{"id":2238,"date":"2016-07-23T13:51:03","date_gmt":"2016-07-23T18:51:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thewaywesee.com\/religiondetoxnetwork\/?page_id=2238"},"modified":"2024-06-16T16:34:13","modified_gmt":"2024-06-16T21:34:13","slug":"fourth-commandment","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/thewaywesee.com\/religiondetoxnetwork\/mystery\/gods-written-word-and-gods-spoken-voice\/the-law\/fourth-commandment","title":{"rendered":"Fourth Commandment"},"content":{"rendered":"

STUDY TIP: Also read Sabbath, Fasting and Rest <\/a>and\u00a0Time: Hours, Days, Weeks and Ages.<\/a><\/p>\n

THE BIG PICTURE OF SEVEN<\/strong>
\nLike “Promised Land<\/a>” 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. Almost everyone, including people who are not religious, knows the basics of the Fourth Commandment because it has influenced their lives.<\/p>\n

Borrowing the religious practices\u00a0 of pagan sun-worship religions and Catholic influence, Christians moved their day of worship to the first day of the week (i.e. Sunday). <\/a>Most of the Christian world has adopted Sunday worship even though most non-Catholic religions do not agree with other Catholic beliefs and practices. World-wide, most countries observe a Monday – Friday work week with Saturday and Sunday off<\/a>. Even though Sunday, not the seventh day is the day of rest in most cultures (the exceptions are generally Islamic) there is general, world -wide acceptance of principles of a literal interpretation of the fourth commandment.<\/p>\n

For Christians, beginning with Catholicism, the Sabbath has been wrongly simplified to a command to take one day a week off from work and call it a day for religious worship, called the Lord’s Day, in honor of Jesus’ resurrection. Jews, on the other hand, have refined several scriptures regarding the Sabbath to create a complex pattern of religious laws<\/a> that define the Jewish religious culture.<\/p>\n

Here is the scripture that has had such an impact on the world:<\/p>\n

Exodus 20:8-11<\/a> “Remember\u00a0the sabbath day, to keep it holy. <\/span>9<\/span> “Six days you shall labor and do all your work, <\/span>10<\/span> but the seventh day is a sabbath of the LORD your God; in it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter, your male or your female servant * or your cattle or your sojourner who stays with you. <\/span>11<\/span> “4<\/sup>For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day; therefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day and made it holy. <\/span><\/p>\n

How do we as mere human mortals maintain holiness of something God has made holy? To understand what this means, we must study each verse and\u00a0 look at each word in each verse. This is what we must do if we are serious about accurately handling God’s words. If we do not study each word in each verse, we handle God’s words carelessly and inaccurately.<\/p>\n

EXODUS 20:8\u00a0 “Remember\u00a0the sabbath day, to keep it holy.<\/span><\/p>\n

COMMENTARY: We begin by looking at the words “to keep it holy<\/span>.” First, we must recognize that “to” and “it” do not appear in the original Hebrew text. These words were inserted by Bible editors to make the language readable in English. Then we must recognize that in the original Hebrew text, “ke<\/a><\/span>ep”\u00a0<\/a>and “holy”<\/a> are the same word “<\/span>Qadash.” In other words, Bible editors decided to translate the first Qadash as ke<\/a>ep<\/a>, and the second Qadash as holy<\/a>. This is an unfortunate and misleading editorial decision. The right way to translate the verse would have been:
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

Remember<\/a> sabbath<\/a> day <\/a>holy <\/a>holy.<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

By translating the first Qadash as “keep,” Bible translators changed the meaning of the command. By translating qadash as keep, Bible translators strongly implied that some effort was necessary by religious people. Remembering is an internal activity that does not require effort. To “keep” requires effort.<\/p>\n

So we must ask why Bible translators decided to translate the verse as “keep it holy” instead of “holy holy”? The answer is simple: Observing Sunday as the designated day of worship was an established Christian doctrine when the Bible was written. Saying “keep it holy” affirmed and reinforced Sunday worship. Writing “remember<\/a> sabbath<\/a> day <\/a>holy<\/a> holy” <\/a>would not affirm and reinforce Sunday worship. In other words, Bible editors were compelled to interpret the Hebrew text in ways that legitimized their religious doctrines and practices.<\/span><\/p>\n

STUDY TIP: See this link for more commentary on how Bible editors make editorial choices that change the meaning of scripture.<\/a><\/p>\n

We must also ask why God used the word Qadash two times. It is impossible to quantify or measure holiness. Holiness has no limit because God is holy and he has no limits. And yet, he accentuates his holiness by repeating qadash. Whenever God repeats himself, he does it to reinforce a truth he has already made. The truth here is that the sabbath day (i.e. season) is very holy. That should alert us to pay close attention to it, to understand it and apply it.<\/p>\n

Looking at the Hebrew word zakar<\/a> which is translated into English as “remember,” we see that it has many more meanings than remember.<\/p>\n