Promised Land” and “Land of Milk and Honey,” the Biblical concept of “Sabbath” has an enduring place in modern cultures even though it is not well understood by anyone — not even Christians or Jews. For Christians it has been wrongly dumbed down to taking one day a week off from work and calling it a day for worship. Jews, on the other hand, have refined a few scriptures regarding the Sabbath to create a complex pattern of religious do’s and don’ts that define the whole Jewish religious culture.
In this series of pages we will show where Jews and Christians have erred in their understanding of the seventh day in general and the Fourth Commandment in particular and try to explain their deep, complex meanings. We will begin by stating these two, basic facts:
| 1. Seventh Day is not a literal day of the calendar week. | |
| 2. The number seven and the concept of the seventh day appears throughout scripture. We find it as seven, seventh, seventy, or seven-fold four hundred and eighty-six times in the Old Testament and seventy-six times in the New Testament. It also appears as multiples of seven such as fourteen, twenty-one, seventy-seven, seventy times seven, seven hundred and seven thousand. From this quick review we clearly see that the number seven has significance far beyond the seventh day of the week. |
Of all Biblical symbols, the meaning of seven may be among those that are best understood. Almost everyone in Judaism and Christianity has learned that it has symbolic meaning commonly described as completion and perfection. That is a fair and accurate understanding as far as it goes, but the application of the concept of completion and perfection is where people stumble. For example, how are we to understand seven lambs, seven ears of grain, seven years of famine, seven loaves, seven days, seven clean animals and so on. It is good to know that the number refers to completion and perfection, but that does not mean much if the symbolism of lambs, years, days, animals and so on is not understood. Lacking that understanding, we remain confused about what exactly is completed and perfected.
AUTHORS’ NOTE: We discuss the symbolism of many Biblical topics that appear in conjunction with the number seven in the following pages.
| TOPICS | EXAMPLES IN SCRIPTURE WHERE TOPICS ARE ASSOCIATED WITH THE NUMBER SEVEN |
| Blood | Seven verses |
| Nations | Deuteronomy 7:1; Acts 13:17-19 |
| Clean Animals | Genesis 7:1-3 |
| Days | Ninety-two verses |
| Years | Forty-one verses |
| Churches | Revelation 1:11 |
| Altars | Four verses |
| Animal sacrifices | Four verses |
With this review of the symbolism of “seven” we begin to see hints that there is more to the Fourth Commandment than direction about when to take a day off from physical work and when to gather for religious meetings. To get to the depth of the Fourth Commandment, we must carefully consider all the other clues God has provided because God is not unintentional in his words. We conclude, therefore, that his use of seven in the above scriptures relates in some way to his use of seven in the Fourth Commandment. It all begins to come into focus when the number seven is combined with the concept of the Sabbath.
The Sabbath (Shabbat in Hebrew/Judaism) is mentioned often throughout the Bible. There are sixty entries in the KJV of Old/First Covenant Scriptures and fifty-five entries in the KJV of New Covenant scriptures. We might well imagine that it deserves this special attention because of its presence in the list of Ten Commandments as the Fourth Commandment, but once we delve into the spiritual meaning of the Sabbath, we find that it goes way beyond the one commandment. And we find that it is not about physical rest that bodies need after hard work.
Most readers will be surprised to learn that the Sabbath concept is first introduced in Genesis. We strongly recommend reading these pages before continuing with the current discussion of the Fourth Commandment because they provide necessary context.
In the creation story we find that the seventh day is the culmination of a series of symbolic, non-literal days in which God re-creates man from an Old/First Covenant religionist (i.e. earth) to a New Covenant disciple. By working with man as a potter works with clay, God transformed Adam into his spiritual image. In that restorative process, Adam’s heart is changed from spiritually void and empty to a suitable home for God.
AUTHORS’ NOTE: In the above paragraph we are reporting the short-hand summary of what we have written Land and Earth and in Cities, Kingdoms and Nations.
The next important context for understanding the Fourth Commandment is found in God’s commands regarding manna:
Exodus 16: They set out from Elim, and all the congregation of the people of Israel came to the wilderness of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after they had departed from the land of Egypt. 2 And the whole congregation of the people of Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness, 3 and said to them, “Would that we had died by the hand of the LORD in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the fleshpots and ate bread to the full; for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.”
