John Calvin Commentary Exodus 20:8

"Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy." — Exodus 20:8 (ASV)

Remember the Sabbath-day. The object of this Commandment is that believers should exercise themselves in the worship of God, for we know how prone people are to fall into indifference unless they have some supports to lean on or some stimulants to arouse them in maintaining their care and zeal for religion.

Under the Second Commandment, we have already indeed made some remarks on the outward profession of piety, and under the First, brief mention has also been made of some festivals, since in the Passover and the offering of the first-fruits the people devoted themselves to God, as if by a solemn repetition of the covenant. Many also of the ceremonies which we have explained had an affinity to the Sabbath.

Yet it is not without good cause that God has appointed a special place to the Sabbath as well as to the other festivals. Although there is a connection between the observance of the Sabbath and the tabernacle with its sacrifices, and the priesthood itself, still it was intentionally done that the festivals should be separately appointed, so that by their aid the people might be more encouraged to maintain the unity of the faith and to preserve the harmony of the Church.

Meanwhile, the mutual connection between the sanctuary and the Sabbath is evident from what has already been said. God indeed would have it to be a notable symbol of distinction between the Jews and heathen nations. From this, too, the devil, in order to slander pure and holy religion, has often misrepresented the Jewish Sabbath through perverse tongues.

But the better to show what is peculiar in this Commandment, and what its difference is from the First, we must remember the spiritual substance of the type. For not only did God prescribe certain days for holding assemblies, in which the people might give attention to sacrifices, prayers, and the celebration of His praise, but He also placed before their eyes, as the perfection of sanctity, that they should all cease from their works.

Surely God has no delight in idleness and sloth, and therefore there was no importance in the simple cessation of the labors of their hands and feet; indeed, it would have been a childish superstition to rest with no other view than to occupy their repose in the service of God.³²⁹

Therefore, so that we do not make any mistake in the meaning of this Commandment, it is well to remember its analogy and conformity with the thing it signifies; i.e., that the Jews might know that their lives could not be approved by God unless, by ceasing from their own works, they should divest themselves of their reason, counsels, and all the feelings and affections of the flesh.

For they were not forbidden without exception from the performance of every work, since they were required both to circumcise their children, and to bring the victims into the court, and to offer them in sacrifice on that day. They were only called away from their own works, so that, as if dead to themselves and to the world, they might wholly devote themselves to God.

Therefore, since God declares elsewhere by Moses, and again by Ezekiel, that the Sabbath is a sign between Him and the Jews that He sanctifies them (Ezekiel 31:13; Ezekiel 20:12), we must see what is the sum of this sanctification: namely, the death of the flesh, when people deny themselves and renounce their earthly nature, so that they may be ruled and guided by the Spirit of God.

Although this is sufficiently plain, it will still be worthwhile to confirm it with further statements. First of all, Paul clearly teaches that this was a ceremonial precept, calling it a shadow of these things, the body of which is only Christ (Colossians 2:17). But if the outward rest was nothing but a ceremony, the substance of which must be sought in Christ, it now remains to be considered how Christ actually exhibited what was then prefigured. This the same Apostle declares when he states that our old man is crucified with Christ, and that we are buried with Him, so that His resurrection may be to us newness of life (Romans 6:4).

It is to be gathered without doubt from many passages that the keeping of the Sabbath was a serious matter, since God inculcates no other commandment more frequently, nor more strictly requires obedience to any. Again, when He complains that He is despised, and that the Jews have fallen into extreme ungodliness, He simply says that His Sabbaths are polluted, as if religion principally consisted in their observance (Jeremiah 17:24; Ezekiel 20:21; Ezekiel 22:8; Ezekiel 23:38).

Moreover, if there had not been some peculiar excellency in the Sabbath,³³⁰ it might have appeared to be an act of atrocious injustice to command a man to be put to death for cutting wood on it (Numbers 15:32). Therefore, it must be concluded that the substance of the Sabbath, which Paul declares to be in Christ, must have been no ordinary good thing.

Nor does its excellency require much praise, since spiritual rest is nothing else than the truly desirable and blessed death of man, which contains in it the life of God, even as Paul glories that he is, as it were, dead, because Christ lives in him (Galatians 2:20). The Apostle in the Epistle to the Hebrews argues more subtly that true rest is brought to us by the Gospel, and that it is rejected by unbelievers (Hebrews 4:3). For although he mixes up some allegorical matter with it, he still retains the genuine reason of the Commandment, namely, that we should rest from our works even as God from His (Hebrews 4:10).

