Charles Ellicott Commentary Deuteronomy 5:12-15

"Observe the sabbath day, to keep it holy, as Jehovah thy God commanded thee. Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work; but the seventh day is a sabbath unto Jehovah thy God: [in it] thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, nor thy man-servant, nor thy maid-servant, nor thine ox, nor thine ass, nor any of thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates; that thy man-servant and thy maid-servant may rest as well as thou. And thou shalt remember that thou wast a servant in the land of Egypt, and Jehovah thy God brought thee out thence by a mighty hand and by an outstretched arm: therefore Jehovah thy God commanded thee to keep the sabbath day." — Deuteronomy 5:12-15 (ASV)

The language of this commandment is identical with the form it takes in Exodus only as far as the 13th and 14th verses are concerned; and even here, the special mention of the ox and the donkey is confined to Deuteronomy. The introduction and the conclusion of the command, which provide its reason, are different here. The reason drawn from the creation is not mentioned; the reason drawn from the exodus is. This fact illustrates the observation that in Deuteronomy we find “the Gospel of the Pentateuch.” If, for the exodus of Israel, we substitute “the exodus of Christ, which He accomplished at Jerusalem,” not so much by His death as by His resurrection, we have a reason for keeping not the Sabbath, but the Lord’s Day.

It is worthwhile to observe that the Israelites had express authority to enforce the observance of the Sabbath upon Gentiles, when these could be regarded as “strangers within their gates.” The words of Isaiah 56:6 seem to show that strangers who took hold of the covenant of Jehovah were expected to keep His sabbath from polluting it. For an example of its enforcement, see Nehemiah 13:16, 20-21.

If any difficulty is felt concerning the variation of the form of the commandment from that in Exodus, it should be observed:

1. That the command itself is not altered, as is apparent from Deuteronomy 5:13-14, compared with Exodus 20:9-10;
2. That in this exhortation Moses calls Israel to hear the statutes and judgments which he, as their mediator, commands them, and he is free to enforce them by such reasons as seem to him best.