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Commentary on "Lord of the Sabbath"
Day 4: Tuesday, February 14, 2012 - The Sabbath in Deuteronomy
Overview
The lesson accurately points out the SDAs largely ignore the description of the 10 commandments in Deuteronomy 5. The lesson does not expand beyond the Sabbath commandment, but there is another very important description in Deuteronomy that impacts the SDA claims about the Sabbath, and about the Ten Commandments in general.
The LORD our God made a covenant with us at Horeb. 3 The LORD did not make this covenant with our fathers, but with us, with all those of us alive here today. The LORD spoke to you face to face at the mountain from the midst of the fire... (Deut 5:2).
This is the introduction to the 10 commandments and it is clearly referencing the 10 commandments, because these were the only commandments that God gave by speaking face to face with the nation. Notice what it says, God "did not make this covenant (the Ten Commandments) with our fathers, but with us".
Observations
The lesson hints at a common SDA teaching when it discusses the "master and the servant" resting together. Often times the SDA view on the Sabbath is that man and God rest together on the Sabbath. That this was the time that God set aside to visit all day in the Garden of Eden. The lesson was smart to not outright repeat this error, but instead only hint at it.
If God is setting aside a special time of rest to be with His people, does God's rest extend for 2 days out of every 7? Or does God only rest during the hours that would be the Sabbath in Jerusalem? It simply doesn't work logistically. Nor does it work Scripturally, for Jesus claims that His Father is always working.
The lesson repeats the fallacy that Sabbath was instituted as a command at creation. The mindset being, that if you repeat something enough times people may start to believe it is true regardless of the evidence.
Copyright 2012 BibleStudiesForAdventists.com. All rights reserved. Revised February 10, 2012. This website is published by Life Assurance Ministries, Glendale, Arizona, USA, the publisher of Proclamation! Magazine. Contact email: BibleStudiesForAdventists@gmail.com.
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