4 Then the LORD said to Moses, “Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you; and the people shall go out and gather a day’s portion every day, that I may prove them, whether they will walk in my law or not. 5 On the sixth day, when they prepare what they bring in, it will be twice as much as they gather daily.” 6 So Moses and Aaron said to all the people of Israel, “At evening you shall know that it was the LORD who brought you out of the land of Egypt, 7 and in the morning you shall see the glory of the LORD, because he has heard your murmurings against the LORD. For what are we, that you murmur against us?” 8 And Moses said, “When the LORD gives you in the evening flesh to eat and in the morning bread to the full, because the LORD has heard your murmurings which you murmur against him–what are we? Your murmurings are not against us but against the LORD.”
9 And Moses said to Aaron, “Say to the whole congregation of the people of Israel, ‘Come near before the LORD, for he has heard your murmurings.'” 10 And as Aaron spoke to the whole congregation of the people of Israel, they looked toward the wilderness, and behold, the glory of the LORD appeared in the cloud. 11 And the LORD said to Moses, 12 “I have heard the murmurings of the people of Israel; say to them, ‘At twilight you shall eat flesh, and in the morning you shall be filled with bread; then you shall know that I am the LORD your God.'” 13 In the evening quails came up and covered the camp; and in the morning dew lay round about the camp. 14 And when the dew had gone up, there was on the face of the wilderness a fine, flake-like thing, fine as hoarfrost on the ground. 15 When the people of Israel saw it, they said to one another, “What is it?” For they did not know what it was. And Moses said to them, “It is the bread which the LORD has given you to eat. 16 This is what the LORD has commanded: ‘Gather of it, every man of you, as much as he can eat; you shall take an omer apiece, according to the number of the persons whom each of you has in his tent.'” 17 And the people of Israel did so; they gathered, some more, some less. 18 But when they measured it with an omer, he that gathered much had nothing over, and he that gathered little had no lack; each gathered according to what he could eat.
19 And Moses said to them, “Let no man leave any of it till the morning.” 20 But they did not listen to Moses; some left part of it till the morning, and it bred worms and became foul; and Moses was angry with them. 21 Morning by morning they gathered it, each as much as he could eat; but when the sun grew hot, it melted. 22 On the sixth day they gathered twice as much bread, two omers apiece; and when all the leaders of the congregation came and told Moses, 23 he said to them, “This is what the LORD has commanded: ‘Tomorrow is a day of solemn rest, a holy sabbath to the LORD; bake what you will bake and boil what you will boil, and all that is left over lay by to be kept till the morning.'” 24 So they laid it by till the morning, as Moses bade them; and it did not become foul, and there were no 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 field. 26 Six days you shall gather it; but on the seventh day, which is a sabbath, there will be none.”
27 On the seventh day some of the people went out to gather, and they found none. 28 And the LORD said to Moses, “How long do you refuse to keep my commandments and my laws? 29 See! The LORD has given you the Sabbath, therefore on the sixth day he gives you bread for two days; remain every man of you in his place, let no man go out of his place on the seventh day.” 30 So the people rested on the seventh day.
31 Now the house of Israel called its name manna; it was like coriander seed, white, and the taste of it was like wafers made with honey. 32 And Moses said, “This is what the LORD has commanded: ‘Let an omer of it be kept throughout your generations, that they may see the bread with which I fed you in the wilderness, when I brought you out of the land of Egypt.'” 33 And Moses said to Aaron, “Take a jar, and put an omer of manna in it, and place it before the LORD, to be kept throughout your generations.” 34 As the LORD commanded Moses, so Aaron placed it before the testimony, to be kept. 35 And the people of Israel ate the manna forty years, till they came to a habitable land; they ate the manna, till they came to the border of the land of Canaan. 36 (An omer is the tenth part of an ephah.)
COMMENTARY: Manna symbolizes the word of God spoken to the hearts of New Covenant disciples. Israel was busy with Old/First Covenant religion for the first six days (i.e. and indeterminate length of time) but are now in the Seventh Day/Sabbath season of their life in which they do no more religious work (i.e. they are at rest).
Entering into the Promised Land symbolizes coming into the Sabbath rest. While they were traveling in the wilderness, they worked for their manna by picking it up everyday. The omer of manna in a jar place before the Lord symbolizes the law written on the hearts of New Covenant disciples. Thus when they entered the Promised Land it was no longer necessary for them to pick up manna everyday because they had an eternal supply of Gods’ word stored up in their hearts.
See Bread, Food and Wine for more about manna.