On this ground Isaiah, when he reproves the hypocrites for insisting only on the external ceremony of rest, accuses them of finding their own pleasure on the Sabbath (Isaiah 58:13). This is to say that the legitimate use of the Sabbath must be supposed to be self-renunciation, since he is in fact accounted to cease from his works who is not led by his own will nor indulges his own wishes, but who allows himself to be directed by the Spirit of God.

And this emptying out of self must proceed so far that the Sabbath is violated even by good works, as long as we regard them as our own. For Augustine rightly remarks in the last chapter of the 22nd book of De Civitate Dei:³³¹ "For even our good works themselves, since they are understood to be His rather than ours, are thus imputed to us for attaining that Sabbath, when we are still and see that He is God;³³² for, if we attribute them to ourselves, they will be servile, whereas we are told concerning the Sabbath, Thou shalt not do any servile work in it."

Next it is asked, why God assigned every seventh day to the Sabbath rather than the sixth or tenth. Because the number seven often represents perfection in Scripture, some have thought that believers were thus reminded that they must strive after perfect holiness with all their might, and not devote themselves to God only by halves.

Others draw a different, though not contrary, meaning from it: that believers were taught that although they might be sanctified and laboring in all sincerity to cease from their own life, still some remnants of the flesh would continue in them, and therefore that through the whole course of their life they must aspire to that holiness which no mortal attains.

I do not, however, doubt that God created the world in six days and rested on the seventh, that He might give a manifestation of the perfect excellency of His works. Thus, proposing Himself as the model for our imitation, He signifies that He calls His own people to the true goal of felicity.

Although a promise is included in this Commandment, we will comment on it separately, and as if in passing. He promises indeed that as He blessed the seventh day and set it apart, so He will bless believers to sanctify them. But the main point is the command, and the mention of the blessing is equivalent to an exhortation to obedience, since otherwise it would be inappropriately placed here among the Commandments of the Law.

When I said that the ordinance of rest was a type of a spiritual and far higher mystery, and therefore that this Commandment must be considered ceremonial, it should not be thought that I mean that it had no other different objects also. And certainly God took the seventh day for His own and hallowed it, when the creation of the world was finished, so that He might keep His servants altogether free from every care, for the consideration of the beauty, excellence, and fitness of His works.

There is indeed no moment which should be allowed to pass in which we are not attentive to the consideration of the wisdom, power, goodness, and justice of God in His admirable creation and government of the world. But, since our minds are fickle, and therefore apt to be forgetful or distracted, God, in His indulgence providing against our weaknesses, separates one day from the rest, and commands that it should be free from all earthly business and cares, so that nothing may stand in the way of that holy occupation.

On this ground He did not merely wish that people should rest at home, but that they should meet in the sanctuary, there to engage in prayer and sacrifices, and to make progress in religious knowledge through the interpretation of the Law. In this respect, we have an equal necessity for the Sabbath with the ancient people, so that on one day we may be free, and thus better prepared to learn and to testify our faith.

A third object of the Sabbath is also stated by Moses, but an accidental one as it were, namely, that it may be a day of relaxation for servants. Since this pertains to the rule of charity, it does not properly have any place in the First Table, and is therefore added by Moses as an external advantage, as will be seen a little further on.

Remember the Sabbath-day. The word keep is used in Deuteronomy with the same meaning. From this, we infer that it is no trifling matter in question here, since God enforces the sanctity of the Sabbath by these two words and exhorts the Jews to its scrupulous observance, thus condemning carelessness about it as a transgression.

Moreover, when He says, Six days shalt thou labor, He indirectly reproves their ingratitude if it should be tiresome and disagreeable to them to devote one day out of the seven to God, when He in His generosity gives up six to themselves. For He does not, as some have foolishly thought, make a demand here for six days’ labor; but by His very kindness entices them to obedience, since He only claims a seventh part (of their time) for Himself—as if He had said, Since you cannot be instant in seeking me with all your affection and attention, at any rate give up to me some little undistracted time.

Therefore, He says, all thy work, by which He signifies that they have plenty of time, exclusive of the Sabbath, for all their business.

³²⁹ “Sans autre regard que servir a Dieu en se reposant.” — .” — Fr.

³³⁰ “S’il n’y eust eu quelque mystere excellent, et singulier;” if there had not been some excellent and peculiar mystery, ;” if there had not been some excellent and peculiar mystery, etc. —— Fr.

³³¹ The heading of this 30th chapter is, — “Of the Eternal Felicity of the City of God, and the Perpetual Sabbath."

³³²Psalms 46:10, “, “Vacate, et videte quoniam ego sum Deus.” — .” — V. “Be still, and know that I am God.” — . “Be still, and know that I am God.” — A. V.